Hold the Line session report

Continuing my series of prospective strategy discussions followed by post-game session reporting, is a look at the Hold The Line scenario Louisbourg.

This situation is kind of like an Eighteenth Century Omaha Beach. A British force lands on the beach in the teeth of a fortified defensive line and has to fight its way inland.




As always, any discussion of strategy starts with a look at the Objective, what the victory conditions require. As is usual in the Wars for America system, victory is achieved by accumulating victory points, with the most common source being eliminated enemy units, at one VP each.

For the French, victory is achieved by getting 7 victory points or avoiding the British victory conditions.

For the British the goal is also 7 VPs, but they only have 18 turns to do it, which makes this one of the shorter scenarios in the game system. It also clearly puts the burden of attack on the British. In addition to VPs for eliminating enemy units, the British have four victory points of objective hexes deep behind the French lines.

Terrain.

The left two-hex deep edge of the map is the ocean, from which the British invaders will come.

There's one hex of hill on the beach, but otherwise the French have a clear line of fire at the disembarking British. The main French position is made up of a five-hex long line of entrenchments, which provide protection from fire and morale benefits. Behind the French line the rest of the battlefield is made up of clear terrain with scattered woods hexes providing some cover but far enough apart to provide plenty of movement paths.

Order of battle:

The French are heavily outnumbered. They have a single leader, five regular infantry, an artillery unit and one band of Indians. The VP value of the entire force is 8, so the British victory condition is, essentially, to wipe out the French force. The VP hexes mean the French cannot simply run away, they will have to fight.

The British host comprises 22 pieces. There are two leaders, two Elite infantry, two light infanty, a unit of American rangers and 10 regular infantry. They also have five boats to carry them ashore. The first wave of British comprises the rangers, both elites and both light infantry, along with one leader.

Plans:

My objective as the French is to take advantage of the fortified line to achieve a positive kill ratio against the British. I expect British numbers to tell, eventually, and be forced to fall back either because of British flankers or because the British have penetrated the line.

Three of the French regulars will man the line, along with the cannon and fire at will against British troops within range. A fourth regular will pull back slightly and be used to guard the line against any short flanking moves. The Indians will be used to guard against any infiltrating rangers or light infantry. The last regular and leader Saint Julien will form the general reserve, either assisting the Indians if the British try an infiltration strategy or helping guard the flanks of the entrenched line.

My British plan aims to stretch the French by posing multiple threats and then exploit the weakest point in the line that develops. This could mean infiltrating rangers or light infantry past the flanks, taking the entrenchments in the flank or pushing directly into the French main line of resistance.

The British only have enough boats to carry one third of their force at a time, so the invaders are naturally broken down into three waves. The first wave is set by the scenario setup and comprises the rangers, both elite infantry and the two lights, along with 2/1 leader Wolfe. As this wave comes ashore it will pressure the French left flank by threatening to outflank the line with the light infantry. Wolfe and the elites with him will shelter on the hill while waiting for the second wave to arrive. The other Elite will endeavor to occupy the attention of the cannon in order to spare the rangers, who will lie low in the early going.

The priority for commands will be to empty the boats as soon as possible and bring on the second wave at the earliest opportunity. This wave will comprise leader Amherst and five of the regulars, who will join Wolf for the main assault on the French line. Once the French are fully committed the rangers will make a break for the VP hexes. I don't necessarily expect them to make it, but the threat may be enough to provide a critical edge in the main fight by drawing off French units and commands.

The third wave will be loaded and brought on if extra commands allow, but I don't think they can arrive in time to have a real impact.


The Battles:


I started with the French side in my game with Mark K. Frankly things went precisely according to plan for the first half of the game and I was feeling pretty good about the overall situation. Mark was trying to win pretty much with the initial wave, spending nearly all his action points moving and fighting those troops, with just a few spared to bring on a trickle of second wave forces.


And this plan wasn't working all that well. His elite troops and the few regulars on the beach were making no headway against the main French line, and I was even able to wipe out the rangers on the beach with cannon and musket fire.


About the only worrisome aspect of the situation was on the French left flank, where the British light infantry was able to slide past the French flank and threaten the rear VP hexes, although one of those light infantry was reduced to just 1 morale point. As per the plan I had the Indian band and a leader-led regular unit detailed to deal with that threat.


While this should have been sufficient force, it wasn't. The first sign of trouble appeared when I got a little too feisty with the Indians and let them stray within long-range of the lights, who promptly eliminated them with a single volley! Now it was up to St. Julien and his regulars to hold off the lights, a task they failed at miserably. Because the British lights could just sweep up the VP markers without stopping it seemed necessary to park the regulars on one of the markers to force the lights into range if they wanted to claim the points. They accepted the challenge and moved up on both sides of the regulars to set up a flanking attack.


Here I blundered. There was still a lot going on elsewhere and I was loathe to spend my limited stock of command points on just this one threat, so I spent the one AP to fire at the weaker light infantry (in order to break up the flanking bonus) and promptly missed. In retrospect I think I should have spent the 3AP needed to make a leader-led close combat against that weak light infantry because it was critical that it be taken out.


On the following turn the two British lights fired with flanking bonus and wiped out the French regulars, although St. Julien escaped. The way was clear for them to sweep up the four VP markers and they did, suddenly putting the British way ahead in VPs with several turns left to get the last one they needed. The British had 4 VPs for objective markers, 1 for the Indian and 1 for the French regular, so the two British light infantry were responsible for all of the British success! The French tried falling back but the British were able to pick off the last VP they needed for a 7-1 win.


On the flip side, I tried executing my British plan, spending the majority of my action points to bring on the first two waves of British. The created a scenario that really did resemble Omaha Beach, and not in a good way. Mark insisted the dice were about average and they probably were, but it sure seemed like the French fire was exceptionally effective and British casualties mounted. Even though I tried rotating damaged units out of the line to rally them it did no good as the casualties came too fast to keep up.


I was able to spring the rangers into the French rear by covering their advance with regular troops. The Indians weren't able to stop the rangers from picking up all four VP markers, but as it turned out that was a Pyrrhic victory. On the beach the French were closing in on their 7 VP and bringing in parts of the third wave just seemed to add more targets.


The final score was 7-4 for the French.


Mark's approach was probably better, I think the first British wave needs to be active enough that it creates space for the second wave to come ashore. I ended up just giving the French more folks to shoot at.


Interestingly, in neither game was it possible to stop the British from infiltrating someone through to pick up the 4 VPs in the rear. Mark was better able to absorb this loss because he didn't pull any regulars away from the main fight on the beach. My French lost no units on the beach, but also were not able to inflict any permanent losses on the British. Mark's French concentrated on pummeling the beach landing and let the Indians try to protect the rear area unsupported. This proved to be the better solution.


Despite the fact my French lost, I do think my approach could also have worked, but for some mistakes on my part, so I would consider the French side slightly favored in this scenario.

Clash for a Continent session report

This will be an experiment. I'm going to discuss the scenario and my planned strategy ahead of the game, save it in draft form and then discuss how things actually unfolded later and post it.

The scenario will be the Battle of Lake George, 8 September 1755 from the game Clash for a Continent. This was part of a full day of gaming with Mark K.

The map from the scenario:

The basic situation is that the British have sent out a force (in the middle of the map in red) from their fortified camp (at left) that is about to be ambushed by larger force of French and Indians (in black on three sides of the British force).

The first thing to do is check the victory conditions.:

British: 6 Victory Pointss (VP) or avoid French victory for 25 turns

French: 7 VPs in 25 turns or less

Victory points are mostly scored by eliminating units, including generals, at 1 VP each. The French can also earn VPs for capturing the VP markers inside the British camp. These VPs basically exist to keep the British from simply abandoning their camp and making a sortie to rescue the ambushed force. Unless the British strip the camp of defenders these VPs are out of reach for the French. The burden of attack is on the French, if time runs out without a resolution the British win.

Terrain analysis

The left side of the map is dominated by the British fortified line, which both reduces the effect of enemy fire while providing a morale bonus to the defenders. There's a two-hex wide cleared zone in front of the trench line meaning the defenders will have a clear line of fire on any attackers. The line is anchored on one end by an impassable swamp and the other end by the board edge.

Most of the rest of the map is covered with light woods, in which hexes of woods and clear terrain are inter-spaced. There's a clearing in the middle of the map where the British force is marching. The woods provide some benefit to defenders, reducing the effect of fire and providing a morale benefit, but they block fire and slow non-Indian movement.

Order of Battle:

Both armies are the same size, with 13 combat units and two leaders.

The British are mostly American militia with a couple of allied Indian units and a single unit of cannons in the fort. Half of the militia, the Indians and the leader Williams make up the ambushed force. The historical notes say that Mohawk chief Hendrick observed of the detached force that if the men "were to be killed, they were too many; if they are to fight, they are too few."

This is reflected in the game by the fact that the entire force is worth 8 VPs for the French if they wipe it out, more than enough for them to win without attacking the British fort. But the force is also outnumbered nearly 2-1 by the ambushing French force.

The other half of the militia, the cannon and leader Johnson are behind the fortified line.

The French are likewise divided into two parts, each under a leader. The larger part, assumed to be under leader Dieskau, comprised of two regular French infantry, three militia and two Indians lies in wait North of the British detachment. The other portion, under De Saint-Pierre, comprising one regular, two militia and three Indians is to the South.

Although both sides are equal in numbers, the French regulars give them an edge in overall strength of 32 to 26, and 32 to 14 at the ambush site.

Strategy:

For the French and Indians the strategy has already been set and its really a matter of execution. A classic three-sided ambush as been set up and the French side has overwhelming force. The only thing standing in their way is that the game system makes it hard to bring all that force to bear at once. The best possible command roll will allow less than half the French army to move or fire at any given time. Still, the British command situation is just as bad.My French plan will be to use the mobility of the Indians to finish encircling the British force and block any breakout while the French regulars move in for the kill. Priority for commands will be Indians, regulars next and militia last. The militia units will be used to support the Indians and regulars as necessary. The goal is to wipe out the British detachment and get the 7 VPs before they can escape to the fort.

The British situation is challenging. The obvious course of action is to simply hightail it for the British forts. There's a good chance half of them will escape, although it means forgoing any chance of causing much damage to the French because any actions spent shooting will not be spent running. This could result in an almost pristine French army being able to attack the fortified line, with a good chance of breaking through, given the fragility of militia units.

The doctrinal US Army solution to being ambushed is to attack the ambush and I think that is what I will try to do. I will attack the southern, weaker half of the French ambush force with my militia and leader while the Indians cover the rear. The idea is for the British detachment to make its way into the woods along the south side of the clearing and then use the woods to provide cover during the retreat to the portion of the fort between the cannon and the swamp. If 3 or 4 of the units from the detachment make it back then that will be a success, so long as they kill 2-3 VPs worth of French units. With prior losses, the French task of breaking into the forts without losing 6 VPs is much harder.

The battles:

I ended up playing the British side first, and it ended up being even more of a disaster than I thought it might be. The very first couple of Indian attacks wiped out a pair of militia units, fatally compromising my plan to have some guys cover the rear while the rest tried to fight their way through the ambush. There was no rear and Mark's French simply kept running and gunning down the fleeing militiamen. The only survivors ended up being the Leader Williams and the British-allied Indians, who had been unmolested.

Things looked pretty grim, with an untouched French force slowly gathering just outside of range, the British having already lost 5 VPs worth of units. Mark didn't bother bringing up any of the French militia, who were largely spectators throughout the battle. His Indians were mostly near the scene anyway after their pursuit, so he spent the next few turns bringing up the French regulars. When the final assault came it was led by the two French leaders, each at the head of one unit of regulars, while a pair of Indian warbands joined in on the French right. (Top map edge in the map above)

The French regulars who attacked the portion of the fort with the cannon suffered heavy losses, but were still standing when the end came, having done their job of occupying the guns while the main assault went in on the French right. There the sole French casualty was the leader, who fell while gloriously leading his men over the parapet. The militiamen were no more stalwart on the walls then they had been in the woods and the last two VPs soon came the French way.

The final score was 7-1 in Mark's favor with the game ending around Turn 15. A decisive victory.

My original plan with the British never really got started and I ended up switching to the high-tailing option, but that worked as badly as I thought it would. I wondered if the British might be better off standing and fighting, but Mark's experience in our next game makes me doubt that would work either.

When we switched sides I decided I would do my best to execute my pre-game French strategy and the French once again caught an early burst of good fortune as one of the first Indian attacks not only eliminated the British militia unit closest to the fort but also eliminated British leader Williams! This move and a couple of others effectively slammed the door on any British flight and the British column was swarmed by French militiamen and Indians. I think the regulars only got off one volley, although it was an effective one, destroying a British militia.

As the militia melted away the British-allied Indians desperately sought an escape. One band slipped by the French militia after taking a hit, but the other band of Indians was trapped. While the French-allied Indians would not shoot at their fellow Indians, they also would not let them pass. Flushed like quail from the bush, the British-allied Indians dodged a few volleys from French militia units until their luck finally ran out.

The sole witnesses to make it back to the fort was a half-strength warband of Indians. The final score was 7-0, with the game over around turn 7 or 8.

Given the disproportionate results in both battles I'd have to conclude that the British side has a tough time in this scenario. While it's true that the French in both episodes benefited from early good fortune, the results were so lopsided it's hard to credit luck alone for the outcomes. I proved the British can't run. Mark proved they can't stay and fight, either. The only French unit loss in either battles was a leader, which is a function of luck.

Militia in the Wars for America system is extremely fragile. It's not uncommon to roll a few pairs of sixes when rolling trios of dice, so the militia units are prone to disappear with little notice. While theoretically the French Indians and militia were just as vulnerable, it is a theoretical vulnerability if they aren't shot at. Neither Mark nor I found many opportunities to shoot as the trapped British always seemed to need to try moving to escape the trap.Wars for America is a fun system, so I think we enjoyed playing, but I do think that this one is almost a gimme for the French side as far as competitive play goes.

Brief session report: Clash for a Continent

Mark K and I had the opportunity to get in a very full day of gaming. Among our achievements was a match of Clash for a Continent, the Fort Dusquene scenario.

Fort Duquesne is Braddock's famous defeat by a French and Indian ambush in the French and Indian War.

Being more experienced in the game system, I took Braddock for the first game. We used most of the optional rules, but did keep the Command Action Point allowance at the Historical 1 + d3 roll for Braddock compared to the 3 + D3 die roll for the French. This meant that my force would have between 1-4 CAPs while Mark's had 4-6 per turn.

Recognizing that maneuver would be difficult, my basic plan was to push against the French and Indians facing the left front of my column while spending the absolute minimum elsewhere. This worked as well as one might hope, actually, as Braddock and some British regulars was able to do some significant damage to the Indians in his neighborhood and proved nearly invulnerable to fire while on the hilltop near the river. Unfortunately young George Washington caught a bullet, decreasing my already meager CAP state (as well as prompting some discussion about how events a generation later would have been different without the "indispensable" man.

In the end the French and Indians were able to get their six VPs in lost Anglo-Americans while just losing a few themselves.


We switched sides, but this time gave Mark's Braddock the same 3 + D3 CAP allowance as the French.

In this case I decided I needed to take my time because I knew I wouldn't have a CAP edge over Mark. I did, however, still have a maneuver edge, due to the Indians speed in wooded terrain and I followed a policy of retreating any Indian that took a loss. I likewise pulled the French back after they took a few losses. Mark, meanwhile, was less willing to pull troops out of the fight and this resulted in several of his units being eliminated. After spending a few turns rallying Frenchmen and Indians, the restored Franco-Indian force returned to the fray and got the last couple of losses needed for victory.

This battle took longer to win without the CAP edge, but overall the awkward tactical position of the ambushed British column was too much for either of us to overcome, although I do think that the battle is winnable for the British player. Still, in the historical event they did lose, and this scenario reflects that rather well.