As mentioned in my last post, today we had a large AWI game at Barrys place
Paul had designed a scenario that saw an American supply column making for a redoubt at the far end of the table.
John commanded the garrison, while Barry and Nick had the American field forces
Mark and I commanded two brigades each of, respectively, 2 x 4 battalions of Hessians and 2 x 4 battalions of British, with each force also having a light infantry unit and two light guns
The American Redoubt, eagerly awaiting resupply
Dotted around the table were a number of nice colonial architectural features - these played no real function in the game, but they do look very pretty!
Brits on the left Hessians on the right - with a long way to move to reach the redoubt at the other end of an 18' table!
I also had one cavalry unit - the 16th Light dragoons
The Light Dragoons scout ahead as the Hessian Brigades advance
Venerable Front Rank Fusiliers, painted over twenty years ago - they still look passable to me.
American Light Dragoons sense an opportunity to play mischief and advance
Pesky American riflemen pop up in the woods to the left of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, who wheeled off to assault them - bayonet armed regulars v rifle armed civilians - should be a forgone conclusion, right ....but it wasn't, and the Hessians were repelled!
And the American cavalry pounced, catching the retiring Germans in the rear and removing them from the field, before breaking through onto the head of infantry in column!
Thankfully, the adjacent gun and infantry put fire into them as they came in, and they were pretty much a spent force before the infantry managed to win the melee and force them to rout back towards their own lines!
With the added bonus that they masked the American artillery for about the next three turns!
Meanwhile, Mark was leading the Brits forward much more successfully, pushing back Barrys initial unit of riflemen and moving into some nice, open ground where he had room to deploy and maneuver
But American reinforcements had now arrived on both flanks and both the British and Hessians would have a fight on their hands to reach the redoubt!
Not to be outdone, the Hessians also received a small reinforcement of two battalions. Unfortunately, they were only on the table for a couple of turns!
Mark deployed his guns, put some hits on Barrys Raw militia - and they started involuntarily falling back!
The denouement of the Hessian reinforcements - while attempting to assault Raw militia in the small defensive position, they were ganged up on by two more militia units, one firing into the flank, and then failed to overcome the defending militia in a straight 4 x D6 each dice roll for melee!
The main American defensive line halfway down the table - on the far side, Barrys militia are already beginning to waver. To the rear (right of the picture) are the routing Light Dragoons - who had survived two or three turns when any roll but a six would have seen them disappear (and thereby blocking the fire of the American guns) - only to roll a 1 in this location - and promptly disperse in all directions!
The Bris continue to score hits on the militia with their artillery
Militia pulling back with the pursuing British Light Infantry just viewable in the bottom left of the picture
Nicks militia were made of sterner stuff, however (he rolled much better dice than Barry, and I rolled a lot worse than Mark!)
A general view of the advance from the British and Hessian starting position
The Brits pushing forward against the crumbling American right flank
After a long, slow advance through the woods, the Hessians were finally in position to get at Nicks defending militia.
As the second brigade advance up the road, keeping abreast of the Brits to their left
The leading British brigade had reached the road, the halfway point and the point where the defending Americans had intended to make their stand....
Mark reached this point (and further), carrying only a single casualty on one unit!
The American right, facing the British, was in disarray.
And, despite taking numerous casualties from the American artillery, including the destruction of the elite combined grenadier battalion, the first Hessian brigade continued to push forward in support.
It took a lot more work than it should have done (two Hessian battalions were destroyed in the process!) but finally, the second brigade managed to crush the Raw American militia that had stood against then for several turns, surviving TWO assaults on their flank despite a dice disparity of 7:2 in favour of the Hessians!
By this stage, Barrys one remaining unit had made it back to the redoubt and Marks Brits were still only carrying a single casualty (unlike the Hessians, who had lost five battalions contesting the right flank with Nicks militia)
Nick did manage to destroy the British Light Infantry, but it was a last hurrah, as the combined Crown forces moved in for the kill. The American infantry was repulsed by the guns
The final image I took - the redoubt is just out of shot to the top right. In the final action of the game, Nick had less than half his command left and rolled a 1 for activation, meaning the remnants of his command had had enough, and dispersed from the field.
Paul as umpire had been keeping track of victory points - we had not been told what they were - and it seemed to be an overwhelming Crown victory - 23 to 4 or something like that. We did not reach John in his redoubt, and enough of the supply convoy made it through that the garrison was resupplied - but we also had a siege train of heavy guns coming up the road that would, given time we did not have today, deploy, and eventually pound the defenders into submission or retreat.
An entertaining game although quite frustrating for me as I lost too many units due to dreadful dice results. The slow plod up through the woods wasn't as much fun as Marks open terrain but that was ok - a combined effort and, after all, if someone has to die to enforce the Kings will on his recalcitrant North American subjects, it may as well be German mercenaries rather than stout hearted Britons!
