Historical Background: Ticonderoga was a French fort near Lake Champlain in Upper New York state. It acted as a guard to the approach to Quebec. In 1758, the British-American army under the command of Gen. Abercrombie and Lord Howe were to take the fort while Gen. Amherst was to capture the Fortress of Louisbourg. Only Amherst was successful. Gen Abercrombie was a product of the British upper class and was able to buy his commission into the British Army. Lord Howe however was an able commander but was killed in the days leading up to the assault on the fort. Abercrombie made the fatal error of directing a frontal assault on an entrenched position. The French commander, Montcalm was a much more experienced commander who had seen extensive service in the French army in Europe. The only British units to get into the French defenses were the Black Watch, who used their broadswords to hack away at the wooden stakes, but were shot down in droves. This battle was Montcalm's last victory.

This battle has not yet been playtested.

Rules

The Miniatures:   You can use 1/72 plastic, metal or paper soldiers for this game. Plastic figures can be found by looking on www.plasticsoldierreview.com as Revell, Italeri and Strelets now sell 18^th century figures. For my game, I'll be using paper soldiers from this website.

The Board:  Ticonderoga was a star shaped fort but the main fighting took places in a series of outer works away from the fort. The area was bordered by two rivers and the area was also swampy. An amazing fact of this battle was that it was completely fought by infantry without artillery support. The game table should be two meters by one meter. The French set up on the north side of the table. Green felt can be used to denote the flat open area, blue strips should simulate the rivers. Brown cloth, paper or battlefield accessories can be used to model the French trenches and abatis.

Sequence of Play:
1. French Move
2. French Shoot
3. British / American Move
4. British / American Shoot
5. Charges
6. Melee

Formations:  There were only two formations in the 18^th century; line and column For the kids just refer to column as make a line and line as firing line, deploy your troops to fire.  Units may change formation at the start of or end of their movement turn, but can only change formation once per turn.

Movement: Infantry can move 15cm if they are in line or 24 cm if in column. Commanders may move 24cm. Field cannons can move 15cm but cannot fire on the same turn they move. Cannons can pivot in place during movement and still fire. Units may about face once per turn. Units can advance up to 5 cm from an enemy unit and still fire. They may then decide to charge.

Crossing the Moat and Ditch:   A unit that reaches the abatis must stop at the edge.  On its next move it may clear the abatis.  On the following turn it may move normally.

Shooting: Units that are in line formation may fire. Range is measured from the center of a unit to the nearest part of the target unit. Units may only fire to the front and may not fire through gaps between friendly units, or over the heads of friendly units. Roll on die per infantry base. The chart indicates the number needed for a hit. Remove one base for each hit rolled by the firing unit.

Defensive Cover: French units in the trenches are partially protected from enemy fire.  When a unit in the trenches receives hits roll 1 die for each hit.  Each roll that is a 5 or 6 is ignored.

Charges: Both sides may charge during the charge phase. A unit may not declare a charge unless it is in line formation and within 15cm of an Enemy unit. If it matters, the British charge first. A player may measure to see if a unit is within charge range. One enemy unit must be chosen as the target of the charge. A unit that wishes to charge must first pass a morale check. If the unit fails, nothing happens, it can't charge this turn. If the unit passes it's morale check then the target must pass a morale check. If the target fails, it loses one base and immediately retreats 24cm, the charging unit is moved into the position vacated by the retreating target unit. If the unit counter charges, the two units meet in the middle and fight a melee. If the target decides to fire at the chargers, it does so at a range of 5cm. If the charging unit survives the fire, it moves into contact with the target and they fight a melee.

Morale Checks:  If a unit has to take a morale check, roll one die and add any modifiers. If the roll is less than or equal to the number of bases (plus a commander if one is present) then it has passed. If the role is greater then, it fails. Artillery must roll a four or less to pass a morale check.

Melee: If a charging unit contacts and enemy unit there will be a melee. Each side rolls a die and applies the modifiers. High roll wins. The loser removes a stand, and retreats 24cm. He must spend the next turn reforming. If the roll is a tie, each side removes a stand and rolls again.

Commanders:  A commander may join or leave one of his units during movement. This unit gets a +1 bonus on all melee rolls and the officer counts as a base when testing morale. Every time a unit with an attached commander is completely eliminated by enemy fire, (last base removed) or is engaged in a melee (win or lose) roll one die. If the roll is a 6, the commander is a casualty and is removed from play. This is the only way a commander can be eliminated.

Resources:

• America`s First World War: The French and Indian War 1754-63 by Timothy J. Todish 1982.

• Montcalm`s Army Osprey Men at Arm series 23. Martin Windrow 1973.

• Wolfe`s Army Osprey Men at Arms series

• The Battle of Ticonderoga from British Battles. www.britishbattles.com

• Ticonderoga from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. www.wikipedia.org

• Ticonderoga 1758 Campaign 76 Osprey 2000 Rene Chartrand

• The Scottish Regiments D. Henderson Harper Collins 1996