28mm AWI MAURICE CAMPAIGN 2 GAME 3 – ACTION AT SWAMPY BEND

On Saturday Dave Paterson and I played the third game in our second Maurice AWI campaign – the Action at Swampy Bend.   Here are the forces for the game. 

BRITISH ARMY
8 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
4 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED REGULAR CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
2 IRREGULAR CAVALRY
2 IRREG INFANTRY
National advantages - OBLIQUE ORDER, RALLY TO THE COLOURS
Notables – De Vique, Kershaw

Patriot centre in distance British on ridge and along fence line

 PATRIOT ARMY
3 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
9 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED REGULAR CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
2 IRREGULAR CAVALRY
2 IRREG INFANTRY
National advantages - OBLIQUE ORDER, SKIRMISH, PROFESSIONAL TRAIN
Notable – Laurent Van Hussen

Advanced Rules in use – Oblique Order, Light artillery, All Guns bombard, Honours of War

Patriot riflemen get into action with their opponents

We used the Eve of Battle pre-battle system by Michael Schneider of the SESWC to try to give a greater variety to the games with special events, weather, terrain and additional troops.  This determined that I was the attacker and that Dave actually moved first. 

I deployed 2 units of irregulars on my left flank facing the swamp and Dave deployed 3 irregular units facing the swamp.  My other 2 irregular infantry units occupied my far right flank facing a single unit of Dave’s.  Dave positioned his conscript infantry occupying the long ridge on his right centre with his trained infantry along a fence line on his left centre.  I massed my main body to attack the long ridge and held back my right centre.

Main attack on the ridge line

At the start of the game I moved my Patriot irregulars on the left flank into the swamp  to engage the end of Dave’s line.  I moved my main force to attack the conscripts on the ridge and started a major firefight.    At one point I held both firefight cards, both dense smoke cards and a lethal volley card.  This good luck enabled me to hold my own against the superior British ability to rally and I thought I was at least equal in the firefight.  Sadly at the key point I threw 24 volley dice in one turn and scored not a single hit.  After that my force steadily went downhill as Dave brought his regulars across the fence line to engage my right but it was still a tough fight. 

British cross fence line to engage my refused left flank conscripts

When my army’s morale broke we had both lost 7 units but most of Dave’s were artillery or irregulars whilst mine were regulars.  Another hard fought and enjoyable game.  Photos from this battle with descriptions are on flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157638222458633/