French and Indian War Beginnings

Once again my enthusiasm for my Empire army has trailed off, I was however happy with the amount that was achieved even within such a short period.  Instead I have diverted my attentions to the French and Indian War. There are two reasons for this: I absolutely love the period and have been working off and on for some years and that I have a game of Muskets and Tomahawks organised for May.

As stated I am very interested in 18th Century North America, mostly related to the French and Indian War (the name for the American theatre of the Seven Years War). The core reason for my interest, especially from a wargaming perspective, is the freedom that the period offers. Innumerably small actions can be fought using a wide range of figures whereby allowing for a great number of differing stories to be told. This strikes to the core of wargaming views; a method of telling stories, whether fictional or historical. This is combined with a love of the wilderness of colonial North America, the primordial forests which played and shaped the lives and warfare of those involved.

 This interest in the F&IW has manifested itself over the years in the formation of three wargaming forces. First of all my French. My most beloved force for the period and arguably the largest. This stems from a number of reasons generally related to siding with the underdog. If one is unaware the French colonies were large in area and very limited in manpower, roughly 75,000-80,000 settlers. The second is the Colonial Compagnies Franche de la Marine. I find these soldiers deeply fascinating, French enlisted recruits and (eventually) Canadian Officers useful as both light infantry manning the many forts in the vast Canadian/Louisiana/Ohio wildernesses as well as disciplined to conform to European methods, with the training and rigour to boot. This is coupled with a rather simple yet pleasing uniform and the option for a more relaxed frontier style of dress.

Compagnies Franche de la Marine in their normal European style Uniform. 
The drummer is in the standard colours of all French drummers (Michel Petard)

A break down showing the shirt, waistcoat, coat breeches and gaiters. 
Note the buff/brown belt. (Michel petard)

The above illustrations are partly what captivated my regarding Colonial Compagnies Franche de la Marine. I love the simplicity of the white/grey and the blue. The drawings themselves also having a certain style and panache helped as well.

With this in mind there are a few rules that we use or that I have used for other periods that overlap/ are suitable for the French and Indian War. Arguably the most popular and widely considered to be the modern classic for this period is Muskets and Tomahawks. With a relatively easy to use but yet with highly adaptable mechanics meaning that the battles scale well from rather small skirmishes with a handful of figures a side to larger games with regular firing lines and units. This combined with a robust narrative and random encounter system make the 6 or so scenarios contained within the book rather more varied. The only downside, and this is a rather personal opinion, is the lack of a campaign system regarding troops, experience/morale etc. These can be easily house ruled but I would have liked an 'official' system, possible with expansion random encounters and talents.

There are however are great number of other games that cover the French and Indian War or Black Powder periods in general that can be adapted/have supplements or expansion suitable. These games also cover different scales of combat ranging from individuals or small groups to large battles and sieges.

The two smallest scale games that I know and have played are Song of Drums and Tomahawks (a variation of the very popular Song of Blades and Heroes franchise) and Long Rifle. While focused on a smaller skirmish wargame both take rather different approaches. Song of Drums and Tomahawks is your standard 5-10 figure aside skirmish game, infinitely familiar to those who already know Song of... games. This is not to suggest it is a poor game merely that it is immediately accessible. Long Rifle, in contrast, has a great deal more RPG elements as well as greater reaction and morale mechanics. Long Rifle is also designed with solo play in mind and is most definitely campaign focused, it being inherent to the development of your character.

Sharp Practice  fills a similar niche to Muskets and Tomahawks in terms of game size. It is, however, eminently more restrictive in terms of force composition due to the fixed nature of unit sizes. Sharp Practice also lends itself to more regular actions, although it is capable of doing skirmishes or irregular battles as well. The background designer is wonderful at adding character to your officers and developing their actions throughout a game/campaign. It does the same as Muskets and Tomahawks' optional objectives albeit with a more concrete and structured mechanic. There is currently no official campaign structures other than linking scenarios and devising them yourselves but hopefully there will be an expansion release at some point in the future.

Hopefully this gives a reasonable introduction to my thoughts in regards to the F&IW. In the coming days or weeks there will be some photographs of my collections and terrain developments as well as the plans I have relating to the upcoming games in May.