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!