Roadblock

With the British line  deployed  , it lost no time in advancing to assault the French position, abatis and artillery fire or not.

Soon the rolling volleys and the persistent popping of the irregulars started to have an effect. The Highlanders attempted to storm the enemy battery but were forced to retreat and reform. 

(Click photo for a larger version)
The British battery was soon deployed and an artillery duel began. French musketry and cannon fire cut swathes in the British line but it didn't stop them until they came to the abatis. This tangle of fallen trees with many sharpened branches was a formidable barrier. 

On the far right of the British line, some Acadians and Mi'kmaq warriors worked their way around the British flank but maintained their cover on the wooded hill, trading shots with Gorham's Rangers with little effect. The British artillery soon deployed and an artillery duel began while the British infantry in the open trading fire with the smaller number of French and Acadians behind the logs in the abatis.

With the sun sinking slowing, General Turner had two choices left, pullback, camp, and try again the next day, hoping the French would retreat during the night and not be reinforced, or try one last assault to break the French right wing, forcing their army to retreat. His force was still stronger despite their heavy losses, and they were trained to use their bayonets for assaults unlike the militia and tribesmen. 

The order went out for an assault and while the charges were repelled by the French regulars (esp Ogilvy's Jacobites in dark blue), the Acadiens by the river, who had suffered from the musket fire and were not equipped for close combat, broke to the rear. This allowed the Royal Americans, (60th foot), to wheel and flank Ogilvy's who had already taken heavy casualties. They had no choice and were forced to retreat. At the same time, the remaining Highlanders stormed the French artillery and opened the road.
 

There was no hope for the remaining French, they quickly retreated to the safety of the woods.

Now The Battle's Lost and Won (Incomplete Post Now completed..... Ooops!)

It was a cold January day in Acadia, the festivities were over when word came of an English column marching towards Belmont. The church bells began ringing and the women, children and old folks headed for the woods, carrying supplies and driving what livestock they could manage and a messenger sent to the local Mi’kmaq camp to ask for their support. Before long the beat of the British drums could be heard.

At last the British columns came into view along the snow covered road while rangers could be seen flitting through the woods and on the hills. 

    

The Acadians watched the British battalions deploy and advance towards the village and listened to the sporadic fire from the woods. Soon the Acadians, supported by some Compagnie franches from Canada, joined the battle as the Royal Americans and a battalion of provincials advanced. 

The 60th suffered heavy casualties and was forced to fallback having done little harm to the Compagnie franches in the stone church, but the provincials halted and kept up a heavy fire.

As the Acadians began to suffer casualties, they turned and retreated despite the Priest's admonishments.

The Provincials pursued but the Acadians rallied behind another stone wall and the Provincials stopped to pour another volley into them before crossing the wall and preparing to charge. 

As the Provincials advanced across the open field, a deadly stream of fire came from the Acadians in front of them, but another hail of bullets also poured into them from the flank.  Compagnies franches and Mi'kmaq warriors had moved into position to support the Acadian militia.

Their Colonel ordered a charge, but he was shot down and seeing that the 60th foot had broken, they voted to carry their commander to safety. 

Day By Day

 Despite several hours of cracking and removing 1"+thick hunks of ice today, I managed 1 turn.

Hopefully tomorrow will include an hour of downtime to allow me to finish the game.

Neither Ice Nor Snow

 The game has begun! 

Only two turns since there were lots of winter outdoor chores as well as packing up Christmas but its a start!  

Winter In Acadia

It's a cold wind when it blows across the ice but when the wind stops howling, everything is quiet and if the sun is out it can be a good day to put on snow shoes and go hunting in the woods.. 

But whether snow and wind, or sunshine, it doesn't do to assume the enemy is far away and the war is paused due to the weather.

A T Party.....(T Junction that is...)

When Brigadier Ross, the British General in Pisiquid, heard that the Duc d'Anville's armada had arrived in Chebucto Bay (now known as Halifax harbour), he ordered Brigadier Turner to lead an expedition to cross the bridge over what is now known as the Meander River, and block the only direct routes from Chebucto to either Pisiquid, or to the Acadian settlements along the Minas Basin.     
(Where Highway 215 crosses the Meander River near the current NS town of Brooklyn if  anyone wants to look at a map, but don't expect even a close representation of the actual geography of any particular point!)

The opposing forces collide. The British force consisted of 1 battalion of veteran Royal Americans and 3 battalions of provincials as well as 2 companies of rangers. The French had 1 battalion of Colonial infantry from Ft. Beausejour and 2 companies of veteran Colonial infantry from Canada, 2 companies of militia and two parties of Abenaqui and Mi'kmaq warriors. 
(Note Acadian women and children on the far left, fleeing the village, hoping their houses and winter food supplies would not be burned or confiscated.)

While the main forces moved up and deployed, the light troops were already trading fire.

Soon, the fighting spread across the entire battlefield.

Casualties were heavy and both sides had to pull back their right flanks.

Eventually the French infantry, fighting twice their numbers, had to retire, but at the same time, the 60th Foot (Royal Americans)  also had to retire after heavy casualties while the rangers were forced back by superior numbers and heavy losses. The sun was sinking and it seemed that at the end of the day, neither side  would have fully achieved their orders.  

Brigadier Turner, leading his first detached command, was torn between not fully completing orders, even if he held the bridgehead and could be reinforced by night fall, or having the glory of winning his first battle, especially as the French appeared to be on the verge of breaking. At last he flipped a coin and decided to order his New Englanders to charge again. 

Alas, his troops were tired and low on ammo while the small body of French infantry, including veteran skirmishes manning the hedges,  were steady and released a deadly fire causing the Provincials to break and run for the bridge. There was nothing to do but to use the remaining Rangers and the remnants of the 60th to cover the retreat.

First Shots

 At last! This little skirmish has begun.

Stay tuned!

An Imminent Encounter On The Fringe

 The table is set, and a battle is likely.

Stay tuned!.......

Too Much Info Can Be A Nuisance

For a good number of years, one could easily find references to the milice in New France wearing red, blue or white toques (knitted caps) depending on whether they were from Quebec, Montreal or Trois Rivieres. 

Well........my latest, hot off the press after years of research by professionals Rene Chartrand, and Kevin Gelinas, 2 volume set has just crossed that out.  During the ancien regime, only red caps were sent from France or made in Quebec. 

Milice in the woods.

So,,,,,,,,I shall slowly update my lads when convenient, such as when I needed to replace a missing head after an accident. (The habitant standing next to the kneeling one.)

Down Tools! Clear for Action!

Its that time of the year, getting ready for winter, cutting and stacking firewood, trying to manage water supplies after more than 3 months of drought, sorting out and reorganizing miniatures for North America from the 1740's to 1760, casting, painting, and on and on. 

Its time for a game! The rest can wait.

 

       
"Sergeant Major! Clear the table! Get work parties together, ready to set up terrain as instructed!"

  "Army commanders, meet in my tent to discuss scenarios, then draw cards for sides"

Everyone, else....Stand by!

En Avant!

Not my best painting ever, but these days, its often as good as I can manage. (I know 70 isn't really old but there are days when it feels like it.) 

 Anyway, these are Compagnies Franches de la Marine from Canada, dispatched to Acadia to help drive out the English. The full uniform is left behind in the heat of a muggy summer day, especially when moving quickly through the forests. (In winter a warm woolen, hooded, coat would replace the uniform coat.)

The figures are a mix, mostly formed from various Prince August moulds but with a few modified Irregulars and one 3d printed sample from Day of Battle.

The rest of the Highlanders are finally cast and next on the painting list!

On and Off the Painting Desk This Week

I needed to add 2 more of Gorham's rangers to fit the plan, so now that's done. In the early days the friendly 1st Nations warriors were a large part  or the Rangers so they make up 1/2 of my rangers.

While I was at it, I rechecked my thin sources (no pieces of clothing remain and no contemporary paintings have been found so far), and lightened up the facings, tams, and small clothes.

While I had the camera in hand, I took a quick shot of some of the existing and in progress casualty markers.  

The two First Nations warriors were done on purpose more than a decade ago, but the rest are actual casualties injured on the tabletop or in transit and are going to be touched up and used as removed stand markers on table.

On the table now, is a refurbishing of some of my Compagnies Franches skirmishers.

The unpainted ones are fresh castings, the two painted Irregular Minis loading their muskets, have had their odd mini-bicorne heads removed and Prince August replacements attached. 

More Highlanders are next!

Gorham's Rangers Take The Field

 This was a tricky lot, but they'll serve. 

Gorham's Rangers primarily served in what is now Nova Scotia from 1744 to 1759 (Some of them probably crossed what is now my yard!) and then joined Wolfe's expedition to Quebec,  Information on how they were dressed is scarce, and mostly speculative since no parts of their uniforms have survived, nor were there any contemporary drawings, just a very few vague descriptions in diaries etc.. Sooo, I decided to go with the most common descriptions, nearly contemporary drawings, and modern day reenactors who usually do a good job of digging into the history. I then crossed that with what I had to work with, decided to drop the sort of skirt or all round apron which wasn't always mentioned or sketched, especially in the early years.

The Scots bonnets seem to be the best bet for headgear and recent(ish) study has decided that the same sort of bonnets were worn by Roger's Rangers despite the old NorthWest Passage movie. Luckily, I happen to have Prince August's SYW highlander mould which includes what we called a 'Balmoral' cap when I was in the Black Watch of Canada Cadet Corps in my teens. 

In the early days at least, many of the Rangers were recruited from First Nations in what is now New England, long time enemies of the Mk'maq and other tribes in what are now the Maritime Provinces, so, I included two of them by darkening their skin slightly. 

Leggings or gaiters to above the knee were common enough but the next bit was tricky. They seem to have worn short jackets and Prince August presented Russians in summer gear without their long coats, but I wanted more poses. I also happened to have the Austrian Grenz moulds. The coats were a bit long and had lace and swords but a bit of work with knife and file gave me a few rather rough conversions, including reducing swords to hunting knives. 

From there, I called heavily on the various interpretations and did my own to make it easy, after all, I want them to play wargames, not sit on display.

Sometimes, Ya Just Gotta Try it......

Well, that experiment is over. 

What triggered this bustle of reorganizing and re-basing a portion of my "horse and musket" armies, was something simple: not being able to divide a 3 stand unit into two half units when a scenario called for it!

Instead of looking for all the Cons of the new units, or the Pros for the existing system, I just reorganized and re-based, with enough units for a small skirmish. game. Both games went well, but......visually, the troops looked like they were in loose order since I didn't want to paint another 6 figures for each battalion, I went from 3x6 figure bases to 4x4 figures. Yup wider frontage with fewer figures and the maximum number of units on the table were diminished.

Given that I wanted to have a choice of smaller or larger games, I decided to just restore the old order but since I had the materials at hand, I cut new bases from thin plywood cut into 2”x2" squares, (I know, but I learned the old Imperial way first and they're my toys!)

All the current painted infantry are done on both sides as are some of the light troops but there are plans for more infantry, sappers,  light field guns with crew, some siege/fortress guns, more Canadian/Acadian militia, possibly a single stand of French dragoons, and, well  time will tell.

And yes, the small portion of 1790's troops who were the first guinea pigs, will be rolled back to standard as well

I have a feeling there'll be another game on the table this weekend.

Rangers Training

 Another step towards being ready for action.

Given they'll likely be used for historical fiction games, I just call them 'Ross's Rangers'

For My Next Act...

 (Anyone remember Rocky and  Bulwinkle? ) 

Anyway, since my current focus is a history inspired version of the fighting in Acadia, I need some of Gorham's Rangers. 

Volunteers anyone? ?.…....

Proposed bits from several Prince August moulds.

Thank you gentlemen! (Hmm, not sure on the standing, firing guy).  Now to dress you.

Hurry Up And Wait

That's the old army saying, but it's all over now. 

Its been 8 months since my last game set in Acadia but the world turns and things are slowly returning to normal. Its also been a wee bit over a week since the table was set, but now the game has been played. Mostly it was the outside world interfering but when I was free, I found that the rules I had spent so much time fashioning and tweaking over the last few years, worked ok, but.....weren't satisfying.  

The games tended to be too fast or too slow, dice had too much effect and the General (ok, player) had too little influence on what his troops were going to do. So, I spent some of my time reviewing a number of old wargame rules, mostly by early wargamers who had fought in real life as well as studying history, and a few newer sets of rules. However, I also revisited bits of various 18th and 19thC memoirs and also a few recent, relevant, history books. Then I tried again.   When they have been tested in a couple of games and consist of more than a one page quick reference, I'll post them. 

Here's how the test game went: 

_____________________________________

Somewhere in Acadia in the 1740's  where the Duc d'Anville's force was still under orders to secure Acadia and evict the British.  Spring has arrived, the snows are gone and the roads are sort of dry most days, but word comes from  Mi'kmaq and Acadian scouts that an army of Redcoats have landed at Pisiquid, and are marching Nor'east. The Brigadier Sieur de St. Lambert was ordered to stop them!   

A Raven took this shot as he flew away from the first "BANG". Honest!

The 'armies' meet at the little village of Nullepart.

 

In short order, the British seized the Church and graveyard as well as a wealthy merchant's  Stonehouse but the French and their allies soon seized 3 buildings, some on each side of the river.
The British had no real option but to push on.

The 27th Foot pushed forward and unleashed a crashing volley! The Mi'kmaq warriors ducked and then began shooting British officers. 

The order to "Hurry up with the Damned Gun!" was acknowledged but the ground was soft and it was hard going, even with a battalion gun. In the village, the Mi'kmaq were picking off redcoats while making good use of their cover. Behind them, the beating drums of Lally's Irish gave all a warning that they were coming. Soon it would be Redcoat vs Redcoat. The British Colonel sent off an officer to request support from the Massachusetts Bluecoats.

Eventually, the British battalions were forced to fallback into cover to avoid destruction, and a lengthy but ineffective firefight ensued. As the sun sank, a firm order came to "Drive those savages out of that town!" The Colonel suspected he was talking about the enemy Irish and ordered the 27th forward to the stonewall, and the Rangers to support them on their right.

The firefight between Irish and Irish was indecisive but the Rangers, judging that the remaining Mi'kmaq were wavering, decided not to stop and stormed the building then turned their accurate fire on the enemy Irish.  

 
The French general surveyed the field and eyed the sun. His force was split across the river and was down to 1/2 strength plus stragglers and the wounded who could no more attacks today. The British had nearly as many casualties but their battalions were still capable of defending and had artillery and the village, stocked with full cellars. 

It was time to withdraw, regroup and send for reinforcements, 

Now The Battle Is Lost and Won....

 But, while we're waiting for the official report, here's a bird's eye view as the armies started to deploy: 

The rest to come soon.

..

Now The Irish Engage

 Interruptions, always interruptions!  But the game carries on.

Friday should see the end of this affair, but another game should follow soon after..  

So! It Begins.

As the armies deploy, and the Commanders begin to form a plan, the morning quiet has shattered by musket fire.

The game will resume in a day or two, when our annual tax forms have been submitted.