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AWI CAMPAIGN: GAME 2June 1776 |
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(Fought: 28 June 2008) |
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Game 1 pretty much settled everyone's hash for
1775. I quickly realized I wasn't as strong as I thought I was and Kevin found
out I could beat him on equal terms, so we both settled down for the winter.
Due to taking New York, I had an edge on points but it wasn't enough to
convince the local Tories that my heart was true and full of warm tender
feelings for their well being. I couldn't raise a single colonist to take up
arms against their traitorous offspring. Ingrates. So be it. King Gee the Three (he likes it when I use his nickname. We're tight like that) showed us all kinds of love with dozens of new regiments. My existing army grew almost three hundred percent! Knowing G-unit like I do, he didn't send all these guys over so we could practice our pomp and ceremonies, so I had to come up with a brilliant, yet cunning plan... First off, there were way too many troops to house in New York. That was a given. I talked with Cooper a bit through email and we sent some men up to Canada to make up for the poorly written joke about drugs on the home page (it was truly the least we could do). Now I'm not going to disclose too much here as there are spies everywhere, but lets say Canada isn't going to fall and become the 14th state any time soon. So as Spring began to bloom, two invasion forces worked their way on the table. The first moved from Quebec and the other from New York. Kevin completely ignored Canada and massed several formations outside of New Haven, which I had stripped down to bulk up for my southern attack. Both Cooper and I were surprised at the audacity to attack the King's troops! Then we were dismayed when Kevin and D model set their army up on the table for battle. It was huge! I looked over our small army. It wasn't quite as capable as before, but it did have some strength to it. As we got to choose the battlefield, we made the Americans fight across the small of the table, not its length. That didn't help a lot but it did help some. The sleepy village of New Haven was where Kevin had located a force. We took to the field with the following forces:
No guns, no cavalry, no motor cars, not a single luxury. Like Robinson Crusoe, its as primitive as can be. We had some good troops, but no combined arms and we could plainly see the Americans had brought artillery and that concerned us. Not quite sure what to do, we decided to be bold and take the fight to the Americans! |
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No Map Today
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What happened?! |
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Cooper was responsible for setting up the table today so he must have been in a farming mood because the fields were out in force. I was pretty impressed with it - until I remembered we could only see 2" in a field in season! The Americans were due to set up at the bottom of the picture. We, in turn would deploy at the edge of the village. |
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As we set up the troops, Danielle was explaining to D model how the right hook worked. He was wisely staying out of arms reach. Notice no one else is in the picture! Play dead, man! Play dead! |
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After we were set up, Cooper snapped this shot while we
were waiting for the US players to finish and I was practicing my victory
smirk. Then I glanced over and saw that, once again, Kevin had set up left heavy. Oh look, there's the artillery. Right there, right in front of me. Again. Lucky for me, the rifle battalion in front will temporarily block their way. It was going to be yet another bad, bad day for Larry's troops (quiet you in the back!). |
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Kevin, who was trying out his new disguise so no one would recognize him as visiting our house, was busy acting like a subway attendant with all of his troops. "Step up, there's plenty of room for all of you. The noise you're hearing the table groaning under the weight of lead in the corner. |
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The American left was made up of their rifles, the attached batteries and several continental regiments. D model ran the militia and they were out in force today. A total of 15 American regiments were in the field today and the vast majority were regulars. It didn't look good. |
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So not quite sure what to do, we advanced. Most people ask, what would Jesus do? Instead, I asked, what would an 18th Century British commander do? Why, he would attack as he was taught of course! Yeah, its not brilliant to attack when you're outnumbered three to one, but they wouldn't expect us to do that! Only a fool would attack now! A-hahahahaha - ahem. Anyway, body language says it all. I may be attacking, but here I am practicing my hands on the head surrender position. |
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Meanwhile, Kevin was getting VERY excited that we were attacking. I still wasn't sure if it was brilliant, but we were now committed - or should be! Knowing us, it is the latter. |
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Not sure who snapped this, but it gives a good idea of how close we were getting. Here the American riflemen take their time and aim into the mass. |
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"When you wish upon a star..." Cooper looks ready to tunnel out in his best "Rats leaving a sinking ship" pose. The other thing to notice about this picture is that the second line of troops is really far, far to the rear due to some terrain difficulties. It wasn't critical, but dividing an already small force even more sort of put a stand-still to our attack. |
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Unfortunately, staying in place also had its problems. First off, the Riflemen were still irritatingly picking off my foot regiment and whittling it down to the breaking point. I didn't want to, but I had to charge to force the issue. I could not sit there and trade shots because I was dying from the attempt! Instantly, the rifles broke and fled for the rear! |
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As the rifles scampered off, I followed up that attack on the US artillery battery on the hill. In a remarkable (and probably unrepeatable) display of marksmanship, my volley cut down every single gunner before they could do any damage! |
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The gunner's deaths then sparked a series of morale checks that completely shattered the American center! This gave time for Cooper to get his troops into position to attack D model's militia holding the flank. B'Gawd, this may actually work! |
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I took this as the routing center spooked the rifles a second time as they had just rallied and once more sent them streaming to the rear. Again, though, it was a morale victory only as the rifles had barely suffered and would recover in due time. I needed to hurt them but this was my last chance with this battle, even though I did not know that yet. |
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Keeping up the pressure, the 23rd Royal Welch charged the
closest militia unit and it instantly shattered. Due to the compacted area the
Americans were contained in, that rout instantly affected other regiments and
in a matter of seconds, the American right folded!
Again, the victory was hollow as no losses were inflicted by the charge. We were "winning" without sealing the deal. I keep wondering how many of these figures would come back to haunt us one day. |
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With the Militia right gone, Cooper and I looked to pull a reverse Camden so even though we did not consult with one another, we both decided to hit the closest regiment in the center to break things open! That didn't quite work out as planned as Cooper's Grenadiers failed to charge! |
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A furious melee ensued between the two forces, which
turned out to be the 2nd Maryland against the 38th Foot. To say it was a
knock-down, drag out fight would be an understatement! The Marylanders lost
260 men versus 280 for the Crown! Morale checks were mandatory. I rolled for
the 38th and groaned as they failed to stand! Oh, this could get really bad! But no! The Marylanders had enough as well and shattered. As we both routed, neither of us would lose captured stragglers. The 38th ran off and eventually would clear the table without rallying, but the Maryland rout was far, far worse. They disintegrated with their stragglers right in front of the eyes of the army. Again, morale check after morale check failed across the American lines, cascading from one edge of the table to the other. By the time it was through, the remaining British outnumbered the remaining Americans. Kevin and D model had had enough. Grudgingly, sullenly, the Americans withdrew, leaving the field to the British! |
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Wow. Well, wow. What can I say, but: wow. We suffered over 660 casualties in this win versus 500 for the Americans. I still cannot continue this debt ratio but I can say, I am very satisfied with how the games have gone so far. We really did not set out to recreate history, but here we are with a game that felt like a mix between Guilford Courthouse and Camden! Well drilled British regulars are truly the army to beat in 1776. It puts false confidence in you that your men can accomplish the impossible. Perhaps this was what Cornwallis was thinking when he opted for the southern campaign. The American defeat had several factors, but the largest was their troop quality. There was none on par with the British at this point in the war. Sure, there are one or two bright stars, but it is not the battalion alone that wins the war. This was reflected in our game where, even thought he US lost, they learned from their defeat. No less than six continental formations gained morale from the loss while only two British formations gained a higher morale level. The hard fighting, but now destitute 38th Foot, dropped a morale level for its rout. I'm not sure what's next, but any more games like this, and Lord North is going to begin talking about me in Parliament! And not in a good way! |
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Content Owner: |
Larry Freeman |
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Technical Design: |
Larry Freeman |
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Never forget! |
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