AWI: Bennington 16th August 1777

I got the AWI collection out the other day and decided to refight one of the battles that struck me as being a little different to the many of the other I’ve refought in the past( Click on AWI link on the right hand side!)

I settled on Bennington  16th August 1777  and used the Scenario Booklet 4 from the British Grenadier rules, but decided to try the Little Wars TV rules, “Live Free or Die” as I have watched their games on YouTube and was impressed with the way they played. I used the OOB in the scenario book and just divided the number of figures by 4 to get the appropriate number of bases. For skirmish units I divided the number of figures required by 2 ( see below).

What particularly grabbed me about the fight was two interesting ingredients. The first was that the Continentals ( well- militia mainly) are assaulting defensive redoubts instead of the usual attacking redcoats. The second aspect was the fact that on the ‘redcoat’ side there are few actual British troops. The vast bulk are Brunswickers, Loyalists and some Indians…so hardly any ‘redcoats’…just a few riflemen! 

The table- looking north.

Last of the Mohicans..........Painted!!

 My painted Indians for the AWI are done! I found these a joy to paint..but it clearly didn't improve my painting quality. Anyway....a game soon is a must! 

AWI 28mm Purchase

 

I've had a sizeable collection of AWI for a while but don't have a single Indian figure to represent the native bands that fought during the conflict. They played an important role in some battles ( Oriskany for example) and decided to buy some Perry Miniatures. They just arrived ( within two weeks!) from the UK.

Time to start painting.

American War of Independence - Solo effort

 

Lockdown again...solo effort..again.
Somewhere in the Carolinas.........

This was a simple game played on a small table in over a couple of hours. A British column, advancing thru an abandoned plantation was ambushed by a Rebel force.

The Redcoats had two regular battalions, a detachment of Light Troops and a detachment of Tarleton's Legion on foot. One Artillery piece filled out the redcoat force. The Rebels had two militia battalions, three unit of riflemen and two guns.

A simple job for the Patriots- inflict casualties on the British column and force them to retreat. The British, who had been chasing the rebels now have an opportunity to smash the troublesome Americans!

AWI - Monmouth- Washington saves the day.

An AWI game refighting the second phase of the battle of Monmouth. This was the first game we had a couple of months ago after the lockdown was lifted.
We did the second half of the Battle of Monmouth June 28 1778.
In this stage, the Continental Army under Washington was rallied after fleeing when being led by General Charles Lee.
We used the British Grenadier scenario booklet for the positioning of forces.
The rules were the quick play set from 'Der Alte Fritz' Blog.

I made some notes as I went along...then lost them. All I remember is that the game pretty much followed the historical outcome - The Redcoats would call off the fight as both sides were taking losses.

Cornwallis' Brigade ( on the bottom right) facing Wayne's Brigade.

Cornwallis' Brigade- 

AWI- SPRINGFIELD 23rd June 1780

While the main focus of the war shifted south, the commander of the British Army in New York was under pressure to do something rather than watch the Continentals across the river in the Jerseys.

Our game represents the result of that pressure when Knyphausen crossed the Rahway River near the town of Springfield in June of 1780.

The British side of the table- the Rahway river - the crossings held by two continental units- the river was fordable along it's length but slow going and disordering for the formed troops. The buildings in the middle represent the small town of Springfield.

Freeman's Farm - 19th Sept 1777

After the success of Guildford Courthouse (see previous blog) I decided to give Freeman’s farm a go. This saw the Americans under Benedict Arnold on the attack in an attempt to beat ‘Gentleman’ Johnny Burgoyne. The British had one Brigade in the middle of the table ( Hamilton’s- Richard), one brigade in the earth works on the left flank ( Fraser’s- Ralph ) and one brigade ( Reidesel’s Hessians- Richard II ) to arrive with a randomised dice throw.

The Americans also had three brigades and two ( Morgans  -Phil and Poor's -Chris ) were on the table. The third ( Learned’s- Liam ) would arrive very quickly to help destroy Hamilton’s brigade and secure the victory. Well, that was the plan….

Guildford Courthouse 1781

Having wanted to refight this famous action for quite some time I wanted to use a set of rules that all the Brothers could use quickly and easily.
My ‘go to’ rules for the American War of Independence has always been British Grenadier! But for a game with possibly 7 players for a Saturday afternoon I took a chance on using a fast play set from the net- Fife and Drum from the ‘der Alter Fritz’ blog:http://altefritz.blogspot.com/2017/08/fife-drum-awi-rules-tutorial.html Now these are truly  a ‘1 page set’ and we decided to play them as they stood, to see how they worked. The really amazing thing that won me over was that by turn two of the game, everyone had a good understanding of the basic rule mechanisms and I could enjoy the game without continually referencing the rules.

The Middle of the table- viewed from the British lines,

More terrain!

I had a few nights when the heat was so bad I couldn't sleep, so out came the paints and more teddy bear fur at 2am- just ridiculous.  I know, it's nuts but I've become a bit obsessive with regards to new look ideas for terrain.
After I finished, I got some sleep and then later in the day, set up some figures from my AWI collection. I pulled out my forces for Cowpens and placed them on the mat. I kinda like the effect.  It's a game I'm going to have to play!!

AWI- The Carolinas, Loyalist Regiment

I've got a nice unit that will be used for my Southern AWI games.
A nicely painted 'Volunteers of Ireland' that fought at Camden.

AWI- Patriot Militia

With a couple of British Regiments sitting on my shelf, painted and ready to go, I decided to start on the Rebels....or Patriots, depending on your point of view. So many of the battles of the AWI involved militia units, basically wearing their civilian clothes. Congress also authorised the distribution of linen hunting shirts when 'proper' uniforms weren't available.

   
 So I set about painting, collecting, borrowing, begging, buying etc a number of militia units that can be used in any scenario by just changing the flag (If they had one!). I've decided to go with the Southern Campaign and build forces for Camden, Cowpens and Guildford Courthouse....so I need a quite a few units to represent North and South Carolina and Virginia Militia! Now I'd like to claim the credit for these- but I won't, they were all bought ( I know the Wargaming Gods will strike me down !!)

AWI - Playing British Grenadier

Ross, Phil and I decided to give the AWI another go to try and get a better handle on the British Grenadier Rules.

The scenario was for a small British column to make its way across the table to link up with a Brigade of Hessians who were waiting for them.
The Patriots' objective was to stop them.
A fictional scenario using various troops from different theatres but kinda influenced by the battle of Princeton.
The British started by marching from one table edge in column as the Patriots entered the table to their right.

Brunswick Regiment Prinz Friedrich  watches the Americans  arrive. Hessian Jagers to the right.

American War of Independence: 53rd Regiment of Foot.

Well it's started. I'm painting landsknechts and Spanish Jinetes but I'm blogging my first AWI Unit: clearly the workings of a severely disturbed mind with multiple addictions. Don't ask why; I just saw them on eBay- bought them, rebased them and have been admiring them for the last couple of months.
The 53rd Regiment was originally raised in 1755 as the 55th Regiment. Changed to the 53rd at the end of the Seven Years War due to reductions in the regimental establishment, it sailed for Canada in 1776. It served in operations for the relief of Quebec and then joined General John Burgoyne's army advancing into New England via the Hudson Valley.

Taking part in the initial capture of Fort Ticonderoga, the 53rd was part of 'Gentleman Johnny' Burgoyne's 1st Brigade along with the 9th and 47th Regiments. The Battalion Companies were left behind to defend the fort and its outlying defences.

American Revolutionary War

   Well, like most wargamers I tend to have more than one project running at a time and found myself making a purchase that had nothing at all to do with anything I was working on at all. I can change my mind while being in the bathroom about a period that I'm a 'fanatic' on and have a new obsession within minutes of picking up a book on a given topic.
    About two years ago I read a book called 'Fusiliers'  by Mark Urban on the 23rd Welch Fusiliers and their time in the Revolutionary War. Well, I had another book on Battles of the Revolutionary War, then picked up a cheap one ($3.95) on the Battle of Guildford Courthouse and it slowly dawned on me that I really liked this period- so I bought a few more books (Black Powder's 'Rebellion' and the British Grenadier rules)......... You know where this is going!!
   Also I've been a regular reader of the Tarleton's Quarter Blog (see down the right hand side). It is by far and away one of the most amazing and informative blogs on all things wargaming and the AWI! (among others!)- I thoroughly recommend it- it's fantastic.
   Wouldn't you know it.....there were some lovely figures for sale on ebay- so having a little spare cash I bought them. Now regular readers would know that I'm also working on a Spanish Army for the Italian Wars, and playing a Modern Africa campaign, and about to start a 3rd Century BC campaign in Roman Italy.....but I couldn't resist!!!! ....yes  I know there were no Landsknechts during the AWI!!!
I'm still painting pikemen and jinetes- but I guess I'll just have to work on two periods at once...ouch.....don't tell the missus!