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The water movement is kept quite simple on purpose (less counting of hexes). However, Fort Carillon typically hosts a large number of defensive artillery so I wanted to verify the movement and interdiction rules in the game now. I ended up making some small tweaks but I am fairly happy with the way it works now – once you get the hang of it. Below is the extensive playthrough in detail.

The British have gathered a force of 1600 men for the attack (16 Strength Points): 1000 “ordinary” Massachusetts provincials, 800 Mass. light infantry and 800 regulars from the 60th regiment. Coming to think of it, it’s an all-American force!

In defense we have 700 Canadian militia and 200 French regulars. But they have 14 pieces of heavy artillery and one heavy mortar with them.

The provincials start by rowing towards the undefended wharf.

Due to the limited visibility in the muddy waters with tall reeds impairing navigation, the British must make a roll when entering Lake Champlain from La Chute river. The “roll for the reeds” was 9, thus all traffic is directed to the south side of the marshy islet, away from the French artillery.

Even if firing at less than optimal range (3 hexes), the forward artillery with (2x) 9-pdr heavy cannons takes a shot, rolls 9 “to hit”, which is an automatic hit. Next the French roll again “for impact”. Medium range and two pieces – roll 0, miss. Cannonballs are scattered far and wide while the provincials row swiftly past the defending guns.

They continue to the real gauntlet as the heavy cannons guarding Lotbinière’s Battery were only 400 meters away at the narrow part of the lake. Two additional interdiction attempts were made: the said two cannons at a range of two and thus in Short range for maximum effect. No artillery leaders were present for additional DRM. Six was required for a hit, but a zero was rolled – automatic miss, ignore all DRMs. Then the four heavy 12-pounders located at the Bastion Joanne fired at a range of three hexes. Six or higher was required, a one was rolled. Even the +2 DRM to hit for all French artillery in Fort Carillon was not enough and they all missed (to the degree of making an impact in the game)!

The last line of defense here were the two 18-pounders at northeastern Bastion Germaine, who fired at the range of two. Six was required and the roll was eight. The Impact roll was the maximum “9” so the siege guns’ +1 DRM was ignored. One hit was scored and as no leader was present, the leader hit roll was ignored. 1 step loss was absorbed by Colonel Preble’s 3rd Massachusetts Regiment. The attacking troops were forced to retreat back to their point of departure. No more interdictions took place along the way as all artillery had used their “one interdiction attempt per stack”. As the French hit a target on water, they could place one of the two available Interdict markers on the hex (it’s mislabeled!). This indicates their guns are now well aimed at this location and the hex gives an additional +2 DRM to hit with the six surrounding hexes gaining a +1 DRM.

Next came Partridge’s 6th Massachusetts – the only provincial light infantry regiment. They took the same path around the islet keeping their distance to the French guns aiming at them along the way. The French fire again – they can attempt to interdict each stack moving on water, once per phase. The French roll a five, but seven would have been required for a hit. Partridge’s men move on towards the undefended Lower Town next to the fort.

The guns at Lotbinière’s Battery had no line of sight, thus the cannons at Languedoc fire at three hexes. As each bastion has a limited field of fire, they waited as long as they could before the bateaux would have moved out of their sight. Then again, rolling a zero is always a miss. As the provincials moved to the next hex and were now visible to the four guns located in Bastion Joanne. They fire off at the two hex range: Short range, +2 DRM to hit, and they roll “9”. That gives again +1 DRM for impact. But the impact roll of “0” yields no hits!

As the Massachusetts regiment gets ready to land, they are now adjacent to the two guns that could not see them before. The French artillerymen turn their cannons around to face this threat and make the final attempt to fend off the attacking light infantry clad in all-green uniforms. Another zero!! The Town is lost… there is no reaction from French infantry as they all were hunkering down behind their fortifications.

The third and final “wave” comes in the form of the American-raised 60th Regiment of Foot and its 4th Battalion, commanded by Major Rutherford. However, George Augustus Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe – the tactical leader of the British expedition – had himself taken the lead of this attack.

The objective for the third “wave” is to get all the way to the rear of the French guarded only by a small detachment of Canadian militia. We go through the gauntlet routine once again: First cannons once again roll bad (2) and miss. The four heavy pieces in the fort can only fire at the range of five hexes. Yet another “0” – a miss. I need a dice tower…! Two more cannons take their shot at two hexes but only manage a “7” which is one short of a hit.

The redcoats continue rowing hugging the opposite shore keeping their distance from the artillery. The final attempt comes once again from Bastion Germaine with two cannons: at five hexes a seven is needed to hit (this is with the +2 DRM from fort). But they roll a three – miss. Now the Canadians can try to ambush the landing troops! Rolling “1” they fail miserably and actually have to retreat three hexes away from the British troops.

The British movement allowance was halved by water movement – from 12 to 6 MP – and the ambush itself cost the an additional one MP (made a small adjustment on the fly here). With their five remaining movement points, they get next to the Canadian militia unit protecting the French forward battery (and also the Canadians who vanished into the woods after their failed ambush). Howe is full of confidence as always and takes the enemy head on. You can only be ambushed once per phase so it’s time for infantry combat!

Howe leads the 60th regiment towards the French forward artillery position.

The redcoats charge uphill (-1 DRM) with Howe in the lead (+2 DRM) they have a pretty good chance of chasing the militia away (at 4:1 raw odds). There are two other militia units adjacent to the targeted Canadians, and the larger unit with 2SP sends half of their men to support the defense. The odds fall to a final 3:1 with +1 DRM. I am using the slightly more attacker-friendly version of the combat table. The roll is “4” +1 DRM thus a five. The table shows the attacker wins and both take one step loss. Backside of the British counter has only 5SP although it should be 6SP. It was a loss of 2SP so a little bit of steam was expended on the first attack.

As we are still going through the first round(s) of combat, let’s see what happens around the Lower Town where the Massachusetts light infantry landed previously – all combat resulting from the initial contact must be resolved before any additional fighting may take place. Technically, they are not forced to attack as all three parties are inside fortifications facing each other (I had removed the all-around field fort counter earlier but need one at least for the Lower Town). But they do want to attack and capture or destroy those nasty guns at Lotbinière’s Battery outside the fort.

I am still sticking with my current design where the field fortifications basically have three protected sides and the battery is not protected against an attack coming from the Lower Town. A hundred Frenchmen sally from the fort to assist the defenders so we are looking at 8SP against 3SP and -1 DRM making it an effective 2:1 attack. The roll is “5” and with -1 it’s a “4”. The attacker still wins (with a step loss) driving the French three hexes away. Now those captured French siege guns are actually threatening the fort as they are in the effective range to knock down the walls!

Back to the second round of combat and Lord Howe. His troops are adjacent to two enemy units and he decides to attack the one with artillery. Once again, the attack comes from the rear and there is no benefit from the redoubt. Well, at least right now – it’s debatable if they would actually cover 360 degrees in all cases. We have a 6:1 attack with +2 DRM. It’s an automatic win for the attacker but let’s roll the die to see how much the Canadians will suffer. My other version of the combat table would still let the defender win with a “0” but the DRMs in play would still make it an auto-win for the British. The roll was actually “6” and with DRMs it’s “8” meaning the militia is wiped out. The 60th takes another step loss so now the 5SP counter is correct. All French artillery outside the fort is now captured and if there is a second attack “later in the game”, the fort is in deep trouble!

Final dispositions.

This is the third and final post in my recent playtest series. Admittedly, it was a solo run, so I had to make some compromises during the gameplay.

In this game, time is of the essence. The British can steadily advance with their overwhelming army, but this approach gives the French the opportunity to decide how to respond to the oncoming redcoats. Of course, just retreating off-map isn’t an option (what kind of game would that be?). However, if the French allow themselves to be surrounded in the fort during a siege, their chances of survival will be slim.

The British strategy so far is depicted below. The main army landed approximately where they historically landed (depending on which source you reference). My focus was on the western (left) side of the map, while some provincial forces were sent to engage the French on the eastern side. This approach comes with risks: the French could potentially sally out in force and inflict significant damage on the provincials. However, such a move isn’t straightforward. A typical provincial regiment is larger than a French-Canadian regiment, and in this game, the odds favor the defender.

As the French executed their fighting retreat through the restricted terrain, the limited river crossings posed a significant challenge. The only viable options to bypass them required boats to be hauled over, making it easier to establish new defensive positions. Capitalizing on this, the French focused on blocking the two main fording points and began constructing not one but two lines of defense.

The first line is positioned just beyond the ford near the sawmill (close to the left edge of the upper blue line on the map). Its purpose is to slow the British advance and hinder their ability to efficiently move heavy artillery closer to the fort. The French plan to abandon this position as soon as the British are poised to overwhelm it. This delaying tactic also buys time to construct the historical breastworks closer to the fort. If the British player wants a decisive victory, they should press aggressively to prevent the French from fortifying their positions.

Meanwhile, the British artillery train remains at the beaches of Lake George, still in the process of being sorted and prepared for action.

Below, the heavy artillery is now being hauled through the portage toward the sawmill and the section of the La Chute River that leads to Lake Champlain. I also began replacing larger stacks with placeholder counters, which helps relieve congestion on the map board while adding a bit of “fog of war.” While it doesn’t match the guesswork or searching required in Pacific War, it’s a welcome addition in the ongoing quest to enhance gameplay.

By the time most of the British artillery was within range, the French defensive line was fully constructed. The numbered counters represent stacks of units, though I still need to find a proper off-map location to manage these stacks more efficiently.

Several boats were brought to the river to facilitate crossings, and the British opted for a bold strategy: cutting off the French forward defenses from their main body and striking at their rear. This maneuver significantly reduced many of the French advantages, though some of the forward troops acted more as a diversion than a serious force.

This attack forced the French off their defensive line, but at a cost to the British. Their morale had already taken hits along the way, and it suffered a final blow during one of the battles. Currently, in the game, morale does not recover over time—perhaps it should, maybe at a rate of one point per night? Further testing is needed to determine what makes sense and strikes the right balance.

Once morale sinks to a low level (currently labeled “precarious” in the prototype), players must pass a leader morale test. Failure means the campaign is effectively over. Historically, this mirrors the actions of the British supreme commander, Abercromby, who famously lost his nerve and ordered a retreat back to the camp at the former Fort William Henry.

History seemed to repeat itself as Abercromby failed the roll. While he’s a weak leader, rolling a zero will doom you every time.

This game took a turn for the worse for the British. They suffered losses along the way, and the death of Lord Howe—a devastating -4 to morale—was a significant factor. Both sides have strong leaders who can greatly influence combat, but using them always comes with the risk of losing them. An army leader cannot lead offensively and is instead restricted to defensive roles. That’s why he is placed in a box on the map and represented by the HQ marker. This reflects the reality of his historical role, leading from a safe distance rather than leading the charge (this is not the Plains of Abraham…).

I played a little further to see how events might unfold and to attempt to chase the French away. The final dispositions are shown below, with the French army now surrounded at the fort. If the British leadership had been in better shape, they could have pushed the artillery forward to prepare for an assault on the French lines.

With 1758 Fort Carillon, I aim to explore the Ticonderoga campaign in a way that goes beyond the iconic desperate French defense. Some of the scenarios are built around historical “what-ifs” and are designed to be more balanced and engaging for gameplay. It is not yet a fully ready or complete game, but I believe it’s finally(!) quite close to being a real wargame!

After committing to two assaults in the Maintenance Segment at the start of the day, the British army was able to mass more troops against two target hexes. When engaging an enemy defensive line, it really isn’t practical to try to punch through in a narrow section as the adjacent unengaged troops will provide additional support to the defenders. Some units are thus needed to attack the rest of the line close to the main assault – they’ll likely suffer some losses, but that’s how it goes.

As coordination wasn’t exactly easy on the 18th century battlefield, I wanted to add a small detail in preplanning and make the player to commit to an assault in advance which is the only time a target hex can be attacked from two adjacent hexes at the same time. Otherwise, all combat is resolved one hex against another. If the assault fails to capture the hex or is simply not done, there is a morale penalty that is “paid” already during the Maintenance Segment.

Below, the artillery bombardment (blue arrow example) pounded the French line and caused the defender to disrupt halving their combat strength. I was using both direct (cannons / guns) and indirect fire (mortars), although they cannot fire together. This hex was then breached with the assault. Not all pieces had yet been brought in range of the French line and were still on the beaches behind, but this was enough.

The second assault was broken up by the defending heavy artillery driving one of the two British regiments back (yellow line). Then the second regiment (44th) that was already committed had to attack by itself and subsequently failed.

Thanks to the artillery support, the provincials lead by Bradstreet were able to force their way into the line – I would not normally expect them to be able to do this. In combat, my normal use for the provincials is to distract and harass the enemy while suffering acceptable losses. The stack is shown below (I spread them out for easier viewing). The handwritten HQ counter marks where the army commander is located. For the French, that’s obviously Montcalm – well, at least until he becomes a casualty.

A second wave (“reserves”) made up from the remaining men of two regiments moved in to exploit and support the initial attempt. Once inside the breastworks – or “redoubt” in the game – they started to push west (up). The French defenders started to budge and then decided to start pulling back and not risk the remaining army in the forward line.

The dilemma for the French now was to save as much of the forward-deployed artillery as possible and not let it fall into the hands of the British. That is a slow process, so to pull it off, you really have to plan ahead and protect the slow moving train.

The British were massing their troops on one side of the lake while the French were pulling the massive pieces back on the other side. Well, of course, they took some shots at each other across the narrow bay but with little effect. Even the captured large 18-pounders didn’t cause much damage when returning shots back to the original owners.

Now, of course, Lord Howe would not just sit around watching the enemy save their precious cannons and decided to cross the lake bringing whatever troops he could muster to harass the enemy (a lot of the army had already pushed forward after the retreating French).

It wasn’t exactly the best of ideas – poor Howe got hit in the fight and now the British lost their most valuable leader. His loss causes an immense hit on the morale and also halves the British movement for several turns and they lose their momentum. This is just what the French needed to buy some time to retreat in good order.

As the French trickled back towards the fort, they started to build the classic Heights of Carillon defensive line. The loss of Howe bought them now again time to dig in, just like 266 years ago…

That’s enough for now – part 3 will continue the playtest!

I recently completed a full playtest session, taking advantage of the rare opportunity to leave the game set up on my table at home for an extended period. This allowed me to run through an entire scenario from start to finish, thoroughly reviewing and testing the setup as well as the mechanics that had been adjusted over the past year. As a result, I’ve added several minor items to my “to-do” list and identified a few unresolved issues that still need attention. However, I’m pleased to say that the project now feels like it’s making clear and tangible progress.

Another playtest is scheduled with a local tester who has experience with other large game projects, and I’m feeling very optimistic about it. With the upcoming updates to the prototype counters and the many changes already made, I believe the game is finally approaching “beta.” At that stage, the focus will shift from simply ensuring all components work together to fine-tuning and balancing the gameplay.

For this test, I chose the main scenario, “Montcalm’s Plan.” While it’s not an actual historical plan, it represents my interpretation of what the battle could have looked like if Montcalm had been able to deploy the full army of New France at Carillon. Of course, what Montcalm would have done in reality is open to speculation, but I’ve designed this scenario to depict how I envision the French-Canadian forces might have positioned themselves in July 1758. Additionally, there will be a scenario offering full freedom for the French, allowing players to explore and test a wide variety of defensive setups.

As the defenders, the French faced the classic challenge of uncertainty about where the enemy would strike. In this scenario, they’ve divided their forces, positioning roughly two-thirds of the army on the western side of Lake George (left side in the image above) and the remaining one-third on the eastern side (right). Redeploying troops from one side to the other is relatively quick, and the initial defenses are designed to be strong enough to repel a hasty British attack.

Players can also use boats to cross the narrow bay, but this maneuver costs infantry half of their movement points. Overall, I’ve deliberately reduced movement allowances to reflect the challenging terrain and the limited communication capabilities of the time—signals were often sent using bonfires! While the movement restrictions can feel tight at times, they are intended to add realism and emphasize the difficulties of coordination in such conditions.

Some of the French artillery is deployed forward, including several heavy 18-pounder naval cannons mounted on travel carriages. However, most of the larger pieces remain in the fort, awaiting the eventual British approach. Moving artillery is a slow and labor-intensive process, requiring significant manpower. In the dense forest, it’s not just a matter of transportation—you’re effectively cutting a new road as you go.

This level of logistical difficulty might be unusual for a board game, but I wanted to reflect the real challenges armies faced in the wilderness. Why not simply use a traditional artillery counter that moves two hexes per turn? Because hauling these massive guns demands men—many of them—who won’t be available to fight the enemy. Players must make strategic choices: commit troops to engaging the enemy, or assign them to the grueling task of moving artillery.

The only “road” represented in the game is really just a muddy trail used to drag heavy equipment, such as boats and sometimes artillery, between the two lakes—a route historically called “Portage.” Early in the summer of 1758, heavy rains raised water levels, making e.g., Bernetz Brook difficult to cross, and the trail was still muddy and treacherous by July.

For the British, tactically speaking, the big questions include where to land the main army, how much of the light and provincial infantry should be committed to bypass any French defensive lines, and, of course, where and when to land & commit the artillery. Although the British army is much larger than the French army, the ranks will get thin when spreading out.

The image below is from a previous setup but shows the French defenses on hex 16.16 spread out to the right: 4 heavy 18-pdr. cannons, 400 men from the 2nd battalion of the Berry Regiment, Louis-Thomas Jacau de Fiedmont (a French artillery commander), and a level 2 redoubt.

I deployed some of the British provincials (Americans) to the eastern side to keep the French forces occupied, while the majority of the army landed near the historical landing area—now fittingly called “Howe’s Landing.” From there, a significant push was made along the Indian path that winds around Bear Mountain, known today as Cook Mountain.

The French were forced to bring in reinforcements (see below) to block the strong British advance between Cook Mountain and Bernetz Brook. The narrow path only benefits light infantry, meaning regular units may struggle to keep up with the vanguard.

One of the biggest challenges so far has been managing the tall counter stacks. My printer produces thick counters, and I had numerous elements, each requiring its own counter, which quickly added up. To address this, I’ve eliminated certain elements like swivel guns and engineering leaders, and I’ve streamlined the artillery counters. Additionally, I’ve made features like “random fords” and “historical leader restrictions” optional rules. While these details are nice-to-have, most players likely won’t miss them.

I’ll return to the counter stacks later, but for now, let’s refocus on Lake George. The British artillery “castles” (gun rafts) could prove useful when attempting to breach enemy fortifications. These floating artillery batteries were documented, though only in vague terms. One such example, the Land Tortoise, still rests at the bottom of Lake George. It was designed as a floating artillery platform to support landings or repel enemy naval movements and featured seven gun ports.

In the game, I’ve generously equipped the British with three of these formidable gun rafts. Each comes with onboard artillery, giving them significant firepower. However, engaging the French 18-pounders at close range could be disastrous, leaving the outcome to chance and die rolls.

Admittedly, my documentation for this aspect of the scenario is incomplete, so I don’t have a detailed narrative for the artillery duels that occurred. What I do know is that the engagements resulted in limited gains, with both sides trading some hits but achieving little overall.

By the end of the first day, it was evident that the British advance would not be swift, prompting them to begin landing artillery. The process is slow, and the small beaches quickly become congested. Rafts (radeaux), boats (bateaux), troops, artillery, and road improvements all contribute to a crowded scene during the initial stages of the game.

The strategy is straightforward: commit the army to break through the defenses using whatever artillery can be brought into range. The French cannons proved to be a nuisance, causing some of the rafts to abort their landing attempts and retreat off-map. Once artillery hits a target on the lake, an Interdict (not Intercept) marker is placed on the hex to indicate that the gun crews have their “sights” trained on that area. Subsequent attempts to enter the hex or any of the surrounding hexes will benefit from a DRM (die roll modifier) on the to-hit roll.

End of Part 1; more to follow.

PS The text is clarified with the help of AI 🙂

Replicating my last year’s “start of November”, I spent the weekend in Tampere – a few hours drive away. This time I brought my spouse with me and we also spent the night in the city. While the hotels were quite full due to the NHL games in town, we found a pretty nice place to stay. Hitpoint is a family-friendly gaming event but has very little in terms of wargaming. However, that really wasn’t an issue to me – it was another chance to meet people and spend two full days on my project 🙂

Time flies when you’re having fun! The first day, Saturday, went by quickly. I focused first on getting one of my key scenarios documented well. It was quite a chore but by Sunday it was a wrap… Of course, I was setting it up at the same time but missed a few things here and there. On Sunday I set it up again and started playing. People stopped by every so often, so at times the progress was slow. Then add all those small documentation updates or clarifications!

One change I am so far very happy about is the black and white British landing chart. It looks good and works well vs. all previous versions.

I also updated some of the game details on the website. Fort Carillon is not a simple game even if I am constantly trying to streamline it. I wanted to add a note about the complexity – in BGG terms (scope up to 5.00) – and ultimately decided to give it 3.5/5. Although I am constantly surprised how slow most games play unless you’re really experienced with it, I don’t think my game is medium complexity. I want to give it a notch higher rating to make sure anyone (some day) buying it doesn’t expect a light game.

Ok, what about the game itself? I am a bit too tired to write a full story now, so I’ll just add a couple of random pictures.

In this scenario – tentatively named as “Montcalm’s Plan” – there will one hard-coded version and another one giving full flexibility for players to set up the French defenses as they see fit. The foundation is that Governor-General Vaudreuil had released more troops to Montcalm earlier and scrapped his own pet project to attack through the Mohawk River Valley. I might even define the British landing hexes to make it easy to just get going and not worry about the strategy too much.

The British army is mostly landing on the western side of Lake George and is preparing to launch an assault against the French line in the morning. Artillery was brought in, but some of them were interdicted by French cannons firing up to a thousand yards/meters away (5 hexes).

I also sent all three artillery castles forward to smash some of the defensive earthworks and that resulted in quite an artillery battle between the gun rafts and the dozen heavy pieces defending the area. The first attempt replicating Bradstreet’s battoemen’s landing forward of the main army ended up miserably as they were repulsed and sent back to recuperate.

I even ended up bringing back a rule I had deleted as part of the effort to streamline everything. This is the “Interdict” rule (counter is outdated) which has the special purpose to prevent sneaking boats one by one past the enemy. Lots of casualties were suffered by both sides, so I was quite happy about the end result. I just wonder how good that wooden “armor” was on those artillery castles…

Below is the result of the aggressive initial moves by the British player. While the casualties were at an acceptable level, a lot of the troops were repulsed and basically had to re-embark their boats and leave the map to return at the start of the following turn (phase).

And finally, I was preparing for an all-out attack against the French but literally ran out of time as my wife picked me up for the return journey home. Oh well, I am quite happy about the results of this weekend – lots of clarifications and new data for the scenario!

Disclaimer: The updates shown here have not passed my artist yet (Ilya K.). He might not like the colors etc. They are functional updates for now.

Leaders

Besides tweaking the movement system (a significant undertaking), the leader counters have:

• The Morale impact of losing the leader printed (in blue).
• Clarified the subunit types that he can lead (e.g. “R/LT” for regulars and light infantry).
• A stripe was added to the bar (stripe) crossing the counter to make it absolutely clear, this is not a combat unit. The stripe is of different color for infantry and non-infantry leaders.

Btw, the highest-ranking leader is now placed in its own box outside the gaming area. You would not really see the #1 guy leading an attack, would you? He can of course defend like any other infantry leader (Montcalm commanded the center of the French line).

Artillery

Transporting the arty is now finally streamlined. Getting this done in a sensible way keeping all important aspects within the parameters I wanted took a couple of months. Now, I feel it works the way it should and plays better. Most of the effort now goes to streamlining the game experience. Some results are visible below:

• The white arrow now indicates if the piece is either direct or indirect fire capable unit. Both arrows combined (for now at least) is a howitzer which can fire both ways.
• Zero to two black cannonballs indicate the weight class (zero = light, one = medium, two = heavy). Originally, I had 1-3 but the math below didn’t add up! This value is used in several places:
  • Short range in hexes (except the light arty).
  • Infantry strength points required to transport, both on land and by rafts.
  • Extra infantry movement points required per hex when transporting.
• “X” or “+2” as movement point value. Artillery on garrison carriages in now immobile except within Fort Carillon where they can be moved between the bastions, thus the “X” for no movement. “+2” is the extra 2 MPs per hex.

Infantry

Finally, the infantry that has had the smallest changes. I have a backlog of new art from Ilya still waiting to be updated to the counters and the Hurons are a sample of those.

• Light infantry is highlighted in green for now.
• Art updates.

[This is a long post with all the math broken down in detail]

As always, nothing is final and “may change without notice”. This tutorial may look a bit heavy, but it’s like a full scenario in Bloody Mohawk or the whole Vae Victis game Batailles pour le Canada. I also realized, it’s not really that far away from the “July 8th” scenario I have in my to do list. The idea for this is obviously to demonstrate how to perform a major assault against an entrenched enemy.

Assaults: Quick summary

Normally, an attack is a single hex action against another hex. There are limited number of assaults available that allow two adjacent stacks to attack. A combat is quite typical for a hex and counter game: Add up the strength points on both sides, throw in some modifiers when needed, and calculate the odds. Then you’ll have die roll modifiers (DRMs) that will adjust the roll. Look up a table and see what happens!

In the assault, a few more things come into play: you must have a stack of regulars with a regular infantry leader who must pass the leader roll (to see if he was able to coordinate the assault). With the same odds, both attacking stacks roll their own die thus there is a bit more random in play.

Assaults: The details

In this tutorial, the British army makes two head-on assaults against a well-fortified French line – just like on July 8th, 1758! The British had committed to two assaults at the start of the day. They have a powerful composite grenadier battalion (supported by the 46th Regiment), the famous 42nd Highlander Regiment – the single most powerful unit in the game – and many other troops. Provincials, light infantry and rangers are thrown in to add more complexity and demonstrate more game features in the tutorial. On the Heights of Carillon, we have three regular French regiments and one small group of Canadian militia, lead by the military leader of New France, Marquis de Montcalm. I actually placed him behind the lines and soon realized it wasn’t a good idea!

As mentioned above, an assault is something one has to commit to already at the start of the day during the maintenance segment. How many times a side can assault depends on a few of factors: morale and the army leader’s ability. In the tutorial, there are two assaults, and only for the British (ignore the French below).

I have set up skirmishers between both armies to protect the main forces. There are two maxed out British assault forces (each assault will have two stacks of 10 strength points) with some regiments set as “2nd wave” to make an additional effort, if needed. And even if they are not needed, they will come in anyway!

Game board gets a little cluttered as more and more special movement modes are used. My protos don’t even have a marker for the assault mode. This is the cost of trying to replicate 18th century tactics, but also forces the player to plan ahead and set up the troops for the main effort.

(There is one “error” in my setup that I only noticed later – one of the units is too far away)

There are multiple types of troops going forward. Light infantry provides cover by skirmishing with the enemy. Regular infantry with the required regular infantry leader will lead both assaults. As each hex can hold max. 10 strength points (SPs), I have added smaller units to top up each assault.

The first move is made by Bradstreet’s Battoemen to push away the Canadians lurking inside the abatis, who, in the tutorial, are not in the mood to engage the whole approaching British army. Instead, they choose to make a “skirmish retreat” and pull back to the main line. This is a reaction a unit in skirmish mode can perform and basically refers to light infantry patrolling the woods and … delaying and skirmishing with the enemy.

Without the skirmishers leading the way, Canadians could ambush the forward elements. Also, the Battoemen will stay a few hexes away from the French as they do not want to engage the main line.

Through the thick forests more and more green, brown and red coats appear as the last Canadians climb over the log wall.

Having the troops in position, we have to perform leader rolls for both British assault leaders – if the roll fails, there is no cohesive assault but each of the two stacks has to attack individually. Howe’s rating is 8 so the player has to get an eight or less to pass (90% chance of success!). Normally you want to roll high, but in this case, rolling low is just simple and straightforward.

No issues here, both rolls were very low and thus each leader passed the check easily.

Assault #1 (Grenadiers, 42nd and 46th Regiments)

We’ll play through one engagement at a time. The right-wing assault with two stacks comprises of (1 SP is ~100 men):

• Colonel Frederick Haldimand, the right assault leader with a rating of 6 and a +1 leader bonus DRM.
• Stack 1
  • Composite grenadier battalion with 6 SP. They also provide +2 unit bonus DRM.
  • 46th Regiment with 4 SP. No unit bonus.
• Stack 2
  • 42nd Regiment (Highlanders) with 9 SP and +1 DRM unit bonus.
  • Putnam’s Connecticut Ranger company with 1 SP (and +1 DRM, which plays no role here*). It is an irregular infantry unit (green bar) thus its SPs are halved in assaults, but as 1 / 2 = 0,5 and rounded up comes back to 1, it’s worth 1 SP here.

* If a unit with +1 DRM bonus is less than half of the stack’s total SP, it won’t contribute the DRM. A unit with +2 will always provide at least +1 DRM, and if its size is half or more of the attacking stack’s size, it will contribute +2 DRM to combat.

Terrain is against the British army. Attacking uphill is -1 DRM and a two-level fortification (redoubt) is two columns shifts left. Attacking out of abatis is another -2 DRM against the attacker.

In defense, we have the 4 SP Languedoc Regiment backed by Montcalm (+1 DRM).

In total, there are 20 SP attacking against 4 SP – that is 5:1 odds. The redoubt shifts the odds two columns left to a final 3:1. In assault, each stack is resolved individually using the same adjusted odds (3:1) and their own attacking stack vs. defending stack DRM modifiers. The stack with the assault leader decides the overall outcome and the second attacking stack just rolls for the effect on the attacker (defender is ignored in the 2nd die roll). It’s really quite simple.

The British stack #1 DRMs are as follows:
+2 DRM from the grenadiers
+1 DRM from Haldimand
-2 DRM attacking out of abatis
-1 DRM attacking uphill
-1 DRM from Montcalm
= total of -1 DRM

I am not fully happy with my current infantry combat table and offline I am working on an improved one with some adjustments to the whole process. For now, I will just use the current table.

The attacker rolls one 10-sided die: it’s a solid “6”. With one DRM against reduces it to “5”, the British manage to breach the French line and push Languedoc back three hexes. Each side suffers one step loss and for the British, it has to be allocated to the grenadiers as it contributed the highest DRM for the attack. A step loss in this case is 1 SP (it depends on the unit size whether the step loss 1 or 2 Strength Points).

The second attacking stack must also roll a die, but the impact on the defender is ignored. Now it was such a low roll that they suffer one step loss with disruption forcing a retreat (no effect on the first stack). The large 42nd has to take the step loss losing 2 SP (one step loss for a large unit is 2 SP). Fortunately, the 42nd can never disrupt – as the only unit in the game – and only the ranger company is disrupted, although both have to retreat three hexes.

Overall, it was still a British victory and the first stack advances in to the French entrenchments. As the assault was a success, the British side gains 2 mitale points. The second attacking stack failed and had to retreat.

This isn’t over yet, but we’ll come back to it shortly.

Assault #2 (44th Regiment, Picquets, and Provincials)

• Brigadier General Lord Howe, “the best soldier in the British Army”, +2 DRM
• Stack 1
  • 44th Regiment, 8 SP
  • a 2 SP picquet i.e. detachment, from 1st Battalion 60th Regiment (Royal Americans)
• Stack 2
  • 3rd Connecticut Regiment, 5 SP
  • 4th Connecticut Regiment, 5 SP

After resolving the immediate effect of the first assault, let’s deal with the second one. The skirmishing Canadians beefed up the defense significantly and it’ll be a rough ride for Howe’s group.

The first stack has 10 SP of British regulars with Howe (+2) leading them. The French have 4 + 2 SP on the hex with the adjacent La Sarre regiment. As it is not under attack, it provides the defenders an additional 2 SP (50% of 4 SP). The second British stack contains two Provincial regiments of 5 SP each, but they (irregulars) are halved in assaults or when going against fortifications. Raw odds will be 10 + 5 against 4 + 2 + 2 for a total of only 3:2! Add two column shifts left from the level 2 redoubt and the final odds are on the 2:3 column!! Irregular infantry really weren’t the Stormtroopers of the British army…

Howe provides the only positive DRM and -1 comes from attacking uphill, -2 from abatis and -1 from Montcalm. That’s a net -2 DRM. Let’s see how it goes!

Well, they got bloodied all right: a semi-low roll with DRMs against inflicts two step losses with disruption and a leader hit roll. Each unit takes a step loss on the first stack for a total cost of 3 SP. The leader hit roll was a hit and the British lost Howe in the bloodshed. I am not even keeping track of the Morale hits, but it’s starting to look like General Abercromby will lose his heart very soon.

The second stack performs its own part of the assault using the 3:2 odds but with a lot of DRMs against them: Each provincial brings -1 (-2 together), uphill -1, abatis -2, and finally Montcalm -1. That’s a brutal -6 DRM! The best possible roll would give just a single step loss, but that’s not what happened here… It actually was a “0” thus I am looking at the bottom of the table… Two step losses (so, one each), disruption and a morale loss.

There are no radios or pidgeons here thus I have decided that reserves can’t just pick a perfect moment to rush in, but all combat resulting from the movement segment must be fully resolved before the 2nd wave can move.

We still have those ~900 British regulars in the French fieldworks making trouble. Well, they are forced to continue attacking as long as they are adjacent to the enemy.

(Some prototype counters are misaligned as seen below)

Now it is starting to get interesting. The remaining 9 British SPs are up against 4 + 2 + 2 French SP and thus we are looking at 1:1 odds. There are no column shifts as the redoubt was breached and it isn’t protecting the French anymore.

Checking the DRMs, the British have +3 for them and -1 against but it is still a tough fight because equal odds strongly favor the defender (this may change but it will need some adjustments in a few places first). Rolling low continued and the British were pushed back with a step loss. The void was filled in by our Canadians forming again an unbroken defensive line.

2nd wave

It’s not over yet as the British reserves were ordered forward (it’s a tutorial!). Climbing over their dead and wounded, the 2nd wave now tries to storm the line.

(The 2nd wave markers are moved out of the way to reveal the actual units underneath)

One of the 2nd wave attacking units is irregular infantry, and the other regular – although light infantry. When irregulars attack a fortified position, their SP is halved (it’s not their forte). The Massachusetts regiment is thus only 5 effective SP against 2 SP Canadians and with two column shifts (redoubt), it’s 1:1 odds. Now add -1 for uphill, another -1 from Montcalm, and -2 for abatis, for -4 total DRM. Roll was “4”, reduce by 4 and it becomes a “0” with the modifiers. The provincials obviously lose, take a step loss, retreat 3 hexes, become disrupted, take a morale hit, and finally we ignore the leader hit check because there was no leader unit present (a separate counter). “Partridge” printed on the counter is not a leader unit but exists just for historical purposes and has no effect in the game.

Checking the 60/4 Regiment’s attack on the British left, it looks miserable. Their 8 SP go against 4 + 2 (half of La Sarre provides defensive support, as it is not under attack). Starting with 8:6, i.e., 1:1 odds, they have little chance of success. Redoubt drops the odds to the lowest column and with the -4 DRM the outlook is rather bad.

Eeek! The roll was a “1” – a futile attempt with three step losses and everything else on top. The unit loses half of its strength (8 to 6 to 5 to 4 SP – these are the printed strength points) and is getting close to being destroyed.

The final result is something like the image below (it took several sessions to get all the pictures taken so a thing or two may be off) – the British assault was repulsed just like in the real battle.

Wait! What about that lonely Montcalm, you might ask? I misplaced him by leaving alone on a hex, but he was all along protected by friendly ZoC. The Brits could not have moved there, because they cannot attack just a leader unit and were forced to go against the “tip” of the defensive line where the French troops were.