American War of Independence Play Test

Over the weekend I did an American War of Independence play test using a set of
modified Napoleonic rules and army lists. I'm not an expert in the period so I
simplified Dale's on-line version, which was a bit granular for my purposes, and
kept the rules more aligned to the original version.

The game was a very enjoyable venture back into this period for me. I used to
play a lot of games using Featherstone derived rules and later the WRG 1685-1845
H&M rules in the late 70's / early 80's and it felt a bit like coming home with
this current ruleset.

The scenario involved a strong British force initiating an encounter with a
hastily deployed American defence. Despite a strong defensive position the
Americans were not deployed in much depth and this had a significant bearing on
the eventual outcome.

The British strategy was to force a fight with a focused assault on the American
line, a feint on the right flank with a thrust through the centre. Seemed sound
and worked to an extent, however, the Americans occupied a couple of towns which
helped them resist the British musketry and artillery assault, stalling the
British approach and pulling in their reserves earlier than desired by the
British General.

If the Americans had deployed in more depth I think the British would have
struggled to generate an effective breakthrough. As events transpired the
British did seize the vital central town and managed to rout the weak American
second line which was composed of low grade militia.

In this simulation the variable troop quality was a major factor. The impact of
a unit of British Grenadiers with elite status was significant as they took a
lot of punishment but could still drive through and pass Morale Tests. The
American militia was heavily penalised in my simulation with negative musketry
DRMs and poorer behaviour under fire which led to them routing in the open. In
defensive positions they were much more effective as holding troops. Also the
ruling that a tied melee result always resulted in a Patriot retreat made an
impact over the course of the game – my American Dragoons were particularly
impacted by this on a couple of occasions.

To be fair to the American General, he was deliberately forced to deploy in a
far more linear arrangement than he should have – my excuse for this was being
caught by surprise and the British forcing the pace.

End result was a reasonably convincing British victory 5 units to 2, however,
the British were severely mauled and the old Cornwallis jibe of expensive
victories could be levelled at the British Commander.

All in all an excellent solo game which had all the period drama I used to get
from my games long ago.

My next venture will be a Macedonian v Celt encounter inspired by the Battle of
the Celtic Hills in the Airfix Guide to Ancient Wargaming (Phil Barker). I've
done it with WRG 4th Edition so here is a chance to see how it squares up with
the Thomas rules version.