State of Play: French and Indian War (4/6)

   

 

After a few weeks of inactivity, we returned to French and Indian War, 1757-1759 (Worthington Publishing, 2020) last week. This was our fourth outing with this game, and I think we've got through the teething problems and can concentrate on gaining strategic advantage over the enemy. As per our agreed schedule, T played the French again, and I played the British. This was our second turn each, after playing the first two games as the other faction.

After three French victories in a row (two to me, one to T), I was keen to prove the game was not imbalanced and that the British could indeed win under historical conditions (i.e., the proscribed set-up). I set a defensive posture in the central region, committing significant Regular forces at Fort William McHenry to protect the potential highway to New York, but aimed to concentrate my efforts on first liberating Fort Duquesne, then pushing through Le Boeuf and Pressque Isle to Fort Niagara. I also wanted to secure the Atlantic early on and threaten Louisbourg, though I was ambivalent about actually attacking the port.

I did manage to take Fort Dequesne, in the first year (1757), and managed to hold it until year’s end, but a redoubled effort on T’s part – along with some canny to-hit rolls, managed to drive me out again, as far back as Alexandria. In the spring of 1759 (the beginning of the final game-year), I steeled myself for a second thrust into the wilds of New France. This is where the lack of French reinforcements compared to the British was telling. I managed to bulldoze my way as far as Pressque Isle before the French conceded defeat.

T changed his tactics as the French as well. Last time we played. In our last game, after securing the Atlantic, my British forces made a successful marine assault on Louisbourg early in the second year, and threatened to push on to Quebec, but was pushed back by force. This threat tied up some of T’s units that may have been useful elsewhere, but alas, it wasn’t enough to allow me the latitude to gain the ten-point lead needed for a British victory in the subsequent scoring rounds.

In this game, T doubled down on the reverse tactic, putting two of his precious reinforcement points into two ships in an effort to secure the Atlantic for a French naval invasion (which he managed tidily). I had landed Regular reinforcements in Halifax with the view them joining their brethren in Boston, them marching them through Deerfield to Hampshire with the view of assaulting Fort Carillon, allowing the troops at Fort William McHenry to remain securing Albany/Oneida. With the Atlantic held by the French navy (quelle horreur!), those troops were stuck there, but proved up to the task when T did attack Halifax, only to be repulsed. His two Regulars and one Militia were no match for four full-strength units of Redcoats, who handed them their hats with only two strength point losses between them.

The face of the enemy.

T’s mistake in the second half of the game (roughly half-way into the second year) was not withdrawing after two rounds of battle and preserving his forces, but to insist on fighting to the bitter end. Perhaps it was because he was weary from campaigning on a different front (he had been playing a rather long game of Lords of Waterdeep (Wizards of the Coast, 2012) with the family before I arrived and throughout my set-up time). Whatever the reason, his flagrant disregard for the wellbeing of his troops cost him resources that, with some judicious movement, may have cost me the game simply by occupying enough British locations to deny me the full ten-point lead I needed to secure victory.

With four turns remaining, but having only three units left on the board, the French leadership conceded to the British, leaving the battlefield, and all of New France, to the victors. The Brightest candles burn out quickly, and France burned so very bright on the field. The British forces were a shadow of their former glory, but remained on the field in great enough numbers to hold their ground.

End state at French capitulation (1759, end of turn 7).

So, the British can win with the historical set-up, but it was certainly not a given. There were a couple of points where a stronger French victory or a canny retreat may have changed the situation and secured yet another victory for la belle France. We have two games left of French and Indian War, and our intention is to play the last two games with one game each as the French, but with the freeform set-up described in the rules. The same reinforcement schedule applies, so the game will have the same limitations for both sides. It should be an interesting venture. Stay tuned.