Bloody Mohawk: The French and Indian War is a new introductory level tactical wargame set during The French and Indian War that allows players to engage in small unit skirmishes between the British and French and their Indian allies. The game comes with 12 different scenarios all taken from history to immerse players in the history that set major change in motion and led up to the American Revolutionary War in the 1770’s.

The game uses simple mechanics and only a few units per scenario to keep gameplay fast and furious yet engaging and fun for new players and grognards alike.

In this series of Action Point posts, I will examine some of the games mechanics and also look at the various units and how they work.

Indians

What is a game about the French and Indian War without Indian units? The Indian units in Bloody Mohawk are quite good. They have various special features that I will cover here.

First off, the Indian units have a very good Combat Factor of 6, which is better than Provincial and Militia units, the same as Marine units and only 1 factor less than Line units and 2 factors less than Grenadier units. You will also notice that they have a green movement factor and also have the green ‘F’ terrain reminder.

The green movement factor means that they can treat Forest or Woods hexes as clear terrain when moving. This reflects these unit’s experience and skill in maneuvering in the trees. The green ‘F’ means that this unit will not be destroyed if forced to retreat into a Forest hex. This versatility allows the Indian units to move quickly and to be more resilient than other units in many of the scenarios where Forest and Woods are involved.

Indians are also master skirmishers and have a special ability during the Offensive Fire Phase of their Combat Action. When an Indian unit attacks during its Offensive Fire Phase, they get to roll 2d10’s as opposed to only 1d10 for other units. If one of these dice rolls are less than or equal to their Combat Factor of 6, a hit is scored and the target unit is reduced by flipping it over to its reduced side.

In the example pictured above, the French Indian unit attacks the Provincial British unit and rolls 2d10 getting a 5 and an 8. The 5 is a hit because it is less than its Combat Factor of 6.

The British unit must now perform a Retreat roll. A d10 is rolled and if the result is under the units now changed Combat Factor, it will be forced to Retreat away from the firing unit. If it cannot because of being surrounded by other units or if it is forced to Retreat into a Forest hex the unit will be destroyed and removed from the game.

In our example, the Provincial unit rolls a 6 which is higher than its Combat Factor of 4 and it is forced to Retreat one hex away from the Indian unit.

Advance After Combat (Indian Follow-Up Attack)

Now we get to see the other power of the Indian units in Bloody Mohawk. When an attacking unit eliminates or forces a defending unit to Retreat, the attacking unit may Advance After Combat and occupy the recently vacated hex.

Here is the other major advantage of the Indian units. If the unit that Advances After Combat is an Indian unit, it may then engage in another attack on the retreating unit. This will continue until all Combat is concluded. In our picture above, I wanted to illustrate another basic concept of the game in Defensive Fire.

Anytime a defending unit is being fired upon they get to take Defensive Fire prior to the attacking units Offensive Fire. This means that the targeted unit that is in range of the attacking unit (must be adjacent if an Infantry unit) gets to shoot first. In our picture above, the recently retreated Provincial unit is being attacked by an Indian unit with an Advance After Combat Action. They will get to fire with Defensive Fire and roll a 1 on a d10, which is less than its now reduced Combat Factor of a 4. A 1 is always a hit, even if there are modifiers from various scenario effects or terrain effects.

With the successful Defensive Fire hit, the Indian unit is now reduced to a 3 Combat Factor and its follow-up Attack results in a miss with a roll of 9 and 6, when under normal circumstances the 6 would have scored a second hit eliminating the Provincial unit.

In our next Action Point, we will take a look at Artillery and Leader units as well as look at a few of the scenarios.

-Grant