The Attack on Fort Desperation

For the first, and possibly only, game here in GHQ in May Jon and I played a French and Indian War game. We used Black Powder for the rules with two adaptations: firstly, you could give orders to each base of figures as well as to units, with each unit having its own commander under the CinC; secondly, units which routed could try to rally on a -2 in the next turn and a -1 in the turn following. After that, Routed units left the table. Both adaptations worked smoothly we thought and the game swung back and forth over 10 Turns before a clear winner emerged. I took a few pictures to capture the essence of the game which I hope will let you see how it all panned out ~

The defenders of Fort Desperation push out to engage the enemy. Local

settlers support the Regulars in the fort. The Light Company heads for the 

high ground.

French woodsmen emerge from cover in front of the Lights. The artillery

engage the partially concealed French Regulars. Robinson's Rangers make 

their appearance to bolster the defenders.

The Rangers move off  swiftly to engage the Padoquoi Indians who had 

landed further up the shoreline.

The French Regulars crest the hill and are engaged by the British Regulars.

The local settlers have fled and the Light Company has been forced back but

more Rangers are hurrying to secure the flank as more Padoquoi emerge from

the woods.

The British Regulars and the Colonial gunners drive back the French but

Disorder is beginning to effect the efficiency of the defenders.

The Padoquoi warriors have been driven of by the Rangers to give the hard

pressed defenders a short respite.

The Rangers and the Light Company find themselves out numbered by the 

enemy Militia Woodsmen and allied Padoquoi warriors. A crisis has been

reached for the Defenders of Fort Desperation.

Although the British Regulars still hold Fort Desperation the settlers and the

Rangers have fled the scene leaving the French under Colonel Le Blanc to

claim the victory.

Although I had originally hoped to play out the game with Sharp Practice 2 as the rules I found I was too preoccupied with my coming hip operation and fell back on our favourite Black Powder rules instead with the additions noted above. The game went very smoothly and the rules proved versatile enough to cope with our changes. I've left the game out on the table in GHQ as I hope to play it again with Phil when I'm just a little stronger in the hip department.