The Boucharde Raid, 1750's French Indian Wars – My Trial Game for DevLAM 2018

The game is based on a scenario devised by Steve Hezzlewood and published a long time ago in a Wargames Magazine, can't remember which one but I think it was a special edition. I have the scenario as a jpg somewhere and if I can find it I will publish it and be damned, presumably there is some copyright on it. - OK  I have found it and it came from this blog http://unfashionablyshiny.blogspot.com/2010/02/hezzlewood-writes.html

This was one of the games I put together for DevLAM 2018, the lead up to the game is on my blog https://vagabondswargamingblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-boucharde-raid-10th-of-may-1758.html

To make the most of this game report you should really read the introduction but I know that’s not always possible, but you will miss out on the plot if you don’t, it’s up to you.

This is the small village of Boucharde part way down Lake George in Canada, the French have created a forward magazine of arms, powder, and equipment and there is a detachment of French Regular Infantry stationed here as well as some Franche de La Marine as well as a few Canadian Militiamen.

The ammunition magazine and powder store is located in the large building in the centre of the village, the main barracks are the two buildings on the far side of the village in the centre and left hand side as we look at the picture, but troops are billeted in most of the buildings in the village.

A detachment of Rogers Rangers has been tasked with destroying the magazine, they have a few Native Allies with them but are heavily outnumbered. They can not fight their way in, it has to be a “sneak in and run like hell operation”, especially if they blow up the powder store.

Silas Hugget is leading the Rangers and has decided to make a two pronged attack, in the distance you can see the 1st prong, they have spotted one of the sentries, the chap in the red woollen hat on the left but he is more interested in the pheasant in front of him than any possible enemy creeping up on him and doesn’t see them.

The chap in the red coat is one of two Engineering officers assigned to the Expedition, Silas has split his force in two and attached an Engineer to each one.

 

The sentries move using a dice to give a random direction and distance and this one is moving through the cabin yard away from the main thrust of the attack. There are four sentries, in the far distance is one of the Franche La Marine and the guy with the red hat is one of the Canadian Militia.

These figures were painted many years ago and research was much harder than it is today, I can’t remember how accurate I think their uniforms are and to be honest I don’t care, so if there any button counters reading this please bite your tongue.

 

The 2nd prong led by Silas himself is creeping around the corn field, there is a sentry over by the powder store walking away from us, but what you can’t see very clearly because it’s a crap picture is that the 4th sentry is just the other side of the corn field, you can maybe see the blue feather in his hat.

 

Randomly he turns the corner and comes face to face with the leading Ranger.


Who reacts first and manages to rush the Frenchman, knock him to the ground before he can raise the alarm. The rest of the Rangers had full confidence in him and are already moving through the corn field.

It’s supposed to be Maize, and it has been marijuana plants in one of my Granny and Pops games but is really a small Christmas tree cut into short pieces and planted in hardboard. It cost me a pound and I’m very pleased with it, but close-ups like this don’t really do it justice. The thing I like, is that I can remove a base and fit a figure in the field rather than as you usually see with them walking on top of the plants.

The majority of the 1st prong has taken up firing positions around a small cabin, they will provide covering fire if necessary, for the Engineer and his escort if they need to beat a hasty retreat.

The Militia sentry is wandering around aimlessly and hasn’t seen the small fracas with the other chap now lying down, he’s just enjoying the peace and quiet of the early morning, that is until Silas Huggett jumps over the wall and rushes him.

My apologies for the dice in the photo, either the Continuity Girl or the Cameraman will get it in the neck for that lapse. I've noticed there are a few other dice appearing in the photos later, there will be vacancies to fill in my studio.

Silas has a big claymore and kills the poor sentry out of hand. I’m not sure though why Silas is lying down, there’s nothing in my notes that explains it, but I suspect that the sentry sounded the alarm before dying.

The 1st Prong moves from their position by the log hut, to a more commanding one looking down what passes for a main street in the village. This proves to be a mistake because the sentry at the far side of the village sees them and also sounds the alarm.

A close up of the demolition party from Prong 1. They are running hell for leather to get to the Powder Store before the French troops are awake and ready to intercept them. They make it but have to break down the locked door, there is a variable time (dice roll) to see how long it takes to lay the fuse and then a variable time (dice roll again) before it blows up. There is the possibility that the defenders may get into the powder store and put out the fuse, basically a slow match before it blows up.

It took a little while for the Rangers to break down the door into the powder store and this gave the garrison time to wake and form up. I took each group of 6 men plus NCO and rolled dice to see how long it would take to form up and they had an amazing run of low dice.

Here they are already in a fire fight with Prong 1.

At this point Prong 1 are holding their own, but there are very few of the French Regulars firing.

At this point the guys in the red caps defending the parapet had got one man into the Powder Store and he had defeated Silas in melee and stunned him, you can see he is lying down again but the other Ranger has pushed the Canadian back into the store and they are engaged in a desperate fight, blocking the doorway, no one else can get in. Other Rangers have advanced from the corn field and are engaged in a fire fight with the Militia on the parapet.

The troops in the street have got their act together and opened up with volley fire, and another company have emerged from the stockade tower and also opened fire. Sheer weight of numbers is overcoming the log wall protection and Prong 1 is taking heavy casualties.

So much so that these 2 desperados are doing a runner, their morale failed big time.

Just a pretty picture, mainly to show the new barracks I built especially for this game. The log stockade tower is very old but also got a repaint as did most of the other buildings.

Another pretty picture showing the other half of the building.

The guys in blue waistcoats and forage hats are the Franche Marine troops, not sure if that’s their correct title and the guys in Grey are one of the 6 regular regiments that fought in Canada, I can’t remember now which one they are but blue facings shouldn’t be hard to place them.

Inside the powder store things are getting a little fraught, the 1st floor has been removed to show the action. Silas is back on his feet and defending the door on the right where a horde of Militia are trying to get in, if 7 men can be called a horde. On the left upstairs a Ranger is defending the other door and in the central room the Engineers are laying the fuse, this is going to take 2 turns before they can light it.

It’s lit shouted the Engineers and they rushed out the door.

You know I’m sure the guy back right has the determined look of our good Queen Elizabeth, not sure why but what do you think.

Bugger thought the Ranger upstairs but a couple of lucky shots from his mates, took down the remaining Militia on the parapet and he was through the door like a flash. Bugger thought Silas as the militia bust through the door downstairs, pushing him back half way across the room. As you can see the fuse blows in 4 turns.

If Silas runs he will probably get killed by the Militia as he turns his back, if he doesn’t run he will almost certainly get killed in the explosion. Decisions, decisions.

The overall situation outside is looking pretty bleak, the French are loaded and pushing down the road, on the right from Prong 1 the remaining Rangers had already fled but the Native Americans have taken 50% casualties and also pulled back. There is still a defensive line of Prong 2 on the left and the Engineers will probably reach them but overall it looks like the attackers are down about 50% casualties, many of them wounded, they are going to be left behind.

This chap jumped off the parapet and hurt his leg but was still mobile enough to make it out with help.

3 Moves later there was a large explosion as the Powder Store exploded and no one has heard from Silas Huggett since.

I’ve played this scenario 3 or 4 times over the years, It was published in the 1983 and this is a scan of the original article, I hope no one minds me posting this but it is one of my wargamming highlights and I want to share it with anyone who might be interested, The scenario would translate to many different genres and rule sets.

You can see that my powder store is a copy of the one in the story and I have derived as much pleasure from my games over the years as I suspect the originators did when they first played it.

We didn’t get to this game until late on the third day of DevLAM and we were all completely buggered in the nicest possible sense, we set the game up and after the evening meal, we drank a little more and then I went and moved the figures around taking some photos. The Mad Lord Snapcase had bought some scenery from Silent Invader from the Lead Adventurers Forum and we were using that for the game, it looked absolutely brilliant and I’m going to post the photos on the LAF when I can but here are just a few to wet your appetite.

It just goes to show what a professional base board can do for the look of the game.


Well it just remains to say thanks for reading, like all bloggers I like to hear if you have enjoyed reading this or have any other comments or observations to make, no one likes to talk to an empty room.
Cheers