QUEBEC 1759

 I had cut the article describing this battle from an old Wargames Illustrated a long time ago and had it filed away in my 'scenarios' folder - yes..PAPER....not an electronic copy.

I always thought it would make an interesting, if fairly straight forward, table encounter. Ross had his SYW French. We didn't have Wolfe's Redcoats ( but I had the Osprey book!!) but I had more than enough AWI British troops that could double up. Now I can hear the screams about accuracy and purity of representation - total poo of course. The figures are nice- they look about right so I used them!

The cover of the issue!

The Redcoats on the left. French on the right. Indians and Coureur de Bois in the woods on the British flank.

                    

   The original article was for WRG Horse and Musket rules which is one of my most played and favourite rulesets of all time. We have moved on from it ( sadly I guess) and translated it across to the rules we currently use, Honours of War. 

The map and OOB from the original article:

The layout was the same as the picture above- but I did not include the 48th Foot and the 3/60th Foot as they were concerned about a possible attack by the French General Bougainville. The rest were pretty much following the historical layout.  There was an extra unit of Courier de Bois with the Indians on the French left- just to put a little more pressure on the British.

Highlanders advancing. 

Wolfe ordering the lads forward.

Howe's light infantry move to the left to deal with the Coureur de Bois who were skulking in the woods. I sent three units to deal with them...perhaps overkill??.

Montcalm's artillery kept up a steady fire.

I know- these are British troops from the AWI and not exactly the correct uniform.  But for this game - it worked. It's why I am not identifying each regiment- the flags and uniforms do not accord to the map above. 

Redcoats dealing with Indians in the woods. On this flank I sent another three units to clear the woods.....perhaps a little heavy handed!

Pushing those pesky Coureur de Bois back

The Abenaki Indians got aggressive and blocked my advance.....who would have thought it would be enough to turn the tide of the game. I wasted too much time, energy and manpower dealing with the slight threat to my flanks.

Wolfe's fragmented line slowly approaching the French

This picture actually shows ( with some explanation) why I lost. I used 6 of my infantry regiments to deal with the various ragtag skirmishers on my flanks ( 3 each side) - which was stupid really. By the time I realised it, they were too spread out and ( as per top right). One unit in a firefight with the French line....one a couple of moves behind- and the final one on the bottom left.....still engaging the Coureur de Bois. I failed to concentrate them against the main French line.

As Ross pointed out: "You're an experienced gamer- since when do you use half your available units to chase down skirmishers??!! "
"Shut up Rossco."

I eventually had four regiments advance against the French line.....and they were shot and shelled. I forced two of the French battalions to retreat...

But as you can see here my men are outnumbered.....

Wolfe calling for a retreat, He lived to fight another day

Not much left of Wolfe's center..but my flanks were secure....well reasonably!!

This did NOT happen in my game!!

So a valuable lesson- one I should already know. I should have done what Wolfe did, ignore the Coureur de Bois and Indians ( allocating 1 unit per flank to deal with them) and advance the rest of my line against Montcalm's. Ironically a bad die roll on the first turn saw Monckton's Brigade refuse to advance- but I should have thought about my overall plan a bit more......

A rematch is essential.....or Canada will stay French!

I need to reread this!!