The Fringe of the Seven Years War.

In keeping with my new project last night's club game was a skirmish from the French and Indian War which kicked off the Seven Years War or World War Zero as some historians are wont to call the conflicts. I know it involved battles from Canada to India but as the main protagonists in these areas were the British and French I think calling it a World War is stretching it a bit. No matter, on with the tale. I was the British commander, sans Jocks for a change, and Ryan was the French, the set up was a simple meeting engagement as both sides marched on a large farm, one to rescue the civilians and the other to capture or kill them, the civvies were British.

Rob was umpiring and as usual with Rob nothing was straightforward, we took it in turns to say where our troops were arriving and then had a dice off, if I won the troops duly turned up, if I lost my opponent got to deploy them a distance away, the length of which was decided by how much I had lost the die roll. I managed to put Ryan's Indians and Marines in a far corner deep in the woods while he managed to put my Provincials behind a massive hill.

My brave boys.

My plan was to march forward and hopefully destroy or chase away the nearest French units before the others cut their way through the forest. I did manage a few casualties but the cards seemed to favour the Frenchies in the first few turns and I asked Rob if he had forgotten to put the British cards in the pack. I also fell victim to some excellent die rolling by Ryan, I had got my regular battalion up through the cornfield and was hopefully about to send a crashing volley into the enemy only to have the unit decimated before it could level a musket. My own Irregulars popped out and in at the edge of the forest firing and withdrawing without having any effect on the enemy.

The civvies, nice figures, I'll need some of them.

Marines and the evil Indians.

My Provincials meanwhile had scrambled up the hill and slowly advanced along the rocky ground, this had given the Indians time to get within charge range and the savages let out bloodcurdling yells and threw themselves into the terrified Americans. With thirteen against seven I was confident of victory, by the time both sides withdrew I had two men standing and only the annoying Indian chief was left, he had a name which was unpronounceable by educated people but which Ryan kept roaring in triumph as he cut down my men. With my Regulars down to 50% and my Provincials all but gone (his Marines finished off the gallant survivors in the next turn) it looked like a French victory.

The French Regulars enjoy their moment, soon to end.

Buoyed up by his success Ryan now abandoned caution to the wind and advanced his own Regulars to mop up, this did not happen and they found themselves under intense fire from my remaining troops and were cut down to a man. I now turned my attention to a small unit of Irregulars which had also come back into the fray and the overpowering amount of fire they received also took them out of the game. During all this I had sent the civilians away from the French advance into the nearby cornfield and the rear of my line, Rob asked for another dice off and my heart sank, sure enough I lost and up popped a small unit of French Irregulars who had presumably outflanked me, right in the path of the civilians, thankfully only one of the farmers fell. With the main French force now destroyed and their Marines having a slow time of it on the crag I turned all my remaining forces on the enemy to my rear safely ignoring the rest. A quick volley and off they ran. A British victory.

They're behind us!

A small but excellent game, perfect for a club night with only two players. Up until halfway through it looked like an easy French victory despite half their men being a long way from the action, every time I tried to stand my ground the French Regulars shot me down, only some good morale throws saved me. My luck changed in the second half, this along with the rash advance of the Frenchies into the open swung the battle my way. Elsewhere we had a 17thC RPG and a Zombicide game, Roger has all the Zombicide add on's and extras, a huge amount of games, all beautifully produced with gorgeous figures, I don't mind it and have a box myself but prefer 'normal' zombies, daft eh?