A few weeks back we played our first game of FIW using my new collection. It was also my first time to show off many of the terrain I've been collecting for years in anticipation of my FIW project. Although please excuse the lack of historical accuracies of some of the buildings, I still have to get more specific FIW cabins and farms.
John faced Nicolas while I got to be GM. Funnily, the game pitted John, now living in Massachusetts and playing the Colonial Militia/British against Nicolas, a French now living in Québec. Can't beat that realism!
We played two games, both with the excellent ruleset This very Ground. It went really well I think and we had a blast. I was always more of a big battle type of wargamer but I must say FIW Skirmish is a lot of fun. I designed two scenarios that were linked together; the first was a raid on a settlement by a mixed Canadian and Indian war party and the second was the pursuit in the woods between the retreating party and British forces.
Unfortunately I have few pics from the first game, as the sun was in full force and ruined most of them, as you can see from the first pic. And the second game was over too quickly to take many pics. But still, there's a couple of decent shot. I was quite happy with the look of the games. |
| The first game set-up : John's militia had to protect the three farms |
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| Shots exchanged between Militia and Indians |
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| Charge! |
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| The 2nd game : Nicola's party had to exit the table at the top |
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| The two sworn enemies thinking about their strategy |
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| Redcoats trying to intercept the F&I |
The first game was very tight and for a while it looked as if the the outnumbered Militia might succeed in defending their farms, but a late push by charging indians changed the outcome in a hurry.
The second game was not as close, in part because of horrendous bad luck from Nicolas and in part because there was a thing or two that could've been more balanced with the scenario. John certainly didn't help Nicolas with his great gameplan! Bad John, bad!
I rarely say this but those This very ground rules are so good I don't feel the need to try other rules from the period. The shooting mechanism, especially, is pure genius. I'll have to work on some Rangers and Compagnies Franches, as this is the first but certainly not the last of our FIW games.
Great looking game, Iannick. Lovely figures and terrain!
ReplyDeleteSkirmish games seem to be popular these days. The closest I've got to skirmishing is a couple of scenarios at the club using individual battalions with specific objectives. Lots of fun, but this could be even better!
great looking game and terrain, must say I am loving the F&IW games at the moment
ReplyDeletePeace James
Very nice, I really enjoyed the game and despite the sun most of the photos look great.
ReplyDeleteJohn
That was some really nice games, indeed! Although I did not fell really successful with my 'Petite Guerre' tactic during the second one. John's evading combat instead of going for his objective seemed to be a typical Wolfian approach: "wait for them and shoot". I'd love to GM our next meeting in the forest and see if a genuine Canadian commander would do better at it than a French sent from the realm. Isn't that what Vaudreuil would constantly argue with Montcalm? I most definitely felt Montcalm that day: "Indians and Canadians? Not reliable!"
ReplyDeleteBring on the Compagnie Franche and La Reine!
Just catching up on this. Looks to have been an excellent game! Beautiful work on both the figures and terrain, Iannick. I've not looked at 'This Very Ground' but based on your recommendation I'm going to pick up a set. Perhaps we can try this when I come into Montreal next!
ReplyDelete