I won't bore you all with a potted guide on the French and Indian War - but in short it's got the lot (except cavalry). Regulars, colonial infantry, militia, irregular rangers, indians, boats, and lots of trees! This war saw the British army take light infantry seriously for perhaps the first time, and all in all it's pretty interesting stuff.
Ticonderoga was one part of the British three - pronged assault on New France in 1758, and saw over 17,000 British and Americans take on just over 4,000 French regulars, colonial infantry and Canadian militia near Fort Carillon on Lake Champlain.
Due to the loss of key officers, poor scouting and VERY poor estimations of the French defensive preparations, it was a bit of a fiasco for the British, as repeated frontal assaults were shot down time after time by the French defenders - the British and Americans taking around 2,500 casualties.
THE ARMIES
Based on the Osprey Campaign order of battle, and using the Polemos '1 base = 400 formed infantry or 200 skirmishers' convention, the armies pan out as follows:
British and American:
1st Line - 80th Foot - 2 bases skirmishers
Broadstreet's Battaeux men - 8 bases skirmishers
Rogers Rangers/Indians - 2 bases skirmishers
2nd Line - Mass. Provincials in 6 battalions - 9 bases line
NY Provincials in 3 battalions - 4 bases line
3rd Line - British regulars in 3 brigades comprising:
27th Foot - 1 base line
42nd Highlanders - 2 bases line
44th Foot - 2 bases line
46th Foot - 1 base line
55th Foot - 1 base line
2/60th Foot - 1 base line
4/60th Foot - 2 bases line
and a unit of converged grenadiers:
Grenadiers - 2 bases line
4th Line - NJ Provincials - 2 bases line
Conn. Provincials in 4 battalions - 4 bases line
RI Provincials - 2 bases line
Plus some artillery and commend elements which I'll catch up with later.
French and Canadian:
Regulars skirmishers - 1 base skirmishers
Colonial infantry - 1 base skirmishers (1 more arriving later in the game)
Canadiam militia - 1 base skirmishers (1 more arriving later in the game)
Regnt. La Reine - 1 base line
Regnt. Bearn - 1 base line
Regnt. La Sarre - 1 base line
Regnt. Languedoc - 1 base line
Regnt. Royal Rousillon - 1 base line
Regnt. Guyenne - 1 base line
Regnt. Berry/2 - 1 base line
Regnt. Berry/3 - 1 base line
Plus some artillery and commend elements which I'll catch up with later.
Each 60 x 30mm line base will have 24 figures, and most battalions will require a single base. Two - base battalions will have a supernumary command base (for appearance only) for the look of the thing.
The figure scale has been selected to prevent the table size becoming unmanagable - with the amount of figures involved we are looking at a 6 foot table - probably 8 foot. Size is crucial here, as I want to be able to take the game 'on the road' next year.
Table/Terrain:
In project terms this will actually be dealt with (i.e. made) last, but here is roughly how it will look from above (illustration courtesy of Steve Bruce/Wargames Illustrated):
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| This is being worked on! ;) |
Figures:
Baccus all the way here. The French regulars will be straight from their SYW range, while the regular light infantry ans some colonial infantry will be AWI Jagers. The Canadian militia will be conversions and (maybe) some Spanish guerillas.
For the British, the Baccus AWI regulars in round hats fit the bill for most troops - all British regulars (except the Highlanders obviously), and the NJ, Mass. and Conn Provincials. Non - uniformed provincials will be AWI American militia (see below). Batteaux men will be AWI militia skirmishers, 80th Foot will be AWI loyalists in 'caps', and Rogers Rangers will be AWI skirmishers in hunting shirts with highlander heads. Indians will be INDIANS!
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| American Provincials |
More to follow...
