Louisbourg 1758

 Another week, another boardgame!  This time a recent acquisition of my friend Andrew's.  This is Louisbourg 1758 a new game by Worthington Games

Similar to other games we've played before like like Quebec 1759 and Wilderness Empires, this is a very nice block game depicting Wolfe's attempts to land and capture the town of Louisbourg... one of my favourite periods.  As you'd expect from Worthington the board and components are very nice and the game is relatively simple.

The French are very outmatched and need to delay the British advance and then hold out in Louisbourg until the turn clock runs down. The British have a choice of 3 landing sites... I chose to concentrate everything onto one beach which initially paid off and Andrew's weedy French troops pulled back.  Each player has a hand of action cards but for several of the opening turns I only had cards that my opponent could use... eventually a couple of useful ones came my way, allowing me to make a rapid forced march and to have a bonus bombarding the French ships in the bay which resulted in sinking 1 of the 2 ships.  This proved vital as it meant the French ability to bombard my troops was significantly reduced.  

By the half way point I'd managed to surround the town and begin bombarding it.  Luck was on my side here as my dice rolls were singularly lucky (helped by the fact that I had the town surrounded on 3 sides, giving a bonus) and Andrew's counter-firing was singularly unlucky with some epically bad dice rolls!!  

The British win by either seizing the town or by moving their ships into the bay and still having a decent sized force surrounding Louisbourg.  I realised too late that simply bombarding the town was unlikely to win the game and that I needed to march troops around the bay to seize Lighthouse Point and Island Battery, allowing the ships to enter.  I managed to capture both strong points and on the final turn was poised to sail triumphantly into the bay when the weather turned and my ships were unable to move!!  Gutted!!  If I'd worked this key point out a couple of turns earlier I may have pulled it off but as it was, the French held out and Wolfe had to slink off with his tail between his legs (pun very much intended!)

An excellent game and worth looking out for.  Just the right level of complexity and a tight turn limit, which makes for a nail biting conclusion. 

Wilderness Empires #2

I had another chance to play a game of Wilderness Empires this week...scarily I realised it's almost 2 years since this last had an outing.  My last post on it is here and contains a summary of how the game actually works.  Essentially it's a strategic game of the battles for North America pitting the British and their Iroquois allies against the French and a mix of local tribes.

I'd bought the game on a trip back home to Glasgow (at the excellent Static Games).  In fact I'd spotted it on sale in the shop, convinced myself that I didn't need/couldn't afford it, and then immediately kicked myself for not buying itas soon as I got back home!  Luckily I engineered an excuse to go back into Glasgow a couple of days later and it was still there....never pass up an obvious bargain!!!

In the game movement is restricted to preset routes and regular infantry are pretty slow unless they have a decent Commander to lead them.  Militia and Native Americans can move faster

The map from the French side

The combat dice give 3 results...a hit, a miss and a 'Refuse to Fight'.  When this is rolled a Militia or Native American unit withdraws from the fight.  So if your force is composed of irregulars this can be pretty devastating, even if they do come skulking back rather shame-facedly at the end of the fight.

Both sides can also use event cards which can affect combat results but even more usefully can bring in Regular troops and Commanders as reinforcements (as long as you have access to a port).   These Regulars can be in short supply so need to be used carefully

The combat dice

The actual strength of each block is hidden from your opponent

Leader counters and a selection of cards.....really nice artwork by Don Trioani

The Native American villages are represented by cute little buildings
(until the evil British burn them to the ground...)

Montcalm faces off against a very imposing wall of British units...but are they regulars or militia...?

In our game we fought a series of skirmishes over forts in the interior with both sides capturing them and then being driven back.  As the French I found it really hard to get out of my home territory and to take the offensive.  Anthony as the British was driving me back onto Quebec and Montreal but the downside of this was that each winter (the game is played in seasons) the Iroquois and French Native Americans all go home and there is a risk that some of your militia may also head home if they are too far from their farms and villages.  They can move back into combat in the Spring but it does mean you need to think carefully about the timing of your campaigns.

We ended up manoeuvring around each other for several turns fighting minor skirmishes before fighting a couple of large battles around Fort Carillon and Fort Frontenac which left both sides badly depleted.  Although each side still had a core force of regulars the attrition was affecting the French more and I don't think there was any way I'd have been able to do more than postpone the inevitable fall of Quebec. 

Given that the rules are only 8 pages ling this is a surprisingly challenging game that makes you think about timing and manoeuvre in launching your campaigns

Wilderness Empires

Back at the end of September when I was up in Glasgow I managed to pick up a bargain set of Wilderness Empires by Worthington Games at Static Games in the city centre.

The game is a large scale strategic game of the French Indian Wars which uses wooden blocks to represent regiments and leaders.  The board and components are very nice with large chunky blocks and very nicely illustrated cards and rules with illustrations by Don Troiani.

The game is played in Seasons (spring, summer and fall) with each side manoeuvring armies.  Leaders make this easier although militia and Indians are pretty mobile.  Each side also has a hand of cards which can give bonuses, add reinforcements etc but these can only be played in limited numbers and this is determined by the season.  No action takes place in Winter but cards are replenished   and, more crucially, Indians and possibly some Militia go home which can scupper your well laid plans

Victory is gained by taking (and holding) key objectives for each side...as you get victory points each season you hold an objective the VPs can mount up pretty quickly so there is a real pressure to take back territory before it's too late.

Combat is interesting...the game comes with special dice with 3 results.  A Blank means no hit, Arrows equal a hit and a 3rd symbol (a shield or an eye?) means an Indian or Militia unit in the battle refuses to fight: they don't desert but seem to just sit on the side-lines and rejoin the army once the dust has settled.  This means that an army composed of regular troops is more likely to stick around for the whole battle and can also take more hits. Of course armies are dependent on Militia and, in the case of the French on Indian allies so this doesn't always go to plan.  The British can also burn Indian villages which limits the locations Indian units can retire to in Winter.

I played a trial game against Mike at the Guildford Club...as neither of us had played we were both equally unsure how to approach the game.  I played the British and, in the spirit of the Empire, immediately set off to the Indian territory to burn villages.  I'm not sure this gained me much and may have become a bit of a distraction.  In the centre Mike launched an attack on the British forts and we both got drawn into a long tussle of the centre ground. 

I was very fortunate that the cards I received allowed me to add quite a few regular units as reinforcements.  The British control a number of ports so I had quite a bit of choice about where these would turn up...Mike on the other hand was limited to a couple of ports and when my rapidly growing reinforced army launched an attack and seized Louisbourg he was very restricted.  This showed the advantage of sending in an army entirely made up of regulars as, although I took casualties, no one was subject to the 'Refuse to Fight' result.  Mike didn't seem to get anything like the amount of reinforcements I had and some of his cards which allowed this were dependent on him owning Louisbourg...oops!  I managed to take back the territory I'd lost in the centre and with Louisbourg in my possession the VPs started to mount until the French weren't in a position to challenge.

It was an ideal game for a club evening...challenging but not too demanding and just the right length of time to play.  It felt a bit one sided once the British reinforcements rolled in but I wasn't sure if this was just down to some bad luck with the cards rather that imbalance. Good fun and definitely one to try again

Land of the Free

 

I was lucky enough to be sent a pre-release copy of Land and Freedom from the lovely people at Osprey.

 

This is the latest in their steady stream of rulesets that seem to be coming out every month at present.  I’d expected these to be in the same format as the other Osprey rules I’ve played [In Her Majesty’s Name, Ronin and World in Flames] which are relatively slight softcover rules but this is a much chunkier 192 page hardback book, retailing at £25.  It’s a very pretty book to look at with lots of illustrations, both the artwork you’d expect to see in an Osprey, but also lots of photos of figures on the tabletop.

 

As the title suggests it covers conflicts in North America, from the French Indian War through to the War of 1812.  Most of my FIW gaming is at a very skirmish scale with rulesets such as Musket and Tomahawk and La Longue Carabine [the Sharpe Practice variant]  and these rules would appear to allow the player to field units ranging from ‘tiny’, consisting of 2-6 men, up to ‘large’ units of up to 30 figures.

Throughout the rules the author stresses that there is no mandatory size of unit of composition of armies other than each side having to field a Force Commander and a minimum of 2 Group Commanders to take charge of parts of the army [which in turn have between 2 and 6 ‘elements’].  Because of this attempt to keep things flexible, the rules use quite generic  terms for units/regiments/companies etc: the unit of manoeuvre is referred to throughout as an ‘Element’ which I must admit I found a little confusing at first... too much DBA in the past perhaps!

 

 

Each Element has a number of stats including its Manoeuvre rating [the number of movement actions it can take each turn ...move, change formation, reload etc], Combat rating [the number of times it can fire or melee in an activation], Discipline [how well it maintains cohesion/casualties], Morale [kind of obvious] and Action Dice which are added to firing or melee.  These stats vary depending on the size of the unit .  At this point in the rules I was a bit concerned as the unit descriptions seem very generic with no distinction between different armies etc...more on this later.

 

 

Units.. sorry...Elements... are activated each turn by either the Force Commander or their respective Group Commander, each of whom has a Command rating.  This gives him a variable number of points each turn with which he can order Elements to do additional things such as extra actions. Boosting morale, an inspirational charge or a concentrated volley among others.  Each commander  has a sphere of influence dependent on his skill rating , so has to make sure his troops are within a specific radius.

Combat seems fairly straightforward with each factor adding or subtracting  a d6 from a starting total and 5s or 6s needed to cause a hit.  Melee follows a similar structure.  These sections of the rules, like the others, are well illustrated with examples of play and there are plenty of diagrams to aid clarification.

 

Casualties aren’t represented by figure removal but instead cause units to take a Discipline Morale test which can force a unit to withdraw if they fail and also degrade the units Discipline level, moving it from ‘Fit’ down to ‘Shattered’ [via ‘Shaken’ and ‘Exhausted’...actually this sounds like the effects of my normal day at work!] but this can be improved by Commanders judicious use of Command points to rally the troops.  This is likely to involve the use of markers or tokens which may be a turn-off for some gamers.  Apparently tokens are already in production....

 

 

There is a comprehensive, and again well illustrated, section on the effects of terrain and then a section of Advanced Rules.  These include ‘specialist’ unit types which are specific to different theatres or combat roles.  This came as a bit of a relief after my worries about the generic feel.  Here there are troops such as Dragoons, Hessians, Grenadiers, Light Infantry, Indians, Militia  etc as well as special skills for some troop types such as Vanguard units, Ambushing, Woodsmen, Marksmen etc, allowing you to tailor your army to suit the period and scenario.

There are a series of general scenarios  ranging from straightforward encounters to Flank Attacks and Ambushes  before the rules conclude with 20 Historical Scenarios: 4 from the FIW, 7 for the AWI, 2 for the Northwest Indian War and 7 for the War of 1812.

 

So, what’s the verdict?? ......

 

Well, I haven’t played them yet, but plan to soon.  The rules seem clear and well-explained once you get past the use of terms like Force Commander and Element which do feel a bit generic and don’t give a feel for the period.  I like the way they reflect combat with casualties degrading the units morale and ability to fight rather than figure or stand removal [shades of Black Powder]. 

There are lots of explanations and illustrations which was helpful]. No index sadly which might have helped, but there’s a pretty clear contents and the layout and sequence makes sense  [which is more than can be said for some rules!]. 

On first reading I’d been a bit concerned as it places a lot of emphasis on each unit/Element being made up of a number of stands and has a section of how these should be made up, but having read them again it’s clear that this isn’t really necessary.  All my FIW troops are based singly and although this can be a bit of a pain when manoeuvring them, it wouldn’t really make a difference to using these rules.  My only reservation is that they might lack some of period and theatre specific flavour that works so well in Musket and Tomahawk but could make a good alternative to other rulesets covering this period and are well worth looking out for... definitely worth looking out for if you've an interest in this period.

 

 

 

 

 

Musket and Tomahawk





 

 

 

I haven't played Musket and Tomahawk for ages [at least 18 months if this blog is anything to go by] so when Andrew at the club asked if I could arrange a game of something but foolishly left the choice to me, it seemed like a good excuse to dig out the rules and give it another bash.

 

 

After a quick run through the mechanics [which are fairly straightforward and bear some similarity to Sharp Practice which Andrew and I have played before] we were off.  M&T uses a set up system where each player roles to see what their objective is... this can lead to games where both sides could theoretically win [it's happened once when I've played] but this is unlikely.  In our case the objectives matched nicely: Andrew's British troops were tasked with protecting the villagers while my Frenchies were given the appropriately names 'Slaughter' mission.

 

Both sides had a mix of Line Infantry and Indian allies... the British also had a lowly unit of Militia while the French had some hardened Canadian Irregulars.

 

 

The British were able to deploy in and around the village and quickly moved out to screen the villagers who began streaming back to the houses.  The French Line infantry meanwhile advanced steadily with one unit struggling to make it's way through the woods.  Their Indians and Canadians who were using hidden movement [using counters with 1 dummy counter] circled wide to the left using the woods and cornfields to ensure that they weren't spotted.

 

The woods are full of Indians!

 

 

The British Iroquois allies spent a couple of turns wandering around somewhat indecisively before settling in the hedged field next to the village.  The British also had 2 units held off table as reinforcements. The Militia turned up first and quickly sheltered in one of the houses as they could see the advancing counters of the French Indians.

 

The opposing Line units had advanced to meet each other and exchanged some long range fire which resulted in one of the French units being wiped out completely.  The other did manage to inflict some casualties on the British forcing them back from the hedged field which was rapidly becoming the key feature of the game

 

 

 



The French firing line...just before the left hand unit was wiped out!

Over near the British table edge the Canadians and one unit of Hurons were beginning to approach the nearest house in which the Militia were hiding.  I had a bit of a premonition at this point and swung the Canadians round to face the table edge as I had a feeling the remaining British Line unit was due to make an appearance and sure enough Andrew immediately made the required roll to bring them on, directly facing the Canadians. 

This now became a game of chicken... waiting to see who's card would come up first and luckily it was the French Irregulars.  As I suspected I wouldn't be able to win a firefight against a Firing Line the Canadians charged, throwing tomahawks as they went in.. a couple of rounds later and the British recoiled back off the table and were lost!

The other French Indian unit tried a similar charge against their Iroquois enemies which drove them back and then tried the same trick against the British Line troops in the field.   They forced the enemy back but they happily responded by reforming and pouring fire into the Indians, driving them back out and into a nearby cornfield

The Canadians and Indians, flushed with success,  tried advancing up to the nearest house and taking on the much derided Militia who managed to force them both back repeatedly with close range fire.

By this point the casualties had mounted on both sides but crucially my French were nowhere near getting to their objective of massacring the civilians... sadly the piles of dead British infantry didn't help with the victory conditions.... so the game ended as a British victory but one that would surely lead to awkward questions back at Horseguards about the heavy price [or at least that was my small crumb of comfort!]

As always Musket and Tomahawk gives a great game with a dramatic feel to it... we both forgot about our side missions along the way: Andrew's officer was meant to prove himself by taking on the enemy in hand to hand and I was meant to capture a prisoner... I might have been able to salvage a draw if I'd thought of it instead of merrily scalping everyone we met!!

The British Raid....

 

A hastily arranged game of Muskets and Tomahawks last night gave us a chance to try out another variation off troop combinations.

I fielded a mixed force of 3 French Line Infantry units and 2 groups of Indians but Anthony had the opportunity to unveil his new British troops.  He’d decided to go for quality over quantity with a unit of Grenadiers, a unit of Light Infantry and a unit of Rangers... all elite, a smattering of marksmen but very limited in numbers.  Would the Grenadiers impressive hats win the day?  Was the purchase of a cavalry sword for his officer going to influence the gods of war?

In a reverse of our last game the British were intent on attacking some peaceable French settlers and torching their log cabins.  The French had been warned of their advance and were tasked with destroying them. 

Keith had joined us for this game and took command of the Indians while I looked after the French Line.

The side missions had led to the British officer dragging a young lady as a hostage along with him [possibly in some not very well thought out attempt to impress her] and left a French officer hostage at the far end of the table [who we decided to ignore for the rest of the game... hopefully he eventually managed to chew through his bonds!]

The game began with the French advancing slowly past the village while the Indians trotted off through the woods trying to find an opportunity to fall on the British flanks.  The British Light Infantry and Rangers sped off south towards the village, leaving the Grenadiers to plod along slowly in their wake.  Having seen the speed of the British Irregulars advancing the French switched direction and took up position behind the village fence bracing themselves for the oncoming hail of elite fire.  One of Keith’s Indian units appeared from the village and charged straight for the Rangers in a flurry of feathers and hatchets.  A furious few minutes of hacking ensued and what was left of the Rangers fled back out of the woods.  Unfortunately this left the Indians at the mercy of the Light Infantry who almost wiped them out with musket fire, leaving one lone Indian to flee out of the woods back towards his French colleagues [remember him... he’ll reappear in a minute!]

The French defend the village...note the lone psychopathic Indian by the wood

 

Meanwhile the French Line infantry had redressed their lines and got into position to finish off the few remaining Rangers and to exchange fire with the Light Infantry.  We may have forgotten to re-roll some of the Lights missed shots [with the Marksman trait] but even if we had I suspect they would still have come off worst against 2 Line units in Firing Line.  Although their casualties weren’t high the Lights were forced to recoil and here we learned a crucial rule in M & T.... don’t advance down the table edge: if you do and then recoil you’ll move off table and be lost forever!

 

Keith’s other Indian unit had been shadowing the Grenadiers who had suddenly accelerated and were beginning to threaten the village.  Repeating his successful tactic and madly charging straight at the enemy the Indians charged through the woods onto the Grenadiers.  This was a much closer fight... the Grenadiers melee ability is as good as Indians and they outnumbered them but the Indians were ‘bloodthirsty’ making them especially effective in hand to hand.  Again Keith was able to force the British to recoil and again the table edge proved a valuable ally as the Grenadiers were forced over it and destroyed.

 



The French advance on the British Light Infantry

To add insult to injury Keith’s remaining single Indian [remember him?] took the opportunity to charge the lone British officer... a furious last ditch duel took place before the opponents managed to kill each other, leaving our hostage untended and in the relative safety of hordes of Frenchmen...



 So, the Quality vs. Quantity experiment wasn’t a great success... the Grenadiers might have made a difference but were slow in getting to the front [I blame their hats!] and the volume of ‘adequate’ gunfire outweighed the ‘elite’ fire that the British had in too limited numbers. 

And remember.... stay away from the table edge!!!

Log Cabins and Postman B****y Pat!

A tale of great products and not so good customer service...

My Musket and Tomahawk games have been suffering from a lack of buildings for the settlers to hide in when the rampaging Indians/French/British come calling so I was very tempted by some log cabins I came across produced by 4Ground.    4Ground's website

 

Technically these are listed under their Europe at War range and I guess are designed for use in Russia and Eastern Europe.  I’m sure there are some architectural experts out there who will point out discrepancies in the roof design but I figured a shack is a shack and no one would really notice. 

 

 

 

 

At £20 for 3 pre-painted cabins these represent really good value: they come in a flat pack assembly style and the main problem I had putting them together was that several pieces fell out of the frame before I could work out which was part A and which was part B!  Luckily I had my son on hand who was  after a favour and within an hour he’d built all three and assembled the pack of fences I’d also bought.  The models look great and are shown here with some Blue Moon 18mm figures for comparison.  They also smell really nice!!!  There’s more than a hint of woodsmoke presumably thanks to the laser-cutting which certainly adds to the atmosphere when your Indians are trying to roast the settlers hiding inside!

 

 

Actually getting my hands on the cabins was a lot more complicated than building them though!  I’d ordered them in mid-October and duly received confirmation from 4Ground that they’d received my order and then that it had been despatched.  I was away for a week in Scotland and assumed they’d be waiting from me [or at the post office] when  I got back.  On my return there were some parcels to collect but sadly nothing from 4Ground. 

 

Here’s where the customer service part went wrong.  I’d discovered the T&Cs which let me know that if I’d spent £2 more I would have had it sent via courier but as I’d spent £28 I only qualified for normal Royal Mail post and a proof of posting certificate: not 4Grounds fault as it was clearly on their site although I was a bit gutted as it looked as though my parcel had gone astray and there would be little I could do.  As we were now approaching a month from placing the order I emailed 4Ground... nothing.  I called... they’d have a look and get back to me... then nothing.  I called again asking for some kind of response... nothing [and nothing for the last week].  At this point my wife, out in the back garden with the dog discovered a parcel lying in a puddle by the back gate... the b***y postman had obviously lobbed it over the fence rather than leave it with a  neighbour or taking it back.  The packaging pretty much disintegrated when I brought it in but luckily the contents were sealed well inside and were intact.

All in all I’ve been left with pretty mixed feelings... the cabins are really great... some of the nicest I’ve seen and are really affordable .  For the sake of a call or an email though 4Ground could have made me a much happier punter.  As for the Post Office, I’ve logged a complaint but don’t really expect to hear back.  Would I buy more... definitely... but I’ll try and make sure I’m around when they’re delivered!

The Raid on Ste. Lorraine

We played another game of Muskets and Tomahawks at the club last night.  In previous games we’ve both fielded a mix of regulars, irregulars of various quality and Indians but I was keen to see how the game played when a regular line army was faced with a more mobile but less drilled force.

As usual Anthony took on the role of the British while Martin and I played the French and Indians.  The British had 3 Line units supported by some Rangers, defending a small hamlet deep in the Canadian woods.  The Indian raiding party, backed up by some Canadians and Coureur du Bois were intent on slaughtering the civilians cowering in one of the log cabins.

The British line up in front of the Village...but where are the Indians??

 

The British were faced with a mass of Hidden movement markers which caused widespread confusion, especially amongst my Indians as I kept forgetting which were real and which were dummies!

At the start of the game only half the British troops were on the table and Martin’s Canadians tried to take advantage of this by pushing forward through the trees towards the village on the British right, while the Indians took a slightly less direct route, trying to find a way through the woods and over the river onto the flanks of the British troops.  The British responded by sending the Rangers  into the woods to drive off the Canadians and after an exchange of fire the Coureur du Bois recoiled back under a hail of rifle fire.

The remaining British troops now arrived with one unit moving into the village while the other got bogged down on the wrong side of the river trying to work out which Indian markers were real and which were bogus.



The Canadians advance on the rather battered Rangers

Over on the British right the Coureur du Bois pushed back and combining their fire with the ordinary Canadian Irregulars inflicted heavy casualties on the Rangers who were still trying to work out how to reload these new-fangled rifles.  The Canadians then charged home and after a brief and bloody fight forced the Rangers to flee.  Unfortunately for the British this left one of their officers sat on his own in the path of a horde of angry French-Canadians...after a brief flurry of tomahawks and knives it was all over.  They followed up and also finished off what was left of the Rangers and opened up the path to the village.

Meanwhile the Indians were slowly picking their way towards the village and tying up 2 of the 3 British Line units who couldn’t decide which way to head.  The Indians revealed themselves by firing into the flanks of one of the units, slowly whittling it down while other pesky Indians advanced through the cover of a wheat field, doubtless sharpening their tomahawks as they went.



The Indians reveal themselves with a surprisingly effect volley

The continuous fire from the remarkably accurate Indians polished off one of the regular units and at this point, as the evening was drawing on, Anthony conceded the game.  The Indians and Canadians had both managed to get within 4” of the village which the British had been trying to prevent and although we hadn’t actually managed to slaughter any civilians [who’d remained safely tucked away in a cabin] it was only a matter of time.



 

 

The game felt very different to previous games of Musket and Tomahawk that we’ve played.  In these the line troops had been very effective and were able to put down heavy fire with devastating results but this time the regulars were much less effective.  Anthony had to continually try to readjust the units to maintain his facing opposite the Indians whose faster movement through the woods really came into its own.  There was a palpable feeling of growing claustrophobia and the Ambush markers crept closer and closer to the enemy and a real frustration for the British at not having the mobility to counter this.  The Rangers may have been able to have countered this but had met a bloody demise by this point.

Another excellent outing for these rules which had proved really impressive so far!