Hello there, I am going to play the Evil Side, also known as the English.
I want this to be an AAR for beginners, so I will explain most of the game concepts. You don’t even need to read the RoP AAR to understand this one. I will also explain my strategy, but let’s be honest there, I have a significant advantage as the English… except during the first 2 or 3 years.
Differences between Wars in America / Rise of Prussia
Before I start the game, a short point on the differences between WiA and Rise of Prussia in term of rules. If you never played Rise of Prussia, ignore this section.
- The game is simpler : there are no commanderz-in-chief, no army buildings.
- Turns last 30 days.
- Supplies don’t travel. They are generated in each region, but are not pushed to regions without supplies. In practice, you need to be much more careful when planning expeditions in enemy territory… or in the wilderness.
- Damaged elements can restore “freely” their strengths if they have maximum supply in a region with a depot that produces more supplies than needed by the units in the region. The higher the “gap”, the quicker the unit recovers
- Fortifications can be assaulted without breach. This changes a lot. To balance this, structures can auto-generate militia garrisons when besieged. The militias will disband at the end of the siege.
- The maximum fortification level is 2, against 1 for Rise of Prussia. But as the land is much worse (lots of forest / mountains), being in defense gives a huge bonus in Wars in America.
- Permanent armies is only a (large) part of your forces. Another significant part sof your armies include levy militias, who only enlisted for one year, and Indians who go back in their villages every winter.
- The armies (in this scenario) of both France and England are divided between “regulars” (coming from France and England) and “colonials”, born in the New World. And “Indians”, too. Colonial leaders don’t lead regulars well, regular leaders cannot lead colonials well, and no one except Indians can lead them.
- Naval campaigns battles play a significant role, whereas in Rise of Prussia you cannot move boats in High Seas (they are only created there by events).
There are probably a few others I forget.
Short presentation of the scenario
Loki showed you a screenshoot explaining the history of the war. Of course, you can have more background on
Wikipedia.
The interest of the scenario, gameplay wise, is that both sides look similar (a combination of “regular” and “Indians”, with many “Indians” as irregulars in bonus for the French) but play very differently and actually have very different strengths and weaknesses. The French have elite troops (both their regulars and their colonials are better than mine), excellent leaders, extreme mobility (the massive Indian forces, but also the
Coureurs des Bois, French-Indians who have the mobility of the Indians and the sharpshooting skills of elite soldiers. I will dread them).
On the other hand, from 1757 onward, with the arrival of their elite leader
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, the French will not receive any more significant reinforcements, while the English will get more, and more, and more. The English, especially at the start, have poor troops, faulty leaders, little to no mobility and no Indians to help there – Hell !, they don’t even have sea superiority at first. This won’t last, though, as the Crown will send troops, and decent leaders, and a huge fleet, to destroy French America. Will it succeeds ? We will see.
The geography
Here is the main front, the Middle States, from New York to the Champlain Lake. The highway of the Middle States in the XVIIIth century is the Hudson, on which my bateaux will allow me to move troops quickly from New York, my second largest city, safe and far away from the front, to Albany, probably the most strategic city of the scenario, from which I will either attack North to the Champlain, or North-West to the Ontario.
Edit : The message in read below the circle says : "These indians are pro-English, but neutral in the war"
I have a lot of troops in the area, but most of them are “locked”, as the war has officially not started yet. An ill-advised operation more South – in which was involved a young general that would become one of America’s greatest characters– will start it.
As for the Indians, while the Indiansof the villages you see south of the Ontario hate the French with a passion – they won’t get involved in the war long as they are not confident they will help the winning side. The French will try to demonstrate their power along the Ontario, to dissuade them to get involved. I will try to show them how powerful I am, for instance by taking Fort Niagara, which is where you would expect it.
Here is the South. From Philadelphia, my capital (larger than New York, but not one tenth as important, as the city is small) to Georgia. Florida is still Spanish by then. This is my underbelly. Few troops, a lot of cities to plunder, but not many French in the area to do that… Not many French, but a lot of Indians. Still, those cities are threatened by Fort Dusquene, and every civilized area plundered by the French or their Indians bring them Victory Points. For this reason, taking Fort Dusquene is key, and would also discourage the Indians from helping the French.
Unfortunately, Fort Dusquesne is far in the wilderness, which is not much of a problem for the Indians, but is for me. Moreover, a network of rivers allow France to bring troops from as far as Louisiana in not much more time than it takes me to cross the wilderness… and with much less exhaustion for men.
Here is the Northern Front, Nova Scotia from which I could sail directly to Quebec… provided the Forteresse de Louisbourg would fall. As long as this fortress hold, my ships to Quebec have to take the long way lest they cross in front of its guns, and, worse, are always at risk of being trapped in the Saint Laurent by a French navy using the fortress as a
base arrière.
Also, Grandpré and Saint-Jean, while easy targets, is a thorn in my side, from which the French can attack Hallifax, the closest port to England. I will have to make sure it does not happen.
Here are my targets… It is cold, it is frozen, and it won’t be easy to reach.
Finally, you might find this picture useful. The Caribbeans. Not a front… yet.