Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Montcalm & Wolfe Campaign

 The campaign game begins in May 1755 with dispositions as outlined in the initial campaign post.  After bolstering the French by two more irregular regiments, I am ready to step off on campaign.

May 1755: 
Wanting to seize the initiative, the British, under Johnson, strike out with forces to garrison Fort Stanwix.  Johnson brings along two regular regiments in bateaux up the Mohawk River and reaches the fort.  Similarly, Shirley leads the rangers and two militia up the Hudson valley to Fort Edward.  The British attempt to recruit the Cayuga in order to push a garrison into Fort Oswego but fail to coerce the natives.

The French erupt from Fort Niagara with Contrecoeur and two regular regiments in an attempt to steal a march on the British and take the ungarrisoned Fort Oswego.  Traveling by boat, Contrecoeur reaches the fort and after a skirmish, the French take Oswego.  Political Track shifts one in favor of the French.  
May 1755
June 1755:
British roll for activation and get three points.  One more militia marches up to Fort Edwards.  Leaving Fort Stanwix garrisoned, Johnson departs and heads to the Cayuga settlement.  Even with his presence, Johnson cannot persuade the Cayuga to join.  In the west, Braddock marches out of Baltimore to Alexandria with two regulars and one militia.

French roll on the activation table and receive no activations.  Tuscarora join the French and successfully raid Wilkes Barre.  Another Political Track shift for the French.  
June 1755
July 1755:
British choose to automatically activate one force only.  With this one activation, Braddock moves his force to Fort Cumberland.  Johnson still has no luck in convincing the Cayuga.

French roll on the Activation Table and get four activations.  One militia moves by boat from Montreal to Oswegatchie.  A second militia moves from Trois Rivieres to Isle aux Noix.  Rigaud and one militia move down to Isle aux Noix.  The rampaging Tuscarora move on to Easton but fail in successfully raiding the settlement.  Finally, one regular is transported by boat from Quebec to Montreal. 
July 1755
August 1755:
British roll for activations and receive two.  One activation is spent moving Braddock's force into the wilderness towards Fort Duquesne.  The second activation is used to send one militia from Albany to New York City.  Johnson still cannot convince the Cayuga to join the British cause.
August 1755
French roll on the Activation Table receiving three. One point is spent moving the militia in Oswegatchie to Fort Frontenac while a second point is spent sending the Tuscarora natives on a raid to Carlisle.  This the natives do successfully.  One more Political Track shift in favor of the French. Trying to get the Oneida to ally with the French was a bust.
August 1755
With Braddock out in the wilderness, his forces must forage.  One regular and one militia disappear into the wilderness never to be seen again.  Disaster along the Monongahela and history repeats itself.
August 1755
Thus far, no large actions have occurred but the British have definitely been pushed back on their heels.  September will likely see action along the banks of Lake George and Lake Champlain as both forts William-Henry and Carillon become active.

11 comments:

  1. Great start for the French. Can they keep it up?

    I left PC wargaming for miniatures but your AAR makes me want to do PBEM again. Thanks for that! ;-)

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    1. Very good start for the French. We know that the French need a good start since numbers turn against them quickly. A battle of attrition they cannot win.

      I am only using the VASSAL module as a game aid which I think it does well. Much better than having a boardgame laying about the house and I can take it with me. PC wargaming never interested me much but I did play a lot of board wargames before miniatures.

      Let me see how this solo campaign works. If I think it works, I may consider sending out a call for active participants to command and make decisions while I moderate and resolve tabletop encounters.

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  2. A very interesting start to your campaign.

    Christopher

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    1. Very interesting start! The French have made good progress early.

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  3. Interesting read. When it comes time for the mini games, can Maurice be used at this scale?

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    1. Maurice could certainly be used as a means of resolving the tabletop actions and Maurice is completely scalable. I was thinking of using my Le Petite Guerre rules, though.

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  4. Interesting start - the Indians so far seem to be avoiding the White Man's battles!

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    1. Yes, the natives have not been cooperating with their allies, yet.

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  5. Great campaign scenario - I think the familiarity of the geographics (for us US types) as well as the brevity of the war/campaign makes it uniquely interesting and playable.

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    1. I agree! Even though the war lasted eight years, large scale land battles were very rare. I don't want to generate too many actions that need to be fought on the game table, do I?

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