Strategy & Tactics # 352 - The French & Indian War

From Decision Games:

The Magazine:

The French & Indian War: Conquest of a Continent, In July 1754, two forces, one from French Canada and the other from the British colony of Virginia, clashed in the Ohio Valley frontier. The British were under the command of a provincial officer named George Washington. The battle was the harbinger of many more campaigns that pitted the two empires against each other in a contest for North America, which become known as the French & Indian War.

Additional feature articles:

Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus, At the start of the Persian-Greek Wars in 499 BC, Halicarnassus was a city-state in the Persian satrapy (province) of Caria in southwest Anatolia. The ruler there, a woman named Artemisia, mastered what were then viewed exclusively as male talents for military command. During the war’s sea battles, she ably commanded five triremes.

The Four Battles of Rzhev: 1942–43, Several major battles were fought by the Red Army to try to eliminate the German salient at Rzhev in 1942–43. The 15-month campaign has since been largely forgotten, even though its component battles were fought on a scale, and with a ferocity equal to, the better-known ones of Stalingrad, Kursk, Byelorussia, and Berlin. This is our analysis.

Budapest 1956, Prior to the start of the Ukraine War in 2022, the 1956 fighting in Hungary was the toughest for the Russians since the end of World War II. During 20 days of combat, the (mostly civilian) Hungarian insurgents on average killed 36 Soviets, and wounded another 77, every day. Even so, the rebels lost, and Hungary had to live under the thumb of the Kremlin for another 33 years.

The Game:

The French & Indian War is a two-player wargame of the conflict between the British and French Empires for control of North America during the wider Seven Years War. There are two opposing players: British Empire (Britain or British) and French Empire (France or French). Each player represents the high command for their respective forces in North America. There is also the possibility for intervention by American Indian and Spanish Imperial forces. The game has several scenarios, representing different starting situations. The game system models the effects of command control on campaigns conducted across vast distances of largely frontier terrain, and as part of the larger Seven Years War.

Each game turn represents a campaign lasting one year. Each hex represents 85 kilometers (50 miles) across. Each regular unit represents one or two battalions or equivalent-sized groupings of companies/squadrons. Provincial and militia units represent regiments or brigades. Some of the light units represent detachments of one or more companies. Indian units represent groups between 500 to 2000 warriors. Commanders are key leaders, their staffs, and guard troops. Riverine units represent flotillas of boats.

22 x 34-inch game map and a sheet of 228 9/16-inch counters. Design by Joseph Miranda.