Ohio Frontier Aflame at ATC 2014

    The players gathered around the 14 1/2 foot long table

My extravangza of a French & Indian War game was hosted three times at Advance the Colors 2014 last month. I've been so busy since then that I'm finally getting a chance to post pictures. I ran it Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday evening. Every running had at least 8 players. I had upped the limit to 10 players by adding in a fifth scenario. This stretched the table to 14 1/2 feet long -- without a doubt, the biggest single game I've run!

    "The Fatal Lacrosse Game" takes place entirely within the walls of my new French & Indian War fort

The five scenarios I ran were:

• The Fatal Lacrosse Game - This was inspired by a historical incident during Pontiac's Rebellion where Indians staged a lacrosse game next to Fort Michilimackinac under peaceful pretext. When the ball was "accidentally" tossed into the fort, the Indians chased it inside and attacked the garrison.
• Hurry...to the Blockhouse! - A family of English settlers is hurrying to the local blockhouse as word arrives that the Indians are on the warpath. The blockhouse defenders dispatch a force to escort them in as the Indians seek to cut them off.
• The Clifftop Rescue - Inspired the climatic scene of the movie, "Last of the Mohicans," this battle has Huron pursuers attempting to recapture women and children who were kidnapped from their village by a raid of Rogers Rangers and Stockbridge Indians.
• The Interrupted Raid - Despite the urgings of their Stockbridge Indian allies, a force of Rogers Rangers lingers too long in a Huron village they have raided. The Huron men return from hunting and seek to exact vengeance as the rangers seek to escape offtable.
• A Chieftain's Scalp - Mohawk Indians have discovered the location of a secret meeting on an island in the lake where French paymasters will reward three friendly Indian chieftains. They take canoes to the island where they hope to interrupt the payoff and scalp the chieftains to prove the French powerless to help their allies.
  

    "Hurry...to the Blockhouse!" featured a bloodbath beneath the trees every game

The game used my adaption Song of Drums & Shakos rules called Song of Drums and Tomahawks -- which are to be published very soon. Everyone seemed to have a good time. The rules move very quickly and 10 players were able to finish up their games in less than 3 hours in all three events. Since I had not play tested the canoe movement rules for the "A Chieftain's Scalp" scenario, I made it the odd scenario out on two of the three runnings. The one time it did run, my co-author Keith Finn met with disaster as the Mohawk raiding party. When your leader is killed on the first turn of the engagement, bad things usually happen!

    I tweaked the scenario rules to "The Clifftop Rescue,"giving the Huron pursuers an extra leader -- which made the scenario much more balanced

We plan on taking these rules and scenarios to Cold Wars to showcase it there. I don't know if I'll take all 5 scenarios, or trim it down to 4 to save space. Either way, I think the rules and the "Ohio Frontier Aflame" setup is a winner and the players seem to enjoy it. I hope you enjoy the photos!

    The French arrive to help out the Huron hunting party in the neighboring scenario in "The Interrupted Raid"

    The Mohawk raiders wade into a withering blast of musket fire from the French soldiers in "A Chieftain's Scalp"