The Battle of Hawk River - Conclusion

Extract from the Testimony of General Grey at his Court Martial, November 1st, 1777 :"......I deployed our Dragoons and Colonel Winter's Grenadiers to sweep away the Colonials, with the 17th in line in support behind. The 44th made steady progress on our right to outflank the enemy via Parson's Woods. Past experience led me to believe that once the ragged enemy saw our fellows fix bayonets, they would be off like rabbits. Unfortunately, I was so sure of this that it could be said our tactical dispositions were a little hasty, cocksure and er,...clumsy.

 The British Grenadiers come under increasing pressure.

I allowed woodsmen to pour fire into our flank unopposed (routing the Dragoons), and did not extend my firing line. Our ill-trained opponents delivered accurate volleys at an unexpected rate, killing Colonel Winter and some thirty rank and file and forcing a chaotic retreat which blocked the 17th, who could not come up effectively and were also driven back.

As volley after volley are fired...

 ...the Grenadiers begin to fall apart, then go tow, row, rowing to the rear!

The 44th lost Colonel Halkett and retired under pressure from a fresh Continental regiment emerging from Chesterfield supported by yet another swarm of their infernal skirmishers. With regards to this unprecedented humiliation, I can only offer the defence that I was suffering from severe dental pain throughout, resulting in root canal surgery, and my attention was not on the task in hand....."

 The Chesterfield Militia can feel very pleased with themselves.

As you can now guess, the second (and final) session of our Hawk River game continued in much the same vein as the first. Dave continued to press forward with the grenadiers but they came under a heavy and sustained fire from the 6th Pennsylvania and the Chesterfield Militia. This fire eventually caused them to retire leaving several dozen of their number (including Colonel Winter) on the ground.

The 17th Foot come up (even their flag is bending under the hail of fire).

 It's now a hopeless situation for the 17th.

The 17th Foot came forward but they received exactly the same warm reception as the grenadiers, and once again the minutemen took the opportunity to pour a telling fire into their flank. Meanwhile I had advanced the 9th Pennsylvania towards the 44th Foot in front of Parson’s Wood. The playing of a “quick march” option allowed me to close to effective range and get off a volley before the British could reply. This was enough to take their morale level below zero and force them to retire. With all three British units in retreat the game was declared as a “Substantial Victory” for the Americans!

The 9th Pennsylvania advance towards the 44th Foot...

 ...who decide they prefer the safety offered by Parson's Wood.

It certainly was a bit of a drubbing for the British who lost a total of 82 casualties including two Colonels, whilst the Americans lost a mere 22 men, and all units ended the game with good morale. Our initial thoughts after such a dramatic conclusion were that the new rule tweaks, in particular the extra effectiveness of the minutemen, had caused an imbalance in the rules.

General Grey discusses his career options with his staff.

However, on further thought I believe my victory was down largely to over-confidence on the part of General Grey resulting in poor tactical choices. This is borne out by the fact that my Americans delivered 8 full volleys during the course of the game to Dave’s 3 – such a discrepancy was almost bound to end in just this sort of result.

 "Man of the match" award goes to the 6th Pennsylvania.

In mitigation, Dave really had just had root-canal surgery and may not have been on top form, and anyway we both agreed that the British were lacking in skirmishers to take on the minutemen, so I will be painting up some more “light bobs” before the next game.

The Battle of Hawk River – Part 1

The battle finally got underway on Wednesday night and fortunately Dave brought a newly made bridge with him to give us an objective to fight over. I deployed the Americans in and around Chesterfield while Dave marched the British on to the table from the northeast.

The British are coming!

 The Americans prepare to defend hearth and home.

For some reason we both managed to under-estimate the speed at which our units would move. I advanced my Militia too quickly north along the road towards Parson’s Wood where they deployed in the open rather than behind the rail fence as I had intended. Dave however made a far bigger blunder by bringing Major Dawson’s squadron of dragoons forward in column so rapidly that they ran into a hail of rifle fire from the Chesterfield Minutemen.

 Don't fire 'till you see the whites of their eyes boys!

After our previous rule play-test we had decided to make Minutemen more effective by allowing them a 3,4,5,6 to hit at any range up to 15 inches but I don’t think Dave had reckoned on me also using the rail fence to “rest weapons” meaning that only a die roll of “1” would fail to score a hit! As the saddles were emptied Major Dawson ordered the survivors to dismount, but a volley from a second group of Minutemen in the South Meadow knocked down every one of them.

 "It was like shootin' fish in a barrel!" - Ebenezer Howard, Chesterfield Minutemen.

In his official report to Major General Grey, Major Dawson later wrote: " We came on apace, and seeing the south meadow dotted about with various scoundrels and ragamuffins I determined that the mounted application of the sabre would put a swift end to their nonsense. However, the grenadiers to our right and a rail fence to our left inhibited easy manoeuvre, allowing those same scoundrels to pour a most galling and accurate fire into our flank, being now close upon us. This persuaded me to dismount my men after all, which was done in some confusion. Although we skirmished gamely, we were seriously outnumbered and in the space of scarcely ten minutes I found I had lost some fifteen troopers and was forced to retire ignominiously from the field with my command in ruins. "

 Major Dawson and the lads, just before it all went pear shaped.

While the Dragoons and Minutemen were still fighting by the South Meadow, the 6th Pennsylvania and the Militia were deploying into line to oppose the advance of the British Grenadier battalion. The British were looking confident but as the first volleys rang out it was they who came off the worst, mainly because the supporting 17th Foot were out of range, and my Americans could bring a greater number of muskets to bear. Dave then ordered the Grenadiers to “fix bayonets” prompting me to test the morale of both my units, but even the Militia passed this test of nerves!

The battle lines deploy.

The British grenadiers doing some more tow, row, rowing.

 An impressive first volley from the Americans.

Meanwhile Dave had been steadily marching the 44th Foot through Parson’s Wood in an attempt to out-flank my line. This was made possible because the 44th were in possession of several “quick march” command options (diced for at the start of the game before deployment) enabling a relatively fast progress through the undergrowth.

 The 44th Foot emerge from Parson's Wood.

Finally, Colonel Halkett emerged from the forest at the head of his regiment and his light company began skirmishing with my Minutemen. It was at this point that Captain Smallwood, in charge of my section of artillery (placed on the high ground behind Hawk River) fired off their first ranging shots. The balls bounded across the field taking out two men in the column and parting the poor Colonel permanently from his horse!

Just before the lucky shot.

The 9th Pennsylvania prepare to shore up the American left flank.

A very entertaining first session (well, for me at least), however I fear I may not do so well next time as the British infantry are looking more than a little annoyed and no doubt intend to get to grips with the bayonet soon.

Hawk River - Terrain

Ok you eagle-eyes out there, which bit of terrain have I just discovered that we don't seem to have?

Hawk River AWI Scenario

AWI British Commanders

Another bit of re-fitting, this time a make over of the British command figures in the same style as the American command base I did some years ago. This involved me painting one extra General (the one in the middle).

The figures are all from the personality packs by Frei Korps 15. The new addition is actually General Gates I think, but I liked him as he is reading a map (useful when you're an invader) so he has switched sides.

The British command group seen reconnoitring here, represent Brigadier Grey and his staff. They are the advance guard of General Howe's force and have been ordered to seize the bridge over the Hawk River at Chesterfield.

AWI play test (part 3)

We finished the play test this week, although once again we only managed to play a single three-phase turn. This was mainly because we spent a fair bit of time discussing and agreeing various rule amendments, which was after all the point of the exercise.

The British artillery did some deadly execution with their 6 pdrs.

If you remember, my left flank was coming under pressure from Dave’s Hessian’s who soon forced back my French and Militia units. The French only had one morale point at the start of the game and the sight of the advancing Musketeer Regiment Prinz Carl precipitated an undignified retreat. The Massachusetts Militia on the other hand at least managed to exchange a volley with the Hessian Grenadiers before withdrawing.

The Musketeer Regiment Prinz Carl did well on their first ever outing.

In the middle of the field and on my right flank things were a bit more interesting and we ended up fighting two separate melees. Seeing that the Kings Royal Regiment of New York was flanking them, my 1st Philadelphia Associators chose to advance towards the British Grenadiers to their front. This proved to be a mistake as a series of poor morale throws (and the loss of their Major) prevented them from making a charge move. The loyalists then charged home and the outcome of the resulting melee was never in any doubt.

Some talk of Alexander, and some of Hercules

Of Hector and Lysander, and such great names as these...

But of all the worlds great heroes, there's none that can compare

With a tow, row, row, row, row, row, to the British Grenadiers!

The Philadelphia Associators are well and truly flanked.

 The American artillery is armed with less effective 3 pdrs.

Meanwhile my Carolina Regiment was ordered to fix bayonets and charge the 23rd Foot, a bold move I thought and one that I felt the British didn’t take very seriously as a threat. Although outnumbered, they actually won the first phase of melee mainly because Dave had not ordered his men to fix bayonets. However, the second phase saw the British take the upper hand and had we played on I’m sure the Carolina boys would have soon broken.

The Carolina boys go in with the bayonet!

The Delaware Regiment take advantage of a rail fence to rest their weapons but don't get a chance to fire with the +1 bonus this gives.

And that’s where the fighting ended, a convincing win for King George and his lackeys with three of my six infantry units in full retreat. As a play test it was very valuable and we think that the amended set of rules is now ready for use in a proper scenario.

AWI play test (part 2)

Ian remembered this rule set as being great fun, but on reading it after more than 15 years I was bit underwhelmed and didn't really 'get' it. However, as soon as we started playing I realised it was a little work of art, capturing as it did the spirit of our very first wargames back in the er,....sixties ! And the figures look great - check out  these Hessian Grenadiers outflanking the American left . . . . .

Notice the 'scorched earth' policy in the background !

As always, the best painting jobs have been done by Ian !

The essence of these rules is fine tactical detail. Reloading takes two game phases, first volleys are worth witholding because they are the most deadly, Redcoats simply fixing bayonets will cause a morale test for nervous Continentals and so on . . . . .

Minutemen defy Hessian Musketeers - they'll be gone in a minute !

  French Line vs Hessian Line - what country are we in again ?

'Command Options' (secretly diced for and allocated before the game) allow players to gain small advantages at critical moments - like extra movement, additional morale points and faster loading rates. To represent their better training, the European units are allowed slightly more control over the initial acquisition of these options.

The view from Washington's left flank

Fully deployed British regiments, seven companies each

Loss of officers during combat gradually reduces a regiments available Command Options. Colonels, Majors and Captains are thus very likely to be targeted by eager light infantry and skirmishers - I lost Colonel Warwick of the 3rd Foot almost as soon as the shooting started !

Note casualty figure - passing through these has a morale effect 

The 4th New York regiment exchange volleys with the British

Major Parkes dragoons retreat before advancing Loyalists

The core concept of  this rule set is excellent -  tactical minutiae representing the absolutely opposite experience to our army level 6mm ACW rules. When some of the peripheral ideas are tidied up, I think it's a winner !

AWI play test (part 1)

Our first session of the game saw us put out every piece of 15mm scenery we could find in an attempt to cover the full 8’ x 4’ table. We were actually quite surprised at how much stuff we had; some of it (including Dave’s matchstick snake fences and Merit trees) is nearly 30 years old!

 The terrain - British on the left, Americans on the right

Next we took the troops out of their boxes and set them all up in column of march along the opposing table edges. It’s been quite a few years since these armies faced each other and it was great to see them all deployed for battle once again. In preparation for the game we had both carried out a bit of refitting and I had painted a regiment of Hessian Musketeers for Dave, giving us two balanced forces.

 Loyalist foot advance supported by Tarleton's troopers

 The Kings Royal Regiment of New York - simply known as The Traitors to us Continentals!

After admiring the troops we turned our attention to filling in order sheets and getting to grips with the rules. As I’ve already mentioned, we hadn’t played this set for 15 years and (even though we had written them ourselves) it took us a while to pick up the gist again.

The 23rd Regiment of Foot begin their deployment

The Grenadier companies of the 15th, 17th and 44th Foot under the watchful eye of Colonel Spencer

The French Soissonois Regiment of Foot advances

Our rules, called The King’s Shilling (no relation to the commercial rules of the same name) are for small-scale regimental level actions where the emphasis is on deploying and handling units on a figure scale of 1:10. Each turn is broken down into 3 phases and orders are written in advance for each phase. We also have a “Command Option” system (which is just like a card based system) which gives each unit unique characteristics for the battle. Examples of the Command Options are “Quick march” (take one extra move), “Load with haste” (take one phase less to reload) and “Charge” (if you don’t have one you can’t do it!). There is also a “The Kings Shilling” option that plays as a joker.

American Continentals from Delaware deploy into line

 General Washington looks on as his forces deploy

Anyway after setting up the table, writing orders, discussing the rules, making tea etc we managed to play precisely one whole 3 phase turn! Not much action except for Dave’s sneaky Indian party led by Chief Little Bear making a very unsporting “rush to contact” against one on of my Minutemen companies and all but wiping them out. Elsewhere we have both started the fairly long procedure of deploying our regiments from column into line.

Injun's lads, loads of em' - err lads?

The next playing session should see things hot up a bit…