From: "Mark E. Johnson" Subject: Montcalm & Wolfe replay [long] This is a rather wordy account, and we didn't even finish the game. It plays pretty quickly, though, as we completed eleven turns in about 90 minutes. Though the entire game lasts about three times that long, I suspect in most cases the victory conditions will be met before then, one way or another. That's because whichever side is winning gains an advantage on reinforcements (better support from Europe), which tends to snowball. And two consecutive years of maximum political advantage brings a sudden death victory. I'll be doing another one of these for my next game later this week, but won't clog up the mailing list with it again. Email me privately if you'd like a copy. (Will also post this one to VHWQ, in the Markham Designs section.) Montcalm & Wolfe Replay Game played August 13, 1997 Opponent: Hank Alme Scenario: Variable Reinforcements Initial Setup: As specified, with the extra French Regulars at Fort Duquesne (2 units), and Fort Frontenac (1 unit) May, 1755: - The British move Shirley and Johnson's combined forces upriver by bateaux from Albany to Fort Edward, and Braddocks forces take the pike from Baltimore to Alexandria. They also win the Cayuga over to their side, and a unit of warriors moves to Fort Oswego to aid its defense. - The French mobilize Contrecoeur with his lone units of Regular and Irregular troops, who move toward Fort Oswego, but cannot reach it in one turn, so are forced to deal with the harsh supply rules: the Regulars fail their foraging check and are removed, but the Irregulars pull through. Elsewhere, Bougainville moves two units of Militia from Montreal to Isle aux Anne. Their longshot at winning some Iroquois (the Tuscarona) fails (as it will for several turns to come). June, 1755: - The sizeable British force at Fort Edward begins an ambitious campaign north through Lakes George and Champlain. Fort William Henry is not yet completed, and neither is the French Fort Carillon, so they, too, must face supply checks. In doing so they lose half of their strength, as a unit of Regulars, two of Militia, and their sole Ranger unit are removed! In the South, Braddock moves overland to Fort Cumberland. They also ally with another Iroquois tripe, the Seneca, who join the Cayuga at Fort Oswego. - With Contrecoeur down to a single unit, supply would not be a problem until winter, so instead of moving against Fort Oswego, he held up, waiting for an additional unit of Regulars (without a Leader--presumably led by a junior officer) to move south from Fort Frontenac to assist the assault later. With the British firmly committed to an overland campaign--no sizeable force ready to leave port for an amphibious attack on Quebec--Dieskau led all three of its Militia units up river to the settlement Trois Rivieres to respond to the threat at Lake Champlain. July, 1755: - The British strike first, taking Isle aux Anne from the French with hardly a fight among the troops, although it was rougher on the Leaders! General Shirley was captured by the French, while their General Bougainville was wounded (both removed from the board). Thus, the first political shift goes to the Brits. - The French are now ready to assault Fort Oswego, and succeed (the Indian defenders routed quickly), but not before losing their unit of Irregulars, and *another* leader due to wounds! The political balance is restored. Dieskau reaches Montreal (leaving one Militia unit in Trois Rivieres). August, 1755: - The British basically sat tight, intent on holding Isle aux Anne and unable to deal with the French in Oswego immediately. - The French send their best and only Leader, Dieskau, and two units of Regulars to retake Isle aux Anne from the British and their two units of Militia, one of Regulars. In the opening rounds the French are beaten back. Unbelievably, Dieskau is wounded, and removed from play. The French decide to retreat before losing any combat units, and hope for the best during the supply phase, which they survive intact. The French now have no Leaders on the map, a disadvantage for combat and most especially movement! September, 1755: - Knowing the onboard Indian units are about to disband for the upcoming winter--and that they should fare better with the following spring's reinforcements than the French--the British again pretty much sit tight. - The troops that failed to take Isle aux Anne fall back to Montreal to wait out the winter. Winter, 1755: (two turns, actually) - Besides the odd unit transfer to a neighboring fort or settlement to better withstand the winter, nothing really happens. (It *could* have, but both players chose to wait for fresh reinforcements.) No Regular or Irregular/Light troop units were disbanded during this time, but virtually all Militia units demobilized. Consulting the reinforcement table and rolling the die, the French gained one unit of Militia, one Irregular, two Regular units, and a badly needed Leader (actually pulled the formerly wounded Dieskau, now apparently recuperated). The British also got one Militia and one Light unit, and a single new leader (the unremarkable Murray), but their two rolls for Regulars netted them six (!) units. Uh-oh... May, 1756: - The British deployed some of their new troops substantially inland at Fort Stanwick, and quickly moved upon the sparse French captors of Fort Oswego. The French saw the writing on the wall, and chose to engage the British *outside* the fort, thus enabling them to retreat after the first round of combat. Since the British had used all of Fort Stanwick's troops to retake Oswego, it looked like the displaced French regulars might just take that fort next, but the Brits won over the Cayuga tribe, which quickly moved to garrison Fort Stanwick. - The French fail to get *any* units moving (bad roll on the Command Table), but the turn is not a total loss, since the Tuscarona are finally convinced to fight against the British colonies, and immediately stage a successful raid on the nearest settlement, Wilkes-Barre. June, 1756: - The British are mostly content to let the fighting come to them, so only shuttle a few troops, and put Murray's forces in Fort Oswego on Reserve, ready to respond to any movement of the nearby French Regulars. - Those Regulars don't care to face all of Murray's forces, so hold off on their planned attack on the weakly defended Fort Stanwick. Instead, Dieskau leads a large force (4 Regulars) out of Montreal, again trying to dislodge the British from Isle aux Anne. And once again, he is unsuccessful! And with the number of troops involved, this qualifies as a "major victory" for the British, and the political tide takes a substantial jump in their favor. At least the French leader wasn't wounded this time. July, 1756: - A botched activation roll on the command table gives the French one quick shot at taking Fort Stanwick while only defended by one unit of Cayuga Indians. Instead, the sole unit of French Regulars is itself eliminated the same turn as the Cayuga, so the Fort stays in British hands. Murray then leads some troops toward Fort Frontenac, now clearly threatening New France. - The French aren't able to do much this turn, having lost some of their precious regulars in the previous turn's failed assault by Dieskau. They must prepare to defend against the inevitable British assault on Montreal. At least the Tuscarona are able to raid Wilkes-Barre again, helping to offset some of the British political gains. Also, the first non-Iroquois Indians are recruited, Hurons for the defense of Montreal. August, 1756: - More botched activation rolls give the French a chance to do something, but what? The Tuscarona try to take the fight *to* Braddock and his single unit of Light troops trying to run down the raiders, but nothing comes of it. They actually get a second chance to do the same before any Brits move, but with similar results. Finally the British get to move their own forces, which starts with Murray's easy capture of Fort Frontenac. Things are looking dire for New France... The big battle is next, as Johnson leads his full command of four Regular units, plus one more, to attack Montreal (later learned I did the movement wrong, and they could not have made it that far in a single turn--rats). Opposing them from within the fort was Dieskau, two units of Regulars, the Hurons, and some Militia recently transfered from a nearby settlement. Dieskau elected to stay with the Militia throughout the battle, bolstering their morale (which kept them from routing midway through). When the dust settled, no fighting units but the French Militia were left. Montreal was saved in this "major victory" for the French, offsetting the earlier political score by the British. At this point we had to call the game, which was being played on an extended lunch break at work (about 1.5 hours total). If Montreal had fallen the game would've been pretty clearly a win for Britain, all that remained would have been one more game-year of mopping up. But with that valiant defense, and the effect of the Tuscarona raids, the outcome was no longer certain. Murray's forces were a threat, and the Brits would no doubt gain more Regular troops than the French on the upcoming spring reinforcements, but the French were in good position to quickly and finally retake Isle aux Anne and Fort Carillon, at least. It would have been interesting to see how that ended. My general impression after playing this partial game was quite good, better than after my first game (and I'd enjoyed that, too). Even just playing two game-years, it felt like much of the game's chrome (e.g., Indian raids, Leader capture/wounding in combat, "major victories," naval transport, etc.) had shone through. The French were able to play a very active role, and didn't have to sit back and fight off waves of Brits from within forts. Also, it finally dawned on me that a way around the difficult supply rules (sort of) is to spread the units out into a single unit in each hex (or with some Militia). The trouble with that is getting sufficient activations to move quick enough, that is to reach your destination before the winter, which will have units starving out there in the forest. (There's also some danger of being overrun, I suppose). Annoyingly, I still had a rule or two wrong, I discovered later, which may have changed the game's outcome. Mostly, I'm thinking of Montreal, and how it requires attackers +3 movement points to cross the water. Oh well, next time.