The Battle of Germantown 1777 Play Test

To get ready for Enfilade and the game I'm running, I put on a play test game with my group this past weekend.  The battle this year will be Germantown. The rule set for this game, I decided to use Piquet: Field of Battle.  Instead of trying to recreate the entire battle which covered a huge area, so I scaled it down to the area around the Chew house and the town of Germantown.  The battle starts off after the Continentals surround the Chew house and the bulk of Washington's army pushes past it to face General Howe and the British.

This is the table layout and my good friend Shawn.

Shawn took over a portion of the Continentals.

Kevin also took the Continentals and Washington's duties.

The Chew house with the British light infantry barricaded inside and the American Rebels attacking.

The Continentals push forward and engage the British

British cannon trades shots with the Rebels.

The British retreat into a house

The Continentals push forward against the Hessians.

Rebel Militia march forward.

General Cornwallis and his troops prepare to take the town.

The Hessians get their orders and race to face the Rebels.

An overview of the battle.  The Continentals did very well through most of the battle.  At this point the British were down to only a few morale chips left and they had a few routed units fleeing the field.  I (as the British Commander) thought things were going to end soon.  I couldn't roll very well to get Cornwallis into the battle sooner and got caught marching by musket fire.

The Chew house stood firm throughout the battle.

The British attempt to rush the Continentals with cold steel.  It didn't work out very well.

The Hessians advance and begin to inflict some damage on the Rebels. They begin to fall back.

Cornwallis' troops finally advance on the flanks.

The Continental right crumbles and their morale begins to tumble.

The last stroke of the Hessians saves the day and routes the last Continental unit.

At this point we called the battle as the Hessians had started to encircle the Continental middle and provide some relief to the troops trapped in the Chew house.  For most of the game I really thought the British were going to lose this one but as with most Piquet games the tables can turn.  We fully enjoyed this game and I hope the people who get to play it at Enfilade will enjoy it.

Battle of Hydaspes 326BC

So this past Saturday the 4th, my request of our members we ran the Battle of Hydaspes to coincide with the Society of Ancients Battle Day. We missed it by a week. :-)

This particular battle, Dave, decided that we would use Warrior for our rule set. I've only played Warrior a few times and mostly with Dave running the game.  I'm not a huge fan of the rules (all of the math to figure out losses turns me off) but I do like the complexity they build into movement, morale and so on. Much more than Fields of Glory or DBA.  If they could simplify the combat/melee part of the system I could probably enjoy the rule set.

Anyway, I took over as Alexander the Great and looked out across the table and the massive amount of Indians setup across from me and all of the elephants.  I don't play a lot of ancients games but I know having elephants are a huge bonus for the side who has them. They are tough to take down and essentially run over everything.
I failed at getting a good shot of the entire table. The picture I took was blurry and horrible.

King Porus sent his son as recon force to see if Alexander was willing to fight.

Alexander and his starting forces.

Alexander decides to play and sends his troops forward.

A couple of shots of Dave's great looking Pikemen.

Alexander's Companions charge ahead.

King Porus' troops stream roll ahead.

The Alexander's infantry hit the recon force and loose and fall back.

More of Alexander's cavalry charges ahead.

On Alexander's right flank the rest of his troops start to cross the river. Heavy bow fire from the Indians routs a few Alexander's troops.

The middle of the battle seesaw's back and forth with little to no ground being given.

The troops landing from the river have a tough fight ahead of them.

Alexander and King Porus clash and Alexander loses and routs away.

Despite Alexander routing, his army pushes forward and routs a few of King Porus' troops.  The cascade effect begins with a few of King Porus' also routing.

King Porus routs!

After 4 hours of play we called the game a draw.

It was a good night of gaming.  We are going to try this battle again only this time we are going to run it with either Piquet's Archon or Piquet's Pulse of Battle.