This bit of history has been forgotten but once upon a time, during the fight for Acadia, the French garrison of Fort St. Lambert could look across the valley at the British garrison of Fort Belmont. There was peace in Europe, but in Acadia, there were constant raids and skirmishes and the occasional siege. This is one of those minor affairs.
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| British and Provincial infantry and guns follow the path across a marsh to the ford. |
Yes, alright, apart from the bit about the fighting in Acadia starting up before the Seven Years War, that's all bunkum. Fort Lawrence and Fort Beausejour were very close and this scenario is inspired by the first action in the siege of Beausejour but the Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam like feuding forts is just a setting for some wargames. Still, one has to start somewhere and the real history just doesn't provide enough historical engagements of the size and type that I want to game.
Even worse, from a strictly wargaming point of view, in what is now Canada and the adjacent parts of the US, from the 1730's to 1815, the sort of fighting that took place during skirmishes, sieges and battles, did not change much either in weapons or tactics. Hats changed but..... anyway, that's why I decided that I would just do armies for the War of 1812 and one set of rules and borrow battles from the whole period.
Unfortunately I waited to make that decision until I had armies for all three, sometimes in as many as three scales. Now that I have the duplication down to two wars in one scale I've decided to just use them both. Will I expand the armies so I can fight the Plains of Abraham and Ste Foye over and over again? Probably not, that sort of thing was better suited to either my old 15mm figures or my old 6'x8' table, but I won't rule it out all together, even if Not Quite the Seven Years War fictional units help fill out the Order of Battle.
But that remains to be seen, for now there is a game tabled which must be played.
Lovely figures as ever Ross. Such an evocative view across the river too.
ReplyDeleteRegards, James
Wonderful to see these figures on the table. I've refought Fort Beausejour, but now I'm looking to widen that campaign a little bit. From Chris Gregg's blog, I'm looking at moving his Vestisle campaign from Old France to New France. I also picked up John Grenier's book on war in Nova Scotia 1710-1760 and it's a good read as well.
ReplyDeleteEric
I plan to steer well clear of real history :) The largely abandoned French in Canada and Acadia never stood a real chance against the Royal Navy and the resources that Britain was willing to dedicate to take it.
DeleteI've seen some very opposite reviews of the book some in favour, some very critical esp wrt to understanding the Acadians, miqma and the sea. I'll have to see if our library has it or can get it.
I concur with avoiding straight history. Fortunately there is Alternate History on our table tops. Hence the Vestisle Campaign. I have Grenier's book "The First Way of War", which I think is where some of the controversy about his authorship lies.
DeleteMaybe see if they can get Guy Chet's book, Conquering The Wilderness, as well. I found that very informative in how it relates to Europeans fighting the First Nations and how the second generation of English commanders really failed to prepare for war. Talks a lot of King Philips's War, but also goes into 1710-1760 as well.
Eric
I thought First Way was well done and made a LOT of sense. The author of the longest and most critical review that I read also praised it. To put words in other peoples' mouths I think that it ad to do with a feeling that his approach was....too american oriented? and that the author didn't really grasp the bigger history, strategic, and geographical issues and concerns of the Acadians, 1st Nations and British. If I get hold of a copy I'll let you know my thoughts.
DeleteI still recall the line from Yosemite Sam, after trying to deal with Bugs, "I'm a Hessian with no aggression".
ReplyDeleteThere will be no digging of tunnels through my table¡
ReplyDeletetsk! If only the continental French exiled their religious "rejects" [lookin' at you, Huguenots], like the English did with their Puritans et al, instead of persecuting/jailing/killing them, they coulda' had a nice population base to defend Ye Aulde Acadia better.
ReplyDeleteBut no.
Instead, they had this policy where the only good French colonist is a good and "loyal" Catholic Frenchman.
Pity. Cost them a continent...and, eventually, their lingua franca.
...So this is where that newly-arrived Regiment d'Huguenot enters the picture.