Fantastic video, gents. F&IW is my second favorite conflict to play (after WW2). F&IW by Worthington, 1754, and AFAoS are some of my all-time favorites.
Thank you for your informative and intelligent discussion. I have purchased Tomahawks and Bayonets and the Hold the Line American Revolutionary War with the French and Indian War expansion. I have a very intelligent 7 year old Grandson with whom I am playing games. So far we have gotten only as complex as the old Milton Bradley American Heritage Skirmish game about the American Revolution. He is very good at that game and has an interest in Geography and History that hopefully will get him interested in playing these more complex games in the future.
Great overview of my favorite period to game. I have a personal gaming rule that if someone in our group says "let's play Wilderness War," I have to shelve all other plans and play the game. You may like Quebec 1759 from Columbia Games from 1972 and generally deemed the first block game. It plays in less than an hour and is interesting from the point of view of the history of board game mechanics.
C&C Tricorne - There is a French expansion, with French units, but it just covers the AmRev period. Until/unless CG release a dedicated, second expansion, there are some fan-made DIY scenarios for this conflict available on the Geek.
Great video; love the theme also. Napoleonics would be interesting to see as a similar format video, but I think the amount of games on this tpoic is so much greater.
I enjoyed this video. I have a few of the games you covered, but I've only played French and Indian War and Siege of Quebec -- both of which I enjoyed quite a bit. Have either of you any experience with Wilderness Empires?
Great work chaps - just perfect for watching horizontally, stuffed full of Xmas dinner! As mentioned before, I think you’d really enjoy Wilderness Empires from Worthington. Cracking block game with some truly gorgeous artwork. A Few Acres of Snow is iconic, but I think this type of mechanic reached its high point with Hands in the Sea, an truly awesome game themed around the 1st Punic War. Looking forward to more of your content in 2022 - now it’s time to try and squeeze in a mince pie! Hope you and yours have had a great Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
Great video guys. Happy Holidays! F&I War might be my favorite wargaming theme. Wilderness Empires by Bill Molyneaux (published by Worthington) might be my favorite game in the genre. Not saying it’s a perfect game (and it’s long) but has some interesting mechanics. Also, art by Don Troiani is simply incredible. Really makes this one a stand out for me. I feel like it is a very overlooked & underrated F&I War game.
I'm re-watching this video every so often. For whatever reason, this specific conflict captures my imagination like few others do. And I'm Central European, mind you.
IIRC, back in the day "A few acres of snow" had a reputation for being solved - there was a British strategy called the Halifax Hammer that the French players were unable to beat. Did that ever get resolved?
As I recall, the 2nd edition was reworked a little bit to make that strategy a little less feasible, but it didn't remove it entirely. Honestly, I've never worried about it. I don't read up on strategy when I'm playing a game. I like to press buttons and pull levers and figure stuff out on my own, and the "hammer" strategy can only occur under a very specific set of circumstances, from what I understand. I'm likely never going to trip over it, and if I do, I likely wouldn't even realize it.
No, but by the time you figure it out, you'll have got your money's worth from the game by playing it a whole lot. And you can always institute a gentlemen's agreement not to do it (agree on a minimum number of cards the British must have in their deck or not take that particular route, etc).
Thank you for covering this topic, it’s been of great interest to me for a long time, really helpful to see all these games touched on in one place. Supply… “ lessons were learned.” 🤣
Merry Christmas 🎄 gentlemen. Have a safe and healthy holiday and a great Happy New Year!!!! Thanks for all your hard work. It's very much appreciated. My best wishes for you and yours.
Merry Christmas guys and great video. I picked up Bayonets and Tomahawks when you guys put out the initial review and it’s great. It’s actually gotten me interested in this topic that for Christmas I got the book The French and Indian War Deciding the Fate of North America by Walter Borneman.
Yes, this was interesting and would like to see you both do this for other games sets/topics/eras. For this topic I had watched all videos on this, but still interesting as to see and hear your views on this all in one place. However, I can understand you might not recall very thing regarding the games, especially you do so many games (one has to admire you both, thanks for your efforts you do on this hobby). I would add one game you left out on this topic, though the game is completely understandable that you left it off this list as it is an old game. The game is called “Quebec 1759” by Columbia Games Inc. Per the rules game was design by Tom Dalgliesh, Lance Gutteridge, and Steve Brewster. The rules say it was copyright in 1972, 1973, 1985, and I purchased it some time in early 1990s. Also, this game seems very similar to your review of game “1759 Siege Of Quebec”, except it has no cards, or any solitaire rules, and maybe few other changes, so I strongly believe it is just a remake/update of this old Columbia game “Quebec 1759” that I have.
Mechanically themed games would be very interesting. Certain periods do interest me but I would be more interested in finding a 'way of playing' that is indifferent to the time period etc.
@@ThePlayersAid The Complete Humorous Sketches and Tales of Mark Twain Now Collected for the First Time ([1st ed.]). My apologies, as it should have been included in the original reply. In enjoy your content.
At this point in history Louisian and Florida are still Spanish. This war was at least as important as the U.S. revolution but since you're probably not Canadian or first nations you likely don't appreciate it's importance.
Lol, it's more that we have videos scheduled about a month in advance (we shot this particular video in July). I have stuff scheduled up till the end of January already)
For a small historical point of view For France the french indian war doesn't exist. No it's not a joke at all. We never speak of a "Guerre franco indienne". For us that war is a simple theater in another war called the 7 Years War. That war is said to be the very first world war as there were fights in both North, South and Central America (well mostly in Caribbean islands), in Africa, in India, in Atlantic, in Indian Ocean, a little in Indonesia and mostly in Europe. It"s also a pivotal war as it deepened the financial problems of France.... problems which will one of the reasons of French Revolution. It also took a swing at the british finances too. Great Britain had to raise all taxes. And then came "no taxation without representation" and the Boston Tea Party. It's also a pivotal war as it marked the rise of Prussia and Russia as major players in Europe geopolitic. And sorry Grant but the resources of North America weren't a major stake for France. For the Versailles Court, Nouvelle France was just little more than "a few acres of snow" without much interest at all. Timber was abondant in France. So no need to export from Nouvelle France. Furs mostly came from Scandinavia and Russia. Nouvelle France was not self sufficient in many aspects and was a poor country costing money to the Treasure. During the war, Nouvelle France knew a famine as the crops from 1754 and 1755 were catastrophic. Too many peoples to feed and paradoxally not enough for the needs of agriculture of that time as french immigration to Nouvelle France was never a priority. For France, in the 7 Years War the most important theatre was Europe and Caribean. There were located the sugar and tobacco islands of Sainte Lucie, Guadeloupe, Hispaniola (now Haiti and Dominican Republic) or Martinique. Those were very lucrative islands filling with coins the Treasure. Basically Nouvelle France was left over by the French Crown as insignificant and too costly to maintain. The war begans in fact about a border dispute in the Ohio River. The frontier wasn't at all well drawned and both France (well in fact the governor of Nouvelle France acting a bit alone there) and Great Britain tried to seize as much territories there they could. France did it for prestige reasons. Great Britain to have much space to colonize and exploit the ressources. All started with the massacre of the french delegate De Dumonville. Massacre in which a certain Georges Washington took a great part. Luckily for him, France never took a grudge of this action in 1776 (as it could have).
Blood on the Ohio covers a different war, the Northwest Indiana War, 1789-1794. It is a very good, interesting game but covers an early conflict in the first years of the U.S. Army, 26-31 years after the French and Indian War.
"A Few Acres of Snowe," captures the excitement of the war in an absract way that other games don't have.
Its probably the FIW game that non-wargamers would know as well, as it had some buzz in general boardgames circles as it's a Martin Wallace game.
It was James Fenimore Cooper. The main character is Natty Bumpo. Great example of early American literature.
YES
Fantastic video, gents. F&IW is my second favorite conflict to play (after WW2). F&IW by Worthington, 1754, and AFAoS are some of my all-time favorites.
I love the concept of doing thematic videos like this. Can’t wait.
merry christmas to all
Thank you for your informative and intelligent discussion. I have purchased Tomahawks and Bayonets and the Hold the Line American Revolutionary War with the French and Indian War expansion. I have a very intelligent 7 year old Grandson with whom I am playing games. So far we have gotten only as complex as the old Milton Bradley American Heritage Skirmish game about the American Revolution. He is very good at that game and has an interest in Geography and History that hopefully will get him interested in playing these more complex games in the future.
Merry Christmas time Alexander and Grant ! Thanks for the always interesting videos.
Will you please do a "how to play" for Wilderness War?
Great comparison of the games. Wilderness Empires by Worthington is a block game with cards designed by Bill Molyneaux. Would go well with these.
Wilderness Empires is one of Worthington’s best games
The art work on the cards is outright gorgeous. Unfortunately just below the box cover of A Few Acres of Snow. In all great art work.
Area of the finger lakes upstate NY coopers home lovely setting
Great overview of my favorite period to game. I have a personal gaming rule that if someone in our group says "let's play Wilderness War," I have to shelve all other plans and play the game. You may like Quebec 1759 from Columbia Games from 1972 and generally deemed the first block game. It plays in less than an hour and is interesting from the point of view of the history of board game mechanics.
Thanks guys and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Has anyone played Quebec 1759 (Columbia) and French and Indian War (Worthington)? I’m wondering how they compare.
C&C Tricorne - There is a French expansion, with French units, but it just covers the AmRev period. Until/unless CG release a dedicated, second expansion, there are some fan-made DIY scenarios for this conflict available on the Geek.
I need to send you guys the new versions of French and Indian War vol-1 and Vol-2 double size maps and one inch mega counters
Great video; love the theme also.
Napoleonics would be interesting to see as a similar format video, but I think the amount of games on this tpoic is so much greater.
I enjoyed this video. I have a few of the games you covered, but I've only played French and Indian War and Siege of Quebec -- both of which I enjoyed quite a bit. Have either of you any experience with Wilderness Empires?
Merry Christmas!! Fantastic video :)
I think 1812 came out before 1775?
Have you guys looked at Academy Games' 878: Vikings, which uses the same system?
Grant played it once with our old group, I believe.
My favorite. And very underrepresented thank you
Great work chaps - just perfect for watching horizontally, stuffed full of Xmas dinner! As mentioned before, I think you’d really enjoy Wilderness Empires from Worthington. Cracking block game with some truly gorgeous artwork. A Few Acres of Snow is iconic, but I think this type of mechanic reached its high point with Hands in the Sea, an truly awesome game themed around the 1st Punic War. Looking forward to more of your content in 2022 - now it’s time to try and squeeze in a mince pie! Hope you and yours have had a great Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
+1 on Hands in the Sea, but I do like Acres, also.
Great video guys. Happy Holidays! F&I War might be my favorite wargaming theme. Wilderness Empires by Bill Molyneaux (published by Worthington) might be my favorite game in the genre. Not saying it’s a perfect game (and it’s long) but has some interesting mechanics. Also, art by Don Troiani is simply incredible. Really makes this one a stand out for me. I feel like it is a very overlooked & underrated F&I War game.
Great video!
As always, I enjoyed your free flowing banter and the chemistry you both have!
Keep up the good work.
I'm re-watching this video every so often. For whatever reason, this specific conflict captures my imagination like few others do. And I'm Central European, mind you.
Cooper's book was part of a trilogy... "The Plainsman Trilogy"... and the writing style is difficult. Great review
Quebec 1759 (i think it's multiman press?) is/was a step reduction blind area movement and a really brilliant design. Definitely a great game!
Great video - love this historic period.
IIRC, back in the day "A few acres of snow" had a reputation for being solved - there was a British strategy called the Halifax Hammer that the French players were unable to beat. Did that ever get resolved?
Fortify Port Royal and Louisburg. Raid the Yengesee
As I recall, the 2nd edition was reworked a little bit to make that strategy a little less feasible, but it didn't remove it entirely. Honestly, I've never worried about it. I don't read up on strategy when I'm playing a game. I like to press buttons and pull levers and figure stuff out on my own, and the "hammer" strategy can only occur under a very specific set of circumstances, from what I understand. I'm likely never going to trip over it, and if I do, I likely wouldn't even realize it.
No, but by the time you figure it out, you'll have got your money's worth from the game by playing it a whole lot. And you can always institute a gentlemen's agreement not to do it (agree on a minimum number of cards the British must have in their deck or not take that particular route, etc).
Baseball Hall of fame up in upstate NY also Cooperstown ny
Thank you for covering this topic, it’s been of great interest to me for a long time, really helpful to see all these games touched on in one place.
Supply… “ lessons were learned.” 🤣
Oh, and Wilderness War has been around since 2001, fully 11 years before COIN.
the big one you are missing is Quebec by Columbia games which may be the first block game
Great video about gaming my favorite period of American military history. Kudos gents! 👍
Famously, "Hawkeye" Pierce on M*A*S*H, the classic TV show, was named after the character in Last of the Mohicans
Merry Christmas 🎄 gentlemen. Have a safe and healthy holiday and a great Happy New Year!!!! Thanks for all your hard work. It's very much appreciated. My best wishes for you and yours.
Merry Christmas guys and great video. I picked up Bayonets and Tomahawks when you guys put out the initial review and it’s great. It’s actually gotten me interested in this topic that for Christmas I got the book The French and Indian War Deciding the Fate of North America by Walter Borneman.
Check out Crucible of War by Fred Anderson. Long, but absolutely the masterpiece on the topic.
Thank you! I will check this out.
Wasn't there an older title from the States of Siege series that covered the French & Indian War?
Yes, it's called Empires in America, and we have picked up a copy since recording this back in the summer.
Yes, this was interesting and would like to see you both do this for other games sets/topics/eras.
For this topic I had watched all videos on this, but still interesting as to see and hear your views on this all in one place. However, I can understand you might not recall very thing regarding the games, especially you do so many games (one has to admire you both, thanks for your efforts you do on this hobby).
I would add one game you left out on this topic, though the game is completely understandable that you left it off this list as it is an old game.
The game is called “Quebec 1759” by Columbia Games Inc.
Per the rules game was design by Tom Dalgliesh, Lance Gutteridge, and Steve Brewster.
The rules say it was copyright in 1972, 1973, 1985, and I purchased it some time in early 1990s.
Also, this game seems very similar to your review of game “1759 Siege Of Quebec”, except it has no cards, or any solitaire rules, and maybe few other changes, so I strongly believe it is just a remake/update of this old Columbia game “Quebec 1759” that I have.
Mechanically themed games would be very interesting. Certain periods do interest me but I would be more interested in finding a 'way of playing' that is indifferent to the time period etc.
I read the book too because of the movie. Its a damn hard book to read for sure.
Having read Cooper's Last of the Mohicans, please consider reading Mark Twain's comments regarding the book.
Sre they in a particular volume somewhere? Honestly being English I'm not familiar with Twain's library.
@@ThePlayersAid The Complete Humorous Sketches and Tales of Mark Twain Now Collected for the First Time ([1st ed.]). My apologies, as it should have been included in the original reply. In enjoy your content.
At this point in history Louisian and Florida are still Spanish.
This war was at least as important as the U.S. revolution but since you're probably not Canadian or first nations you likely don't appreciate it's importance.
I primarily play solo but have been interested in A Few Acres of Snow. Is it easily playable solo?
Not in any meaningful way. You can two fist the game but you lose a lot of the hidden card play.
That was interesting!
Which one of the ones you covered are easiest to learn?
French and Indian war from Worthington.
You have kids, and you got this posted December 25? I've heard of Christmas miracles but this sets the bar to a new high.
Lol, it's more that we have videos scheduled about a month in advance (we shot this particular video in July). I have stuff scheduled up till the end of January already)
Wilderness Empires
End of Empires. Compass. FIW & ARW.
For a small historical point of view
For France the french indian war doesn't exist. No it's not a joke at all. We never speak of a "Guerre franco indienne". For us that war is a simple theater in another war called the 7 Years War. That war is said to be the very first world war as there were fights in both North, South and Central America (well mostly in Caribbean islands), in Africa, in India, in Atlantic, in Indian Ocean, a little in Indonesia and mostly in Europe. It"s also a pivotal war as it deepened the financial problems of France.... problems which will one of the reasons of French Revolution. It also took a swing at the british finances too. Great Britain had to raise all taxes. And then came "no taxation without representation" and the Boston Tea Party.
It's also a pivotal war as it marked the rise of Prussia and Russia as major players in Europe geopolitic.
And sorry Grant but the resources of North America weren't a major stake for France. For the Versailles Court, Nouvelle France was just little more than "a few acres of snow" without much interest at all. Timber was abondant in France. So no need to export from Nouvelle France. Furs mostly came from Scandinavia and Russia. Nouvelle France was not self sufficient in many aspects and was a poor country costing money to the Treasure. During the war, Nouvelle France knew a famine as the crops from 1754 and 1755 were catastrophic. Too many peoples to feed and paradoxally not enough for the needs of agriculture of that time as french immigration to Nouvelle France was never a priority.
For France, in the 7 Years War the most important theatre was Europe and Caribean. There were located the sugar and tobacco islands of Sainte Lucie, Guadeloupe, Hispaniola (now Haiti and Dominican Republic) or Martinique. Those were very lucrative islands filling with coins the Treasure.
Basically Nouvelle France was left over by the French Crown as insignificant and too costly to maintain.
The war begans in fact about a border dispute in the Ohio River. The frontier wasn't at all well drawned and both France (well in fact the governor of Nouvelle France acting a bit alone there) and Great Britain tried to seize as much territories there they could. France did it for prestige reasons. Great Britain to have much space to colonize and exploit the ressources. All started with the massacre of the french delegate De Dumonville. Massacre in which a certain Georges Washington took a great part. Luckily for him, France never took a grudge of this action in 1776 (as it could have).
It's the same in Canada. We never call it the "French and Indian War." We always call it the 7 Years War here too.
Thank you for posting this. As an American, I don't think I've ever heard the war put it this context before.
Struggle for New France
Blood on the Ohio. Compass. Pt. to Pt.
Blood on the Ohio covers a different war, the Northwest Indiana War, 1789-1794. It is a very good, interesting game but covers an early conflict in the first years of the U.S. Army, 26-31 years after the French and Indian War.