David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Wednesday 23 May 2018

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.

22 comments:

  1. I love the FIW. This was a super little batrep. It really captured the flavour of the era for me. Thanks for posting.

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    1. Glad that you enjoyed my efforts Irqan.

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  2. Very nice looking game David!

    Christopher

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    1. Thank you Christopher, much appreciated.

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  3. Lovely Batrep. The pictures are excellent and it sounded like a fun game to play. I have a love hate relationship with the FIW...probably because of my terrible track record playing games in this setting.

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    1. Thank you Lee. Hope your luck changes soon in the F&IW setting.

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  4. The collection is just splendid Mr.B.
    I thought BP worked perfectly well and produced a most enjoyable evening's gaming. Keep up the Physio!

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    1. Thanks Jon! Currently walking between 1 & 11/2 miles a day. I hope we shall play a game in June now as I get stronger.

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  5. A good looking game and I like the BP adaptations you've come up with.

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    1. Thanks Colin. Our changes enhanced the game for us both.

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  6. Love the water effects, superb and atmospheric...this is a great looking game, no doubt!

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    1. Thanks Phil, pleased you liked the game.

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  7. Splendid stuff, looking forward to giving it another run out when you are able.

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  8. Very nice.......as I have a few figures already FIW is one of those projects where I am thinking of expanding to larger forces. I am in danger now of adapting my ACW Bolt action rules.

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  9. I like that terrain, especially the beach/rivers edge. You can't keep a good wargamer down.

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    1. I can take no credit for the terrain beyond cutting and gluing the waterside feature to MDF, as Phil made all the boards.

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  10. Lovely looking game and sounds like great fun!
    Best Iain

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  11. Great looking game. Good luck and get back on your feet soon.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Hoping for a rerun tomorrow with Phil as the British and myself as the French.

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