Last Wednesdsay (1)

The game went well. I experimented with using d10 for combat rather than d6 but don't think it made much difference. Still have a few rules ideas to try out.

I took some pictures and will get them up here on Monday

Wednesday night is napoleonics

Hi all

Just a heads up to anyone in the Newark area (UK not NJ) that the Newark Irregulars meet on Wednesdays at the scout hut in Lovers Lane.

This week we have planned a 6mm napoleonics game and will have plenty of room for others to join in. I'll be there from around 7 for a 7.30 kick off.

cheers
Steve

Demonstration game thoughts

Hmm. I will be doing a show demo at Partizan in the Autumn and taking this to Salute next year. It will be something from the south in 1780-81 but I'm not yet sure exactly what to do. There seem two candidates in my head at the moment:

1. Guilford Courthouse - obvious, perhaps too obvious.

2. What if - Lafayette's light infantry and the French force of flank companies entrapping Benedict Arnold in Virginia in early 1781. Could expand this by setting it slightly later and bringing in Philip's British reinforcements and Morgan's light troops from Cowpens...this would give a lot of characterful units and be an excuse to field some French troops. Doing hypotheticals always seems like a bit of a cop-out, though.

An outside third choice would be Eutaw Springs perhaps?

Comments on these ideas would be welcome.

Briar Creek (3)

The conclusion of the battle!

The melee with the militia had indeed resulted in a rout, but a sharp volley by the rebel main line caused the British light company to skedaddle too, leaving a gap on the left flank. Meanwhile the rebel reinforcements - two companies of regular infantry finally made it to the battlefield:Both sides now reformed their lines:

The British decided enough was enough and sent in their cavalry to break up the militia, which they did. A sweeping advance smashed in the rebel left and one troop of horsemen then withdrew leving the other embroiled in an ongoing melee:

The rebel right continued to hold firm while the British yet again re-formed a line of troops to oppose them.

The cavalry, having drawn breath, charged the militia on the left yet again, pushing them back into the newly arrived regulars:

With their left in disarray:

The rebel regulars wheeled backwards to cover the flank:

The British had now been attacking for 9 turns. Both militia brigades were now broken but the regulars were standing firm and the laurels of victory were awarded to the defenders!

I'm still hammering out the victory conditions for the scenario, but having the regulars unbroken after 9 turns seems a reasonable result.

Not sure what I'll set up next, perhaps a scenario from earlier in the war. I have one based on part of Long Island 1776 which I'm keen to test out.

cheers!

Briar Creek (2)

More news from the front! The British left (the 71st Foot) concluded that the prolonged firefight was not favouring them and it would take too long to wear the militia down that way. The light company and part of the main battalion charged the militia on the rebel flank:As the redcoats crashed home they hoped to sweep the enemy away, but closing fire resulted in the centre companies becoming shaken. They held their nerve however to bring the fight to the militia:

...while behind them the grenadiers of the 60th foot began to shuffle onto the battlefield (igonre the figures, I know the 60th didn't look like this, but these are the grenadiers I have):

The 71st's centre companies were driven back but the light company continued in melee with some unexpectedly tenacious militia, who rode their luck all the way!:

The fight continued for yet another round, but the rebel generals were aware that there could only be one outcome, especially with the arrival of loyalist cavalry; and refused the remainder of their right flank, leaving the entangled militia to their fate:

Both rebel flanks were angled back from the line of battle as the last few photos show:

The British now need to deliver some decisive attacks to break through, but the dice have not been smiling one them.

More soon...

Bank Holiday beckons!

Hi all.

Good night at the club last night playing Formula De. Next week it is 6mm napoleonics using my rules which are still available from the link on this blog. I might tweak the combat results a little though.

Otherwise this week I have been mostly researching the Continental Army of the AWI - which is a flippin' complicated thing!

Hope to get the Briar Creek battle finished over the weekend. Will post pics of how it ends.

cheers

Briar Creek (1)

Just running through my ideas for the Battle of Briar Creek. Below is the situation 4-turns into the game. The Crown have still to bring on their reserve and an aggressive move by the rebel left has forced them to deploy their regulars in harms way where they have been taking a lot of hits from militia musketry. Surely the militia can't hold out forever can they?

..and here is a shot from the other side of the garage!:

I was worried this might be a bit of a walkover for the Crown, but it is developing into an interesting little game. It does need carefully constructed victory conditions though as in the end I'm certain the Crown side will "win" in the traditional sense.

AWI Grenadiers WIP

Not quite finished, but very close. I have finally got round to putting brush to paint and resurrected some British grenadiers after a nast experiment with Army Painter dip, which did not suit them at all.

three more to go to complete another company for my grenadier battalion

cheers

Plastic AWI

The Perrys have announced that one of their next plastic releases will be AWI British Infantry - cut down coats with cocked hats/round hats/saratoga cap head options - brill. After that will be Continentals and Militia. Good news!

Hanging Rock (2)

Welcome to part 2 of my Hanging Rock refight. Rebel Right The right-had rebel column had not moved with the alacrity of the other two columns and found itself engaged with a better-prepared defence. By the end of turn 2 each side had taken casualties and the rebels were preparing to bring in Davie's light dragoons: The dragoons smashed into one of the British Legion companies, shaking it but not breaking it.

the militia and dragoons fell back to regroup while the loyalist forces formed an ever more organised defensive line:

..a line that was disrupted by the belated emergence of the rebel centre column on their right flank, sweeping away the loyalist militia and threatening the gun!:

Not wishing to be cut-off, the loyalists drove back the centre column then retired behind the cabin with the intention of linking-up with Carden and the PoWAR:

The rebels contineud to press on but with little success, both sides were now seriously weakened:

Centre column

The centre column rapidly routed the majority of Bryan's tory militia but one stubborn company remained on the top of the hill and proved difficult to shift; no doubt aided by the umpire's application of a higher morale value then they actually deserved, but they did roll some fantasic die too - I've seldom seen so many 5s and 6s.

A second tory company fell back to the bottom of the hill to offer a little defence if it could. Difficult for a broken command to achieve:

On the following turn the rebel milita continued to chop-up both tory companies but they still hung on somehow:

...before finally succumbing on turn 4 and allowing the centre column to push some of its troops through the woods to aid the right-hand column - but too little too late if they hoped to destroy the provincials around the cabin:

Left Column

This column had found itself prematurely engaged with the PoWAR and despite routing one loyalist company it now found itself engaged in a fight it had little chance of winning with its rapidly diminishing ammunition. An enthusiastic charge was delivered:

..but was dirven back with heavy casualties and the remaining militia hung on as a broken command:

...and hung in there a little longer before finally routing:

End

In the Crown portion of turn 6 the loyalists fell back from the cabin to form an organised defence, the PoWAR on the right and Rousselet's men on the left with the gun in the centre and the newly arrived troop of the Legion cavalry in support:

Much like the real battle the rebels had captured Bryan's camp and the central camp but had run out of steam before they could rout their opponents completely. The Crown had done slightly better but I think I'd still award a very minor victory to the rebels who still achieved a lot with not very much more than audacity and a tot of rum.

Next planned battle is Briar Creek, Georgia.

Bye for now!

Hanging Rock (1)

Hi again, twice in one day, what on earth is going on! The trip to the space centre was fun and the journey home not too taxing so I have been playtesting my scenario for the Battle of Hanging Rock. Anyone wanting more information on this fascinating little battle should hop over to AD's Blog where you'll find some excellent research. For this battle I am using Black Powder rules with standard units being 6-figure companies - somewhat different to the massive tabletop games seen in the rulebook itself, but an approach that I am finding gives excellent AWI games on a 6x4 or 8x4 table. Here is the set-up at the start of the battle. As you can see there are lots of trees. In the distant hill in among the woods are Bryan's loyalist militia. Clustered around the hut is the Crown forces' central camp while Major Carden and the Prince of Wales's American Regiment (PoWAR) are camped in the woods at the botton right hand corner of the photo:

In the following photos we'll follow the action during turn 1.

Rebel left:

The left-hand column of the rebel army - 5 companies of militia - arrives somewhat west of its historical position and finds itself confronted with the PoWAR camp, which it immediately attacks.

...using the element of surprise the rebel militia rapidly overcome one PoWAR company but the remaining three are now shaking themselves intoa defensive line.

Rebel Centre:

The rebel centre with seven militia companies crashes into Bryan's loyalist militia on the hill. Again the element of surprise is in their favour despite one company being disordered by its rapid crossing of the stream...

...and wide holes are ripped in Bryan's position

Ignore the red coats. Bryan's men were probably not uniformed but I didn't want to confuse them with the rebels!

Rebel right:

Lastly, the rebel right-hand column of two militia companies, Davie's light dragoons and accompanying light infantry march across the bridge, heading towards the cetral camp. They don't move with sufficient alacrity to attack the camp on turn 1.

...so Captain Rousselet of the British Legion seizes the opportunity to form a defensive line

...but those rebels keep on coming!

Hope you enjoy this eye candy. More Hanging Rock action tomorrow.

Back on the blogosphere

Hi chaps Where did all that time go? Anyway, I am still ploughing on with writing AWI scenarios and seemt to be finally getting somewhere and can start thinking about future projects. Over the last year both my gaming and painting have been pushed into the background by family life, work and the writing but I hoipe to be able to rectify that over the summer. I still have a lot of started projects that I'd like to make progress with (6mm Waterloo, 28mm ECW, etc) and for my recent birthday I was kindly given some Perry ACW plastics which have me thinking about the possibility of reusing my AWI terrain for the later period. I have been running through ideas for Black Powder and have found it works well as a semi-skirmish set using standard sized units of 6-8 figures representing 1-2 companies. This lets me fight interesting brigade sized actions on an average sized table. For the ACW this would include things like Chamberlain's defence of Little Round Top and avoids the need for a massive investment in figures and painting. No Salute for me this year, but I hope to get down there in 2012 either as a punter or with an AWI demo game (anyone fancy helping out if I do this?). The Perries are promising some new plastic 3-ups at this years show and I really hope that at least one AWI set is in the offing! That's all for now folks. I'm off to the National Space Centre in Leicester with the family. Hope to take lots of photos. Don't forget Partizan on the 29th May. cheers