FIW Club Game

Game Narrative: Saturday, September 28th, 1758
A large force of French Soldiers, Canadian Frontiers Men, and their Indian Allies have been raiding deep into the Pennsylvania Frontier. They have already sacked and burned several homesteads and are believed to be heading for the small farming community of West Vernon. The call for help has been sent out but so far only a small force of local provincials with a unit of British Regulars arrived on Friday and set up camp. They assured the residents that the rest of the regional force would arrive sometime today. The question is, will they arrive in time?

French Forces:
-Indian Chief
- 3 units of 6 Indians
- Canadian Officer
- 3 units of 6 Frontiersmen
- French Officer
- 2 units of 9 marines

British Forces:
- British Officer
- 1 unit of 12 British Regulars
- 2 Provincials Officer
- 4 units of 12 Provincial Infantry

The British Regulars deployed in the center of the settlement with 1 unit of Provincials on their left.

The French line had the Frontiersmen deployed on the left with Marines in the center and Indians on the Right. 

 Sensing their right flank being exposed the Regulars shifted to their right to protect that flank. They took up a firing line position behind a fence.

The French and their allies advanced through the cover of the forest

When they drew too close, a unit of Marines fell to a withering volley of fire from the Regulars.

On the other flank the Indians got shots with their hunting rifles into the Provincials who took some casualties and where forced to fallback.

The Indians then took advantage of this and advanced quickly on the nearest house and set it alight. The surviving unit of Marines also tried to press the advantage and rush the next house down the line.

 However the Provincials found their aim and started picking off the Marines and slowing their progress.

 Eventually the Marines reached the building and got to work setting it alight.

However, with one final volley, the Provincials slew the last of the Marines. Only their officer was left. He bravely rushed the building and managed to finish setting it alight. Meanwhile the Indians had taken advantage of their distraction and charged into the few remaining Provincials. After a fierce and bloody melee the Indians where left standing

Furious with the loss of his men. the Provincial officer charged around the burning house and slew the Marine officer with his saber. Meanwhile his other unit of Provincials had finally arrived and their massed volley fire drove the Indians back.

At the other end, the Frontiersmen could barely step foot from the woods without falling to a hail of bullets from both the Regulars and a unit of Provincials that had arrived.

 With most of their force destroyed or fleeing the remaining French and their Allies decided to retreat.

Once in the safety of the woods, the remaining French force was able to get away. Both units of Marines had be killed or routed, including 1 unit of Frontiersmen and 1 unit of Indians. The remaining Indians and Frontiersmen had all suffered casualties. They also lost 1 officer.

One unit of Provincials had been slain to a man. Their only other casualty was a Provincial officer who had tried to pursue the Frontiersmen into the forest. Unfortunately for him, the prey turned and shot him from his horse.

In the end, half the settlement had been burned. Though they only managed to save half, the British force had taken relatively light casualties and in turn devastated the French raiding party. A minor victory for the English Crown.

Palisade Fort

I finally finished enough of my Palisade fort to get it on the table. Its not quite big enough to make a fort or moat and baily castle so i'm printing some more sections. It does make a great table edge piece when all stretched out. Perfect for a town walls where the defenders are sallying forth.

As for cost/time comparison. I estimate it cost about $40 worth of material, took 80+hrs to print, and about 3-4hrs of actual labor. While I could have done it all manually for a bit cheaper my current life situation would have meant the project would take a year instead of weeks. Working full time in the armed forces with a 4yr old and 2yr old boys, my hobby time is very limited. Printing allowed me to do other things while printing like spending time with family, at work, or painting other projects. Buying a resin kit would have the same time saving effect but would have cost well over $100USD.

Of course I had to get out some models to see how it would look.

April Club Game

For our April game we are back with Muskets and Tomahawks for the FIW.

In this scenario the Colonials where trying to resupply and defend an outpost in contested territory on the Lake Erie coast. While the French and French Canadians endeavored to prevent this.

Their where 3 objectives: 

>First was the Outpost that the Colonials need to defend while French try to burn down.

>Second the new cannons that the Colonials need to drag from the shore to the outpost.

>Third a wagon full of food and powder that also needs to be dragged to the outpost.

British Force:
1 Provincial officer, who was mounted with a saber.  

4x12 units of Provincials with Muskets, they where auxiliary and trained. Half started in the outpost and half by the cannons and wagon. 

2 light artillery in the form of a Brigantine just off the shore line.

French Force: 

1 Marine officer w/ Musket, Light troop and scout.

2x9 units Marines w/ Muskets and Tomahawks. 

1 Canadian officer w/ Musket and Tomahawk. Scout, Coureurs des Bois: Native

 2x9 units of Coureurs des Bois armed w/ Muskets and Tomahawks. 

1 unit of 5 Indian w/ Rifles and Tomahawks. Scouts, Native, Indian Allies: Auxiliaries, Hunting Rifles. 

The first round ended with the Colonials either drawn or driven away from both the cannons and wagon with several casualties. The French had taken none.
2nd round showed the Provincials rally and unleash devastating firing line volleys inflicting heavy casualties. A unit of Marines and des Bois routed off the table. The Indians launched into melee and at first had the upper hand but eventually lost, fleeing with one 2 left.
3rd round started in French favor with 1 unit of Provincials routed and the supply wagon destroyed. But then the artillery finally found their range, driving back the marines. The Provincials in the outpost sallied forth to press the des Bois who wisely fell back.

By the end of round 3 the French had lost exactly 50% of their force while only inflicting 25% casualties on the Provincials. While they had completed 1 objective the Colonials had them on the run with the cannons and outpost well secured.

Recently Finished

I recently finished a bunch of miniatures for use in my FIW games so took some proper photos to share.

First up are 20 Canadian Coureurs des Bois, which are more skilled Militia. They are from 3 separate manufactures and I can only remember one of them for sure.

These 6 are from King Mount Minis 

I think these 6 are from Galloping Major.

 No memory of where I got these 8 but they are closer to 25mm.

The whole team. 

Next up are 5 Woodland Indians from Warlord Games. The rest are on the pain table. 

Lastly are 6 British Landing Party. Think I got them from Northstar. I have another 6 on the paint table.