French & Indian War pbem AAR IronWarrior (GBR) v Longhairedlout (FRA)

[IronWarrior]

First I'd like to thank my opponent, longhairedlout for the game. I am very new to the ageod system, so this AAR will be from a point of view from my inexperienced eyes. This is also the first time I've attempted an AAR, so bear with me [:D]. Keeping that in mind, the style of this will be to show off some of the features of the game and not in a role play style.

I have to admit, when I first came across the AGEOD system it was with the NCP demo. I wasn't impressed, but when this game came out, I couldn't resist. My geneology line traces back to an ADC of Cornwallis, and I have an interest in this period of history. The more I play it, the more and more I really like the engine. The artwork is also great... the maps and even the US Army Drum and Fife Corps music are excellent!

It started off by my trying to show some appreciation for the genre and supporting a team that provided demos. And now I am blown away with how much I enjoy the game and system. I went ahead and purchased a copy of NCP as well, and thought doing an AAR for this great game might ease my conscience for never giving AGEOD a try before. The one thing I would wish for is more detailed battles like War Between the States has.

There has also been shamefully few AAR's for this game, so I figure why not... here goes.

Much <3 to AGEOD.

(This AAR will start on turn 2 because I didn't save the first turn files)

May 1755

First, an overview of victory conditions:

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The French start out with an early victory point lead. As you can see, the French strategy is to delay the British who become stronger as the game progresses. The first order of business is to capture whatever Objective and Strategic towns possible in order to stop the vp bleeding some.

Here is the strategic situation on turn 2. I will split things into sections by theaters:


Canada

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The fort in Grandpre is lightly garrisoned and should be easy pickings. Robert Monckton's army is ordered to lay siege, hoping for a breach to make for an easy assault. The risk of ordering him to march there in April is the harsh weather, as you can see. Unfortunately it is still frozen in May, and attrition is starting to hit hard. With this army in a poor state, I risk the French sallying and breaking the siege. Luckily for me, some Royal Navy warships have arrived in Boston, and may buy me some time and discourage any thoughts of a counter attack from the French. They will be sent to support Monckton with special orders to bombard. Hopefully the weather will clear up next month!

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Middle States

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This theater starts off quiet. Sir William Shirley's Army starts the campaign locked at Albany. Albany is very important as I found out the hard way in a previous campaign. Once I lost it, I lost my Indian forces to the west as well! There are a few objective/strategic towns just to the north of Shirley's position. French forces are appearing further north, no doubt to contest those towns.

To the west of this area are many Indian tribes. Chief Sangarecha not only has some nice Strategic, Offensive, and Defensive stats, he also has a couple of great special abilities. A great ally to have!

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South

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In the South, Edward Braddock rushes to get across the river to Fort Cumberland. The French hold the Objective/Strategic Fort Duquesne. I made a lot of mistakes with Braddock this turn and having an attack stance crossing a river with a weakened force is scary. Hopefully he won't get any nasty surprises. Fort Cumberland is a great place to launch attacks from and i am hoping the French don't attack it before i can get there. I don't see any of the French around, but Braddock has the special ability of "poor spy network" which makes him somewhat blind as far as recon.

As you can see, Braddock is set to "Conservative Attack". You can set many different kinds of orders. The two rows of buttons are as follows... the top row: (red) All out attack/assault >> , (orange) attack >, (blue) defend ), (green) passive ( ). The second row is called Rules of Engagement and are: (red) aggressive, (orange) standard, (blue) cautious/conservative, (green) retreat.

So if you want to assault instead of lay seige you would chose All out attack/assault and then the degree of aggressiveness/cautiousness that you want.

To make a feint/probe attack, you chose (orange) attack, and (green) retreat.

A "hold at all cost" defense would be (blue) defense, and (red) aggressive.



(To be continued...)

[IronWarrior]

June 1755

June proved to be a quiet month, here is a quick overview:

Canada

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Attrition hit Monckton's army, but on the bright side winter seems to have left for now. The siege continues on Fort Beausejour without progress so far. The North American Squadron has arrived and should allow Monckton's Army to regroup to prepare for an assault.



Middle States

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The French occupy Crown Point with a small force from what I can tell. I used some "engagement points" to create an alliance with some natives which unlocked Chief Sangarecha. I set him to defend/retreat and the special order "Evade Combat". This will allow him to raid and pillage lands making supply tougher if the French come from the west with a good chance that he can avoid combat. I want to avoid combat with him until there are some troops available to put in his command.



South

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The French are starting to gather at Fort Duquesne, but with Braddocks horrible recon I have no idea what size of a force is there. Indians are pillaging the lands at Five Forks and Altoona as Braddock has yet to cross the river. My hope is that he will not run into an ambush trying to do so. It doesn't appear the Indians have made it there yet.

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With 28 "engagement points" I am able to make some more requests from England...



This will give me my first Regular replacement and +2 Indian replacements. With hardened attrition rules you must be in a town with a depot for units to receive replacements.



(To be continued...)

[IronWarrior]

July 1755

July was a month for reorganizing the armies and planning.



Canada

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Monckton continues the siege, but has so far been disappointing in making any progress. On the bright side, his forces are recovering their cohesion. With the addition of a second supply wagon, they are recovering supply lost from attrition quickly as well.



Middle States

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The forces in this area activate this turn, and it's time for some organizing. Shirley will keep a moderate force in Albany. I decide to send Sir William Johnson and John Winslow westward towards the Indian tribes to defend Oswego and attack Fort Niagara. Lyman will take a decent sized force to build a new fort for the Mohican Village at Tajacook. Lyman's army will be the main attack force for Crown Point.


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South

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Things aren't going so well in the South. François de Lignery has begun a siege at Frederick. Braddock's Army is exhausted from marching and is in no shape to respond. I am sending Dunbar to Baltimore where he will take command of the Virginia and Maryland Home Guard forces. As you can see this is still no match for the French force. I decide to let Frederictowne fall and have Dunbar either counter attack or defend more important towns. Hopefully Braddock can regroup and launch an attack on the strategic objective of Fort Duquesne while the French are busy in Frederick.



(To be continued...)

[IronWarrior]

August 1755

More maneuvering and planning this month.



Canada

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What was planned to be a quick land grab in Grandpre has turned out to be a long drawn out siege. Still no progress this month and there is some question as to how much time before bad weather hits the north.



Middle States

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Lyman's army occupies Mohican Village while the fort is being built. Delancy will march to Saint Sacrament where another fort will be built. Sir William Johnson continues westward where some help is now needed. Oswego, a strategic town, needs to be defended from attack.

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The French have overrun Painted Post with ease under Capitaine Daniel Lienard de Beaujeu. The meager force of colonists there retreated, taking a few hits. Last turn I had set them outside of the town with orders to retreat if engaged. If I had left them in the town they would have been unable to retreat and been eliminated, but would have dealt more damage to the French (although not much).



South

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This region is getting interesting and there is some cat-and-mouse metagame happening. The French lifted their siege at Frederictowne realizing (my guess) Fort Duquesne may be vulnerable to attack. I decide to launch an attack with Braddock's army which is now rested. In hindsight, I wish I had waited for Dunbar to join him from Baltimore. Dunbar is marching to Fort Allen.

Braddock is set to sustained (standard) attack. As you can see, his recon is horrible and it's hard to tell how strong that French force is.

(To be continued...)

[IronWarrior]

September 1755

This month saw the first real actions of the campaign.

Canada

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The siege continues without progress. With winter near, real concerns begin to mount. Monckton is not activated this turn, and without initiative he can not launch an assault and must continue the siege.



Middle States

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At Geneseo in Gannagaro, the Seneca tribe that was there had orders to "retreat if engaged". Luck was definitely on my side in this as Sir William Johnson was on his way into this area with his large army. I was glad the French decided to attack here instead of one of the other Indian villages.

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We took slightly more casualties, but Johnson's army of 3,198 was too much for the French forces of 1,304. Geneseo switches hands back under our control on day 26.

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With the French attacking the Seneca tribe, the other tribes mobilize. I will combine them under Chief Sangarecha to create a nice-sized Indian force to defend the area in front of Oswego and launch a counter attack, once assembled, on Fort Niagara.

South

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As good as things turned out in the Middle States, they went as bad in the South. Braddock ended up getting ambushed by a large force of Indians that he was unable to detect. The French ended up having a much larger force than expected and easily routed Braddock's army with 2:1 in numbers. Pretty much how it happened historically, except that the battle was in Monongahela (one region to the south of Ohio Forks) and that Braddock was killed in the battle.

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Time to regroup. I split a force off with Washington to train up. Some special abilities apply to the entire force, others apply only if the leader is in command, such as the training officer ability. If attacked Braddock will still be in command because of higher seniority and they occupy the same region. For now they will stay in Monongahela and try to gain some control of the region (more on that later).


(To be continued...)

[IronWarrior]

October 1755

This is a month for decisions in launching attacks before the winter comes.

Canada

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Disappointment continues as Monckton's Army continues the siege. Luckily no harsh weather has hit him yet, but he needs to mobilize and assault the fort before winter comes. Another supply wagon arrives which will allow his army to withstand some winter attrition if nothing happens soon. I decide to send the Nova Scotians to help out.



Middle States

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The Armed Battoemen will help in bringing up the artillery and supplies that arrived in Alexandria. I am in need of a depot for Sir William Johnson's Army. Halifax in the north, Albany here, and Alexandria in the south can all supply reinforcements to the armies in those areas, but Johnson is lacking one in his area. To create a depot you must use two supply wagons.

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Winter is coming and that means the Indian tribes will take winter quarters. Here, I decide to try an assault with Mohicans as I make a feint with a small force under Delancy. If I get lucky and the French move back to Fort St. Frederic, I can take Crown Point.

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George Munro takes command of Lyman's Army. He is great on defense, Lyman is better on attack and will break off and do so if the opportunity arises.

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Chief Sangarecha's forces are formed up into an army of 2254 Indians! The Indians cost no command points, so they will go to Geneseo and pick up two units of Provincials and a unit of Mohawk scouts under Johnson and then march on Fort Niagara. I believe the French under Beaujeu are currently in Cheektowaga since our control of the area has gone down this turn. I hope to catch him at Fort Niagara and then follow up the next turn with an attack or assault by Johnson on what will hopefully be a weak and disordered French force.

South

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Pressing the highlighted button shows ownership of regions. The French have gained control of the area North Ridge, while we have gained Monongahela. With winter coming I decide to send Braddock and Washington to Great Meadows to prepare for quarters. Braddock's Army never recovered from that nasty battle, and I will need to filter troops to Alexandria to get replacements. The artillery and supply in Alexandria head north to meet up with Bradstreet and ultimately be headed for Munro/Lyman, who in turn will shuffle an artillery and supply to Johnson.

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Further to the south, Fort Prince George is built and South Carolina militia are mobilized. They will be sent to help Braddock's Army.



(To be continued...)

[IronWarrior]

November 1755

Some final actions for the year as winter arrives.

Canada

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The bad news is winter weather has arrived in the north. The good news is that Monckton activated this turn and will assault the fort. He was unable to make a breach, but has a far superior force.



Middle States

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The attacks last turn both failed with minimal casualties. The Mohicans take winter quarters and Delancy returns to Fort William Henry. George Munro will make a conservative attack on Dieskau's forces at Crown Point. Even with a superior force, it will be risky attacking across a river. I wanted to have Lyman take command of the attack, but he did not activate this turn.

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The French ended up being able to avoid Chief Sangarecha's Army and take refuge at Fort Niagara. The Indian tribes all went to winter quarters, leaving the Provincials alone. They are in rough shape and cannot make it to the next region in a month, so I decide to attempt a force march which would get them to the next region in 26 days. There is only a 5% chance that they will do so, but I need to try to get them to shelter. On the bright side, Fort Oswego is complete.



South

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Braddock's Army takes winter quarters and I begin to filter some troops back to Alexandria for replacements. The French appeared to have attempted to engage Braddock at Monongahela as they gain control of the area. Probably a good thing that I moved Braddock's Army.

(To be continued...)

[IronWarrior]

December 1755

Overall, a good month for the British as we make our first progress of the campaign. Some winter attrition snags some of my forces that haven't made it to winter quarters though.



Canada

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Monckton's Army storms Fort Beausejour and captures the strategic objective! It took a lot longer than I would have liked, but a great victory nonetheless. As you can see from the picture, the long siege was not worthless... it did whittle down the supplies of the garrison. While 100% of my forces were supplied in the battle, only 33% of the garrison was.



Middle States

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At Crown Point, the French retreat to winter quarters leaving the area to Munro's Army to capture. Not sure if this was a victory or not because he is now stuck there in a blizzard! Munro did not activate this turn and did not have enough movement to make it back to Fort William Henry. I decide to keep him there this turn to gain more control of the area. Bradstreet is still a ways away with a supply wagon which was going to go to Johnson, but Munro could absolutely use more supply right now. Where to bring that supply is another decision I will need to make...

The units of Provincials failed to force march and are in horrible shape. They need to find shelter soon!

South

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Not much going on in the south. The Carolina volunteers continue to march towards Braddock's Army.

Highlighted are Monckton and Lawrence's new Seniority, the lower numbers are higher Seniority (for example, Lawrence is subordinate to Monckton).

In the upper left hand side of the screen are "National Morale" at 93 and "Engagement Points" at 126. National Morale affects unit cohesion, the production of supplies, and if high enough, can give an automatic victory. Engagement Points are used to send supplies, troops, ships, etc from Europe. So far we are doing well in these areas, starting off with 90 NM means we are on the rise.

(To be continued...)

[Arsan]

Nice AAR! [&o]
I had not noticed till now!
But it's a pity the images are so small. Its very hard to see the image texts or see the details on the screen.
Please, use bigger screen shots for the next parts of teh AAR! [:)]
Thanks and regards

[GShock]

Good AAR, i second Arsan, you could use bigger pix focused on the action...bigger meaning zoomed in and cutting out the rest. U might also want to remove the duplicate tags &nbsp;[;)].

Keep it coming.

[IronWarrior]

Thanks for the tips guys. Like I say this is my first try at an AAR. I am copying this from a blog that has a limited image size but will try to see if I can enlarge the images. As for the [img] tags, it was the only way I could get them to show up.

Should I replace the [IMG] tags with [img] ? Without the [img] tags it just showed as code.

[GShock]

There's plenty of hosts for pix, i use picoodle.com but theres really many. As long as u convert in JPG. The pic editor i use is Paint.net which is freeware. As of the images in the forums just take the pic URL (in picoodle it's the last link in the bottom) and put it in the popup u see on these forums when u click the image button (rightmost in the post reply or quick reply icons) It's automatic&nbsp;[8D]

[IronWarrior]

Thanks GShock, I think the pics will get better after this next batch. I found that my blog was saving the pictures in a smaller size. I am going to start saving them directly to the pic host after these next turns.

(Actually nevermind, going to redo the pics from here)

[IronWarrior]

The end of the year saw many Provincial regiments disband to return home for the winter. This was a big month for planning.



Let's take a look at the overview and victory conditions so far:



Capturing Crown Point and Grandpre now gives me half of the Objective towns. Forts were built at the Strategic towns of Mohicans Village, Fort William Henry, and Oswego. I also now control 12 Strategic towns to meet that victory requirement.

The main goal for this next year will be to push for control of both Fort Duquesne and Ft. Niagara. They are both Objective and Strategic towns, and would make for a nice prize.




Time to spend all those "Engagement Points" that I have been accumulating and make some more requests from England! A unit of Highlanders, 2 units of Regulars, and a unit of Dragoons will all be sent to Halifax next turn. I am also getting some ships (scouts), some siege artillery (don't know where it will end up getting shipped to), and some merchant ships which will increase how many Engagement Points I accumulate each round from the shipping boxes (shipping zones).

This will cost a grand total of 110 Engagement Points, leaving me with 43 left over.





After taking the Objective Grandpre, there aren't many pressing strategic objectives to capture in this area. What I decide to do is continue to push with the force I have and send the forces arriving in Halifax to the Middle States where they are now very much needed. I am sailing the large transports from the New England shipping zone, that I had sitting there to help accumulate Engagement Points, to Halifax. It will take 33 days to reach harbor, so they won't quite make it there by next turn.







The disbanding of 10 units of Provincials really weakened me here. Munro did not activate this turn, but Mercer did and he will take the remaining force back to Fort William Henry. Munro will head there as well. I also do some shuffling sending Lyman to command the garrison at Albany, Delancy to Mohican Village, and Shirley will go to Brattleboro. The forces arriving from England in Halifax will sail to Boston and then I plan to have Bradstreet take them under his command since he has an attack rating of 4, my best offensive commander. I will probably have to cede control of Crown Point to the French to avoid risking severe attrition and try to retake it with Bradstreet. From there I plan to have him go west to join Johnson and attack Ft. Niagara.



The two units of Provincials continue to get hammered by attrition, but were able to escape past the French. Whatever is left of them should reach shelter this turn.



Another supply wagon and unit of Armed Battoemen arrive in New York. I am sending one unit to Washington since he has a special ability that gives bonuses to irregular troops. The other two will join Sangarecha, his ambushing special ability also gives bonuses to irregulars. The supply wagons will go to Johnson where I plan to create a depot in Fort Oswego.

The Armed Battoemen have some nice special abilities which includes increase speed of a stack crossing rivers and using less supply in wild areas.







One of my units of Regulars received a replacement, which was the only Regular replacement I had. Braddock will go to Fort Allen and reform some of the units there into a new Army.





In three turns this force will mobilize, and I will send them to help Braddock's Army. I have a large transport that I am sending here from the Caribbean shipping zone.



(To be continued...)

[IronWarrior]

February 1756

Not much going on this month as the winter starts to wind down.



Canada



The siege artillery ends up in Halifax as well and I decide to send it up to join Monckton's Army. The plan is to make a siege on Saint Jean, which is the last French fort on the east coast, and then ship the siege artillery to the Middle States. The shipment from England was nice indeed. I now have my first Elite Infantry unit with the 73rd MacLeod's Highlanders, and my second cavalry unit with the 16th Queen's Own Light Dragoons. This group is still planned to be shipped to Boston where Bradstreet will take them in his command.

Middle States



Bradstreet continues marching north. Delancy is coming over from Albany to take command of these units and Bradstreet and Lyman will head to Boston to await the force from Halifax.

South



Braddock begins to reform his Army, waiting for better weather before joining Dunbar and Washington at Fort Cumberland.



(To be continued...)

[IronWarrior]

March 1756

The pace crawls through another month as winter weather lingers on.



Canada



With a couple of sea zones still under harsh weather, I decide to delay sending the force in Halifax. The transports need some minor repairs and I see no need to risk attrition. The merchant ships, Annabel, starts to sail towards the South shipping lanes.

Middle States



The Indians are about ready to come out of winter quarters. I plan to gather them all under Sangarecha, but need to decide if I want to use them offensively or set up an ambush and use them defensively until Bradstreet can make it over.

South



The South continues to give me problems. The Crown is not pleased with Braddock's performance and is recalled to England. This leaves me short on commanders in this area. I can stretch Dunbar and Washington's command points to offer a moderate sized force, but will really need to do something here soon.



Maybe the Cherokee can help turn things around for us in the South.



(To be continued...)

[GShock]

Good one, i haven't played the grand campaign myself yet. Every now and then i play scenarios but i dont have enough time with GGWBTS and FOF testing...perhaps I'll start an AAR on a scenario after GGWBTS 1.03 goes official. I saw you removed the doubled img tags. [:)]

Since your opponent, like everyone else, is watching this AAR, remember to post only after the turn NEXT to the one you talk about, is delivered. [:D]
The AAR is good but you shouldn't reveal your intentions to the enemy...of course if you didn't, most of this AAR would be useless to the observers...just try to post the AAR only after the turn next to the current one is delivered. [;)]

PS: What rules/settings are you using? Are there any house rules?

[IronWarrior]

Actually we are into Nov 1756, so I am keeping a little delay so as not to give away any spoilers. The game we are playing now looks somewhat different than it does in the AAR. Plus it's kindof fun to look back at what I was thinking, right or wrong [:D]. Hopefully some of the AGEOD veterans can give me some tips or pointers along the way.

The rules I forgot to mention are FOW on, hardened attrition, and the rest are the standard I believe (leaders have slow movement when not activated etc). No house rules.

[IronWarrior]

April 1756

Forces begin to reform to prepare for this year's campaign.

Canada



The forces in Halifax set sail for Boston. The transports are at full strength and there is only one sea zone with bad weather.

Middle States



Mercer beaks off from Munro with a small force to see if we can hang on to Crown Point. This turn we are using some Engagement Points to send some ships to Lake Champlain. I predict that the French will contest Crown Point. They have a larger force and Mercer will be crossing a river, although with my control of the Crown Point over 10% I shouldn't take a penalty for crossing. Whether I can hold there may depend on when those ships show up.



The Indian tribes are coming out of winter quarters and will reform under Chief Sangarecha. For now I will set an ambush and use them defensively. A decision I still need to make is whether I want to use them offensively with Johnson's Army to make a push on Ft. Niagara, or wait for Bradstreet to come over.

South



The force at British West Indies mobilizes this turn and will sail towards Alexandria. I am still sort on commanders in the South and may need to send one from the Middle States.



Another fort to be built in the Deep South. This should help to motivate the Cherokee even more.



(To be continued...)

[IronWarrior]

May 1756

Winter is over and the Armies come out of their quarters.

Canada



Monckton's Army comes out of winter quarters and will begin to claim control of some territory before marching on Saint Jean. The siege artillery will move to Grandpre this turn. It appears my fleet in Halifax no longer has the ability to bombard [&:]. This might have been from receiving some light warship replacements while they were in harbor.

Middle States



Bradstreet assembles his Army and begins to head towards Crown Point. Delancy continues there as well. So far Crown Point remains uncontested.

South



I had forgot to mention before, but the Carolina militia had changed orders to come south. I plan to mobilize this garrison at Fort Prince George by moving the Carolina militia here and have a small harassing force in the South.



(To be continued...)