SPECIAL THANKS. I would like to thank Paul Watson for his sponsorship of several lead figure collections on this blog. Having decided to clear his spare/surplus figures, he generously forwarded them on with no other requirement than they deserved to be restored. I would also like to mention George S. Mills, who kindly furnished a quantity of plastic figures which allowed me to complete another five or six military units, serving in several collections.

Monday 14 March 2022

The Advance on Montreal (Wargame)

The Dominion War in Canada had largely gone quite during the winter. It now erupted into conflict when the US Army advanced two expeditions towards Montreal. The largest comprised ten military units, those formerly encamped near Ottawa. The other comprised seven military units, which formed the 2ND ARMY OF NEW YORK. The Empire intelligence service was fully aware of this, and Montreal had twelve military units at its disposal. Since the fall of Ottawa, this city had become the seat of government for the Dominion of Canada, its loss would have a disastrous effect throughout the Empire. But Empire Command had concluded that Montreal and suburbs could not be protected on all fronts if surrounded, so plans were prepared to establish two outer lines of defence. One guarded the western approach via St.Eugene (Township of East Hawkesbury), the other was to the east, based around the town of Granby.

THE GRANBY LINE had been assigned five Empire military units. Facing them was the 2nd Army of NY, comprising seven military units. The American objective was to smash through this defensive line, and to join up with the Main Army outside Montreal.

THE BATTLE
MOVE ONE commenced with a rapid advance by the Americans. The redoubt guns opened up and scored a hit on the Roving Cannon (aka RC), taking out a crew member. MOVE TWO saw the redoubt guns destroy a field gun, although the crew were uninjured. So far, the redoubt only had one very slightly injured (saving throw), so it was looking good for the Canadians. MOVE THREE, not so good. A gunner is hit, and the RC gun takes out a Canadian Rifleman. MOVE FOUR, the RC suffers another hit on its crew. MOVE FIVE has the RC gaining its revenge on the redoubt.

MOVE SIX, the RC moves into melee with the Canadian Highlanders. Suffering one casualty, the Highlanders break and run. Fortunately, further damage ceased as a redoubt gun silenced the last RC crew member. But they had lost an entire battalion, unable to be rallied in time.
MOVE SEVEN saw an excellent charge by the NY Hussars. In the subsequent melee they were neutralised but not broken, and not before they had scattered the Canadian Fusilier battalion! This move also saw hand to hand fighting over the redoubt. The gunners fought like lions, breaking two battalions before their own resolve gave out on reaching half strength.
MOVE EIGHT-TEN involved heavy fighting over a fortified house, several rounds of melee, until the attacking American unit eventually broke. By now, it appeared  the Americans only needed to move up their unemployed artillery crews and realign a captured redoubt gun onto the nearby houses, and pound them into submission. The Canadians withdrew. (An alternative view is that the two Canadian battalions could have attacked the redoubt, from two sides...., but the Canadians did not know how much damage they had inflicted, but were aware that the central redoubt had been taken, and three allied units had routed.
RESULT
Despite the Americans taking the key redoubt, their army was broken. Only one battalion, and the artillery battery were still operational! Five other military units were knocked out. The Canadians still had two working battalions, and two more would likely rally elsewhere. A tractor had even saved one of the siege guns. Officially, this was an American victory, but there would be no advancing on Montreal (confirmed by a D3).
MGB
Campaign Footnote. Dominion Map. This shows the distribution of military units just after the above action. The 2nd New York Army is presently forming two small provisional battalions by consolidation/drafting.

6 comments:

  1. A hard fought bloody battle!

    Great pics and action.

    (Where did they find so much level ground near Granby? You're getting into my old home ground now! Montreal, St Jean and the Eastern Townships :) )

    On the other hand, I'm lost on St Eugene, I am vaguely aware of a couple but none of those are in the south, where was the American attack based? Usual approaches would be up the Richelieu or St Lawrence, nice level ground with bases in the US unlike the column that came, presumably by rail, through the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont to Granby!

    Looking forward to the next game.

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    1. HI Ross, have just played the next game, it looks like something out of WW1. St.Eugene is between Ottawa and Montreal, its also known as East Hawkesbury, mainly French-speaking. Its what we would call in England a village or hamlet. Will post the next battle very soon, it can be described as strange!
      Michael

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  2. A wonderful looking battle Michael, and very intense! The armoured car and tractor are awesome and blend into the action perfectly! Did you build the wagons? They really look the part and add a great deal to the battlefield!

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    1. Hi Brad, the wagons were made in large numbers during the 1940-50s by MORESTONE, often themed with Davy Crockett and Western characters. The Carriage scale is good but the horses and wheels will need to be replaced. I used my sewing machine to construct the canvas tops. Will shortly be posting the next game, its a shocker, linked to the first, stay tuned.
      Michael

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  3. Fantastic pics MGB - I share Brad's enthusiasm for the mechanised sections of both armies

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    1. Thanks MJT, they certainly do add to the old style toy atmosphere. About to post the next game.
      Michael

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