Nations In Arms

Having retired, I was hoping to be able to do a lot more gaming and put a little more time into this blog. I have had some success with the former, not so much with the latter, so here is what I hope will be the first of many battle reports over the coming years.

One of the main problems in doing these is that the small group of us that play at my house on a Monday evening have, at most, three hours to get the game done. As I do a fair few of the scenarios, often with my home brew rules, I find I am a bit too busy keeping the game going to take photos and make notes. The battle you are about to read about took place on a Sunday - the first time we have put aside a full day to play one of these AWI games - and great fun it was too. There was no need to rush as our rules tend to be fairly simple and fast moving, so I was able to take a few photos whilst still staying focused on the game. Hopefully we will do a lot more of them.

The game was premised on an American attack on what was thought to be an isolated British force, which turned out to be much larger than expected!! Myself and Chris took the Americans, Roj (of GaPa Blog fame) commanded the Brits.

The American order of battle was as follows:

1st Brigade: 1st Maryland (9 stands) (B Class), 2nd Maryland (9 stands) (B Class). Good Brigade Commander.

2nd Brigade: 3rd and 5th New York (both 6 stands and C Class) and the Delaware Regiment (6 stands) (B Class). Average Commander.

3rd Brigade: 1st and 7th Pennsylvania and the 8th New Hampshire (all 6 stands and C Class). Average Commander.

4th Brigade: Composite Light Battalion (8 stands) (B Class), Lee's Legion Infantry (5 stands) (B Class) Rifle armed skirmishers (5 stands) (B Class). Average Commander.

5th Brigade: Composite Militia Battalions (10 and 8 stands) (both D Class), Militia skirmisher company (4 stands) ( D Class) and rifle company (3 stands) (C Class). Light artillery piece (C Class). Average Commander.

Artillery Battery of 2 x 6 pounders (B Class). Average Commander.

The British force opposing them was slightly smaller, but of higher quality with the Grenadier brigade initially off table. Its arrival time was determined randomly.

1st Brigade: 2 x Grenadier Battalions (both 8 stands) (A Class). Average Commander.

2nd Brigade: 71st Highlanders (8 stands) (B Class), 23rd Foot (7 stands) (B Class) and a 6 pounder gun (B Class). Good Commander.

3rd Brigade: 33rd Foot (6 stands) (B Class), 63rd Foot (6 stands) (B Class) and a Loyalist regiment (6 stands) (C Class). Average Commander.

4th Brigade: Lieb Regiment (6 stands) (C Class), von Bose Regiment (8 stands) (C Class), Grenadier Battalion (6 stands) (B Class), Jager detachment (4 stands) (B Class) and a 6 pounder gun (C Class). Average Commander.

5th Brigade: British Legion Infantry (5 stands) (C Class), Light Infantry detachment (4 stands)(A Class) and dismounted 17th Light Dragoon squadron (3 stands) (B Class). Average Commander.

Before giving an account of the game and how it unfolded, perhaps a few words on the rules that we were using. This is a home brew set that I wrote a while back and that we have been play testing quite a bit recently. Each brigade has a card which when drawn from the deck activates that particular brigade.

Usually you get 4 activations, although various factors can increse this to 5 or reduce it to 3. The controlling player then declares what he wishes to do, either with the whole brigade or with individual units. Early on in the game, two or more units in a brigade may wish to do the same thing, eg: advance straight ahead, in which case a single test is taken for the whole. As the game becomes more involved, units usually do different things and so dice separately.

For each action that a unit or units wish to take, a d6 is thrown and, depending on the complexity of that action, a higher or lower score is required. For example an infantry unit with 4 activations that simply wishes to move straight ahead with no deviaition, would need a roll of 2+ with each roll. Close order infantry in line move at 4", so rolls of 1,3,3 and 6 would result in 3 successful activations and a move of 12". More complex actions have a higher tariff; so wheeling or an oblique move requires a 3, moving to a flank or reforming needs a 4. Any actions carried out in difficult terrain (usually woods) adds one to the score needed.

Important to remember, as this is very important to the game, the actions must be carried out in the order given by the player and each part must be completed before the next can be attempted. Thus the more complex the action the less likely you are to succeed in completing each step in it. So the example given above is a relatively simple task with a reasonable level of success. However if you try something more complex it is more difficult to succeed. For example the 23rd Foot wishes to advance straight ahead for 1 action (2+), before wheeling to the right twice (3+) and then firing a volley (firing costs an action but succeeds automatically - you only have to dice to re-load!).

Let's suppose that the first action goes off smoothly, but the double wheel needing a score of 3+ each time, hits a problem as the player rolls a 2 and a 5. The roll of 2 is clearly a fail. Unfortunately the player cannot then say "Oh, I won't bother with the 2nd wheel, I will just fire my volley" - he must use his final activation to make another attempt to wheel, thereby losing his opportunity to fire. For those of us that play the game, this is the most exciting and also frustrating part, as you can never be sure that you will have enough actions or successful activations to do everything you might want. Moral of the story - KEEP IT SIMPLE!

The rules themselves are actually very simple in terms of the mechanisms, it is just the activation system that takes a bit of getting used to. Anyway, hopefully this gives a fair idea of how the game works.

Below is a series of photos which will hopefully illustrate what happened in the game:

The militia brigade under yours truly snakes its way onto the field, preceeded by skirmishers. Most of the figures are by Perry Miniatures.

They soon found themselves at grips with the British 5th Brigade, which included some high quality skirmishers.

On the other flank my compatriot, Chris, was facing a formidable looking line of British and Hessian regulars.

After a certain amount of persuasion, I managed to deploy my militia and push up an irritatingly hesitant brigade of Maryland Continentals. My movement dice started off pretty badly as only a 2+ is needed for troops in march column. They represented just about the best brigade in our army and were, to put it mildly, sticky!!

A protracted firefight develops between my militia and the British lights and Legion. The small cotton wool balls denote that the unit is currently unloaded. Although firing is automatic, reloading is not: a 3+ being needed for musket armed troops and a 4+ for rifles and artillery.

Away on our right flank Chris boldly pushes on with his "Light Brigade", deploying our main artillery asset in support. Roj took his chance and got in a good hit with his own artillery whilst we were still limbered, but fortunately with no lasting damage.

Chris pushes up his New York Brigade (2nd) on the far right and is soon involved in a terrific firefight with the Hessians, who really gave a good account of themselves in this game.

Behind the Lights came the Pennsylvania brigade (3rd) to add some weight to our main attack, whilst our recently deployed artillery battery started to put some heavy fire on the British infantry opposite.

An example of some very good shooting!! Directed at us by the British if I remember correctly.

Chris' attack starts to build up a head of steam, although our New Yorkers were taking a real mauling from the Hessians. The British infantry in front of the Light Brigade, whilst giving as good as it got, was starting to suffer some serious casualties.

Those pesky Hessians, on favourable ground, pour fire into Chris' New Yorkers, the gun being particularly damaging.

Meanwhile on the left, my Marylanders had decided to join in, representing a serious threat to the British right flank which was starting to come under sustained pressure.

The British left and centre is holding its own at the moment, but Roj is starting to feel increasingly concerned by the non appearance of his reserve grenadiers.

My 1st Maryland Regiment wheels right towards the exposed British flank which a unit of Loyalists is moving up to support. I am starting to fancy my chances here!

Chris meanwhile is having a much tougher battle, making little progress against the Hessians.

Despite driving off the jagers (temporarily), the main Hessian line is almost untouched.

Our centre is looking a little fragile, only held by the artillery and the hard fighting infantry of Lee's Legion. Roj decides to chance his arm with a lunge forward by the 63rd.

Meanwhile around the church Chris' composite Light Battalion drives the British unit facing it backwards, although at some cost. The Hessian jagers decide to stick their noses in!

Quite suddenly, the British right, which had been popping away quite happily at my militia brigade started to crumble; I pursued them with one of my units, whilst the other and both Maryland regiments continued to wheel into the increasingly exposed British centre.

The American Lights keep pressing the British around the church, but the Hessians are battering Chris' infantry from their high ground.

Roj's foray with the 63rd, which seemed to threaten Lee's Legion and the entire American centre, suddenly collapses with a catastrophically bad morale roll.

Latecomers to the party! The British grenadier brigade, which I was worried might oppose my outflanking move, are instead directed towards the crumbling British centre. Wasting no time they pile into the remnants of Chris' Light Infantry and rout them in short order. The Pennsylvania brigade mooving up in support starts to feel worried.

.....as well they might. Both grenadier battalions surge forward to reclaim the churchyard. Fortunately for us the British centre is looking increasingly wide open.

Marylanders and militia drive off the remaining British and Loyalist units after a punishing firefight.

On the American right, Chris can only consolidate and go over to the defensive, but with little organised opposition, it seems nothing can stop my outflanking move. Roj agrees and decides the best he can do is to withdraw from the table.

It had been a very hard fought battle, and an enjoyable one. All three of Chris' brigades had been badly damaged, whilst the grenadiers and Hessians were still full of fight. The American artillery supported by Lee's Legion would have provided a decent anchor, but it wasn't looking great for us on this part of the battlefield. Unfortunately for the British, their right flank had collapsed completely and my Maryland brigade was still relatively unharmed; any forward movement would have left their flank horribly exposed. So, a costly victory, but a victory nonetheless for the Americans.

The rules held up really well giving all of us moments of elation, concern and frustration. Really looking forward to the next one!