The Battle of Hudson’s Bay: Oak & Iron Historical Scenario

In the famous Battle of Hudson’s Bay (aka the Battle of York Factory) a French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville defeated an English squadron of 3 ships commanded by Captain John Fletcher. Recreate this historical battle in the Oak & Iron miniatures game. Below are new rules for Ice terrain, two new admirals, and pre-built forces to represent those in the historical battle.

Historical Background:

During the War of the Grand Alliance (aka “King William’s War”), the French made multiple unsuccessful attempts to take the Hudson’s Bay region. Captain Pierre Le Moyne D’Iberville, a Canadian by birth, had emerged as New France’s most successful military commander in the Newfoundland region. King Louis XIV decided to dispatch him with a powerful five-ship squadron to capture York Factory. En route, D’Iberville’s flagship, Le Pélican became separated from the rest of the fleet by ice and a thick fog. Despite the weather, D’Iberville elected to forge ahead.

Day of the Battle of Hudson’s Bay

September 5, 1697

Sailing southward in hopes of clearer weather, Le Pélican approached the trading post of York Factory, and dispatched soldiers to scout out the fort, while Captain D’Iberville remained on board Le Pélican. Spotting the sails and masts of approaching ships, he thought it was the rest of his squadron arriving to meet them. En route to rejoin them, D’Iberville soon realized that the ships were not French, but English when one fired a shot across the bow of Le Pélican. The English squadron of two merchant-men and the warship Hampshire was commanded by Captain John Fletcher.

The battle began as a running fight, but after two and a half hours, D’Iberville opted to close with the English and engage in a brutal broadside-to-broadside with the Hampshire. The English seemed to be gaining the upper hand, “with blood running from the scuppers of Pélican into the water.” Captain Fletcher demanded that D’Iberville surrender, but D’Iberville refused. One account say Fletcher reportedly raised a glass of wine to toast D’Iberville’s bravery when the next broadside from Pélican detonated Hampshire’s powder magazine. Others claim the Hampshire merely succumbed to sustained damage or listed in the wind and took on water from her gunport or perhaps ran aground on a shoal or an ice flow.

The Aftermath of the Battle of Hudson’s Bay

Regardless of how it happened, once the Hampshire was defeated, the converted English merchant ships lacked the will to continue the fight. The Hudson’s Bay was damaged and struck her colors to Le Pélican. The Dering broke off the engagement and fled, but Le Pélican was too badly damaged to pursue. On Sept 7th, the weather quickly turned foul and the rudders of both surviving ships were reportedly destroyed and both were driven onto rocks and crushed by ice. Before losing the ship, D’Iberville managed to save most of the cannons and his men and later went on to capture Fort Nelson before the war concluded.

GAME SETUP:

Do not use the normal game cards to set up the game, instead use the following.

• Use a standard 3’x3’ board
• Players may select their initiative cards as per the normal rules.
• Add two pieces of Shoal terrain to the terrain pool.
• Add four pieces of Ice terrain to the terrain pool (Use Rocks from the Core Boxed Set to represent the Ice).  Rules below.

SCENARIO RULES:

• ICE: Ice is a new terrain type that represents small icebergs or ice flows that are large enough to restrict movement and potentially do damage a ship’s hull.  Similar to Rocks and Shoals they do not block Line of Sight on the board.  Ice flows are difficult to tell from the surface if they are navigable, so sailing through them can be risky. If a ship’s base touches a piece of Ice terrain during its movement or the ship begins its Movement Action touching Ice, a ship must roll a number of dice equal to its printed Fortitude BEFORE completing its movement (all bonuses for Shallow Draft are allowed). This represents the possibility that the ice flow may be impassable and a Collision(pg 24) may occur. If at least one Skull result is rolled, the ship being moved ends its movement immediately and the ship takes a single point of damage.   Additionally, if at least one Sail is rolled, the ship has also run Aground per the normal rules (pg 14). 
• Due to a large number of cards having a limitation of ships being “in Formation”, for purposes of selecting and playing Initiative Cards the French are always considered to be “In Formation” as they have only a single ship fleet. Otherwise, these Initiative cards are unusable and leave the French at a greater disadvantage. However, the additional bonus for sailing in line ahead formation DOES NOT apply to the French and they do not get the +1 Attack Die bonus.

DEPLOYMENT:

French Deployment Zone

EnglishDeployment Zone

GAME LENGTH:

10 Turns

OBJECTIVES:

• Players gain Strike Points as normal
• The Defender gains a Strike Point at the end of Round 6 if none of the Attacker’s ships have been Crippled.

HISTORICAL FORCES:

For this scenario, the forces for both sides have been provided below to try to represent the forces present at the Battle of Hudson Bay.

French

The French have only a single ship in their fleet.

Admiral 2: 

Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville:  

• IMPUDENT TOAST – Once per game you may add 2 dice to a single Critical Hit check on any Attack.
• PERSISTENT This ship may remove 1 point of Fatigue each time its Squadron earns 1 or more Strike Points

Ships:  

• 3rd Rate – Le Pélican 
  • Skill 1
  • Additional Crew
  • Stout
  • Expert Sailing Master

English

The English are led by the Hampshire and two small auxiliary ships.

Admiral 1:  John Fletcher

• POMPOUS: When this ship takes a point of Fatigue as a result of a Critical Hit, it takes an additional point of Fatigue
• BRAZEN: After building your Initiative hand add the “Engage More Closely” Initiative Card to your hand for free.

Ships:  

• 4th Rate Frigate – Hampshire
  • Efficient Loaders 
• Petite Fregate – HBC Royal Hudson’s Bay
  • Additional Guns
  • Support Ship – Fireships always roll half dice (round down) against this ship. The following may only be used on a friendly Out Of Action ship that is within Pistol Shot of this ship and Outside Pistol Shot of any enemy; At the start of the end phase, remove this card and a target ship. Reduce total Strike Points earned by 3 for the rest of the game. May not be taken on Ships of the Line or a Flagship
  • 1 Damage at the start of the fight
• 6th Rate Frigate – HBC Dering
  • 2 Damage at the start of the fight

FREE PLAY:

If you prefer to make your own force rather than use the forces provided, you should use the following parameters to determine the setup:

• Each force should focus on cannons rather than boarding.
• Players should determine the Defender/Attacker roles before building a force.
• Players should each agree to build a 50 to 60 pt Squadron.
• The Defender may only take 1 ship and the Attacker may take a maximum of 3 ships.
• The Defender’s Flagship gains the Stout trait at no cost.
• The Attacker must apply 3 total points of damage among their ships (in any combination on any ship in the squadron; e.g. 1 each or all 3 on one) to reflect damage sustained prior to the start of the battle.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this historically-based game scenario. We’ve had fun playing it locally and the results have been fun. Feel free to comment below with tales of your results. If you enjoyed this content be sure to check out our other Oak & Iron scenarios.

Sources:

1. https://legionmagazine.com/en/2018/09/heroes-and-villains-fletcher-diberville/
2. https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_battle&id=328
3. “The Great Company – History of the Honorable Company of Merchants-Adventurers Trading into Hudson’s Bay”, by Beckles Willson https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42279/42279-h/42279-h.htm#Page_158
4. “Fire on the Frontier” by Joseph Forester
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hudson%27s_Bay#:~:text=The%20battle%20took%20place%20on,of%20the%20Hudson’s%20Bay%20Company.
6. https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_of_Hudson%27s_Bay