"Island Excursion"

Game Report
"Island Excursion"

This battle is a re-fight of a little "set-to" I had a number of years ago when playing a solo campaign in the AWI period. Basically, the campaign was set on a small island where the Americans were conducting secret talks with a high ranking French official. The British were charged with capturing him, and to do this landed troops on the island, but only had a limited period of time to complete the operation.. The battle following was the culmination of the campaign, and I fancied seeing if I could reverse the result from the last time it was fought.

Units on each side:

Unit Name	Troop Type	Unit Morale	Strength Points	Artillery
Americans:
1st (New York) Brigade:
1st New York	Line Infantry CO	5	5
2nd New York	Line Infantry CO	5	5
New York Regiment	Line Infantry CO	4	4
Bourbonnais Regiment (1st Battalion)	Line Infantry CO	5	5
New York Artillery	Artillery	5	5	Light
Auxiliary unit:
Massachusetts Militia (1st Battalion)	Militia CO	3	4
Cavalry:
4th Dragoons	Cavalry	5	5
British:
1st Brigade:
17th Foot	Line Infantry CO	6	5
23rd Foot (Royal Welch Fusiliers)	Line Infantry CO	6	5
New York Loyalist Artillery	Artillery	4	4	Light
Mohawks	Open Order	3	5
2nd Brigade:
33rd Foot	Line Infantry CO	6	5
Regiment Erbprinz	Line Infantry CO	7	5
Royal Irish Regiment	Line Infantry CO	4	4	Light
Mohawks	Open Order	3	5
Cavalry:
16th Light Dragoons - 1st	Cavalry	6	5
16th Light Dragoons - 2nd	Cavalry	6	5

The Americans are out numbered badly then, but they can expect re-inforcements within half an hour, comprising:

Unit Name	Troop Type	Unit Morale	Strength Points	Artillery
2nd Brigade:
9th Pennsylvania Regiment	Line Infantry CO	5	5
Green Mountain Boys (1st Battalion)	Line Infantry CO	5	5
Green Mountain Boys (2nd Battalion)	Line Infantry CO	5	5

..and after another hour (so an hour and a half total) the following arrive:

Unit Name	Troop Type	Unit Morale	Strength Points	Artillery
Massachusetts Militia (2nd Battalion)	Militia CO	4	5

The battlefield is as follows (and you can click on any of the graphics to get a bigger picture):

...the British deployment looking from the US right flank - Dragoons in the foreground... in the far distance you can see the US dragoons faced by the Mohawks, and on the river those damn sightseers again.. (all figures with the exception of the Welch Fusileers, and the Canoes are Minifigs 25mm)..

So how did it play? Well it was an excellent game, and could have gone either way on a couple of occasions, but in the end it was not historically different from the last time the battle was fought - perhaps a little closer but that was all...!

...the American deployment looking from behind the British left flank - you can see the exposed position the artillery were in - no flank protection at all.. (all figures are Minifigs 25mm)..

The game started with the British signalling a general advance towards the American line - their objective was the French Bourbonnais Regiment which for the purposes of the game was designated as the French officials "bodyguard".

On their right the first skirmish of the game was triggered by the American cavalry's efforts to rejoin their main force.. Not surprisingly, despite the best efforts of their Mohawk allies (a surprisingly effective volley saw the first casualties of the battle going to them, and the British), the American cavalry managed to drive off, and then evade any further Mohawk attentions..

.....US Dragoons face up to British Mohawk allies..(all figures are Minifigs 25mm)..

Elsewhere, the left-most of the two British Cavalry units moved rapidly to assault the US artillery on the hill - not too successfully, but it did mean that the American artillery couldn't concentrate on the main British assault (a considerable benefit to the British main assault), and also the Americans were forced to pull back the Militia so as to defend them..

As the American reinforcements arrived, the British main attack has already launched with some success - the attack caught the militia in the rear as they tried to move on to the hill to provide protection to the artillery, and the three New York battalions head on... the Militia were driven off in rout (not to return), and the same damage was also dealt to the New York Regiment - the other two New York Battalions held, and even drove off the Welch Fusileers with superior musketry..

..the Militia have been driven off and can be seen retreating towards the table edge, followed by the New York Regiment. The good news is that the US reinforcements have arrived, one battalion of the Green Mountain boys are in column on top of the hill, the other and the Pennsylvanians have deployed to bolster the US front line..(all figures are Minifigs 25mm, with the exception of aforementioned Welch Fusiliers who are Front Rank)

..another, closer, view of the same assault..

The American reinforcements deployed rapidly and were initially successful - the Green Mountain Boy battalions in particular distinguished themselves in the fighting on the hill, inflicting defeats in melee on the British. However, the British juggernaut simply picked up pace and eventually drove them off the hill, and caused the Bourbonnais to rout from the table thus ending the game.

Post match analysis:

The game was fought solo, but as is best with all solo games the scenario was lopsided (as a result of the Americans not managing to concentrate their forces quickly enough), and the plan of attack was obvious - not too much suspension of thought required... the most difficult thing was to think what an opponent would have done with the US Dragoons - as it turned out I thought they did quite well despite my best efforts! 😀

The sole American successes were the total destruction of the British artillery (by the American Dragoons), and the removal of the Welch Fusiliers as an effective fighting force (80% casualties, and routing as the battle ended) The British on the other hand were generally successful all over, the one surprise to me was the fact that Erbprinz, managed to not only put in a successful round of musketry, but also won a melee!!! Readers of my AWI battles will know that despite them being one of my most powerful units they never manage anything significant on the battlefield!!

A successful result for the British then, but particularly bloody, in fact almost pyrrhic (as so many of the British victories in the American War of Independence were... their reinforcements had a far longer journey than the Americans) - Americans lost 29 points (representing 50% casualties), the British 13 points (representing 25% casualties)

Finally - the tea this time was Asda Assam - a particularly nice brew.. no biscuits though...