AWI Germantown 1777 Refight

[bill5549]

This Saturday I staged a large scale 28mm AWI game. It was played by 4 gamers from Westlothian at my house and was a refight of the Battle of Germantown 4th October 1777.

The rules used were Black Powder with the revised turn sequence and using the the 66% movement option.  We fielded an approximate total of  750 figures.  The table was 12ft long by 6ft wide.  It proved to be good fun game for everyone despite my often very bad dice rolling.


Initial setup - Patriot forces approach Cliveden with other British troops still encamped near Germantown.

There is a short report on my blog about the game at
http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/



End situation  - Patriot centre -  British guards lead the counterattack though lacking much support I fear.

I will add a separate page to the blog with all the background, OB, deployment limits, game rules, fog rules and troop ratings etc. 

More photos and descriptions at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157632251231789/

The British had 3 infantry brigades deployed on the table at the beginning of the game.  Of these the Piquet brigade was formed up with the 40th Foot occupying the formidable mansion of Cliveden.  The other 2 brigades were encamped in Germantown and these units had to be woken and ordered to form up individually.  They had a further 2 infantry brigades and a small cavalry brigade in distant reserve of table to the south.  The Patriots started with elements of 2 large Continental brigades on table with the rest of these brigades attempting to march on from in turn 1.  They had a central reserve of  table of a Continental brigade and a small cavalry brigade plus a militia brigade on each flank attempting a wide turning double envelopment.

Given that Cliveden was securely held by the Patriots at the end of the game and that the losses were roughly equal on both sides we declared the game a marginal win for the Patriots.


Cliveden under initial attack by the Patriots

[Marine0846]

Love your figures.
Good report on the action.
Also enjoyed looking over your blog.

[Damien]

750 28mm miniatures! Pure eye candy!

Damien

[Christian]

Gorgeous! 

[General Lee]

OMG!! 

[Mad Doc Morris]

Spectacular! Thanks for sharing this great show. 
Now there's the urge again to pick up the brush and paint some more AWI figures. Well, maybe next year.

[Baron von Nickedoften]

New member, so only just seen this.

One aspect of the battle that gets neglected - mainly because you would need to extend the table for several yards to fit it in! - is the diversionary action by Armstrong and the Pennsylvania militia at Van Derrin's Mill, over on the Hessian wing of the Crown positions.  If you have the McGuire books, he provides some useful background info on this, which is a fascinating "what if" involving only Hessian and Militia forces.

The Rebels advance from Norriton along the Mahatawny Road beside the Schuykill River, with the idea of threatening the left wing of the Crown forces and stopping Knyphausen from adding his troops to the repulse of Washington's main attack.  In real life, they were held by several companies of jaeger (including a mounted company, and a pair of those "wall guns on wheels" that the Perrys do) at a stone bridge over the Wissahocken Creek and a large stone mill.

Rebels - Maj Gen Armstrong, Brig Gen Potter - 1500-2000 men
7 regiments of Pennsylvania Militia, including one armed with rifles (skirmish capability)
1 troop of Phiadelphia Light Horse
4 x 3- or 4-pdr cannon

Hessians - Maj Gen Stirn
Lt Col Wurmb: 4-5 companies of Hesse Cassel and Anspach-Bayreuth jaeger (300)
Reinforcements:
- Grenadier Bn Minnigerode (400), 1.5 miles away
- Brigade Stirn - Du Corps/Erbprinz Regt (500); Donop Regiment (380), 2 miles away

There is a map of the advanced jaeger positions in Ewald's "Diary of the American War" and a more general map of the area around the Creek and bridge in McGuire.  My club has gamed this twice, using the British Grenadier rules, on the basis that Armstrong decides to turn the feint (at one point they did actually cannonade the Hessians' main camp) into a more serious attack.  The Crown player dices for when his reinforcements arrive (with a "not at all" option); the tough bit for the Rebel player is to get militia to advance in a narrow column over a bridge defended by riflemen.  Both games were Hessian wins, but the second could easily have gone the other way (the militia never got across the bridge in the first one).