Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Fire and Fallback!

One down side to cramming too many games into an extended weekend is that I don't have time to write battle reports when the memories are fresh and I'm still excited.

This was the 3rd of 4 iterations of Holding Action, Scenario 4 from CS Grant's Programed Scenarios (the 1st AWI one, a medieval fantasy version and an 1870s Atlantica one suspended 1/2 way through, waiting for me to return.)
The American advance guards were ambushed and suffered heavily. The main body has now arrived and is forming to assault the hill.
 For this game I used the alternate dicing for initiative system which I prefer when there is a General with a plan commanding and as far as possible controling each side. I also upped the units to 12 men each for the infantry, 8 for the lights. The British had 2 Elite, 2 regular, 2 light and 2 gun. The Americans had 4 line, 4 militia, 2 guns and 2 rifle units.
The attack has been repulsed leaving the American line in considerable disarray as more troops continue to arrive. 

 I also made a small rule change. Instead of units that move only being able to return fire or to fire if charged, I let them fire after all units have moved or fired but before melee. The game rolled along nicely with some ebb and flow and some tight moments where a successful Ametican charge might easily have turned the tide.
As the Americans form for a 2nd assault, the Hessians fall back. 
 I enjoyed the game enough to start thinking about what I needed to fill out the armies. That gave me pause. I have a limited appetite for skirmishes but I would need to double the number of figures for a battle scenario and really it wouldn't  give me anything gaming wise that I couldn't get from my NQSYW collection. Since I don't have a deep interest in the AWI, the only real reason for me to keep them is for convention or local group games but  that's good enough for now. When I've managed to sell or place most of my surplus figures, then I can revisit.

Meanwhile, I'll paint up a few figures from my AWI lead molehill and restore them to their old 20 figure organization, (close enough for Charge! ), and add a PA Hessian regiment which can take part in either war.
After engaging in several brief long range musket duels the British commander takes advantage of an initiative flip double move to break contact just before reaching their maximum allowed losses.  The impartial GM awards them the victory for an appreciable delay with acceptable losses.
In the meantime, I've finally gotten back to the Square Brigadier but more on that in a few days.

5 comments:

  1. Very nice figures and a wargame very attractive! Cordially, Carlos

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    1. You are very kind Carlos, I have just been looking at your magnificent post on the battle of Buenos Aires.

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  2. I am very happy to see MacDuff rolling again and I love your 40mm AWI figures. The terrain setup is wonderful (as always!). I really hope you have time and interest to put more games like this in the future. Thanks for sharing!
    I think MacDuff is a great set of rules and especially suited for solo-playing (the only way I can play wargames with model soldiers nowadays).
    I would like to try the rules, probably pressing to service some 30 mm Spencer-Smith indians and settlers (unpainted for the moment). Do you have a complete copy of the current version?

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    1. Thank you Cesar. There will be more but probably not often. I do not yet have a current version but sometime in the next few weeks I will do it and post a link.

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  3. A great looking battle, splendid terrain!

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