AJ's Wargaming Blog: Northern Conspiracy August 2018 Game Night

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Northern Conspiracy August 2018 Game Night

Last night I ran a new AWI scenario at the Northern Conspiracy's August game night using my Electronic Brigadier rules. This was a hypothetical AWI scenario prior to the Battle of Monmouth. The scenario pits Charles Lee's American Advanced guard against a portion of the British column of march commanded by Sir Henry Clinton. The premise is completed by assuming that elsewhere to the west Lord Cornwallis and General Washington will square off in a separate battle and Clinton is to destroy Lee's force which is blocking the British route to Philadelphia. It's a seven player scenario, but with three veteran Electronic brigadiers and plus one additional player who was familiar with the rules we gave it a go.

The Americans, were led by Dick and Bob (below left) and the British were commanded by Charlie and Ralph (below right).

The Americans had two brigades comprised of mostly continentals and veteran state troops. Their final command was a New Jersey brigade of state troops and local militia. The British had an advanced guard comprised of cavalry, light infantry and Hessian grenadiers, the guards brigade and two full brigades of British line regiments. The guards brigade was bolstered by four twelve pound field guns.

Bob's New Jersey brigade got partially over the stream that blocked their approach while Charlie deployed. One unit of militia guarded the stream bank to attempt to discourage a crossing by the British. Charlie's line unit there engaged across the stream in a firefight that eventually drove off the militia. Closer towards the center the British first light regiment and the Queens Rangers slugged it out with Bob's continentals in a bloody exchange where neither side wanted to leave. Eventually two of Bob's units including his militia and one of Charlie's started to waver towards the end of the evening.

On the west flank (British left flank) the British twelve pound battery sent out a devastating initial barrage which stuck home on a section of American three pound guns with a force that sent the gunners running. They eventually quit the field without the courage to return to their guns. On the far left flank the British engaged in long range musketry while Dick's Americans held their fire, waiting for a 'whites of their eyes' moment. Ralph's third brigade eventually advanced into close range and Dick got his shot which was effective, but the British morale wasn't put into question.

The climax of the fight was a series of charges in the center by the guard's brigade against Bob's Virginians. The initial charge was stopped by a stinging volley by the Virginians forcing the British to halt and conduct a firefight. In the next two turns Ralph brought up two fresh Guards regiments and charged the Virginians with a two vs. one attack that caused the Virginians to flee to the rear due to shaken morale. Bob's 4th New York continentals were in reserve and the only thing between the guards and the shaken Virginians.

With time running out we concluded the battle after 24 turns with the battle still in question, but with the British having the upper hand in terms of army morale state and units lost. Having a full seven players would have let us get a couple more turns in, but even considering that the conclusion was that casualties need to be more impactful in morale. Charlie and Bob each had units whose casualties should have caused them morale problems. An adjustment in this portion of the morale procedure will be made based on this. There were also some other procedural changes that were recommended that will be added.

Below is a short video of the game table during the game:

Mark put on a huge Crimean war battle using Charge of the Light Brigade rules. The battle pitted a huge array of British and Russian figure and also included his European farm complete with various and sundry farm animals. I believe in this one the British put the lead to the Russians and good. Russians shown below were George and Art (left). British were Dave and GM Mark.

Below is a short video of the game table during the game:

Greg ran a 1940 WWII game using Chain of Command of the Battle of Narvik. Chain of command is one of two WWII skirmish rule sets that are currently very popular with the Club. This year each game night has a featured game that is supposed to be 'not your ordinary game'. Greg offered this seldom gamed theater of WWII to fill August's extraordinary game slot.