Pensacola – Volume VI of the Battles of the American Revolution (BoAR) series

Bill Simoni, 17 May 2026

Pensacola would be the oddest game in the Battles of the American Revolution (BoAR) series, simply because of the combatants. The Spanish and French team up to besiege the British just outside of Pensacola. I never learned about this in history class! But Mark Miklos & Don Hanle aren’t done with us yet. The Spanish have to run their ships past the Red Cliffs Fort, likely resulting in delays and casualties. Unlike Savannah, this is strictly a 2-player game – there just aren’t enough French units to make a third player viable. The Spanish can build a corduroy road and then set up redoubts to fire mortars at the British position, but the British can send out Indian allies and The King’s Florida Rangers on special raids to disrupt the Spanish supply lines on those roads.

Join me as I take a look at the game and recount my play of it at Buckeye Gamefest 2026.

Pensacola was released in 2010 as volume VI of the series. As of now, it has not been reprinted, but can be found periodically for reasonable prices on the secondary market. As with all the games in the BoAR series, there is a well-done Vassal module available. Three scenarios are available to play:

• 16-turn siege of the British position
• 9-turn assault
• a combined campaign scenario, that can last up to 26 turns

click images to enlarge

Playing the Full Campaign

I was able to play this live at Buckeye Gamefest against my friend Leslie. He chose to take the Spanish and their French allies, while I hunkered down as the British. The Spanish start the game by running most of their forces into the game past the Red Cliffs Fort, while I try to hurt them with rather inaccurate gunnery.

Turn 1 started with my Red Cliffs artillery fire being completely ineffective, allowing a undisrupted landing at the Spanish stockades along Sutton’s Lagoon. I tried to send out a raid on Turn 2 to cause havoc, but failed to reach an effective position.

My raiders were able to disrupt some Spanish and threaten their artillery, depending on how initiative shook out.

Unfortunately, a severe storm hit and forcibly ended my raid (by rule). The Spanish were able to brave the elements and cause a sizable chunk of the raiding party to retreat.

While the rain continued; British fire from Red Cliff Fort was able to delay some of the newly arriving French reinforcements. It was a little unclear to me that the French units were subject to that fire as the rules specifically reference the Spanish reinforcements, but we chose to include the French in receiving the fire.

The Spanish were able to begin constructing their first redoubt, hoping to begin firing at the British fortifications.

I sent out my Indian allies on another raid, with only minor effect, while watching the Spanish breach my position with their siege artillery in successive turns. This didn’t bode well for repelling the eventual assault during the Coup de Main portion of the game.

While I fiddled indecisively in the north, the Spanish brough their forces to bear and felt they were in good enough shape to forego another week (4 turns) of preparing for the assault. The Coup de Main was declared! In game terms this means we immediately skipped ahead to the second turn track which represents an hour rather than the 1+ days up to this point. Historically the Spanish made this attack on May 7, but Leslie as able to launch it on May 1.

The Spanish capture the British Well, damaging my army morale, while skirmishes continue in the north. Not pictured is me setting fire to one of the two Spanish stockades in a futile act of revenge.

Not content with the well, the Spanish also burn down the Governor’s Plantation. At least their attack on Fort George was repulsed. My King’s Florida Rangers with Indian allies were able to take out the Luisiana Rangers. Chaos on the Battlefield made Spanish attacks on the Indian skirmishers less effective.

My Indian forces were decimated by the Hibernia unit. Then everything fell apart, including a shocking number of unit being captured. I don’t recall if my army morale fell to 0 ending the game or if I conceded at this point. Regardless the outcome was not in any doubt.

Conclusion

At this point of the series, it should be clear I’m an unapologetic fan of the BoAR series. For me, this is well worth a long afternoon/evening to play the full campaign. While I can understand if this title has not been as popular as the others (siege warfare is a different beast, a pretty unknown battle, and the American Patriots not taking part), Pensacola prevents the series from becoming stale. Effectively managing the siege is a puzzle I want to go back to a few times. It also felt different to me than Savannah, the other siege battle in the series. In this game I felt the pressure to defend, whereas in Savannah, I was scrambling to bring the Patriot/French forces to bear in a successful attack.

Next up: Germantown

You can chat about this game in the Age of Gunpowder section of our discussion forums

Battles of the American Revolution Series
Mentioned in Dispatches Episode ~ Series Intro ~ Saratoga ~ Brandywine ~ Guilford Courthouse ~ Eutaw Springs ~ Savannah ~ Monmouth ~ Pensacola ~ Germantown
Camden Event Podcast Episode
Saratoga Digital ~ First Impressions ~ Gaming vs The AI

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