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.
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!
Recently I visited once again Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York. Although this was a family trip, I added a few extra stops to see and learn more about history.
Dunbarton is a small town of a few thousand inhabitants. It’s a bit off the main roads so I doubt too many tourists visit it even if it has housed some great leaders of the past centuries: Major Robert Rogers lived there for many years and General John Stark – one of the great leaders of the American Revolution – had a sawmill.
You can almost read “Robert Rogers Rd” on the street sign!
The statue of Caleb Stark, son of John Stark. I assume this was the town center!
I always love to visit old cemeteries to see the tombstones of the people – and who knows, I might find “someone famous”… (no luck this time)
Later, we moved on to New York and the Catskills mountains. On the way, as we traveled through the Berkshires, I insisted on stopping by at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, one of the original homes of the Stockbridge Mohicans. I knew beforehand the museum closed for the season just a few days earlier, so had to look for other quick places to visit. I was with the family and they don’t always appreciate history the way I do.
It was a great surprise to us to come to a small town full of tourists! Perhaps the greatest attraction is the Norman Rockwell Museum which to me sounds like a billionaire family making rockets or something (yes, I googled him). The main street was jampacked with pensioners, buses, cars, etc. I am not a fan of crowds, thus our visit became time-restricted.
In our ~45 min stop I could really only find 39 Main Street, the place where the Stockbridge chief Jacob Naunauphtaunk lived back in the 1750s (check out the embedded StoryMap or the PDF!). This house was built 1845, so it’s not original to me, but it’s almost two centuries old anyway!
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.
[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.
My summer travels took me to the Åland Island and more specifically, Kastelholm – the former local administrative base of the Swedish Kingdom in medieval times and the early modern era. This is a place where people such as the King Gustav Vasa visited. Finland does not have many castles and this is one of the few.
The construction started in the late 1300s and it was damaged, rebuilt, and expanded through the centuries until falling out of use around late 18th Century.
Today, it is a beautifully restored historical site with surprising large interior due to the sheer height. A lot of the interior has been fixed although one can see that many floors are missing from the original state. I doubt a lot of people were housed inside the castle and most troops were stationed around the area.
Supposedly, King Erik XIV was locked up in one of the small rooms inside the castle. The space is quite limited, so it is doubful his immediate family and servants were with him…
In one of the ceilings, coats of arms of all the “owners” of the castle were displayed. Quite a sight! It really makes visible what a long history this place has.
During the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790, a not exactly a large-scale engagement took place on June 16th, 1789 at the small village of Sulkava, in eastern Finland, then part of the Kingdom of Sweden. The “Gustav’s War” was one of many wars in history started for internal political reasons.
Approximately 2,000 Russian troops were trying to get ahead of the main defending Swedish army in the province of Savolax, as the main push came from another direction. 10,000 Russians were advancing in a three-pronged attack against some 4,000 Swedish-Finnish troops.
Blocking the Russians at Sulkava was a small detachment of ~200 men, mostly militia raised as part of the allotment system.
The map is “upside down”, south is on top – this was drawn by the invaders. The Russians were coming from the northeast and are thus depicted on the lower side of the map.
This was the setting for this local event to which I traveled 3,5 hours each way to learn more about our history. Before the action started, a retired history professor provided an overview of the events and officers in charge.
The Russians were lead by Major General Wilhelm Schulz von Ascheraden and opposed by the 26 year young Major Carl von Morian, a personal acquaintance of King Gustav III.
Our detachment today was even smaller, comprising of three separate historical societies, one for re-enacting the Swedish Carolineans (in Finland), another for artillery and the last one for gunboats of the local lake district.
We had a lengthy demo of drills and commanding the militia, where the common language was Swedish although it was unlikely that any of the soldiers spoke it. My 15 year old who was with me got quite restless – and not only because I guess he was expecting, if not hundreds of re-enactors, but at least dozens. Here they had like eight or so. But to me it was not only funny, but probably very historical as the foot soldiers were stumbling around, turning to the wrong direction and making other mishaps. It probably went just like that 300 years ago keeping the sergeant busy herding the soldiers around.
I hadn’t even realized the opposite side of the lake was part of the show too. The Russians were there and started to fire their guns across the lake with loud bangs. Then a boat approached. The Russian general had a parley with the Swedish commander and demanded a retreat to avoid bloodshed. They had thousands of men against a handful. But Morian rejected the offer and an angry general went back to his troops.
Firing intensified as the Russian boats started to approach. Cannon and musket fire was exchanged before the overwhelming Russian forces landed.
Russian troops land in force and throw grenades to clear the area. Swedish troops put up token resistance only and start pulling back.
They quickly captured the camp and the battle ended in another parley where the Swedish major accepted his defeat but stated that the war continues. Funnily, the young major was depicted by an old gentleman…
A really cool detail was the looting of the fallen (wounded were put out of their misery with an axe) – valuables such as boots were saved by camp followers or whoever they were…
Having shipped a number of physical play testing copies of the game, I am getting questions about how to best start learning the game. I had started working on a small tutorial a couple of months ago, but never really wrapped it up until now. The first in a series of tutorials covers a small British attack group making an amphibious landing and attack a French fortified position. I am using a small home-printed sheet for the map, thus the colors are a bit off.
Here we have a setup where 1600 British are approaching, supported by a “floating artillery castle” (gun raft) with four pieces of 6-pdr. cannons. I intentionally chose a variety of troops: the composite grenadier battalion with 600 men (6 Strength Points) are the “shock troops”. It is supported by 500 Rogers Rangers and 500 New York provincials. All counters are prototypes and the details are subject to change.
The French are defending a small field fortification (named “Fort St. Sacrament” by the troops). It is manned by 200 regulars supported by two 6-pdr. cannons led by Capt. Fiedmont. Behind them, covering the forest, are 200 Canadians in skirmish mode.
Movement & reaction
The British artillery platform makes the first move by going directly in front of the French defenders, who will use their artillery interdiction to try to drive it away. Although the French get a +1 “to hit” DRM from having an artillery leader, it’s a bad roll (“4”) and a miss. One better would have yielded an impact roll.
Next, the British infantry starts landing. Grenadiers drive straight into the beach in front of the fortication while the Rangers and provincials land further down the shore to avoid the French zone of control (the skirmish unit has an extended ZoC).
Once an enemy (not in skirmish mode) unit enters its ZoC, the Canadian skirmish unit has two options besides being idle: to retreat three hexes or to try an ambush (if both are in heavy forest). Of course, they go for an ambush attempt!
A good roll of “8” with one positive DRM (+2 for Canadians ambushing, -1 for Rangers being ambushed) surprises the irregular infantry and forces them to retreat with a step loss for the Rangers (as they provided a DRM in combat).
A single unit can be ambushed once per phase, and a unit in skirmish mode can attempt an ambush once per phase. Had the Rangers been in skirmish mode themselves, they would have prevented any ambushes. However, after water movement, units are always in normal movement mode.
Getting ambushed costs movement points, but in this case it was not meaningful. This is to slow down the active player as there are quite a few movement points available (I may need to fine-tune this part further, as testing has resulted in changes to some aspects of the movement model).
Apparently, the Rangers and provincials should have landed one hex farther so they could have retreated back to their boats! The retreat ends their movement and they are now “out of play” in the context of this tutorial.
Combat
The British combat starts with offensive artillery bombardment. The gun raft floating in front of the French opens fire with four six pounders. This force is commanded by Captain Joshua Loring, a Roxbury (Boston) native. And a brutal bombardment it is! A roll of “5” with a +1 DRM from Loring gives “a hit” (you can still fail at the impact roll).
The subsequent impact roll is a huge success resulting in a maximum roll of “9”. Add +1 DRM to the die roll (from Loring directing the fire) to make it a “10” and the French breastworks were blown to smithereens taking the artillery with it (the counter did not have a reduced side). A lower result could have just destroyed the fortification but left everything else intact.
Moving onto the infantry, the composite Grenadier Battalion led by Colonel Thomas Gage, the third in command of the British force at Ticonderoga (Carillon), starts their attack. Due to the very successful bombardment, the French defenders are deprived of their breastworks and the column shift it provides. Six against two, with +1 DRM from Gage and +2 DRM from the Grenadiers, yields 3:1 odds with +3 DRM. However, this is reduced to 2:1 as the Grenadiers landed on an enemy zone of control hex.
The fortunes of war did not favor the British army today. The worst possible roll of “0” is just enough to foil the attack even with the handsome die roll modifiers. Having suffered a step loss, they re-enter their boats demoralized and row back south on Lake George.
In this instance of the tutorial, the French were victorious and they can sleep another quiet night.
The past weekend I was able to join, for the second time, the “War College” at Fort Ticonderoga, NY, covering the Seven Years’ War – although the talks mostly cover the French and Indian War part of it (which I don’t mind at all). It was a quick trip to Upstate New York – I again didn’t have time for a more thorough visit this year, so had to keep it to a minimum.
Fort Ticonderoga has been hosting this event, which is a weekend seminar, for 27 years now. Matthew Keagle, the curator at the museum, presented their latest research and key changes in the collection. His talks are super interesting, not only because Matt is a great presenter, but the museum’s research always looks for a connection between the historical events and artifacts.
What great excuse to take a short trip!
The author Michael Laramie presented his research on the book “The Road to Ticonderoga: The Campaign of 1758 in the Champlain Valley”. There were a few things that kindled my interest and I need to crosscheck with other sources how they described specific events. Then I have to decide which source I will follow in the game…
I am really looking forward to his next book, “King George’s War and the Thirty Year Peace: The Third Contest for North America”, which should be out later this year. Getting his Ticonderoga book was a small ordeal, I had it on order from amazon.de for almost six months, then I found it at Adlibris, who delivered it to me swiftly (once they claimed they can do it!).
I picked up three of his other books and got them all signed 🙂
John Hayward’s talk titled “Give It to Them, Jersey Blues!” A look at the New Jersey Regiment, “The Jersey Blues,” in the French & Indian War 1755-1760” was quite interesting. It has been a bit difficult to find good sources on the colonial regiments in order to evaluate their performance during various campaigns. Ultimately, for my project, I doubt I learned much new.
To finish off this post, here are some fresh pictures from the fort and its surroundings.
