AWI battle in 54mm - December 22th 2024

 

With our group we played a fictional AWI battle.

All figures are from Steven.

 A very strong British force attacked an American army that controlled a strategical crossroad.

On the American side, Peter was on the right wing, his force supported by 2 groups of Indians. Steven  controlled the left centre and was the army commander. Centre right was Siegfried , and on the left wing Adrien, with a mixture of French troops and Americans. All had a number of skirmish marksmen.

 On the British side, far right was Geert, with a high number of light troops, Centre right and CIC, me (Dirk ). Central column was Thomas with a very strong force, Then Ronny with a loyalist force, and on the British left, coming over the bridge with the Hessians were Alberik and Jonathan.

 

All British and Hessians were veteran. On the American side only a few and one unit of elite lifeguard troops.  The British also did outnumber the Americans. A very though task for the American players.

At the start of the battle, Peter had to redeploy his troops to face the upcoming Hessians. Steven, Siegfried and Adrien deployed their marksmen units.  Ronny did send his cavalry to brush aside the marksmen in front, but didn’t succeed, with counter charges of American cavalry. This blocked the British advance on the left centre. Dirks advance didn’t go well either. The British artillery was ineffective against the marksmen, while the American artillery and marksmen fire gave casualties and pinned down the leading troops in the enclosure.  Adrien’s marksmen, instead of firing from the cover of the woods attacked the British light troops. A costly decision as his troops were driven back with heavy losses, resulting in his command under pressure from the start. Geert did keep on pushing. The French cavalry was thrown into the fight, and was, after a few turns also destroyed. Siegfried had to commit his reserves to support Adrien.  In the centre, Thomas his force finally started to fight for the houses. But the fight became a bloody battle without much progress, till the end of the game.

Thomas had send his cavalry to the left flank, were the Hessian had made a charge over the bridge but were pushed back.  Part of the hessian force of Alberik and Jonathan forded the brook on the right of the bridge linking with Ronny’s loyalists.  From the bridge, the Hessian now started firing into the flank of Peters force defending the brook. With Thomas his cavalry coming up, Peters force was threatened on three sides. Steven had to advance. A confusing situation was created when Thomas’ cavalry unit drove back infantry units of Peter and was now isolated behind enemy lines; communication lines broken, and Siegfrieds cavalry entering the scene.   Steven had driven back the loyalist units, but was on his turn was pushed back by the Hessians that had forded the brook. Peters last reserve were his Indian units, he had to commit to prevent being outflanked on his left by the Hessian grenadiers.

The American advances on both flanks had brought no relief. With both flanks on breaking point, Steven had to call it a day and start the retreat. A British victory. 

Return to the Great Trunkroad

More or less forced to absence, I was, from this blog.

Happy to let you all know that I've recently regained access to it again.

Sorry you all had to miss out on several of my played games.

Nothing really new, apart from that I have set my Napoleonic ambitions aside.

Colonial adventures keep me occupied game-wise. Followed directly by Ww2 theatres.

Thats paratrooper and special operations actions, from all parties, mainly.

Below, a frozen moment from a now running game. Just for atmosphere.

Nick will know it, as will regular readers of this blog too. There was an earlier posting, covering the same scenario. Nick did that, some years ago. It was published here.

It's situated in the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

From the scenario booklet Colonial Conflicts.

Badli Ki Serai; the roadblock to Dehli.

I play this solo using a hotchpotch of rulesets that together, suit me well.

What we see in the picture is just after turn 5 (of 8).

Mutineers in the centre, sandwiched from both flanks by 2 'Her Majesty's and West Indian Company' brigades. A third brigade hangs in front of the blockade and does little damage.

The serai, (a caravan restingplace, a bit like an inn) on the righthand side, has already been overtaken by the British troops.

Above two pictures show the initial layout of the gametable. (1) British depoyment zone (2) Walled village of Badli Ki, mutineers left flank (3) Mutineers centered, improvised barricades and gun positions (4) The serai, forming the utmost right flank of the mutineers (5) swamp terrain (6) the Great Trunkroad leading to Dehli.

Contemporary print resembling the storming of the sandbagged heavy gun battery on the center-right of the mutineers.

Deployment of Her Majesty's and Honourable West India Company's forces. The marked brigade (Grave's) got separated from the mainforce, got lost and entered the field later during the battle and in another spot. There's an arrival table in the scenario, to regulate this.

In above photo, the third brigade, housing all cavalry elements, enters the field front the mutineers left flank (as per the scenario). Ordered to make this manouvre by the C-in-c, based on recce.