French Attack Fort Ofwego!

After John’s game two weeks ago I got thinking about playing around with the DBA 1500-1900 Extension again and revisit the Seven Years War

I changed the game night to Wednesdays, because that, apparently, was supposed to work better for more people… and stayed up until 2:30 this morning trying to finish up the Highlanders… and then only John showed up – which was fine (quality is always better than quantity!).

FORCES

British
1x Light Horse General
1x Jäger (Rangers)
1x Cannon
9x Musket

French
1x Light Horse General
1x Auxilia (Indians)
1x Cannon
9x Musket

THE GAME

For this first crack at it we took more or less equal forces and didn’t bother with the troop quality/limited recoils we’ve used in gunpowder era DBA games.

John wanted to played the French so I played the British. We diced for who was attacking and it was the French. So I set up Fort Ofwego and deployed my forces!

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The British prepare to defend Fort Ofwego.


The forces advance.


More pretty pictures of advancing units…


The first volleys are exchanged between the French and the Highalnd battalion – looks like the Jocks took the worst of i!


After a brief nasty skirmish in the woods the French allied Indians overran some apparently inexperienced British rangers!


More exchanges of musketry and cannon.


Another loss on the British side – conveniently the one British dead marker I have was a highlander! Things looking bad for the defenders of Fort Ofwego


Then the tides started to turn as the French battalion on the right flank took some serious losses.


The French CHARGED into contact with the Highlanders (I’ll never hear the end of it!)


The melee between the French and the Highlanders in the center intensified!


Some cannoning brought down anther stand of French men evening up the odds.


Should have deployed the cannon in a more central location…


In one turn things started to spiral towards their conclusion – but who would come out on top was still far from certain – first the British lost another stand of their gallant Highland lads…


…then the French battalion on the flank lost another. If either side lost one more it would all be over!


Things looked grim when the Indian allies finally came out of the woods and attacked the British guns!!!


Somehow those brilliant gunners of the Royal Artillery survived the assault and then beat of the savages…


...and then turned their guns on them and blew them apart with canister! At that point the French gave up their attack on Fort Ofwego!

It was good fun. I might like to try it again with the troop quality/limited recoils. I think for a campaign game it would be necessary – just to keep things going at a quick pace. I should also very much like to try some scenario games with not so even sides, and also some much larger battles with multiple commands on each side. Of course the latter will require a bunch more painting…

I could easily see getting excited enough about this that an 18th Century DBA campaign could be next up after the Dark Ages one in June...

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:
Some better pics of the new Jocks… then probably a few more Horse and Musket era troops – some cavalry… a few more highlanders… then back to some fantasy things for the campaign, which is coming up in just FOUR WEEKS (I guess I better get on with those rules revisions)!