1758 Fort Carillon – Vassal Tutorial – Afternoon of July 7th (part 2)

Going into the afternoon phase, I don’t feel the British are in a particularly strong position. Their troops are spread thin, although the breakthrough in the line is exploitable. There was no French counter-attack, as only a few powerful units were in the vicinity and the French chose not to risk losing them in a potentially failed assault. British success here might force the French to act—perhaps even pulling completely out of the fortified line. That would be total chaos.

As a brief refresher on the artillery mechanism: during the defensive artillery fire segment, four French 12-pounders bombarded the British on the opposite side of the lake. The initial roll was a 6 (+1), resulting in a “hit,” but the subsequent impact roll was a 0, causing no effect.

The French 12-pounders were three hexes away, placing them at medium range.

With four guns firing at medium range and an artillery leader providing a bonus, scoring a hit was fairly comfortable. However, the impact roll failed. A few men were wounded and some horses bolted, but in game terms it simply wasn’t enough to matter.

The few British units stranded on the “wrong” (western) side of the lake, facing the main French line, maintained a strong presence to deter the French from shifting troops to the eastern shore. Meanwhile, all available British units continued pouring through the gap in the line.

Starting combat from the bottom of the screen, the 3rd Connecticut brushed aside the demoralized Indian units, killing 100 of them. The next French group pulled back in a skirmish retreat. After a “small rearrangement” of British and Provincial units, I attacked the 300 men holding the line behind the fortifications. They were forced back, and no additional casualties were suffered by either side.

A risky uphill attack against troops holding Mont Agné went poorly. After losing 100 Massachusetts troops, the demoralized survivors were forced to pull back.

An Artillery Castle attempted to push forward along the lakeshore to provide support, but French 12-pounders interdicted the move and forced it back. Though rattled by cannon fire, the wooden armor prevented any serious damage. On land, Lord Howe arrived to lead the 44th in an attack against the 2nd Battalion of the Berry Regiment, inflicting a 1 SP loss and forcing the French to retreat in disruption. This marked the first loss suffered by the French continental regulars.

The only attack on the western side went disastrously. Despite the leadership of John Stark, British troops lost 300 men without inflicting any losses in return – Langy / de Langis held his line. The British casualties are becoming unbearable.

Continuing the initial breakthrough—very ahistorically—Colonel Gage personally led the grenadiers and went on a remarkable run, clearing French units from their positions. Emboldened by this success, his troops pressed on, sweeping away both a strong 6 SP stack and a weaker force guarding the end of the defensive line.

The French line is completely shattered.