First game of Warfare in the Age of Reason

Gee, it's been a long time since I've updated this blog. Sorry about that.  I've creating videos and posting them on Youtube and I've neglected this site for a little too long.

Well to bring this back I thought I would share a recent game we played on 7/28.  Our group got together and had a run at Warfare in the Age of Reason written by Tod Kershner and Dale Wood.  The rules are not new. They have been around for 35 years according to the authors acknowledgements.  The rules are currently in their 3rd edition and were published in 2016.  For those of you who are interested, the rules are supported online with a Facebook group and on Yahoo Groups.

My focus for this game was to test the rules for my War of Spanish Succession project.  I will say that the group after the first run through liked them enough to expand that to the 7YW battles we play from time to time.  Not bad for a first game.

For our first battle I put together some AWI forces using my 10mm figures.  The British were supported by Hessians and a Loyalist militia unit.  The Rebels had two groups of Continentals and a militia group.  A small battle seemed appropriate for a first run through.

I made mistakes with the rules mostly the charge rules, as I was unclear at what point frontal charges took over from the non-frontal charges. My confusion has been cleared up on this procedure.

Now the photos!

The table before the troops were set up.

The British and the Rebels are ready for battle.  I assigned victory points to the cross roads and farm house and the field.

Looking down the British left wing towards the center

The British advancing to the crossroads.

The American militia starts to push towards the stream in the hopes of turning the flank of the British.

Grab the small low hill in front of the militia

the militia continue to advance

The Continentals push up the center to grab the crossroads.

The British center closes in on the crossroads.  The British right pushes through the light woods.

The militia begins its attempt to flank the British left.

The British take the cross road and shake to defend it.

The flanking militia pin the British on the hill preventing them from pushing into the center.

The British right waits for the Continentals to cross the field.

One of the militia units demonstrates in front of the British by pushing towards the center. The pinning action of the British left is complete. 

The fur ball in the center.  Causalities in the center start to mount.

The Continental right pushes through the field and charges the British. A swirling melee begins.

Over head shot of the center fire fight.

The militia continue their flanking movement and start to close in on the British

The militia holds and continues to add casualties to the British 

The last melee on turn 9 of 12. 

We called the game due to time. The Continentals were close to pushing the British away from the cross roads and winning.  The militia was starting to wear down the British right and the British left had started to crumble.  Two or three more turns might have seen the Continentals with a win. 

The big loss in this battle was the capture of George Washington to the British. I am happy to report that our fantasy didn't interrupt reality. 

Guns of Liberty AWI battle

I ran a AWI game using the rules Guns of Liberty by Eric Burgess. This has been my groups go to set of rules for AWI for several years and I've run them at our local Enfilade convention in Olympia, WA.  This past Saturday I ran a game at our local 1 day convention called Ambuscade. It is held at Guardian Games in downtown Portland.

I had 5 players for the game, 2 Continental commanders and 3 British. Each side had 4 brigades each of various sizes. I setup the scenario with the Continentals holding the large field in the center of the board with their militia off to their left and a reserve brigade behind the large field. 

The scenario setup was this. The Continental general knew the British was in the area but had conflicting reports about their composition and true whereabouts. They knew there was at least 2 British brigades coming straight at them but didn't know where the other 2 were going to come from once the  battle started. I also told them by turn 6 they had to start to retreat if they felt like they would loose their army.

The British were told that the Continental army was around the large field and that they had some militia holding a section of the line.  The British were instructed to take 2 brigades and hold them off board and by turn 4 they could bring them on one of the short sides of the table. They chose the Continental left.

The battle started with the British moving up the center and on their left to match the militia.  The Continentals held their ground and the reserves were left out of reach waiting to be deployed. 

Both sides traded shots causing few casualties and by turn 4 the British had moved up to charge range and then the flank columns came on marching through the woods on the Continental left.

The reserve unit marched out to meet this new threat and formed a line that anchored the large field and stretched into the woods.  The British units closed with blood lust boiling up! Melees broke out all along the Continental front with them falling back in disorder but still able to maintain a defense in depth.

By this time Turn 6 rolled around and I reminded the two Continental commanders of their need to save the army if they thought it was necessary. They did!

In the most orderly withdrawal I've ever witnessed in a war game, the Continentals by turn 8 were able to remove 50% of their force from the table and kept a nice gap between them and the closing British.  The British called the game saying they couldn't catch up to the fleeing army.

I called the game a minor victory to the Continentals since neither side really inflicted heavy damage on the other but they were able to save themselves in the end.

Overall everyone enjoyed the game and from the start everyone was engaged from the start. Below are pictures from the game. Unfortunately, the lighting in our area of the room was rather poor so some of the photos didn't turn out well.

Battle of Abigail's Farm, 1777

So tonight we ran a 10mm AWI game using Eric Burgess' rules Guns of Liberty. These have become my go to set of rules for this period.  This was a fictitious battle where the British and Hessian troops were out on a foraging party when they came across advancing Continentals.  I based the battle in the year 1777.  We had 4 players tonight with me being one of them. :-)  I was rather happy to be able to roll dice and push lead tonight.

The table layout is as follows: the road down the middle is a dirt path and clear of trees.  The only other section that isn't woods is where the little farm house and field are situated.  

The Continentals started on the North side of the table with one brigade in road column and the other 3 brigades marching through the woods. Jesse played the role of the CinC for the Continentals and I had told him that spies had told them about the British foraging in the area. The Continental forces had 3 brigades of Continental troops (3 units of 4 stands each) and brigade of militia (3 units of 4 stands).

Gabe (right side of the picture) and Andy (left side) played the British with Gabe being the CinC.  The British forces consisted of 3 brigades.  One was Hessian with 4 units with 3 stands each and the British had 2 brigades of 3 units, each with 4 stands.  There was no artillery or cavalry for this game.

The Continentals all started to move forward making their way through the woods.

The British formed up in column along the road marched quickly to establish a defensive line by the farm house.

The Rebel Scum, as Andy called them, continued to move forward.

The British and Hessians set up to receive the rebels.  The Hessian brigade took the field with the rail fence to their front protected by Foot Jaegers.

They are getting closer.

The armies closed and shots were fired. Both sides proved to accurate with their aim as numerous men fell on both sides.

The lines inch closer to again take aim and fire!

The British start to break their defensive line and move forward with cold steel.

Some close ups of the Continental troops.

The Hessians push forward and with cold steel crush the rebels and break left wing.

The right flank of the rebels takes a beating from fire and melee but manages to hold on.

The center however goes to the Continentals as the British fall back from repeated fire and a failed melee attempt.

The Hessians continue to push their advantage pushing the left flank back.

The center still holds but now the right flank starts to give way.

The overhead view from the Continental side.

The British center gets decimated but it will have no effect on the outcome.

The left flank of the Continentals continues to fall back.

We called the game as the two flanks for the continentals became unstable and with a relatively untouched Hessian units still waiting to roll up the flank of the center units Jesse decided the battle couldn't be won.

Over all everyone had a great time.  We started the game at 5pm and were down by 730pm.  Not bad to have a game run to a fairly distinct conclusion in 2.5 hours.