Independence Day Games - The Battle of Monmouth (Courthouse)

 It being the 4th of July, we all agreed an AWI game should be played, and Barry arranged a scenario based on the opening phase of the Battle of Monmouth, where the American advance guard under Lee encounter Clintons rearguard, as shown in the map below ( I believe this is the actual map Barry used to set up his game)

The 42nd Foot (Black Watch) at the battle of Monmouth, 28 June 1778

With seven players, Rick, Chris and I took the Brits in game one, whilst opposite us were John, Paul, Nick and Mark. We had one less infantry units but slightly more guns (mainly small battalion guns but with a couple of RA light batteries) and we had a small cavalry force on each flank whilst the Yankee Doodles only had one such

The initial layout, Brits to the left. We basically had four commands of two battalions each plus a gun or two - as we only had three on our side, Rick took two command, comprising our entire centre and left wing (the far distance in the image)

A view from the other end of the table - Nick was on the left and Rick on the right

One of Nicks beautifully painted Militia units - Perry and Foundry figures I believe

A British regiment from Marks collection of Perry plastics

The first clash - Mark charges the US Dragoons against the British cavalry commanded by Chris, who counter charged. The Brits destroyed their opponents and broke through onto the rear of a retiring Continental infantry regiment, who as a result also quit the field!

In the centre, Rick backed the superior training and morale of his British regulars against a greater number of Rebels, commanded by both John and Paul

A view of the American left flank - where are they?? Chris's cavalry can be seen heading for the rear of the Rebels position, as his infantry advance in their wake

A few moves later and Chris had caught up with Marks retiring Americans and overran this small gun that was trying to cover Marks retreat

In the centre, the Brits were coming off a distant second in the close range musketry duel

The Americans charged from the woods and hit one of Ricks units in the flank, destroying it

Paul's Americans overrun one of Ricks battalion guns.

And on the flank, Ricks Light Infantry battalion was pummeled from three sides by Nick!

One of my battalions catches Paul's retiring unit in the rear - and destroys it!

Chris chases the final unit of Marks command from the field of battle. 

At this point, John, Paul and Nick had basically wiped out Ricks two commands, but not without loss, whereas Chris and I had destroyed Mark and roughly handled Paul. The Americans had held their right flank (Nick) and broken through in the centre, but Chris and I had turned their left flank and were rolling up their line.  The game was pretty evenly balanced really but as it was lunch time and three of seven players now had no troops to play with, Umpire Barry called it as a narrow British victory - to much wailing and gnashing of wooden false teeth from the Rebel side - and we broke for lunch and to reset and replay the game in the afternoon.

Just a quick interlude here - I have taken this view from Barry's place previously but I do love to show my erstwhile countrymen in the UK what mid winter here in Auckland looks like - pretty cool at 3 or 4 deg C - but its still pretty nice weather!

On to the second version of the battle!

This time, we swapped Marks Perry plastic Brits for my much older metal Front Rank and Old Glory figures, and swapped sides, with Chris now taking two American commands on the left while I took the third and Rick took the right flank with two militia units and a gun.

Chris was so quick off the mark that I am not quite sure what happened here - he charged Nicks command with the sole American cavalry unit - and although they were wiped out, one of Nicks battalions quit the field too - so it was a fair exchange!

My 23rd Welch Fuzileers deputising for the Guards battalion - Front Rank figures

Old Glory 42nd Highland Regiment of Foot - The Black Watch

Chris pours fire into one of Marks units

Having driven back the Black Watch, my two American units advance to take the Guards in the flank

And Chris is blasting the advancing redcoats too - hence the gap!

The British cavalry detachment commanded by John - Old Glory figures

With most of the troops in Chris, Mark AND Nicks commands near breaking point, bad activation throws were likely to decide the outcome - This is the view of half the table after Mark and Nick both rolled low and their entire commands dispersed. Chris was down to one battalion I think, as was Paul. John retained his entire command on the British side, while both Rick and I were more or less unscathed from our efforts - an overwhelming American victory in game two!

It was quite fun to play a scenario where we had very limited forces and a decision could be got in a couple of hours play, allowing us to swap sides and play through again from the opposite side of the table - of course being on the winning side in both games undoubtedly increased my level of enjoyment - even though game one was more of a draw than a British win, to be honest.

So, happy Independence Day to all my American readers, I hope we did your national day justice with our small tribute!