This is the Action Round example as it appears in the playbook, except for a few additions to facilitate understanding without a copy of the game. Rules reference numbers remain in the text to minimize editing. Enjoy!

---

Introduction

This example jumps directly to AR7 of Year 1757 — four Action Rounds after the Colonials Enlist Logistics Round of the previous article (Game Year example).

Excerpts from the rulebook:

1.3 The game includes six custom dice, used for Raid (9.0), Battle (13.3), Commander Casualty (13.5.1), and Rally (14.2).

3.0 Units come in three shapes: triangle, square, and circle. Unit shapes have an important impact on gameplay. Each shape includes various unit types (e.g. Light and Indian units are triangular; Artillery, Forts, and other units are circular). Most units have two faces: Full and Reduced (blood spatter). When a Hit is applied to a Full unit, it is flipped to its Reduced face. When a Reduced unit (or a unit with no Reduced face) receives a Hit, it is eliminated (13.4.1).

10.0 Movement consists of selecting a stack of as many units as desired from a single space and moving them, possibly subject to Connection Limits (10.1), Movement Points available (10.2), and Action Point type restrictions (7.3) (e.g. a Light Action Point can only be used to move Light units). Below is the board’s Movement play aid:

13.3 In Battle, each unit (EXC. Commanders) and Militia rolls one die. Flag rolls by a faction move its Battle Victory marker forward on the Battle track. Hit faces (1.3) are potential Hits when rolled. A Hit is scored if: 1) The rolling unit shape matches one of the shapes on the die face (triangle, square, or circle) and 2) An enemy unit of the same shape as the rolling unit can receive a Hit (overflow Hits do not count as scored Hits). Scored Hits also move a faction’s Battle Victory marker forward. The effect of a B&T roll depends on the rolling unit. A Miss roll can eliminate a Commander during Rerolls (13.5.1) (More info on Battle rolls in an upcoming article covering a large Battle).

GLOSSARY

AP: Action Point (on card); ‘2x’ = Double Movement

AR: Action Round

LR: Logistics Round

MP: Movement Point
OOS: Out of Supply
SZ: Sea Zone
VP: Victory Point

This should be enough to help you follow the Action Round example!  

Action Round 7 Start

Each player starts by drawing one card from his Campaign deck. The British player draws card #8 with the “Lucky Cannonball” Event, and the French player draws card #34 with the “Disease in British Camp” Event. The latter draws one Indian card as well (#47, no event).

Next, each player chooses either his Reserve or his newly drawn card to play. The British player chooses his Reserve card (#10), and the French chooses his drawn card (#34). The chosen cards are put face down on the board, and the French player places the drawn Indian card face down alongside his other card. The non-played cards remain undisclosed and become each player’s Reserve card. Then, all three cards in play are revealed simultaneously.

The Initiative value (printed dice symbol) of the British card in play is 4, that of the French card in play is 3. The British player, having the highest Initiative value, gets to choose who plays first in this AR (if tied, the French would get to choose). He opts to play first (7.1 #4).

The French has an ‘AR Start’ Event on his card in play (black tag under the Event’s title). He performs it at the fifth AR step. According to the “Disease in British Camp” instructions on the card for Year 1757, the British player must choose one Metropolitan Brigade and one Colonial Brigade currently on the map and place them on the British Losses Box.

British Player’s Action Phase (7.2)

He is First Player, so he performs his Action Phase at AR step #6. The Action Phase has four steps:

1. Land units: No British units are currently on the Sail box (2.3), making that step irrelevant.

2. Use Indian card APs: N/A for the British.

3. Choose to Hold Reaction AP: Because he is the First Player of this AR, the British player may choose to hold one of the three Action Points (triangle and square icons) on his card in play as a Reaction AP (7.3.6). Thinking it is better to have the last word, he selects the Army AP on his card as the Reaction AP. He then places a Reaction marker with the same AP symbol (square) over it. This AP will allow one of his stacks to perform an action after the Second Player’s Action Phase.

*** Reaction AP: One is allowed per AR, for the First Player only. ***

4. Carry out Actions with APs of the faction card: The Army AP chosen for Reaction cannot be used at this step. Each of the 2 remaining APs on the British card can activate one stack (3.0.3) to perform an Action (7.3.7). APs can be used in any order. Unused APs are forfeited (rare occurrence as they are in short supply on cards!).

*** AP use (7.3): An AP (7.3) may activate one stack to perform one Action (7.3.7). ***

*** Stack (3.0.3): That term designates “the units activated by the AP used.” E.g. Units on a same space could be split in three stacks: one Brigade (single unit stack) using an AP to perform a Construction (12.0), other units constituting a stack that uses another AP for Army Movement, and remaining units on the space not being activated at all. ***

The Light AP (triangle) on his card allows the British player to perform a Raid (9.0) with a single Light unit or to activate a stack composed of Light units only for Light Movement (10.5). He chooses to activate for Light Movement the British-controlled Mohawk Indian unit currently on Lake George. Light units have 3 Movement Points (MPs, 10.2), each allowing movement across 1 Connection (2.2). The Indian unit moves to Oswego, via one Path and one Highway, forfeiting its third MP. Non-Light units also on Lake George could not have been activated by the Light AP—and the Path is unusable to them unless the Road  Construction marker is flipped to a Road (12.0). When moving, units may be picked up or dropped off (10.2.1) but not the Highland Brigade on Oneida Lake because as a non-Light unit it cannot be activated by the Light AP used by the Mohawk unit. A Spent marker must be placed on the Mohawk unit at the completion of its Light Movement Action (to keep track of activated units).

*** In any Movement Action (10.4, 10.5): Respect Connection limits (10.1) and restrictions for movement along Connections (10.2.1). ***

Stack on Halifax Performs a Sail Movement (10.6)

Next, the British player uses the Sail/Army AP (with anchor icon) on his card. It may be used for Sail Movement (10.6) or to do any Action allowed by a basic Army AP (7.3.1, 7.3.7). At least one Fleet is required for Sail Movement. In Sail Movement and Landing (10.6.1) only, a Fleet may transport up to 4 units plus any number of Commanders (Reduced units are counted as Full). On Halifax, the British player chooses the Durell Fleet to transport the Commander and a mix of 4 units stacked with it to the Sail box (2.3) in the top right area of the board. The Holburne Fleet and a Metropolitan Brigade remain on Halifax.

This concludes the British Action Phase.

In the next AR, all British units on the Sail Box will have to Land (10.6.1) at the first step of the British Action Phase. Landing will cost no AP and will have to take place on a single Coastal Space of a friendly Sea Zone (2.3). Because the Open Seas marker of the Sail Box is on its French face, only the Atlantic Ocean Sea Zone (SZ) is currently friendly to the British. A Spent marker will have to be placed on the stack after it lands.

*** Open Seas Marker (10.6.2) is flipped to its British & French face when Louisbourg is captured, granting the British access to both Sea Zones (SZs). Until then, only the French have access to Coastal spaces of both SZs. ***

Second player’s Action Phase (7.1 #7)

The French player has no friendly units on the Sail box. He moves on to step 2 of the Action Phase (7.2): APs on the Indian card may be used or forfeit. The Indian card #47 in play has 2 Indian APs (7.3.2). Only Indian cards have such APs. That Light AP variant is a hollow triangle (instead of solid). It may be used only to activate a single Indian unit or a stack of units from the same Indian Nation (8.0). It allows for a Raid (9.0) or a Light Movement (10.5).

The French Trespass on a Neutral Indian Nation (8.1)

The French player uses the first Indian AP to move the Delaware Indian unit currently on La Presqu’Île to Kanistioh in the neutral Iroquois Confederacy territory. By trespassing on that neutral Indian Nation Village, the control of the Iroquois Confederacy (8.1) is given immediately to the opponent: Iroquois Indian units enter play on the British side. The British player places a control marker on the neutral placeholder of the Iroquois Confederacy Territory (green area), indicating that the three Indian Villages on it become friendly to his units by default for the rest of the game. The British player also takes the three Iroquois units near the top of the board (5.2) and places one on each Iroquois Village, with their red face up.

*** This unlikely French move serves only to highlight how important it is not to enter Villages of a neutral Indian Nation (grey Paths leading to them serve as a reminder). To gain control of an Indian Nations (8.0), players would seek to fulfill the relevant Indian Diplomacy card Event’s conditions. ***

Though it had one of its three MPs left to continue moving, the French controlled Delaware Indian must stop on Kanistioh because enemy units are on that space (10.2.1). It receives a Spent marker, and a Battle marker is added to the space. The Battle will be resolved after completion of both Action Phases and the British Reaction (7.1 #9).

The second Indian AP is used to move the Mingo unit currently on Tu-Endie-Wei to Rays Town, via Forks of the Ohio and Loyalhanna. On Forks of the Ohio, it cannot pick up the Chaouanons as both are not part of a same Indian Nation (7.3.2, 8.0). Nor can it pick up the French Light unit as Indian APs can only activate Indian units (7.3.2). The Mingo Indian unit ends its move on Rays Town. Because that space has no enemy units or Militia (13.2), a French control marker is added immediately to the space (if the Mingo unit had MPs left, it could have moved on). A Spent marker is placed on the Mingo unit.

*** A space may change control several times in the same AR: E.g. First Player gains control of an enemy Outpost (2.1.4) he moved through, then the second player reoccupies it. If it is a Victory space (2.1.9), the Victory track is updated each time. ***

Now that the two APs of the Indian card have been used (7.2 #2), the French player jumps to step 4 of his Action Phase (step 3 is not relevant for him as Second Player). He may now use the APs on his French faction card#34 in play. Light APs on a faction card can activate any stack composed exclusively of Light units, including friendly-controlled Indian units. The French player uses the Light AP to activate the Abénaki Indian unit currently on Zawakwtegok in order to perform a Raid (9.0). It moves through the vacant Rumford enemy space (British Militia cannot interfere) to reach Northfield, worth 3 Raid points (9.3), and immediately makes a Raid die roll on that target space. The Raid fails, and the raiding unit must go back to its starting space (Zawakwtegok). A Spent marker is added to it. A Raid, successful or not, does not affect space control.

*** An upcoming article will cover Raids in more detail. ***

Next, the French player uses the powerful Double Movement (‘2x’) Army AP of his card to activate the mixed units stack currently on Québec. That stack performs an Army Move (10.4) to liberate Baye de Cataracouy, currently occupied by two enemy Light units. Non-Light units have 2 MPs, which is insufficient to cover the 4 Connections to reach Baye de Cataracouy. But the ‘2x’ AP gives them 4 MPs. As it moves, the stack cannot split in different directions but can drop off or pick up friendly units (10.2.1). It picks up the Langis Light unit on Montréal and moves on. Taking part in the same Action that uses the ‘2x’ AP, the 3 MPs of that Light unit are doubled to 6 MPs. The MPs spent by the Langis unit are counted from Québec, the starting space of the stack that picks it up (it is considered spending MPs waiting for the stack to reach it). Thus it has 4 MPs left to use when it starts to move with the units from Québec—more than enough to reach Baye the Cataracouy!

*** ‘2x’ AP (7.3.4): Doubles the MPs of unit(s) in Raid or Movement, or allows to Sail and Land in the same AR. ***

The Rogers Colonial Light unit on La Présentation would normally block enemy units (10.2.1), but the five-units-strong French stack outnumbers it more than three to one (10.3.1). The French stack thus Overwhelms (10.3.2) the Rogers Colonial unit which retreats immediately to the adjacent space Kahuahgo (13.9). It does not receive a Spent marker because being Overwhelmed is not an Action (7.2.1). Instead, it could have joined friendly units at Baye de Cataracouy as that space is also adjacent, but the British player prefers to spread his few Light units. The British Control marker is removed from the space, and the French stack moves on to Baye the Cataracouy. A spent marker is placed on the French stack, and a Battle marker is added on the space as there are opposing units that cannot be Overwhelmed this time. The Battle on that space will take place, like all other Battles, at AR step 9.

As there is no AP left to use on the French card, this concludes the French Action Phase.

British Reaction AP is used for Construction (12.0)

Using the Army AP held for Reaction at step 3 of the British Action Phase, the 1st Royal American Metropolitan Brigade is activated on Lake George to perform a Construction (12.0): the British player flips to its Road face the Road Construction marker on the Connection between Lake George and Oneida Lake (that marker was placed with a Construction action in a previous AR). The Road marker indicates that this Connection may be used by all unit types from now on, except Fleets (because the marker is not on a Coastal Path). The 1st Royal American Metropolitan Brigade must now be moved to the adjacent Oneida Lake space Connected by the Road. Non-Spent units stacked with it may move along, and the whole stack must stop at Oneida Lake (single Connection move, MPs disregarded). A Spent marker is added to the stack.

*** Construction Action (12.0): May be performed only by a Brigade on an enemy-free space. N/A if Routed (13.8) or OOS (14.1.1) ***

The British Reaction is the last Action of the AR. The card #10 “Forced March” Event is forfeited as the British player performed no Army Movement (10.4) during this AR.

Resolve all AR7 Battles (7.1 #9)

A Battle is resolved on each space that has a Battle marker (13.0). Baye de Cataracouy and Kanistioh have a Battle marker, resulting from Actions that caused units of both sides to remain on these spaces. The Battle on Baye the Cataracouy will be resolved first, as Battles must be resolved from top to bottom of the board (when in doubt, follow the list on the back page of rules book).

*** The following Battle examples are kept simplest for a basic understanding of Battle rules. An article with an elaborate Battle example will be published soon. ***

Battle #1: Cataracouy

*** How to win a Battle?The attacker wins (13.6) if, after all Battle rolls, his Battle Victory marker ends up at a higher position on the Battle track (13.3.1) than the defender’s. Otherwise the Defender wins. ***

We start by determining the Defender (13.1) of Baye de Cataracouy: it is the British as their units occupied that space at the current AR start. There is no stack preparation in this Battle (13.2): no Militia, Fleets, or Reduced units to combine. Both players now place their Battle Victory markers on the ‘0’ (zero) position of the Battle Victory track (13.3.1). The French Attacker’s marker goes on the top portion of the position, and the British Defender’s marker goes to the bottom. In this Battle, no faction has Battle Penalties (13.3.2), so their markers remain at zero.

Players can begin Battle Rolls (13.3.3): one die will be rolled for each battling unit. As the attacker, the French will roll first for all his units, then the British defender will do the same, including any unit eliminated by the attacker’s rolls. Each player must group his units by type (3.0.1) and follow the roll sequence (13.3.3 second table). His Battle Victory marker will move forward one position on the Battle track for each: 1) scored Hit (13.3.4), 2) successful B&T roll by Metropolitan Brigade/Artillery/Fort/Bastion (13.3.3 last table), or 3) Flag. Follow that priority order to adjust the marker on the track.

*** Group Same Type Units Rolls: Then follow the Unit Battle roll sequence (13.3.3 second table). Some units have the same shape but are not the same type (3.0.1), such as: Indian/non-Indian Light units, Highland Brigades/Metropolitan Brigades/non-Metropolitan Brigades. On the other hand, Colonial Light/British Light units are both non-Indian unit type even though they are a different color. ***

The French attacker first performs his Battle rolls, referring to the Battle Roll table (13.3.3) to determine each roll’s result. His 2 non-Indian Light units roll a Flag and a B&T. The table indicates that a B&T roll by a Light unit has no effect in Battle. The Flag moves the French Battle Victory marker from ‘0’ to ‘1’ on the Battle track. The next eligible unit type in the roll sequence (13.3.3) is his Metropolitan Brigade that rolls a Triangle/Circle Hit. It triggers a Hit Check (13.3.4): using the shapes on the rolled face, the player verifies if a Hit is actually scored (possible shapes are the triangle, square, or circle). First, one of the shapes must match the rolling unit’s shape; in addition, an enemy unit of the same shape must be present. Both conditions must be met; otherwise, the roll has no effect (it misses). The Triangle/Circle Hit rolled by the French Metropolitan Brigade has no square shape to match the Metropolitan Brigade’s square shape, so no Hit is scored. The next unit type to roll is the non-Metropolitan Brigade: it rolls a Square/Circle Hit. A Hit Check is triggered: this time the die face rolled has a square shape that matches the rolling Brigade’s square shape, but there is no square enemy unit present. Again, no Hit is scored. Last eligible unit type to roll is the Artillery: it rolls a Flag. This moves the French attacker’s Battle Victory marker from ‘1’ to ‘2.’

Now the British defender rolls for all his units. Following the roll sequence (13.3.3 second table), he starts with his two non-Indian Light units. He rolls a Triangle/Circle Hit and a Miss. The first roll triggers a Hit check: the triangle shape on the rolled die face matches the rolling Light unit’s triangle shape, and there are triangle French units in that Battle. This time, a Hit is scored: the British Battle Victory marker moves to ‘1,’ and the Hit is applied (13.4) to one of the French Light units (French player’s choice), flipping the Lacorne unit to its Reduced face.

With his Battle Victory marker one position above the British defender after all Battle rolls, the French stack achieves just what it takes to win the Battle on Baye de Cataracouy (13.6).

The post-Battle procedure (13.7) is performed: the defeated British stack may retreat either to Toronto or to Oswego, both adjacent British-controlled non-Battle spaces. The British player chooses Toronto (see p. NN for a detailed Retreat example).

Control of the Baye de Cataracouy French Home space reverts to the French (2.1.1). The British control marker is removed. The thick yellow outline indicates it is a Victory Space (2.1.9), and it is worth one Victory point (small ‘1’ on the space symbol). The Victory marker is currently at ‘2’ on the British side of the Victory track (2.0). It is moved one position towards the French side of the track (as many positions as the VPs gained by the French).

The Battle marker is removed from the space, and both Battle Victory markers are placed back at ‘0’ on the Battle track. Players can move on to the next Battle of that AR.

Battle #2: Kahnistioh

The Battle on that space follows the same steps as Battle #1. Each opposing unit rolls a Flag. Since the Battle Victory track is tied at ‘1,’ the defending British-controlled Iroquois unit wins. The French-controlled Delaware Indian unit must retreat to an adjacent space via the connection it attacked from. Thus it goes back to Kithanink.

*** Capturing a Village of an enemy Indian Nation: Does not affect the British control marker on the Indian Nation’s territory (2.5) placeholder. If the Delaware had won, a French control marker would have been placed only on Kahnistioh (see 17.2 #5 for effect). ***

End of AR7 Steps (14.0)

After all Battles of AR7 are resolved, players perform the end of AR steps (14.0). Played cards are discarded face down (each player keeps his Reserve card), and Spent markers are removed. Next, a Supply Check (14.1) is made for each stack: an Out of Supply marker (14.1.1) is placed on the British stack on Toronto as it cannot trace to a friendly space in a friendly Colony or to a friendly Fleet. Rally (14.2) is skipped as there are no Routed stacks (13.8). Finally, on the Round track, the marker is advanced to Action Round 8.

NEXT ARTICLE: Raid Example

---

Previous Article: Bayonets & Tomahawks Warpath Chronicles #10: Game Year Example Part Two