It was time for some horse and musket action. Most of my stuff is still hors de combat, due to my never ending home repair project. As such, I reached out to see who could help out. I got a volunteer with a large 25mm AWI army and terrain, so we had a plan. Messages went out, people RSVP’ed and the day arrived.
We set up the table with a sprinkling of small towns and fields sprinkled around. The fields would provide cover, but not slow down movement. We also had walls and fences the would slow down movement and provide light or heavy cover. The villages would be area terrain and offer medium cover, while giving half movement. At the end of the table, was a ridge overlooking the battlefield.
The British would be the attackers and set up on the short end opposite of the ridge. The Continentals could set up forward from the forward villages back to the ridge. The Continental mission would be to stop the British from breaking through and clearing the road, with the British going for the breakthrough. One of the armies breaking first would give the victory to the other side.
The Continentals would set up first. They divided the forces amongst the players and split the command using the road as the respective deployment zones. The Continentals set up in depth, with their militia and riflemen forward, regulars holding the center and cavalry back as the reserve (Morgan would be proud).
The British set up with the Hessians on the right and their elite British infantry, cavalry and artillery units on the left. Their plan was to grind forward by fire on the right, to pin the front and the British assaulting the left to break the Continental lines.
Everyone had their plan, so we got started with the British moving forward to engage the forward villages. The Continentals fired at the closing British walking through the fields, as they approached the villages. The Continental artillery support the fire engaging the British center at long range. The caused some hits here and there early, but the fields provided just enough cover to keep the British from taking on the chin too much. The British concentrated their fire on the forward Continentals, causing enough casualties to make them shift and give ground.
The British cavalry committed to sweep the riflemen from their left, but the approach slowed them and the riflemen were able to shoot and fall back, emptying saddles along the way. It ended up being a death ride, as the small cavalry unit was eliminated by the riflemen and supporting regulars. However, this did push back the line and allow the British guards to move forward and occupy the bloody ground.
The British attacks on the towns continued, with attacks going in at the tip of a bayonet on both sides. The militia fought well, giving ground slowly, but the outcome was clear and the British finally cleared them out of both villages.
Seeing the right buckling, the Continentals sent their cavalry to the right to shore up the defense and drive back the guards. The cavalry arrived and decided to charge forward and turn the tide. At first, they could not get past the musket fire of the British at first. However, they continued to push and finally closed with the Guard infantry. The Guard proved to be a harder nut than expected and wrestled with the cavalry, removing them as a threat (laking some heavy losses in the process.
The Continentals has lost a number of units, but readied their main defensive line, for the next stage. The British had taken losses across the front, but their force (minus the cavalry) was still totally intact. They rolled out of their positions and started their next attack across the front to try to put the Continentals to run.
The firefights started, but the earlier losses had thinned the Continentals too much. The remaining units started to fall to the incoming fire and finally had enough. The army broke and the Continentals started their withdrawal, before the British closed for the final kill.
The battle was over (in about three hours) with a British victory for the day!
- Manteuffel