For the fan of le petite guerre, King George's War in North America was made to order. Virtually any type of skirmish scenario that has been designed for use with the French and Indian War will work equally well with this one. The border war between New England and Canada was an ongoing, constant struggle, but most battles were fought with only a few score troops on a side. Thus these conflicts can be duplicated without bankrupting the wargamer.

Troop Types

On the French side, a typical war party would be composed of varying percentages of Les Compagnies Franche de la Marine troops, militia, and Indian allies. The Swiss Karrer regiment generally seems to have kept to Louisbourg save for those who participated in the capture of Canso. The Indian allies most frequently mentioned seem to have been Micmacs, Malecites, and Abenakis, although Penobscot, St. Francis Iroquois, and other traditional French allies participated as well.

The English consisted entirely of militia or provincial troops of widely varied training plus a handful of Indian allies. At least one unit of rangers was used against Louisbourg and these seem to have been rather good troops.

In the border conflict, one gets the impression that the French and their Indian allies were generally better than their English counterparts who appear to have been at a disadvantage in the woods. Quite the opposite seems to have been the case at Louisbourg where memory of the recent mutiny seems to have undermined the morale of the French and Swiss troops there. Morale among the New England troops, as opposed to discipline, seems generally to have been good until after the capture of the city when the blues set in. In the ebb and flow of stumbling and bumbling in Nova Scotia/Acadia, both sides had their high and low points and, in the balance, seem to have been of nearly equal ability.

Wargame Scenarios

Many of the events discussed in my brief history could lend themselves to a wargaming scenario, especially those "what if' situations where victory was assured only by the narrowest of margins. For instance, how would the capture of Canso gone if the English had learned of the declaration of war as soon as the French had? What if the French had gone directly for Annapolis Royal instead of Canso? Would Duvivier's siege of Annapolis succeeded if the promised naval support had in fact arrived when it was supposed to? It is not hard to envision wargaming out all of these scenarios with any number of variations.

The attack upon Louisbourg could lend itself to many different historical and non-historical variations, too. What if Morpain had already been outside the city patrolling Gabarus Bay when the first boats were launched to shore? What if the French had seen through Pepperell's feint and headed toward the area of land where the English landed and contested that point actively? What if Duchambon had gone ahead and given Morpain a larger force, say 200 or 300 men, to contest the landing?

What if the English had had to fight to take the Royal Battery? Would it have fallen as easily as its commander feared or would the Unknown Habitant of Louisbourg have been proven right in his analysis? I earlier suggested that the French missed a golden opportunity to sally forth immediately with a large force to attack the disorganized New Englanders immediately after they had landed. This could be a very interesting scenario to conduct. Could the French have shaken themselves out of their funk and fought with clan? Would the New Englander's initial elation over such an easy landing quickly turn into despair at the sight of several hundred French regulars (Les Compagnies Franche de la Marine received the same training as regulars) advancing upon them?

The assault on the Island battery was another near fought thing. If the French had not been alerted of the attack until the New Englanders had all landed, there may have been an entirely different outcome. This is a scenario that probably would require some kind of random die roll to see how many turns the English can debark troops until the French are alerted and are able to respond. Also keep in mind that there were around six earlier attempts to assault the place that were all called off for various reasons.

Just before Louisbourg fell and on several earlier occasions, there had been discussions during councils of war for an all out English assault, supported by naval gunfire, against the town. In each case, prudence (or timidity) had its way as these suggestions were voted down. The final assault proposal was only negated by the decision of the French to surrender the town. Again, the gamer has the opportunity to construct a plausible scenario of an English assault in great numbers against a badly damaged, but still partially defendable, bastion or section of wall.

What if Marin had been called to Louisbourg before the English had made their landing? For those who wish to game out the entire siege, it could be of interest to add Marin's complement to Louisbourg's garrison. Or if he got there after the siege started but before the capitulation, there could have been an opportunity for a battle of encounter between the French and English in the wilderness of Cape Breton Island.

The Perfect Scenario for King George's War

Finally, the battle at Grand Pre sounds like the perfect wargaming scenario. On a standard wargaming table lay out a sheet of white felt or a white bed sheet - something to represent a snow-covered battlefield. Place just enough randomly spaced magazines, paperback books, etc., under the cloth to give a nice undulating feel to the battleground. Intersperse the terrain with a few trees and bushes. Then randomly place 23 frame houses on the table with one large stone one in the middle somewhere. Have the English divide up their force among the houses.

The French players should be given general information as to the numbers of English troops in each house - such as, "between 10 and 15" - and very specific information as to which houses contain officers. The French players should have to divide up their force into ten parties with the same strengths as quoted in the article. Each is detailed to attack a certain house. Before the attack, a die is rolled for each French party. If a six is rolled, that party gets lost in the dark and instead of attacking the designated house, attacks the nearest house to it.

As each house is assaulted, the defending English player rolls a die. If he rolls a one, the sentry spots the French first and alerts the garrison of the house. Otherwise the French achieve surprise and should get an opportunity to burst through the door of the house or can fire a number of free volleys at the English. The exact nature of the French surprise benefit depends on the set of rules used, but should give the French some type of significant advantage.

After a predetermined number of turns, daylight sets in, and both sides should be able to coordinate movements better. Prior to dawn, the referee should do all he can to restrict flexibility of movement and communications within both armies. Remember, these are initially isolated little battles.

The stone house should be much larger than the wooden ones and a lot harder to take since that's where the English made their stand. Don't forget that only the French have snow shoes, but if you want to do a "what if' scenario, remember, too, that the English had left theirs, along with five cannon, at the boats. What if these had been brought along?

I hope that this article gives the reader a few ideas for some scenarios. I haven't even touched upon the possibilities of naval battles with ship-to-ship actions between privateers, etc. Your only limits are your imaginations and your pocket books. Happy wargaming!