I asked our team of writers to state their reasons for being interested in the era. This approach will be beneficial because all of us like to read what other wargamers think. In this fashion we can have a variety of responses in a kind of "man on the street" interview. Of each I asked, "What interests you about The French and Indian Wars?"
DOUG CARROCCIO
(Newport Richey, Florida, USA):
"When Bill Protz asked me to write about my thoughts, three reasons why I game the French and Indian War came to my mind."
Uniforms
"I thoroughly enjoy painting figures and the French and Indian War provides a vast array of costumes. The British are probably my favorite with their red coats and various colored facings. Add light infantry, highlanders, grenadiers and artillerymen and quite a dashing army can be built.
"The French regulars also provide a beautiful force dressed in light grey with colored facing. one can also clothe them in red, blue or white vests. Add a sprinkling of artillerymen and even some cavalry in bearskin hats and another splendid little force is created.
"The colonial troops inspire me with their blue, green, red or light brown uniforms. Mix this together with a lot of buckskin, some green for Roger's Rangers and black with light blue for other rangers and you come up with a force ranging from colorful to rugged. Canadians and Courier du Bois wore a mixture of civilian, buckskin and Indian garb.
"Then come the 'savage' Indians, (by the way, did you know some practiced cannibalism?); all kinds of costumes, warpaint, feathers, buckskin and various hairdos.
"All in all this is a very colorful and intriguing period for costumes."
Scenarios
"Scenarios for The French and Indian War are many. One can have full-scale European style battles or small Indian raids on a farm or trading post. It is also possible to have a major assault on a French stone fortress or an ambush of a patrol moving through the woods. There can be full-scale amphibious assaults or clashes between canoes and fur trading bateaus. Endless possibilities can flow from an inspired imagination set aflame with the excitement of a campaign across American frontiers."
Terrain
"There's something about gaming in the early American period, when the soul of our nation was being formed, that stirs my heart. The British colonies were being pulled together, many times against their will, to think, act and fight together against a common foe. A furnace of affliction was laying groundwork, providing experience and forging character that would explode fifteen years later into an awareness of 'one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all'. A great nation isn't born overnight. Its shape, direction and development takes the nurture, struggle and stress of many years under the guiding hand of a watchful God.
"Then there's the North American landscape. it was unique, beautiful, mysterious, challenging and threatening. Its rich lush thick green forests, the winding rivers which could be as calm as a cloudless day or as explosive as the raging fury of an avalanche.
The countryside could be dotted with farms, Indian longhouses, small inland towns or coastal villages. Let your imagination race from the majestic stone fortresses to the old log forts protecting the waterways which could bring the next month's supply of goods, ammunition and food. Such waterways were roads; the lifeline for any major campaign and routes of exploration and adventure.
"The uncertainty and beauty of the American wilderness presents an awesome picture; a rich and deep inner feeling which clashes with the glory of an untamed land waiting to be subdued by brave men driven by a calling they could not yet put into words. I guess the reason why I game the French and Indian War is that it wraps its arms around me; it captures and unleashes my imagination like no other period can."
TOD KERSHNER
(Sturgis, Michigan, USA):
"I am always looking for the more exotic and unconventional areas of wargaming both in rules/scenario design and in miniature painting and scenic layouts. Having a lot of widely different troop types on a wargame table is always an envigorating sight after gaming typical European style battles where both sides' dragoons, etc., all look basically alike. Also, I am always interested in historic situations involving two totally different cultures interacting in some way.
"The French and Indian War provides perfect circumstances for these ideas. It's fun to place regular 18th Century European style troops into an environment where most of the tenets of warfare that they've developed don't apply as when British regulars form line of battle to volley with Indians and provincials made virtually invisible by the dense American forests. The North American 18th Century conflicts produced a terrific variety of colorful units from European regulars to backwoods provincials and splendidly savage Indians. The interaction of the white man and the Indian, both as enemies and allies, is a compelling historical theme and particularly fascinating to the rules writer. The same can be said of the entire period."
GARY COMARDO
(Hilton, New York, USA):
"The appeal of the French and Indian Wars for me lies in the strange and difficult circumstances in which they were fought. Formal European tactics were adapted very successfully to local conditions thanks entirely to the identification and development of some first class leaders on both sides. in those days of inefficient transport, France and Great Britain managed to carry on their ancient feud literally in the middle of nowhere half a world away from their centers of power carrying on their enmity by almost every medium known to the age. There were formal European style battles, sieges, unique amphibious operations on inland waterways and savage guerilla war.
"The troops employed covered the spectrum from first class line to abysmal militia. They were employed in small numbers across vast expanses of territory supported by desperately inadequate transport and logistic systems. Precious resources were frittered away by short-sighted or corrupt authorities. It speaks volumes for the qualities of the better leaders that either nation was able to bring force to bear at all."
BRUCE McFARLANE
(Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada):
"Why do I wargame the French and Indian Wars?
"First, I grew up close to many of the battlefields of these wars. I may be interested in Gettysburg or Waterloo, and, yes, I enjoy wargaming them, but I identify personally with the battles at Quebec, Montreal, Ticonderoga and Louisbourg, because I've been there. I have walked the forests of Ontario, Quebec, Vermont and New Hampshire. I can more vividly imagine the conflicts fought beneath those trees. This goes hand in hand with the war's importance to me as a Canadian. it is the key to my country's history.
"Interest in the war, for Canadians as well as historians, must be derived from the basic nature of the social and military situation. Two differing societies; one agrarian and populous against a sparsely inhabited frontier society. Outnumbered, New France enjoyed interior lines of communications, seasoned wilderness fighters, large numbers of native allies and superior leadership. Britain and her colonies benefited from control of the seas, a stable concentrated economy and almost unlimited manpower. It is a classic situation capsulated in an isolated time frame and within half a continent. To heighten this interest Canadians have the knowledge that the outcome shaped who we are and what our culture has become.
"The era itself is of great importance to me. It seems to me in the years before Napoleon the different arms were in fine balance. Grand batteries had yet to appear. Both infantry and cavalry had to be handled delicately. Neither could charge blindly ahead. There were no Neys in this era; at least not for long. In North American there is a similar balance between regulars, irregulars and the few pieces of artillery. Each had its own environment. Each could win or lose a battle.
"The personalities are fascinating. You will not find a wider array of personality types than Wolfe, Montcalm, Vaudreuil, Levis, Murray, Townsend, Braddock, Washington, Amherst and Bradstreet...
"Finally, I like wargaming campaigns and full battles. North American conflicts in the musket era; SYW, ARW, 1812, are of ideal sizes to reproduce on the tabletop. The whole battle can be reproduced without scaling down so much as to lose all color and detail. With such small armies, the CinC's personal influence can be felt on the table and not some anonymous underling; I'm talking the genius of Wolfe or the stupidity of Braddock. The Seven Years' War in North America is particularly well suited for campaigning. Many campaigns with miniatures are too fluid. Armies are reinforced too quickly. Armies switch theaters too easily. As a result, the'war'is won on the map and NOT on the table with miniatures. Since the main British advances were channeled down three distinct and separate routes, flexibility is extremely limited. One has to pick a line of advance and commit to it. The war also provides a wide variety of battlesfrom blind and confused skirmishes, through sieges and amphibious landings, to full setpieces. For campaigning the war I suggest two commercial boardgames;'New France 1760'by Interphase games of Edmonton, Alberta, (no, I have no involvement whatsoever), and 'Mohawk' by Aulic Publishing."
Theme Editor's Note
Bruce makes good points on the unique character of campaign wargaming The French and Indian Wars. Most realize that the British eventually mustered a great many more soldiers than did the French. Yet because the three invasion routes (the St. Lawrence River, the Champlain Valley and Lake Ontario) were separated by hundreds of miles with enormous logistical difficulties to overcome, the weaker French can conceivably mass along one route and score some successes while playing the delaying game elsewhere. This is an advantage because it is fun and it gives each side a chance to win some battles. A defeat historically meant an invasion route would be closed for a year. There would be no reinforcements to launch a counterattack to recover until next year's campaign.
RICH BLACK
(University Park, Illinois, USA):
"Although it was a bright and sunny day, the gloom under the trees of the forest made seeing any distance chancey. Still, Uncowah was sure he could make out some movement in the distance. He had been sitting here for hours without moving so the forest noises would be normal and the enemy would not know he was here. Finally the white man would pay for violating sacred ground.
"What is this, the beginning of a new book? No, it is just the beginning of a scenario which could be played out in the period of The French and Indian Wars. I believe this era allows for games at all levels of play and in all theatres of war.
"There were full fledged battles such as The Plains of Abraham and thousands of imaginary encounters at the skirmish or role-playing levels. You also have naval battles on the Great Lakes and small encounters such as the relief of Fort Pitt. Thus, the period can cater to all tastes and budgets."
FRED HUBIG
(Wheaton, Maryland, USA):
"I grew up in the hill country of upstate New York and found my first Indian arrowhead on a hill near the Susquehanna River during one of my youthful wanderings. It was a magnificent treasure for a lad who had just finished reading James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans and it made a lifetime impression on me. Today, when wargaming the French and Indian War period, my mind can walk in the footsteps of my youth and my mind's eye can see those hidden places as they might have been seen by one of Roger's Rangers, a Mohawk warrior or even the Marquis de Montcalm. One might say, I've almost been there before!" BILL PROTZ (Brown Deer, Wisconsin, USA): The reasons why the preceeding contributors are interested in the period are entirely shared by me. However, one of the most interesting aspects of wargaming the era of The French and Indian Wars is the different approach we can take in organizing military forces. Usually when wargamers go into a new period, the number of miniatures needed in various battalions is determined by using miniature to real men ratios of anywhere from 1:20 to 1:50 or so. Such ratios have become standard quantifications over the years and give us essentially what we have needed to recreate warfare through the ages of a multi-divisional nature up to a grand tactical level where numerous corps are fielded. Historical battles we have chosen to recreate found tens of thousands of soldiers deployed for each side and our desire has been to relive history with such grand numbers using battalions numbering typically about 10-48 castings depending upon the scale ratio used.
Battles of the French and Indian Wars were not "grand" in scope. As a result, if one uses miniature ratios of 1:25 to 1:50, the size of our forces will be unhappily diminutive. Though this may please some, I contend it is pointless because forces will be too small and because it is the same old formula. This need not be. We can do things otherwise if only for the sake of variety as we occasionally seek something different to do.
My contention is to go the opposite way in the trend of the past decade of grand tactical wargaming. Where there has been a revolution to field battalions of ever smaller numbers of miniatures, I propose for the French and Indian Wars anyway, a counter-revolution where we go the other way using miniature ratios of 1:10 with opportunities to have a sliding scale to 1:1. Thereby, we can recreate battles large and small of The French and Indian Wars in a meaningful, picturesque and different way.
This is possible because battles of the era were mostly small. Consider the numbers of combatants deployed by each side during the following selected battles for example:
| Date | Name of Engagement | French | British |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1745 | Siege of Louisbourg | 1,490 | (4,300) |
| 1754 | Fort Necessity | (700) | 350 |
| 1755 | Braddock's Defeat | (891) | 1,300 |
| 1756 | Raid on Fort Bull | (265) | 124 |
| 1757 | Siege of Fort William Henry | (8,019) | 2,339 |
| 1758 | Battle of Carillon Heights | (3,526) | 12,200 |
| 1759 | Battle of La Belle Famille | 830 | (464) |
| 1759 | The Plains of Abraham | 4,500 | (4,850) |
| 1760 | Battle of St. Foy | (6,910) | 3,140 |
| 1763 | Battle of Bushy Run | 400 | (400) |
| Numbers are approximate and often include Indians and colonials. ( ) Indicates the victor, | |||
We can see that even some of the large battles of the period were small when compared to their hefty European counterparts. However, there were few of these and when the wargamer wants to recreate them, ratios of 1:20-1:25 would be most suitable rather than 1:50 ratios. But what would be best for the more common smaller battle?
Though I plan to go into more detail on another occasion of historical battalion sizes, a generalization will suffice here. If we say that a French battalion approximated 500 men and that one from Great Britain could be said to number about 800, then a 1:10 ratio will find these wargame battalions needing 50 or 80 miniatures. Such large numbers fly in the face of recent traditions, I know, but recall that there were a number of rules sets from the 1960s which proposed battalions of similar sizes. I refer to The Wargame by Charles Grant and CHARGE! Or How To Play Wargames by Brigadier Peter Young and Colonel James Lawford. These authors contend there were advantages to such large numbers. I agree and have summarized my reasons as follows.
- 1. It is an approach which offers a stimulating and interesting difference from our usual fare. Why should we always do the same old thing using 1:20 to 1:50 ratios of miniatures to historical men?
2. Battalions of such proportions are visually appealing. The wargame painter or modeler can excel.
3. One can easily form a unit into two and even the historically common three deep rank formation and not have it look like a shrunken and stumpy thing. Forming a wargame battalion into three ranks is certainly an unusually appealing idea for those among us who want to recreate history a little more accurately. The two deep line did not come into play until 1759. Prior to this the British used ranks three men deep and the French were known to use four. At 1:10 this can be done and it will look good.
4. The space needed to deploy a single battalion will teach the lessons of linear warfare in a meaningful way. It is easy to plug gaps in 1:25 to 1:50 wargames when battalions stretch outfor less than twelve inches. It is not so easy in a 1:10 system as it was not so easy to do historically.
5. Most battles were small and therefore ratios of 1:10 will allow ustofield a decent number of miniatures.
6. A battalion can become a company. By this I mean to say that in one wargame a 1:10 ratio can be used with the miniatures forming a battalion while in anothertabletop action we could usethe same unit at1:1 and call it a company. This is particularly advantageous aswe consider simulations of tiny raids or very small battles. The wargamer can use ratios between these limits as does this writer. For example, in my recreation of La Belle Famille (the 1759 French effort to relieve the siege put around Fort Niagara), I like to use a ratio of 1:5 whereas on most other occasions I use 1:10.
7. A 1:10 ratio is in keeping with the trend of recent years to wargame brigadesized actions. In this type of wargame the economical wargamer concerned not only about expenses but also time will realize that he needs few units and therefore will spend less than in multi-divisional or grand tactical wargames.
8. One of the visual attractions of a 1:10 scale is that the wargamer who is stimulated by the ability to see fine detail on his miniatures can be rewarded by the use of miniatures of 25mm scale. For some it will even be possible to buy 30mms whose beauty is unsurpassed. Wargaming one period using beautiful 30mms can then be a reality for some.
9. The 15mm enthusiast could maximize what is said here by ignoring the 1:10 ratio. He could, if he wanted to, go to say a 1:5 ratio to enhance points 1 through 7. Point 8's raison d'etre from the visual standpoint would then be the vision of truly large battalions of say 100 or 160 castings. Such a wargame would more closely resemble those fine paintings we all see from time to time with battalions linearly stretched out to the horizon! Perhaps this may go too far for most but there are a few who may be intrigued by this compelling idea. However, most I imagine would want to use the 1:10 ratio since one advantage of 15mms is that many have small wargame tabletops.
10. Most wargame rules advocate battalions being composed of standard numbers of miniatures. This is frankly a practical necessity in wargames using ratios of 1:20 to 1:50 because in these scales differences in numbers mean very little, if anything. in reality, battalions rarely were of the same numeric strength and in a 1:10 scale this can be simulated better. For example, the seven French regular battalions at the Battle of Carillon Heights in 1758 mustered as follows: La Reine 365, Bearn 410, Guyenne 470, La Sarre 460, Languedoc 426, Royal Rousillon 480 and 2/Berry 450. Thus the wargamer using a 1:10 ratio would field 37,41,47,46,43,48 and 45 miniatures for these respective battalions. Vive la difference!
CONCLUSION
This brings our first article to a close. Our team of writers looks forward to presenting you with interesting data an wargame ideas in other parts of this issue and during the rest of the theme volume. We welcome your comments, products, news and articles as they pertain to our theme.
More French and Indian Wars: 1744-1766
-
Introduction
Historical and Geographic Setting
Campaigning, Tactics, and Historical Importance
Why Wargame the Era: Opinions
Map: Area of Operations (Large: 62K)
Map: Area of Operations (Jumbo: slow: 196K)
Bill Protz jr Bio: Theme Editor
Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VIII No. 1
To Courier List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1987 by The Courier Publishing Company.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com