AWI: Lexington and Concord 19th April 1775 (6mm). Turns 9 - 16

 TURN 9

Barrett has second thoughts and realises that he could be quickly destroyed by the Grenadiers. He decides to pull back to the Punkatasset Hill and defend the North bridge. Better to wait for reinforcements before fully engaging the British force.

The Grenadiers continue to advance albeit slowly! The lead light infantry unit approaches Concord.

Pierce orders his minutemen to occupy the woods at Merriam's corner and engage any British they find.

Continued -

AWI: Lexington and Concord 19th April 1775 (6mm). Turns 1 - 8

 

Gunfire can be heard in the distance and a concerned Colonel Gardner quickly forms up his men outside Concord ready to move to Lexington.

Meanwhile in Lexington redcoats are seen marching towards their settlement. The militia move off the green and begin to spread out.

A daunting sight greets them as the long snaking column moves into view lead by skirmishers.

Continued -

AWI: Lexington and Concord 19th April 1775 (6mm). Introduction

This is the second outing of this action. The first, hard to believe now, was 10 years ago in 10mm using British Grenadier rules. A report was published on the blog in May 2018 and can be found under the AWI Battles label on the right.

I will be breaking the AAR down into digestible segments starting with this introduction to the game before the battle proper starts.

The reasons for revisiting this action are twofold. 1. It is one of those battles that fired my imagination when discovering it in the school library. I recreated it on the tabletop using Airfix Highlanders representing the redcoats and Airfix WW1 Americans the militia! All manner of bits and bobs were strewn across the board for terrain. 2. I am curious as to how it will play out using Black Powder rules and 6mm figures. 

I will be doubling up on the number of figures used with minor adjustments to suit the rules.

The following summary is copied from my first post - it saves more typing!

During the early part of 1775 tensions rose sharply between the American colonists and British troops. While orators debated the legitimacy of 'taxation without representation' or the 'rights of man', the climate between soldiers and inhabitants grew steadily more tense. The British CinC, General Thomas Gage, suspecting matters were coming to a head, began sending brigades of troops on marches through the countryside surrounding his main base, Boston. In these rural settlements people were overwhelmingly hostile to the British Government. They had been conducting a training programme of their own, regularly assembling their village militias for drill. Thousands of highly motivated volunteers stood ready to answer the rebel leaders call.

Matters came to a head late at night on 18th April, when General Gage finally decided to take a military initiative against the militias. He tasked Colonel Francis Smith to march to the village of Concord, some 17 miles from Boston, to destroy cannon and other warlike stores that he believed were being assembled there.

Smith's troops were assembled at night, arriving in the village of Lexington, a couple of miles short of Concord, on the morning of the 19th April to find their way barred by American militia. Shots were fired and the war began.

The game starts with Smith's approach towards Lexington.

Continued -

Trebia 218 BC

Hannibal famously traversed the Alps in 218 BC invading Italy. He defeated a Roman army at Ticinus in northern Italy recruiting a good many Gauls and other allies in the process. 

Rome reinforced Scipio with a second army under the command of Longus and their armies converged near Placentia at the junction of the River Po and Trebia. Hannibal, with approximately 29,000 infantry and 11,000 cavalry, were camped across the Trebia from the Romans. The Romans numbered approximately 16,000 Roman Legionaries, 20,000 allied infantry (most trained in the Roman manner with a contingent of Gauls), and 4,000 cavalry.

Hannibal sent a contingent of light cavalry to harass the Romans who responded by crossing the freezing Trebia in pursuit of the skirmishers. Longus took it upon himself to lead the Roman army who found themselves opposed by the main Carthaginian force.

Initial dispositions with Mago's ambush concealed in the ravine at the bottom right of the photo.

Rules used are Hail Caesar 2. Tabletop size 5'3" x 3'9".

Continued -

On the Workbench: AWI British Line, American Militia and Commanders

Hobby time has been in short supply over the past month. Trebia is on the tabletop and being played through, albeit slowly! 

More progress has been made on my AWI project and I felt it was time for an update. All the British have been completed and the final batch of around 100 Americans are being painted. Lexington & Concord require a little over 600 figures. A small action in 6mm!

4 battalions of British Line infantry. These represent large units in Black Powder. With my basing system, I have settled on 4 bases = a small unit, 6 = standard and 8 = large.

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Caesar's Gallic Wars: The Battle of the Arar (Hail Caesar)

I was pleasantly surprised how Hail Caesar rules played out in the my last Ancients game 'The attack on Mona'. It has been sat on my bookshelves for at least 10 years and had only ever played it briefly using 15mm figures. I decided that a closer look was needed to determine if this was going to be my go-to ruleset for my Ancient games.

I turned to the Hail Caesar supplement 'Caesar's Gallic Wars' as a source of scenarios and for which I pretty much had the required figures, although the Early Imperial Romans will have to stand in for the Late Republican Marian Romans.

The scenario I have selected is the first involving the Romans against the Gauls. It is June 58BC and Caesar moves against the Helvetii after appeals for help arrived from the Aedui tribe whose farms were being raided. 

When the two armies approached, Caesar discovered that the majority of the Helvetii had already crossed the Arar River and only the Tigurini tribe was on his side of the river. Caesar decided to move against them at once.

The Tigurini were surprised and have two objectives in this battle. 1. To defeat the Romans who they outnumber and 2. To get as many supply wagons as they can across the river.

A slight adjustment to the order of battle was made to enable my existing collection to be used. 3 Helvetti light infantry units were replaced by 2 warbands. 3 wagons were used rather than the 4 in the scenario.

The scenario gave the table size as 8' x 4' for 28mm figures. I have reduced this to 3'9" x 2'3" for 6mm. All units are standard size (2 bases per unit). Distances are reduced from inches to centimeters. 

Victory conditions: If only a maximum of wagon safely crosses the river = a Roman victory. 2 wagons = a draw. All 3 wagons = Helvetii victory. Each wagon rolls for activation each turn. 8 or less they are allowed one move.

Continued -

On the Workbench: AWI

A new project! I have Assassin's Creed III to blame for this. Playing the game reawakened my previous interest in this period which had ceased when I disposed of my 10mm collection. 

This originates back to my school days when I found a book in the school library covering the battles of Lexington and Concord. It fired my imagination which I attempted to recreate on the tabletop with Airfix WW1 Americans standing in for the militia and Napoleonic Highlanders representing the redcoat juggernaut.

The inevitable happened and a batch of 6mm figures was acquired from Baccus with the intention of playing through Lexington and Concord once again. You will find a previous game on the blog using those 10mm figures. The original orders of battle for that game are being used but doubling up on the figures. 

In between reorganising the Napoleonic French infantry into standard 36 figure battalions I have commenced painting the AWI forces involved.

The grenadier battalion drawn from various regiments. It can be broken down to 2 or 3 units for the battle.

Continued -

Britannia Campaign: Turn 8 - 9th Legion Invasion of Mona

 Turning now to what could be the final action of the campaign, the Roman invasion of Mona (Anglesey).

The 9th Legion have crossed the Menai Strait and landed on Mona. The scenario book gives the option of a beach landing but as I will be trying out another set of rules I have decided to keep this more simple. The Romans have just landed when the warbands turn up with one command still on the beach.

For this game I will be using 'Hail Caesar' rules. The original, not the 2nd edition. It's hard to believe now but it is over 10 years since I trialled them using 15mm figures. They did not grab me at the time and they have languished on my bookshelves ever since. 

Using this campaign as a testbed for various rules and given that they were designed for Hail Caesar it seemed silly to not at least give them a try. 

Few changes are needed for conversion to 6mm. I will be using cms instead of inches. The unit sizes are as follows: Small = 1 base, Standard = 2 bases, Large = 4 bases. Each base has a 40mm width.

The orders of battle are a combination of those contained within the book, my own and what I have available.

Board size is 5'3" x 3'9".

Continued -

Busaco 27th September 1810: Turns 17 - Conclusion

 

The situation at the end of turn 16.

JUNOT'S ASSAULT

Turn 17

Junot's Corps begins to climb the ridge and several charges were made. 

I should add here for those not familiar with the rules, each average brigade commander can order up to 2 battalion charges (an exceptional commander 3, poor 1). It is possible to add further charges on battalion initiative. They must roll a 5 or 6 on a D6 dice.

Volleys of musketry opened up across the entire ridge. The allies took the decision not to wait to see the "whites of their eyes" but blaze away intending to inflict the maximum damage on the slow moving columns.

Continued -

Busaco 27th September 1810: Turns 9 - 16

JUNOT'S ASSAULT

Turn 9

Massena decides it is now time to commit Junot's Corps to the assault. As much of the allied army remains out of view on the reverse slope, a dice roll determined where Junot commits his assault. The result was the northern end of the ridge to the right of Ney. All orders are passed successfully and the Corps begins its move.

Turn 10

As Junot's Corps closes the gap they begin to come under fire from 2 allied batteries on the ridge.

Turn 11

Junot's mass of skirmishers begin to engage with their opposite numbers with neither side coming out on top. 

Continued -