Farming with Matt

photo courtesy wargamesinthedungeon

Picking up the long-running AWI campaign finds the campaign in 1777 and at the Battle of Freeman's Farm.  Long-running campaign, indeed!  Looking back into the archives, I discover that Matt and I have been fighting our way through the AWI since 2021!  Incredible, and we are only up to 1777!

Wednesday's action saw the combatants meeting on the fields of Freeman's Farm.  As always, I commanded the American Army and Matt took the helm of the British Army.  This is a large battle and Matt laid out a beautiful spread across the breadth and length of his 8'x5' table.  

The Americans had great difficulty coming up for battle and a huge traffic jam developed.  Not what you want to see when facing those menacing Redcoats!  Well, unless you are the British!

American traffic jam!
photo courtesy wargamesinthedungeon

Choosing to bring the American Army on behind Freeman's Farm, it was a mad dash to thwart the British attempt to turn the American Left.  Poor's Brigade (Gosh, how appropriately named!) made it just in time to line the fence before crashing British volleys rang out.  Taking fire from multiple directions, scores of Americans were cut down before Poor had seen enough and began to be retire.  Retire?  That suggests an orderly withdrawal.  There was no orderly retrograde.  One unit was destroyed triggering a calamity of morale checks.  Several regiments fled on the spot.  Much of Poor's Brigade was skedaddling to the rear!

Poor comes up...
photo courtesy wargamesinthedungeon

and goes back!
photo courtesy wargamesinthedungeon

How did the battle ultimately turn out for the Americans?  This is a tale best told by the victors!  One for the history books, no doubt.  Farming with Matt?  Well, many Americans were planted on this bloody field.

Great game and great fun!  Thanks, Matt, for a most enjoyable session!

See Matt's battle account at Freeman's Farm 1777.  

A Trio of Recent Games

Since hosting my last game on 17 NOV in a two-player remote game of Zallaqah (see Zallaqah Round 3), my gaming table has been dormant.  Well, the armies of Zallaqah are still positioned for battle but no renewed fighting yet.

Instead, I have had the pleasure of playing in three games in the intervening three weeks.  Two of the games were played remotely in two-player games and the third was a F2F game with five players.

To recap:

23 NOV AWI Campaign Continues

In our multi-year campaign of fighting our way through the AWI in miniature using Rebels & Patriots and Matt's superb 28mm collection, Matt presented the Battle of the Clouds as our next action.  This is an action to which I had no knowledge.  Evidently this skirmish and running battle occurred following the Battle of Brandywine.  The American goal is to get their supply train across the table and exit intact at Point A in photo below.  The British goal is to prevent such exit.  Oh, and a huge deluge is expected!

Positions at start

The Americans suffer through a series of failed activations before finally seeing some steady movement of the wagon train.  One wagon makes it off moments before British light infantry overrun the American artillery piece that deployed to protect the exit point.  Good progress continues until the rain begins to fall.  Then, wagon progress slows as the roads become clogged with mud.  Washington moves his column up to slow the British advance to buy time for the wagon train.  Casualties pile up on both sides of the ledger as musketry rings out.  Then, the heavens open up and rain falls in buckets.  With powder wet, the complexion of the battle shifts to one of hand-to-hand fighting.  Washington holds off the Redcoats until the final wagon exits the table.  A Rebel victory...or was it?  Matt could have attacked the final wagon before it left the table to secure victory.  Instead, he focused his energy on attacking Washington.  He wanted the glory of taking Washington dead or alive!  I suspect he went easy on me.  See Matt's battle account at Battle of the Clouds.    

Washington and his boys get off to a slow start...

but in the end, make good their escape!

28 NOV Age of Sail

Next up was a nifty age of sail game with Peter and another one of his products of rules' tinkering.  Rules are entitled, Decks of Glory and are played on a hex grid with his homemade sailing ships.  Marvelous little models.

The rules were easy to pick up and all random decision points are resolved with a card deck.  Play was fast.  We got in three different scenarios in our remote gaming session.  The first scenario saw a one-on-one single ship, introductory engagement.  I came out on top in that one.  For scenario two, I commanded a single ship trying to escape a three-ship squadron.  I was caught and surrounded before exiting the board and struck my colors.  In Game #3, we fought a three-on-three squadron action.  I managed to come out on top here again.  Fun games and two out of three ain't bad!  Hope to give these a try again.  See Peter's battle account at Remote Napoleonic Naval Game.

Action is getting hot!

06 DEC Madhist Wars

Finishing off the last of the three games, Saturday saw me join five guys for a five-player battle in the Sudan using Battles for Empires II.  I was one of two British players facing off against three Madhist players.  Terry umpired.  Outnumbered by more than two-to-one to begin, the brunt of the native attacks fell upon my wing.  No sooner had an enemy unit or two been scattered but more popped up to fill in the gaps.  Dead Madhists were continually recycled back into the game.  This was about a four-hour battle ending in a British victory.  A slim victory, I reckon, since my wing was almost completely destroyed in the action.

Madhists look on.

Lining the ridge, my command shifts reserves
 quickly to my exposed left flank.

The enemy approaches...

and closes in ferocious fighting.

This was Game #3 for me with Battle for Empire rules.  I now have a copy that I can read through and reference for any future action to which I may be invited.  Bloody rules.  Very bloody.

This week, a double header with Matt is on the docket as we return to AWI.  Should be fun.

6 Games in 7 Days

Cooch's Bridge
photo courtesy Matt from wargamesinthedungeon

Last week saw heightened activity at the gaming table.  Action was fast and furious with six games played over the last seven days.  That is a lot of gaming in one week!

Despite the heavy gaming schedule, I managed to get some painting sessions in too.  There will be some new units mustering out from the workbench soon.

Anyway, a quick rundown of the games played this past week.

Monday saw Postie's Rejects hosted in two remote, Old West gunfights in 25mm.  The first game is chronicled at Rejects at Adobe Wells.  The second game awaits its rip-roaring write-up.

Thursday saw three CCA refights of the Battle of Po River in 6mm.  Kevin joined in for an afternoon F2F session featuring a trio of games preceded by a lunch stop.  For this session of three games, we swapped sides from our previous outing.  As in the first triplet of Po River games back in January, Carthage managed to squeeze out two victories to Rome's one. Scores were 7-4, 1-7, 7-4.  With Kevin and I knotted at three victories apiece, a third, tie-breaking session may be needed!

Finally, Sunday witnessed a return to Matt's long running AWI campaign.  The campaign is up to 1777 and the Battle of Cooch's Bridge.  With most of the Americans either dead on the field, captured, or running away, few Rebels remain to tell the tale from the American perspective.  Even the American commander managed to lose his head!  I leave it to the victors to write this history!  After a very long hiatus, good to get back to the table with Matt in a remote game.    

Cooch's Bridge
photo courtesy Matt from wargamesinthedungeon

Cooch's Bridge
photo courtesy Matt from wargamesinthedungeon

It was a busy week on the gaming front.  This week looks a bit more subdued.

A New Project and a Game

Given that June saw good production at the painting desk with nearly 150 figures crossing over to the "Painted" side of the ledger, July has been a letdown.  With games, planning for games, research, scenario development and summertime activities, painting production took a precipice drop in July.  I did manage to complete one, three battalion regiment of Prussian infantry, though, and I started a new project.

Well, "New" in the sense that I have finally overcome the inertia of expanding my 1859 project to bring in Prussians for the 1870 conflict.  These 48 figures represent the first of hopefully a serious attempt at fielding a small Prussian Army for the FPW.  The figures have been in The Lead Pile for years.  Time to do something productive with them.  The problem is that I have not felt much like painting of late.  I keep getting distracted by other calls for attention. 

Anyway, these figures are 15mm Lancashire Games.  Great figures that paint up quickly when I sit down at the painting desk for a meaningful painting session.  The regiment still needs to collect its flags.  Perhaps I can find some suitable flags on the internet?  In July, those meaningful painting sessions were few and far between.  With luck, August will see a pick-up in productivity.  At least this is a start to a Prussian Army!

Cheriton Battlefield
Photo courtesy Gridbased Wargaming

On the gaming front, I joined Matt on Sunday to resurrect our AWI campaign.  A nail biting and unexpected finish.  I am sure Matt will provide an accurate chronicle of the action at Fort Anne.  The first game in Peter and my home-and-away series of Battle of Cheriton replays is on deck for later this week.  Peter is hosting (see Remote Game Preparation) the first round and then I will host the second.  Both games will be played remotely using different scenarios and different rules.  We completed a similar exercise before with Lake Trasimene.  It was great fun and we both learned a lot about the battle in these refights.  I wonder what insights might come out of our Cheriton refights?  Research for my game is still in progress.  Battle layout nears completion.  I am sure I will pick up some useful tips after having played Peter’s interpretation of Cheriton.

Bloody Bound Brook BatRep

Bound Brook Table
photo courtesy wargamesinthedungeon

Matt and I returned on Sunday to our long-running AWI campaign using Rebels & Patriots.  This campaign has been in action for two years running.  On the docket for this day was a recreation of the action at Bound Brook in 1777.  Matt provided a battle briefing showing the situation and the initial Rebel dispositions.  The action opens with the Rebels guarding Queen's Bridge and the Old Stone Bridge from British advances.  The main British advance is across the causeway through the marsh to Old Stone Bridge.  Hessian Grenadiers approach across the Raritan River forcing their way across Queen's Bridge.  The Rebel objective is to prevent being overrun and giving up this strategic position.  Matt pointed out that, historically, once the Hessian grenadiers were seen storming across Queen's Bridge, the colonials panicked and fled.  Battle over in a few minutes.  Looking at my situation as the American commander, I felt my chances were equally slim.

With two skirmish units, one guarding at each bridge, they may only offer speed bumps to the superior Crown Forces once the enemy come onto the table.  Having to overcome two narrow avenues of approach, the Americans would need to contain the enemy while not sustaining too many casualties.  I asked if the Americans only needed to hold out for three turns to declare victory.  Matt laughed but warned that I ought to be careful in not allowing my skirmishers to be overrun on Turn 1.  Noted! 

Let's see how the battle played out.

Shadow animals or battle briefing?

British column arrives marching on Old Stone Bridge.
American skirmishers fall back from Queen's Bridge
while the Rebels shift their positions near the crossroad.

Rebel reinforcements arrive!

Skirmishing at both bridges

Hessian grenadiers cross Queen's Bridge under
skirmish fire from the Rebels.
American reinforcements fan out as militia
reinforce the skirmishers at Queen's Bridge. 

At Queen's Bridge, skirmishers fire and fall back as the
 grenadiers are caught in a crossfire from both cannon and musket.
Casualties are heavy.

Compelled to take a morale check from all of the fire,
the Hessians break and run!
I recall the Hessians rolled a double one! Rout!

Coming up in support, a second Hessian
grenadier unit crosses Queen's Bridge.
It, too, is welcomed by a hail of cannon and musketry!

At the Old Stone Bridge, the skirmishers fire
and retire as the odds against them mount.

In all of the commotion and traffic jam at Old Stone Bridge,
 the Jaegers take friendly fire (double one) from the rear!
The jaegers are forced to retire. 

The British guard charges over the Old Stone Bridge
 but comes up short of the skirmishers.

Stopped short from reaching the skirmishers,
 the guard falls to intense fire from multiple directions. 
In an attempt to relieve pressure, Hessians charge over
 Queen's Bridge toward the skirmishers.
They, too, are caught in a murderous crossfire.
Both must make morale checks.

Double ones!  Again!

The guard in no-man's land on the Rebel side of
 Old Stone Bridge routs! 
The Hessian grenadiers fare no better.
They turn tail and run away!

The victorious rebels scatter the opposition
photo courtesy wargamesinthedungeon

After only a few turns, the British commander throws in the towel and calls off the attack.

A major American victory!

Another fantastic game packed with lots of action.  Unfortunately, Matt picked up where we last left off with handfuls of terrible morale check dice rolling.

And, the Americans actually did only need to hold on for three turns although the outcome was not the expected result.

Stay tuned for Matt’s version of the action with loads of close up photos.

Battle of Millstone, 1777

Redcoats on the march. 
photo courtesy wargemsinthedungeon.blogspot.com

Matt and I return to our long-running AWI campaign as we fight our way through the war.  After the battles of Trenton and Princeton, combats center on small skirmish actions while both armies are in Winter Quarters.  Up this time is one of the actions from the Forage War.  For historical background and Matt's excellent battle account, please visit, 

The Forage War, 1777: Battle of Millstone 

While Matt presents his version of the action with superb battle photos, I attempt to recount my rendition of the action from the Rebel perspective and from afar.

Let's take a look at this battle from the American chroniclers.

The battlefield with the long British column
 marching toward Millstone River Bridge.
A Hessian detachment guards the bridge.
photo courtesy wargemsinthedungeon.blogspot.com

British column marches toward the bridge.

The Rebels arrive out of nowhere to challenge the column
but the Rebels fail to attack both flanks.

Gunshots ring out as contact is made
 at the rear of the column.

Threatened from beyond the mill and from the town,
 itself, the Redcoats are forced to split their command
 to deal with each threat.

The Rebels advance upon the lead elements of the column
 while the rear guard is attacked from both directions.
The baggage train stalls.

A withering opening volley from the town
sends the British back toward the bridge.

Surprised by seeing enemy both fore and aft,
 the British unit scatters.
Hoorah!

British infantry line the fence as the Rebels close in.

The firefight intensifies as the Hessian jaegers scurry
 across the Millstone Bridge to aid their comrades.
Musketry from the Americans drives off the Hessian gun. 

The Hessian jaegers arrive to thwart the Rebel attack.
photo courtesy wargemsinthedungeon.blogspot.com 

One Rebel skirmisher has seen enough and disperses.
The baggage train is making little progress.

In the firefight, first the lead British regiment breaks
taking Abercrombie away with it.
  They scamper toward the bridge pell mell.
Seeing their commander carried away in flight,
the second British regiment breaks.

First one Hessian jaeger company is destroyed 

and then the second disperses.

As the Americans close in on the column,
 not much remains to protect the train.

The lead wagon is attacked as the British rear-guard
continues suffering casualties at the hands of their pursuers.

With the route to the bridge blocked and the baggage
 train under heavy attack,
the remaining British infantry skedaddle. 
The rebels are victorious!

Well!  That was a quick and sharp little action.

The Rebels attacked quickly and gave the British a very bloody nose.  Crown forces experienced a spate of untimely and unseemly Morale and Rally tests.  So many catastrophic morale failures occurred, the likes of which are not often seen.  If it were not for bad luck, the British may have had no luck at all.

While there will be fewer places set at the British mess tent this night, the Rebels will be eating well with lamb on the menu.

Great game and great victory to the Rebels!