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Empires in America Designer's Notes
By Joseph Miranda
One of the oldest debates in wargaming is whether some situations are inherently un-gameable due to the advantages one side held over the other. On the surface, The French and Indian War could appear to be one of those situations. Historically, the French were crushed by the superior numbers and leadership of the British.
But there are few things in life that renowned designer Joe Miranda loves more than a challenge... And he swears that the famous painting of Wolfe, meeting his end in front of Quebec, haunted his dreams until hs finished the game. But we digress.
So, we'll allow Joe Miranda to speak for himself. Joe?
I have to admit, designing a wargame on the French and Indian War was a daunting task, marching into terra incognita as it were. The dilemma is that the situation is one in which one side (the French) historically got overwhelmed and destroyed by a foe who eventually gained the advantages of superior numbers and leadership (the British). And yet… there are so any stories to be told here: European armies in the Age of Enlightenment fighting a war in a New World; the development of a new way of warfare; the last great gasp of the Eastern Seaboard Indians; vague stirrings of the American Revolution; the rise to prominence of colonial leaders such as George Washington. Besides... so many people have seen that famous painting of the death of Wolfe in front of Quebec!
The dilemma, as always, is how to turn this situation into a fun game? Given the British edge in numbers, the conclusion has a sense of inevitability about it. But at the time, the French fought a credible campaign and, quite often (as at Ticonderoga or Quebec), a battle might turn on the razor's edge. Fortunately, Victory Point Games does have a game system which allows for modeling this kind of situation: Darin Leviloff’s States of Siege™ engine.
The system fits the situation of the French and Indian War nicely: the player represents the French, occupying the central position based on Montreal and facing several British armies, each advancing on separate avenues of advance. This means that the British can be defeated in detail if the French carefully martial their forces and strike hard at the opportune moment. One enthusiast of this game noted that it is the first in the States of Siege™ series where the player takes the side that historically lost the campaign, noting that it makes the challenges faced that much more interesting.
Taking Different Approaches
The five avenues of approach – St. Lawrence, Upper Maine, Champlain, Ohio Valley, and Great Lakes – were the major campaign routes. So, the number of spaces in the game for each campaign route represents the historical difficulty of moving along them. The St. Lawrence was, in theory, the easiest for the British, as they could use the Royal Navy to sail up the great river. But the French fortresses along the way made such an approach difficult in practice. The Ohio River Valley, in fact, is where the war got started. While the tendency in modern warfare is to think of waterways as barriers, in colonial times they were major highways, since armies and supplies could be more easily transported by boat than by marching or being hauled overland.
The Upper Maine route is a little problematic. Rogers’ Rangers did negotiate it in 1759 to make their raid on St. Francis. If you see the old Spencer Tracey movie, Northwest Passage, you’ll get the idea. Keep in mind, though, that this was a small group of specially trained light troops. An army would not negotiate this rout until 1775, during Benedict Arnold’s ill-fated march on Quebec. I handled this by making the odds of a British commander being placed on this avenue of approach quite low. As for the Great Lakes, the British base is shown on the map as Hudson’s Bay. Actually, this is not quite the case, but I did it this way to get the proper sense for the British situation in North America.
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