28MM AWI BLACK POWDER: CHATTERTON'S HILL 1776

On Tuesday Colin Jack, Hugh Wilson and Dave Paterson visited to play the second scenario in the Black Powder Rebellion Supplement – the action at Chatterton’s Hill 1776.

Patriot main line at start of battle

 We played the game on a 10ft by 6ft table.  We used 66% scale movement and ranges.  We used the troop ratings and rules suggested in the scenario except that I increased the weight of guns to compensate for the 66% scale and only gave troops behind fences a +1 morale save but did not make them unclear targets.  In addition I changed the rules for crossing the river.  It took 1 move for a unit to cross the ford or bridge and 2 complete moves to cross the river elsewhere.  If a unit did not get 2 moves in a turn it could not cross the river.  For this game my standard sized units had 20 figures, large units 28 figures and small units 10 to 12 figures.  As with all our recent BP games we used the alternate turn sequence.  As per the scenario the Hessians could only ever have 2 moves in a turn.

British grand battery - after turn1 it did not prove a battle winning concept

Dave commanded the British, I commanded the Hessians while Colin and Hugh commanded the Patriots.  The Patriots deployed their rifle unit in the wood on the south bank of the Bronx River and this disrupted the deployment of Maitland’s brigade.   It took Maitland’s brigade 3 turns to wipe out the riflemen and after that they repeatedly failed in their attempts to cross the river. 

With their expected precision British approach the Patriot line

The massed British artillery broke one of the large militia units with their first round of firing but that was their only real success of the day.  Leslie’s brigade rapidly crossed the river and forming up in a single line engaged the Patriots on the hill.  This began a long drawn out firefight with the Patriots having the advantage of holding a fence line while the British were supported by the fire of their grand battery. 

Hessians engage the New York militia

On the British left Rall’s Hessians took some time to struggle thru the woods and then cross the river.  They were met by the New York militia which held up the right flank unit for 3 turns before they broke and fled.  The Hessian brigade then wheeled to attack the right of the Patriot line.  On turn 8 Von Donop’s brigade arrived and moving rapidly reinforced Leslie’s faltering attack on the hill.  One unit of Hessians heroically charged the fenceline and drove back the Delaware Regiment.  One move later the game ended.

With unexpected alacrity Von Donop arrives to reinforce the British attack.

At the end of the 12 moves allowed in the scenario despite the success of the Hessians the Patriots were still strongly holding the hill – they had lost 3 units and British 1 unit.  It was a Patriot victory.

One of the problems with the scenario is that it mentions numerous walled fields but these important obstacles/ defence lines are not shown on the deployment map.  I replaced them with quite extensive fence lines.  The Patriots also get 2 of the best 3 units in the game -the Delaware and Maryland regiments whilst the British have 1 battalion of elites.  Standing behind a fence they have a morale value of 2+.  The British found they were very hard to beat.  The 4 British line units are vanilla troops like the 3 standard Continental units.  I think in 1776 the British line were superior to most Continental units.  I may leave the game setup and replay it with some revision to the troop types.

All the photos with descriptions
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157648728115138/

Here is the OB for the game

REBEL FORCES

MG JOSEPH SPENCER 8

BG MACDOUGALL 8

Maryland Regt
1st New York Continentals
3rd New York Continentals
19th Continentals
1st Continental Rifle Regt
6pdr Field gun

COLONEL DOUGLAS 8

Delaware Regt

1st Connecticut State Levies
2nd Connecticut State Levies
Brook’s Massachusetts Militia
Mosley’s Massachusetts Militia
Graham’s New York militia
 

CROWN FORCES

LG VON HEISTER C-in-C 8

MAJOR MAITLAND 8

3rd Light Infantry (used Grenadiers)
1st Hesse-Cassel Jaegers
2nd Hesse-Cassel Jaegers
17th Light Dragoons
3 6pdr Field guns
3 12pdr Field guns

BG LESLIE 8

5th Foot
28th Foot
35th Foot
49th Foot

COL RALL 8

Leib Regt
Gren Regt Rall
Fus Regt Knyphausen

COL VON DONOP 8

Gren Btn Von Bock
Gren Btn Von Minnigerode
Gren Btn Von Linsingen

This brigade arrives on turn 8.

TROOP RATINGS

PATRIOT UNITS	ARMAMENT	H TO H	SHOOTING	MORALE	STAMINA	SPECIAL
Maryland Regt	Musket	8	4	3+	4	Large unit
Delaware Regt	Musket	6	3	3+	3
Continentals	Musket	6	3	4+	3
Levies	Musket	4	3	4+	3
Militia Regt	Musket	6	4	5+	4	Large Unit, Wavering
NY Militia	Musket	2	2	5+	2	Small Unit
Rifles	Rifles	3	2	4+	2	Marauders, Small Unit
Artillery	smoothbore	1	3-2-1	4+	2
Marauders	Ignore command distance
Wavering	Break test whenever they suffer 1 or more casualties
BRITISH UNITS	ARMAMENT	H TO H	SHOOTING	MORALE	STAMINA	SPECIAL
Elite infantry	Musket	6	3	3+	3	Marauders
Regular Infantry	Musket	6	3	4+	3
Hessians	Musket	8	4	4+	4	Large Unit
Jagers	Rifle	3	2	3+	2	Marauders, Small Unit
British Cavalry	Sabre	6	--	3+	3	Marauders
Hvy Artillery	smoothbore	1	3-2-1	4+	2	--
Artillery	smoothbore	1	3-2-1	4+	2	--
Marauders	Ignore command distance

PIRATES: MULTI-PLAYER SCENARIOS

On Thursday I took my collection of Pirates of the Caribbean ships along to Hugh Wilson’s and the 5 players played 2 multiplayer scenarios which I found on the useful Cke1st's Pirates Page at
http://www.cke1st.com/m_games5.htm

Spanish and English fleets engage - what about the whaling?

We used 5 factions - English, Americans, French, Spanish and  Pirates.  The first scenario we played was Thar She Blows! – a whaling game which I won using the French.  Secondly we played The Golden Goose scenario which was won by Bart using the English.  That game saw our first example of a ship running aground on a reef.

Crippled pirate ship being towed home

We used a new sea sheet which Hugh had produced during the week.  Once again an enjoyable evening and I think the little ships look great.  

Ships sailing thru the hazards around Goose Island and a small ship hiding in fog bank

Chaos around Goose island and a ship lost in a fog bank

Next week starts with a big Black powder AWI game at my house  – the second scenario from the Rebellion book the Battle of Chatterton’s Hill.

BOVINGTON - THE TANK MUSEUM

I went on a road trip this week.  Colin Jack, Ray Neal and I went for a few days to Cornwall but on our way there we diverted to Dorset and the home of The Tank Museum at Bovington.

MKVIb light tank

A13 MKII Cruiser

 
Here are some photos from our visit to museum.  Our tour of the Museum took us 5 hours.  Given the time of the year no tanks were running at the arena but I got a video of the Mark IV from Warhorse driving into the Vehicle Conservation Centre.

French Somau S35 - with some German modifications

SU76 SPG - 2nd most produced Soviet AFV in WWII

German A7V - modern reproduction

An enjoyable visit – I will be back.  All the photos at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157648865792565/

Finally - the famous running TIGER I

CULLODEN WARGAMES DAY

On Saturday Colin Jack, Ray Neal and I travelled to the Culloden Battlefield Centre for the Cùil Lodair Wargames Fair.

We put on a display for the SESWC which was a 28mm 1938 VBCW version of the Battle of Culloden.  It proved like our 2 test games to be a Scottish Republican victory over the Jacobites.  The highlight was Barrell’s regiment (actually a squad) which managed to beat of 3 close assaults by the fanatical front line Highland infantry.  All the troops and equipment in the display come from the collection of Colin Jack.

Jacobite centre and left wing

Scottish Republic HQ - with the vital drinks cabinet

Inverness Wargaming Association, Angus Wargames Club,  Dingwall Wargames Club, Leuchars Veterans, Prestwick Wargames Club, Claymore Castings and Da Klub Inverness also put on displays.

Hobbit PP game

Red coat Teddy Bears await the attack of the Highland gnomes.......Prestwick Wargames Club

Professor Christopher Duffy judged the best display and that prize went to the Inverness FOW WWII game.

 

More photos at

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157648626685036/

As well as the wargames the Morayvia aerospace project brought two warplane cockpits for the public to climb into and experience.  Many thanks to the helpful staff at the centre who even provided the exhibitors with a free lunch!

Interesting show in a historical venue that we will be back to.

Great image from the Battlefield centre - Jacobites strike home on Barrell's Regiment

Another Busy Gaming Week

It has been another busy week for varied games.  On Monday I took my pirate ships to Falkirk Wargames Club and Dave Paterson and I tried out the rules further using the English and Pirates.  I have spent sometime since then building more ships to expand each of my 6 factions to at least 13 ships each.

English ships engage Pirate flagship

On Wednesday evening I went to Dave Paterson’s shed for a game of Dead Man’s Hand.  We played out the second set of scenes from the new campaign book The Legend of Dead Man’s Hand.  Sadly my Sheriff who was at deaths door at the end of the first set of scenes did not recover from his wounds leaving my gang with 4.5 points of reputation at the start of scene 2.

Dave's Wild West layout

 

I was at the SESWC on Thursday where Colin Jack, Ray Neal, Angus Konstam and Tim Wilson and I played a 28mm Bolt Action game set in Syria in 1941.  My highlight was when my Moroccan squad assaulted and destroyed a British Crossley armoured car.  Next turn they tried to assault an Australian held building but were wiped out.  The game ended as a draw.

My highpoint - assaulting the armoured car

Signor Ferrari from Casablanca caught on film in Syria

Finally on Saturday Colin Jack and Ray Neal came to my garage to try the setup for our display at the Cùil Lodair Wargames Fair being held at Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre on 11 October.  Since there will be numbers of historic Culloden Games our Culloden is set in 1938 as a VBCW game.  More to follow after the event.

 

Scottish Republic forces await the Jacobite attack

 Thanks to everyone who follows my blog - I have just crossed the 150,000 pageview barrier.

28MM BOLT ACTION: ALSACE 1914

This Sunday I went to Falkirk Wargames Club for their 20^th Century Warfare event.  I put on an early World War 1 Bolt Action game.  It was a small scale action set during the first week of the Battle of the Frontiers in Alsace with a French force attacking a German blocking force at Altkirch on the road to Mulhouse.

Altkirch and its defenders - note the MGs in the buildings

The French had 2 more infantry squads than the Germans who had an extra MMG.  It was their first game for both the French players (Dave and Peter) and the German Player  (Marco) had only played once before.

French prepare for the attack - En avant mes enfants!

Here is the OB.  The extras for each side proved to a cavalry troop – Cuirassiers and Uhlans - which came on from reserve once a unit had been lost.
 

GERMAN FORCE

1 HQ  +1 TO UNITS WITHIN 6”
3 INFANTRY SQUADS EA OFFICER WITH PISTOL AND 9 RIFLEMEN
1 DISMOUNTED UHLAN TROOP – OFFICER WITH PISTOL AND 9 CARBINES
2 MMG EA 3 CREW
1 77MM FG WITH 5 CREW

PLUS EXTRAS

German artillery about to fire

 

FRENCH FORCE

2 HQ  +1 TO UNITS WITHIN 6”
6 INFANTRY SQUADS EA OFFICER WITH PISTOL AND 9 RIFLEMEN
1 MMG WITH 3 CREW
1 75MM FG WITH 4 CREW

PLUS EXTRAS

How the game played

The French suffered quite heavy losses from the German fire as they closed with the Germans defending the edge of the town losing 2 of their infantry squads.  The French 75 proved to be fairly ineffective with lots of rolls of 1 and 2!  The Highlight was when both sides cavalry appeared.  The French cuirassiers won the cavalry melee on the main road and then charged and broke a German infantry unit before sweeping into town to get out of the arc of fire of the deadly German MMGs.  By that time the French had worn down and broken the other 2 German infantry units.   The cuirassiers then circled behind the dismounted Uhlans who turned and missed with all 6 shots!  We ended the game at that point as it was a clear French victory.  Who says that cavalry has no role in 1914!

French cuirassiers advance to support the infantry

The cavalry melee- cuirassiers emerge triumphant

Everyone agreed that it was an enjoyable game.  Most of the figures are by Renegade but the Cuirassiers, French command, French 75 and dismounted Uhlans are by Great War Miniatures.  I allowed cavalry units which had not acted to countercharge as a reaction.  The other changes to the rules are below with the weapon chart.

Mein Gott!  French cavalry where are our horses Fritz?

 

WEAPON	RANGE	SHOTS	PEN	HE HITS	HE PINS	HE PEN	SPECIAL
Rifle	24	1	n/a
Carbine	20	1	n/a
Pistol	6	1	n/a				Assault
German MMG	36	4	n/a				Team, Fixed
French MMG	36	3	n/a				Team, Fixed
French 75mm	0-60	1		D6/D3	D2	2	Team, Fixed, Howitzer
German 77mm	0-60	1		D6/D3	D2	1	Team, Fixed, Howitzer
ALL TROOPS ARE REGULAR
CAVALRY IN HAND TO HAND GET 2 ATTACKS VS INFANTRY AND 1 AGAINST CAVALRY
ARTILLERY - D6/D3 - D6 HITS VS TARGETS IN THE OPEN, D3 HITS VS TARGETS IN COVER  (SHRAPNEL EFFECT)
FRENCH SPECIAL RULES
ELAN - INFANTRY AND CAVALRY GET +1 TO COMMAND/MORALE WITH A SQUAD LEADER IF ADVANCING/RUNNING TOWARDS THE ENEMY
FRENCH INFANTRY ARE POOR SHOTS SO GET A -1 WHEN SHOOTING A few more photos with descriptions at https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157648126188221/ I am putting a version of this game on as the SESWC display at SKELP in Forfar on 18 October.