Sunday 13 April 2014

AWI 1778 End Game

AWI 1778 End Game



A target rich environment, US Artillery gets into action at last

Well we finally got enough people in the same place at the same time to get the game finished, there was no dream rescue of the Hesse Grenadiers, they failed their rally test held over from our previous session and promptly dispersed.


British Infantry line out and join the fray

The main action carried on around the blue farm with the building finally being taken by another brave Hesse charge this time supported by British Infantry. The loss of the melee sent the battalion routing back to the American lines, Durkees brigade failed their subsequent Brigade Morale test and left the field. No shame on them though they held the main attack off long enough to get re enforcements there.


The Blue Farm finally falls

The arrival of the British turned the battle, one brigade marched around the North flank the other around the south, leaving the Americans in the North badly outflanked, this area of the battle had seen a largely ineffective long range musketry duel but with their flank threatened the Americans had to react.


The Northern flank attack by the British put pressure on the North

The flank attacks by the allies had done one thing and that was weaken the centre, seeing the chance of an attack the Americans threw everything across the fenced fields into the Hesse and British lines.



The American attack rolls forward towards some confused livestock

The gamble sadly didn't pay off, only 2 of the 6 charging units got into contact, both those won their melee, but the losses gained in the advance and the threat from the flank meant the attack could not be sustained, with the situation starting to become untenable, the American General ordered the withdraw. Victory to the Hesse / Brit combo but a good hard fought game.


The General sounds the withdrawal.

So general thoughts on the game, a good scenario with enough variation to make it playable more than once. The lack of big super good British units (have you ever tried to stop a 36 fig elite Highland Unit) made the game very playable. The turning point for me was right at the beginning of the game. One American General sat back on their objective while allowing the Brits to get more troops on, with a single entry point getting troops on fast was not possible for the Allies.



An enjoyable game, we haven't used our AWI collection for a while and it was really good to get them back on the table, the owner of the American figs couldn't make the games, sad cause the figs look great at least thanks to the t'interwebnet he can. British Grenadier worked well I think, quite old school but that's what we like, it takes a while to get used to the dp rules but once you get stuck in it all comes back.



We have a WW2 Naval campaign ready to go and the 28mm Western Desert is getting close to being ready for a big game, with everything else it might be a while before the collection is out again, the game has given me enthusiasm to paint up the first of my Perry plastic Brits which is nice.

2 comments:

  1. That's a superb write-up with inspirational pics. I love the cow wandering around between the lines - like that scene from "Shenandoah"!

    Best wishes

    Giles

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  2. Thanks Giles, as I put on the TMP post your blog was a big inspiration for us when we started our AWI collection a few years back.

    Much appreciated, Ken

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