Thanksgiving Day Game Preparations

Bookending Thanksgiving dinner will be a small French & Indian War action using 25mm figures, half of my 6' x 12' table, and le Petite Guerre rules.  Le Petite Guerre (LPG) is geared towards small scale actions where maneuver units represent company-sized formations with each figure representing about 5 men.  Each unit has a Combat Value (CV) that can fluctuate throughout the game with a propensity for dropping rather than climbing.  No figures are removed until a unit's CV drops to zero at which time the unit is removed from play.  Ideas from many rules have been melded to produce these game mechanisms.

A rendering (converting from pdf to png lost a bit of clarity) of the QRS is illustrated below.  The QRS fits onto one side of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and will be folded in half for reference during play.

Le Petite Guerre QRS

The setup for this game features a small clearing bifurcated by a stream with woods covering most of the battlefield.

Game Map 1

The French and their allies will be defending the stream while the British attempt to push the French off of the board.  British forces will be attacking from right to left (Game Map 1).

British forces include three companies of regular foot (two hat coys and one grenadier coy), three companies of colonial militia, one company of frontiersmen, one British light infantry company, and one company of rangers.  The French will be led by three companies of foot (two hat coys and one grenadier coys), one company of coureur des bois  and four native warbands.  The British will have the advantage of command with three officers present while the French only field one. 

Initial setup will be as shown in Game Map 2.

Game Map 2

In LPG, regulars will be tough to beat by irregulars in the open while in the woods, the irregulars should have the upper hand.  With terrain dominated by woods, surprise is always a real possibility.  Pity the regular officer who doesn't have irregulars out protecting (or at least warning) of potential dangers.  If the natives are allowed to eliminate a unit in combat then morale for the British should disintegrate or at least halt thoughts of any offensive actions.   

With Kevin ever the Francofile, perhaps he should command the French with Ben taking overall command of the British, n'est-ce pas?