Siege of Fort Niagra July, 1759

So I've decided to do a Seven Years War based action whereby the Anglo-american army will lay siege to capture the fort.
As well this will also allow me to look at the battle of La Belle Famillie
I've built 2 stone bastions  a gatehouse and a fortified barracks.
If I cant reenact this summer, I shall fight some tactical battles.

Presently, June, 2020, I have set up the 1759 campaign. The Anglo-Americans are beginning to dig
trench lines.
The French are in the process of manning their trenches and walls. The Amerindians will see about sorties against les anglais

The first turn featured the French repositioning some of their field guns to a forward position while a massive demonstration of troops were used by the British to mask the militia digging gun positions and trenches.

 the French begin to deploy in the forward defences

 the Anglo-american left begin to build a siege battery

Le Cannonier-Bombardier begin to fire on the battery ensuring that it will remain silent

 the Canadien milice hold the bastion at the gatehouse 

 the Hurons and Courier de bois rush out and engage the Light infantry 

who despite trading volleys will be shot apart

French Artillery have kept the battery silent

the Colonial troops begin to mass for an assault 

while the British Grenadiers begin to assault the French gate.

the Highlanders are held in reserve

Then the Compaigne Frances de La Marine arrive

the American colonial troops suffer broken morale

and the French begin a general advance to clear away the dreaded Les Anglais

Eventually, the French Companies Frances de La Marine engaged the Anglo-american force at La Belle Famillie and flanked the siege lines. New France was safe for now.

Black powder games to make a comeback

I've had 2 issues with doing this era, distractions with other eras, and my battle with depression.
I just haven't had the motivation to finish projects however there are several from last year I will attempt to finish this year. With the current Covid 19 Crisis, my son and I should be able to get a few battles on the go.

Plans for 2020

So I was overly ambitious for this year, I changed jobs which threw off my game plans and I strayed from the 18th century but fear not, I shall be back in this period with relish,
1. Begin working on the ho/how buildings
2. Possibly some skirmishing
3. Lots of terrain projects mainly finishing up some kits and gear
4. Touch ups on figures

The Battle of Carrickfergus 21 February 1760

As mentioned in the previous posting Battle of Carrickfergus was a French invasion of Northern Ireland during the Seven Years War one of the most interesting aspects of this action was that three of the regiments involved had actually been involved in operations in British North America on the French side we had the Regiment going and going to be both of which had served in the Garrison of Louisbourg during the siege of 1758 and the 62nd regiments which is served in the siege of Quebec in 1759 furthermore this campaign is very easily adapted to the wargaming table due to its small size and also to the fact that I have most of the figures already in order to fight the battle within Wargames Illustrated magazine (July 2019) the figures used are from the author's collection however within my own collection I have better suited civilian type militia figures for the Seven Years War. Which at 1/72 scale it really doesn't matter the style of clothing however the Caps being worn or probably better than Irish Rebels have 1798 where the newer style clothing started to come in at the end of the 18th century as well there are several armed civilian types I have in my collection in metal from rafm miniatures.

The French force for the battle

Carrickfergus with castle and garrison

The Irish Loyalist Militia man the walls.

Defending their homes against a foreign invasion 

French begin  advance

They begin to try to breach the walls

My son Ian and I played out this game as we hadn't had a Black Powder game together in some time. In this game, he acted as the British-Irish commander while I took the French.

The French troops attempted to bombard the town. In the process, they were successful in taking out most of the Royal and Royal Irish Artillery. However, as the French Infantry advanced, the Irish militia held firm better than their historic counterparts. The British Grenadiers actually broke morale several times! Quite the scandal! 

However, in the end, despite the French breaking over the forward wall of the town, they could not overcome the defenders. They quickly departed the area before being defeated in detail.

War games Illustrated issue 381 July 2019 3 18th century campaigns

This issue consists of invasion scenarios with which cover the period of my Irish Highlander blog we have the Battle of carrickfergus 1760 the French attack on Ulster there's also the American invasion of Canada 1775 there is also the  Civil War of 1793 in Revolutionary War France.

I have previously done some of the 1775 invasion of Canada but this one adds to it.
I have the figures of this period so let's party!

Warlord Games Plastic Colonial Militia

As part of my subscription to Wargames Illustrated, I received a free sprue of figures or kit as a promotion. This month, is an 18th century spruce of American Colonial militia. This means I have figures for both 1775-84 & War of 1812. I could even have them for the 1750s.
I will try to build and paint them this summer.
I have a few heads from one of the WW2 sprues with bonnets, so I may see if I can paint a few as rangers/highlanders or as Brant's White Volunteers. (these eventually went to the Black Watch in Korea 1950s troops I built)
A few of the heads also have round hats with one brim up so I will also paint a few as Virginian troops.
The round hat types will be made into militia/frontier types which can be used from 1750-1820.
The package arrived on my son's 14th birthday, but he wanted an iPhone instead, so all is well.
So far I have built 3 of the figures
More to be done once I know my days off on new job.
As of July 2019, all the figures have been built and some basic paint has been applied. I shall have to get some pictures soon.

typical 18th century militia 1720-90

these will be used from 1775-1840

to be painted as North Carolina troops

Battle of Lake George, 1755

 Baron Diskeau's force made up of Regiment La Reine and Regiment Landeauc

 the Anglo-american force of Sir William Johnson's force

half of the Amerindian and Colonial force

and the other half

the French advance towards the Anglo-american camp

the French fire

and the British Artillery fires back

the French regulars begin to take casualties 

The French continued to fire into the camp and unlike the historical outcome, the Amerindian force rushes the camp for a chance at the spoils of war. 

The English Colonial militia, loose faith and flee towards their boats in the lake. The colonial regiments charge into the woods to clear the right flank, but may have doomed their position as when the Amerindians rushed the camp, the defense collapsed. Sir William Johnson was able to flee with a portion of his force.

More fortifications to come.

I've been reading Chartrand's French Fortresses in North America 1535-1763.
One of the forts I'd like to build is Fort Senneville as it's a square stonework castle like fort. So I shall see what I can accomplish.
5/27th
So far I have built 2 stone block houses to add to my 18th century forts.
Now that I have glue and some basing they
Shall rise

2019 Plans, 17th century, 18th century, 1812,

Now, if I start out this year with a set out plan, I may actually get to doing them right? Sure, keep dreaming.
As far as some of my gamming periods go, I really should set out to do some interesting campaigns.

1. King Phillips War. Somewhere out in my library, I have one of the wargamming magazines which has an article about playing this war. I have begun following a Facebook page of this and should get about to do one.

2. King William's War: I'd like to put together a siege of Port Royal 1690s. I have figures to do this, just need to find a time to throw it together.

3. Seven Years War 1755-56 campaigns, including Battle of Lake George, Siege of Fort William Henry, and Montcalm's raids on Oswego

4. American Revolution, 1778 Monmouth Campaign. I've done a few of the battles but now that my British army has increased, I'd like to put together some more battles.

5. 1812. Summer 1813: get in some action with my American, Canadian and British troops.

With every second weekend off, and periods of the week when I have 3 days off, I might actually be able to get in some more gamming.

At present, the tempretures outside are around -25c so I don't feel like doing much out there. So any chance I get I shall be painting.
The first up will probobly be the American infantry I hadn't finished last fall.
I have also made a challenge for myself, not buying anything else for my collection for a year. This is mainly to try and claw back on spending and to work with what I have.

Siege of Louisbourg 1758. British assault on the Dauphin Bastion

This coming Saturday, I'm going to have a battle day with one of my reenactment mates. He wants to be the British, Ian wants to be the colonial commander so I will be the French defender.
Pictures will follow

Hamilton deploys his troops to begin assault.

The French positions. My strategy was to see how the British would conduct their attack.

The main British assault came in this area. For some reason, Alistar kept his Rangers in reserve for most of the game and used his Highlanders to do the brunt of the attack.

Once he had taken out most of the French artillery save the lone gun, he began his assault on the King's bastion.

However, my attack went better than planned. The Cannonier-Bombardier took out the Royal Artillery while the 

French regular regiments used the bayonet to clear the area with support from the sailors of the French navy. The MikMaq gave support to Le Compaigne Frances de La Marine. All in all, Wolfe's attack failed, Louisbourg continued to live! Vive La France!