MT04 French & Indian War

MT 4 French & Indian War
Each player plays each scenario...

MT04 French & Indian War

Two general rules for the Indian units
The Indian Units are straight up Light Units without modification, but a few generic limitiations
1. Indian Chiefs use the Clan Chief rules from Jacobite Rising.
www.commandsandcolors.net/tricorne/the-g...jacobite-rising.html
2. Indian units cannot be ordered by any card with "Line" in the card Title. (e.g. Line Command, Line Volley).

in the La Belle Famille scenario, place the Indian Chief with any French Indian unit. Once placed, the Chief is permanently attached to the unit.
www.commandsandcolors.net/tricorne/maps/...le-24-july-1759.html

MM06 La Belle-Famille (24 July 1759)   (Game 20)
Mark McG (British)  6 banners  21 blocks lost
Renaud ( French)  5 banners  32 blocks lost

So this ran to a 3.5 hour game, though in truth it was gripping enough I barely noticed the time passing. However, I was surprised enough by the game time duration to review my playtest notes, and discovered I had the same experience there, and resolved it by making non-Indian units and leaders worth 2 banners!. Guess that never made it to the VASSAL file. So for a shorter game, play that special rule (it is on the website version).

So that admission being made, the game we played was slow to start, the initial ambush doing little, and the British had nothing to follow it up. The French retired across the field and formed a line, and then advanced to just out of range. Thence followed a period of card weeding, both sides looking for an opening. In the end, the Brits made a small effort in the centre, which brought a French response of a Line advance forward, and there was a longish period of shots exchanged and 2-3 hex range. The British in cover tended to get the better of this, but barely, and in the end the French moved to their right to chase the indians. 

In response, the British right advanced in a series of bayonet charges that pushed back the French centre and claimed several banners, and lost a few as well. It was neck and neck the whole game, 1:1, 2:2, 3:3 etc. One feature of the play was the huge numbers of flags rolled, lot of retreating and rallying. Routs came late in the game.
Eventually the French regulars had retreated of gone to the right, and the French indians pushed up the centre, throwing back the British.

In the woods, the French regulars were pressing back the Iraquios, and just in time I started getting cards for my left. There followed a running fight through the woods, the indians pushing the French regulars back with their fire from the trees, and the French bayonet charges (and Quick timing indians) forcing the Iraquois to retire. Here as well it was neck and neck, and at 5:5, both looked for the winning blow. Fortunately it was the French who flinched. 

A really immersive game, despite the length. 
 

MM04 Monongahela (9 July 1755)  (Game 6)
Renaud (British) 3 banners 24 blocks lost
Mark McG ( French) 6 banners 20 blocks lost

Another ambush scenario, this time the French indians ambushing a British column.

In classic style the indians closed in around the flanks, peppering the English with shot. Attempts to break out to the left were corked by Pontiac, letting the attackers get close enough to see the whites of their scalps before firing. The indians were far lesss enthusiastic about cannon fire, and several bands deserted when Pontiac was killed, but with Beaujeau and co closing in, it became a matter of time. The colonials tried to surge up against Shingas, but his excellent use of the wooded terrain defeated them.

In the final rush, another warband fled, but Beaujeau took his marines into the fray and defeated Braddock's last position.
 

I've editied the match pairings a little to have each player play each scenario twice, once as each side. So please check your matches again, and just make sure that this is happening for you.

Ft. Carillon 
Justin ( French)  8 banners  15 blocks lost
Mark McG (British)  2 banners  34 blocks lost

If anyone wins this scenario as the British it should mean automatic tournament victory Mark positioned, repositioned, and then positioned some more while staying out of firing range. All the while I had a hand full of very good cards (line volley x3 and a couple leadership cards along with first strike) that I did not want to play at all until he came within range. He eventually Stole a March up my right flank and eliminated my marine and militia units but paid a heavy cost in the end by losing 5 units (highlanders, grenadier, light, rangers, and Grant). The remaining fight took place on my left/his right and I still had good cards that made it very difficult to advance. Incredibly difficult scenario for the Brits.

Quebec
Mark McG ( French)  4 banners  28 blocks lost
Justin  (British)  7 banners  16 blocks lost

Lost my lone artillery during the cannonade, but most of what needs to be said about this match is that the Grenadier with a leader is the equivalent of a revolutionary tank. That unit advanced up the center and wreaked havoc on the French. Was also extremely fortunate to eliminate Montcalm and his infantry unit (failed rally) on a ranged attack. I was then up 3-2 but it would not last as my highlanders went down along with Townsend to give Mark the 4-3 edge. The grenadiers then took the reins and showed off by ignoring 2 flags on at least 5 different rolls to completely ravage what was left of the French line - even running Senerzergues off the baseline. Mark was a tough opponent as always!
 

Monongahela (Game 9)
rjvonline (French) 1 banner 24 blocks lost
gotigerssc (British) 6 banners 12 blocks lost

I knew I had to abandon my stretched out line and immediately set about moving all units into one (diamond shaped?) group in the middle center of the board. My strategy until the latter half of the game was to stay together, move weak troops out of sight and take opportunistic shots where possible. Pontiac brought two units behind me and was able to eliminate the light artillery. I then moved in to melee against him to put the threat away. At the end of the game I had to split my forces into two units with one pursuing Beaujeu's marines on my right and the other giving chase to a lone light unit on my left and we eventually caught Beajeu, and then ambushed him for the win. Renaud had horrific dice rolls during this match - multiple times I survived a rally 1 and other times he could not do anything to get a hit.



 

Belle Ville

Renaud rjvonline (Brits, 26 blocks lost) 6 vs Justin gotigerssc (French, 35 blocks lost) 5

Perhaps uncharacteristically, the Brits came out blazing in the center and right an scored some hits, but mostly flags or nothing on the French, a pattern that would repeat many times throughout the game. After an attempt at fighting back, the French pulled their line backwards, a combination of flags from the Brits and cards played. They did net 1 hit and flag on a British regular unit that routed on 3 dice. While the brits slowly pursued the French in the center and right, the French's Indian allies moved on the British left, but never killed a British allied Indian unit, although the chief's unit was reduced to 1 block. In fact, it is the French allies who eventually got eh worse of it, losing 2 of their units. The Brits also nabbed a French regular in the center, and then a second, leading 4-1. They then decided to go for victory with a Bayonet Charge against a 3-block unit and a 1-block unit BEHIND. The idea was to soften the 3-block unit with the British provincials, then kill it with Massey's regulars and make a bonus attack against the 1-block Grenadier unit. Unfortunately for the Brits, they couldn't kill the 3-block unit, and thus they didn't get a chance  against the Grenadiers. A French counter-attack nabbed the 3 British units in the center, but Massey escaped and eventually rejoined his Indian allies. Another British bayonet attack in the center nabbed 1 medal as on his 4th or 5th rally roll for a 1-block unit (the Marines), Justin finally failed and it was 5-5. He attempted a 1/6 wins it shot against a 1-block British allied Indian unit, but did not succeed (he got a flag and it was ignored). Finally the British light units all activated and started shooting, with Massey's unit staying static and benefiting from a Ranged Fire card to kill the French Grenadiers and achieved a 6-5 hard-won victory for the British side.

I couldn't complain about my cards, but my rolls weren't so great for most of the game. Justin did very well on his rally rolls, but did eventually lose some that way. I get the sense he might have been hindered by a lack of center cards at the very end. It was a long and tense game. We chose not to use the 2 VP per regular special rule, otherwise I think the Brits would have won 6-3 as I think they nabbed their second Regular kill before the French got their last 3 VP.

Game 7 Monongahela
Gonzo (British) 3 banners 25 blocks lost
gotigerssc (French) 6 banners 14 blocks lost

The entire game more or less boiled down to a single turn with four really unfortunate rally checks for the Brits. It started when his full strength regular unit with an attached leader, who was supported by two other units, failed a rally check...then St. Clair failed his, which caused the adjacent full strength provincial unit to fail, and then finally a one figure provincial also failed. The score at that point was 5-0 but I was out of decent cards and needed to reposition for the final attack. In the meantime, Joe was able to cause three of my units to fail rally checks while also eliminating Pontiac from one of them. I was then able to give chase and get the last banner.