Sunday, July 6, 2014

28mm AWI BLACK POWDER: CAMDEN 16th AUGUST 1780 GAME 2 AAR

On Saturday 5th July I staged a second game of my refight of Camden.   Dave Paterson and Dougie Kirby commanded the Patriots whilst Mark Taylor and I commanded the British.  Since Mark and Dougie had not played in the previous game we made them the respective commanders for their sides.   Mark took command of Webster’s regular brigade and the British reserve whilst I controlled Rawdon’s loyalist units.   Dougie commanded the 2 Continental brigades on the Patriot right whilst Dave commanded the 2 brigades of Patriot militia on their left.  I provided all the figures. 

View of the armies deployed from the east
I used the same OB as the first game but slightly amended the troop ratings.  I made the British skirmishers Crack and upgraded one line unit in Webster’s brigade to Stoic.  In addition I also told the Patriot players that if the North Carolina brigade became broken then the Virginia militia brigade would from then also count as Wavering.  Mark who was facing them did not know this.  Original OB and troop ratings are at
http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/28mm-awi-black-powder-camden-16th.html

Patriot centre - the Wavering North Carolina men - they proved Unwavering!
The British plan was to break the Patriot left using the Regulars supported by the Reserve whilst my Loyalist command screened the Continentals on the Patriot Right.  The Patriot plan was to hold with their militia and attack with their good right wing.  The British advance on their right developed slowly due to poor command rolls and hesitancy on the part of Mark their commander who seemed overawed by the number of militia units he was facing.   This slow advance enabled Dave’s militia to redress their line thus enabling more of their units to face the British attack.  The Patriot right under Dougie made a steady advance against my screening loyalist units.   
British begin their advance - to disaster!
The British attack on the right was held by the militia who were outshooting the British – repeated disorders stopped the British from launching a coordinated   bayonet attack - the British brigade lost 2 units in the firefight.   Webster’s brigade was broken and had to withdraw to reorganise.  Mark threw in the reserve but the 71st Highlanders were also outshot and became shaken.  The Legion cavalry made a gallant charge breaking a North Carolina unit and their supporting Continentals but in their moment of triumph they turned and fled from the field.  The Highlanders also now had to retire to reorganise as they were part of a broken brigade and their commander Tarleton had been carried away severely wounded.
Unexpectedly confident militia await the onslaught
My Loyalists made a gallant stand against Gist’s Continental Brigade in the firefight both sides became Broken and had to retire to reorganise.  My problem was the Gist’s units rallied quicker than mine and under their artillery fire my Brigade again became Broken.
Loyalists and Continentals engage closely
At that point we ended the game.  The British had only 6 units left whilst the Patriots still had 10 units and 2 guns.  All the British brigades were broken and their centre and right had fragmented.  We agreed it was a decisive Patriot victory.
Thanks to my wife Helena for providing the excellent lunch in the garden. All my photos with descriptions at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157645133444629/

7 comments:

  1. Hello Bill I think I miss the multi player games - When both sides know the ratings its a bit tough to fight - I took the Americans while my neighbor Stephen took the British As you will see from my photos I told the British player that Camden was our objective this at least got the Elite Highlander Battalion out of the way as it was used to block my bridges into the town through the swamps.

    However as the Fist Continentals were in Reserve and the Second Continentals were on the right. The command level of SEVEN had a highly NEGATIVE effect on my DICE - Both Militia Brigades eventually Broke the Wavering break test and 5+ to SAVE shows how to make a Militia UNIT extremely BRITTLE I have never seen units MELT so quickly as the North Carolina Militia did. One unit after another even with the Armand Cavalry catching the three battalions of loyalists in on the left and the Continentals caught them on the right flank but it was too little too late. The British lost one Unit, The Americans had seven Break - Clearly a historical victory as Horatio Gates lead the Virginia Cavalry with him as an escort to the American lines of communication.

    Regards
    VFW

    PS saw you amended the rules modifications again - anything in particular? Also I have been allowing formed infantry or formed cavalry to charge through skirmishers or skirmishing battalions. Is there a penalty for limbered artillery when fired on by artillery?

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    1. Dave

      I allow formed units to charge thru skirmishers. See my house rules.
      Limbered guns just count as a normal target while deployed guns count as Not Clear/skirmishers/Artillery -1 to hit See page 47

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    2. Great game as usual also in a different note I found this little scenario for Napoleonic Spanish Ulcer looked interesting to convert to Black Powder (Never played Old Trousers)
      Regards
      VFW
      http://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.com/2014/07/action-at-arroyo-con-pollo-scenario.html

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  2. Another wonderful looking game! We are trying to figure out a way to represent Militia in Black Powder as they tend to over perform.

    Christopher

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    Replies
    1. Chris
      It is very difficult to get militia right.
      For this game I made the Militia's HtoH to 5 , Morale 5+, Unreliable and made the North Carolina's Wavering. If they became Broken then the Virginia Militia also became Wavering.
      I have also on occasion made them Poor shots ie -1 to hit.

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  3. Great looking game and report. I follow the blog avidly as well as yuor posts always share ore than a few good ideas so thanks! I used BP to refight Camden a few years ago and even with some fiddling with the stats to make the militia very brittle it was still very tuogh for the Crown forces to win, which they did in the end. I like your house rules and have something similar for my BP games, although I tend to rely more on tweaking troops to fit the period or even the campaign as well. Apologies for shameless plugging but my efforts are here http://carryingsonupthedale.blogsopt.co.uk but as you will see I am a 100% BP junkie!

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  4. AWI always seems to look really good to me and this game is no exception Bill! I am currently planning an AWI game as the next game for our group.

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