Thursday, January 29, 2015

28MM AWI BLACK POWDER: GERMANWINE 11TH SEPTEMBER 1777 (FICTIONAL BATTLE)

This weekend Dave Imrie and I arranged a game for our AB1 group.  It was an AWI game – the Battle of Germanwine - based on a fictional action before the Battle of Brandywine.  The venue was the Old Manor hotel at Lundin Links in Fife.  There were 8 players at the game.  Jack Glanville, Michael Schneider, Angus Konstam and myself provided the troops and Dave Imrie provided his impressive terrain boards as the base of the terrain.
Patriot defence line
We played the game for 6 hours and at the end it was declared a Patriot victory as they had broken 9 British units.  Only the British left wing had managed to break into the main Patriot defence line.  The flank march on the British right by their Loyalist Brigade was held by the patriots whilst the flank march on the left wing by the cavalry and the elite 2nd British brigade proved a failure.   The cavalry when they arrived were driven off the table by Patriot infantry and the elite infantry only moved twice in 12 moves so only just got across the river at the start of their route.
Patriot left wing
The British found it a major issue crossing the river and this held up their advance for some time.  I think I made it too difficult to cross requiring a unit to get 2 moves in a turn.  This seemed to be beyond the dicing ability of the British commanders for a large part of the game.
British left wing cross the river

Link to more photos with descriptions on Flickr here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157650533069502/

Background

In late August 1777, after a distressing 34-day journey from Sandy Hook on the coast of New Jersey, a Royal Navy fleet of more than 260 ships carrying some 17,000 British troops under the command of Sir William Howe landed at the head of the Elk River, on the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay approximately 40–50 miles (60–80 km) southwest of  the rebel capital of Philadelphia. 

General George Washington had situated the American forces between Head of Elk and Philadelphia. His forces were able to reconnoitre the British landing from Iron Hill near Newark. Howe did not set up a typical camp but immediately prepared to march across the gently rolling country inhabited chiefly by Tories, with the expectation of making an easy conquest of Philadelphia. As a result, Washington was not able to accurately gauge the strength of the opposing forces.

After a skirmish at Cooch's Bridge south of Newark, the British troops moved north and Washington took up a defensive position along the Red Clay Creek near Germanwine.  This site was important as it covered the most direct route on the road from Baltimore to Philadelphia.  The British grouped south of the creek and General Howe decided to attack on the 11th of September.
Patriots await the British assault - the snake fence is by Last Valley

British Briefing

Your objective is to bring the rebel army to battle and defeat it thus ending the war.  Threatening their capital Philadelphia forces the rebels finally to stand and fight. 

You know that your troops are far better trained than the rebels but you know from experience at Boston that the rebels are formidable opponents when manning defensive positions.

The line of the Red Clay Creek is a good defensive obstacle though crossed by a bridge and is also fordable elsewhere.  Troops can cross the bridge normally and can also ford the creek by using 2 movement actions in a turn.  The creek can also be forded east and west of the map.  The high ground is on the rebel side of the creek.  You have observed that two redoubts have been constructed to cover the creek and the bridge.

You have 8 infantry brigades (4 British, 3 German and Loyalist) and a cavalry brigade available.    The main body of the army is deployed off-table south of the map.  4 brigades a turn can attempt to march onto the table.  Note that German infantry battalions can never get 3 moves in a turn.

You can attempt flank marches by crossing upriver and downriver from the rebels to fall on their flanks.  No more than 3 brigades in total can be assigned to the flank marches.

Decide which of your brigades will be committed to the main body and if required to the flank marches and their order of march and their deployment.
End situation
American briefing

Your objective is to prevent the British from crossing the creek and capturing your capital Philadelphia.  Compared with last year your army contains far more regular continental troops and is less dependent on militia. 

The line of the Red Clay Creek is a good defensive obstacle though crossed by a bridge and is also fordable elsewhere.  Troops can cross the bridge normally and can also ford the creek by using 2 movement actions in a turn.   The creek can also be forded east and west of the map.

The high ground is on your side of the creek.  Two redoubts have been constructed to cover the creek and the bridge. The redoubts can each contain a gun and also accommodate a battalion.

You have 9 infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade available of which 6 or 7 can be deployed on the table north of the line shown on your map.   The other 3 or 4 brigades are deployed in reserve off-table to the north.  You must decide on the deployment of your brigades.  Only you can commit the reserves.

12 figure infantry units are small all others 16-20+ are standard sized units.


Order of Battle

BRITISH

1ST British Brigade                                      
4TH Foot
De Lancey’s
5th Foot
9th Foot
Light Infantry skirmishers 12 figs
6-pdr gun

2nd British Brigade                                      
Combined Grenadier battalion
Combined Light Infantry battalion
5th Foot
Grenadier Regiment Rall
Light Infantry Pickets 8 figs
6-pdr gun

3rd British Brigade                                       
64th Foot
7th Foot Royal Fusiliers
35th Foot
28th Foot
6-pdr gun

4TH British Brigade                                      
Composite British Grenadiers
3rd Foot
71st Highlanders
Volunteers of Ireland
Light Infantry skirmishers 12 figs
6-pdr gun

1ST Loyalist Brigade            
New York Regt
British Legion
Queens Rangers
Queens Rangers Skirmishers 12 figs
Indians   Skirmishers 12 figs
Indians   Skirmishers 12 figs

1st German Brigade                                    
4 Brunswick btn.                                         
Brunswick Jager 12 figs                            
Field Gun                                                     

2nd German Brigade                                                           
Fusilier Regiment von Lossberg
Fusilier Regiment von Knyphausen
Musketeer Regiment von Mirbach
Musketeer Regiment von Donop
Jäger 12 figs
4-pdr gun

3RD German Brigade                                                           
2 Brunswick Btn
2 Hessian Btn
Hessian Jager 12 figs
Field gun

British Cavalry Brigade
British Legion Cavalry  12 figs
Light Dragoons 12 figs                              

 
REBELS/PATRIOTS

1ST Patriot Brigade                                      
4 State Regts
Rifles 12 figs
Field gun                              

2nd Patriot Brigade                                      
4 State Regts
Rifles 12 figs
Field gun

3RD Patriot Brigade                                      
Continental Army (Washington’s Guard)
Continental Army generic (blue)
Continental Army generic (brown)
Riflemen    12 Figs
6-pdr gun

4th Patriot Brigade (M)                                
Continental Army/ uniformed Militia mixed
Uniformed Militia mixed
Southern Militia

5th Patriot Brigade                                       
1st Virginia Continental Line
4th Virginia Continental Line
5th Virginia Continental Line
9th Virginia Continental Line
6-pdr gun

6th Patriot Brigade                                       
1st Maryland Continental Line 
5th Maryland Continental Line 
Continental Light Infantry
6-pdr gun

7th Patriot Brigade                                       
1st Pennsylvania Continental Line
7th Pennsylvania Continental Line
8th Pennsylvania Continental Line
Hartley’s Regiment  skirmishers  (12 figs.)
6-pdr gun

8th Patriot Brigade (M)                                
1st North Carolina Militia
2nd North Carolina Militia
Militia skirmishers 12 figs

9th Patriot Brigade (M)                                
1st Virginia Militia
2nd Virginia Militia
3rd Virginia Militia
4th Virginia Militia
Militia skirmishers 12 figs


Patriot Cavalry Brigade
Light Dragoons  12 Figs                            
Light Cavalry  12 figs


6 comments:

  1. Excellent! Well done. Not sure if I missed it, but I assume you used the new AWI supplement for BP? Layout is amazing!

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    Replies
    1. No I did not use Rebellion for the scenario. You will see from my pages that I have written several of my own AWI scenarios. However I did use a couple of ideas from Rebellion - the rules for crossing the river and I limited Hessian formed infantry to a maximum of 2 moves a turn.

      Delete
  2. Excellent! Looks great. I assume you used the AWI supplement for BP? Layout is just wonderful. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A stunning looking game Bill! I just had a another AWI game using your house rules which work great btw, but forgot to take pics. Anyhow I did post up your House rules on my blog.

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
  4. A less severe penalty at the river might be to treat units as "unreliable" if trying to cross, or apply a +1 modifier to the command roll.

    Game looks great.
    Steve

    ReplyDelete