June 1759 –Where is Montcalm ?
In June 1759, I am fairly ecstatic ! I believe I can wait in 1759 / early 1760. If only I knew where Montcalm was !
Well – first the good news.
Détroit. No sign of Montcalm, nor of any relevant defense. I will wait one turn to recover cohesion, then I will assault and surely take the place.
Since obviously I won’t need the siege guns I brought to Fort Henri Bouquet (those are the 1754 siege guns that came with Braddock’s expedition), I send them back to Fort Duquesne, in order to then send them to Philadelphia, and from there ship them to wherever they are needed. I don’t believe I will have the time to use them again.
In Frontenac,
divine surprise !
Apparentely, Loki100 tried to coordinate a sortie, coordinating the attack of Guillaume Plantavit de Lapause (even for a French, the name sounds weird) to a sortie by the garrison. It did not turn well for them :
The problem for the French is that Lapause’s force was fairly small, and the garrison – which was about as strong as my army – was hindered by the fact it was sortieing (just image everyone cramped by the gates of the fort), so this was a clear victory for me. I also had the advantage of guns with a good range, too.
Now, the funny part is that the French actually succeeded in their sortie… which means they were away from the battlefield.
Consequently :
And the cherry on the cake :
The French forces are completely disorganized ! Little risk they try their luck again against Forbes !
But still no Montcalm.
Montcalm is NOT in Montréal either :
And I guess he is not in Quebec, as my scouts found out the hard way :
Well, if Montcalm is not in Quebec, and not in Montréal, and not in Frontenac, where can he be ?
Of course, Montcalm
COULD be between Frontenac and Montréal but this is highly unlikely, as this would make him very vulnerable : in that situation if I take Montréal his army will melt down due to shortage of supply. In addition to this, he cannot protect Montréal as a long march in the wilderness between both cities would be terrible for his army’s cohesion. I know Loki wants to play safe and last as long as possible, so surely he has not tried this.
Thus, I see only one last possibility. Montcalm is in Trois Rivières, between Montréal and Quebec. This makes sense, since this would allow his army to destroy (with a sortie) any army attempting to land on Québec OR chase any army attempting an attack on Montréal (Trois Rivières is less than one month, ergo one turn, from either). In the most perfect situation for the French, he could even destroy a force landing in Québec before joining Chevalier de Lévis and Montcalm armies and march South.
But in this case, I am 90% sure he is going to move to Montréal to protect it.
I adapt my plan accordingly :
Of course, I COULD attack Montréal which is not well defended. But I prefer not too because
- Either I assault the position and give the order structure, in which case I could be sieged and starved by Montcalm’s army in Montréal – the last thing I want since I have no supply wagons in my army
- Or I could assault and not enter the structure, in which case my army would keep its “assault” posture, would assault Montcalm’s force as he moves in Montréal, and thus have no defensive benefits and actually be on the attack against Montcalm. Remember Montcalm has 5 in defense and a fresh army… In addition to this, my army will be weakened by the assault.
- Or I could move in in defensive position, in which case I will battle Montcalm, probably lose and not even get Montréal.
[Remember the Montréal province is 100% French, so Montcalm will not have the “crossing under fire” penalty]
None of this solution is satisfactory, so instead I prefer to secure the Champlain and wait for reinforcement. I will assault the two remaining French structures on the Champlain and come back to my original place.
Meanwhile, my supplies are coming :
Finally, in Louisbourg, my army is ready, but my fleet is not large enough to carry everyone. Actually, it is not HALF large enough.
Unfortunately, my transport fleet has been delayed (this can happen if a fleet has no admiral), so it won’t arrive before TWO months… Part of it will arrive next turn, though.
Finally, as a reminder, everything is quiet in the South :