AWI campaign update 4th - 7th July 1777

This post covers the events in my ongoing mini AWI campaign. 

American General Cummings has been tasked with defending coastal artillery intended to interdict British supplies sailing around the Owl Head Peninsula to Coldstream.

His opponent, General Parrott has been tasked with destroying the coastal guns in order that supplies essential to operations in the theatre are received intact.

The British troops had enjoyed overwhelming success at the first encounter with the Americans, causing the rebels to flee with heavy losses after a surprise encounter on the O’Higgins trail.

Now read on…

General Cummings was a bit taken aback by the sudden and violent overthrow of his three militia battalions at the hands of General Parrott’s grenadiers but in one sense at least the militia’s mission had proved a partial success - they had located the advancing British army.

By contrast General Parrott, if you’ll excuse the avian analogy, was now “cock a hoop”. The rebels had scattered like chaff in the wind before him. If that was the best the Americans could do he clearly had little to fear.

The issuing of promissory notes to prop up his supply shortfall has been mentioned in the previous post and was an out of the box bit of sophistry that I couldn’t help but applaud. What I never reckoned on however was the interplay with other random game events because on the next turn the Americans got “spies” who revealed the British players last instructions to me as the GM; the instruction to issue the promissory notes.

The narrative I subsequently presented to Graham as the American supremo, was that his patrols had intercepted a number of farmers travelling south with wagon loads of supplies, clutching Chris’s promissory notes. He was asked if he wanted to string them up after taking the supplies or just let them go. Mindful of the farmers inherent loyalist sympathies, he decided to let them go…and pay them out of his own pocket for the supplies he’d taken. 

Masterful. 

His clemency went a long way to shaking the farmers unthinking support for the crown - though worse was to follow for poor old Chris since the farmers at Arrowhead were now prepared to sell supplies to the Americans for hard cash instead of bits of paper. This was also the point at which his decision to arm the friendly Cherokee came back to bite him in the ass.

Having been informed that his promissory notes and supplies would not be waiting for him at Trappers Landing after all, General Parrott changed his plans to head there and instead ordered his men directly west towards the expected position of the coastal guns he’d been tasked with locating and destroying. 

News of the militias rough handling by the grenadiers quickly spread to the sympathetic trappers and hunters who had a trading outpost down at Trappers Landing. Incensed at the actions of the British troops, many of the backwoodsmen  decamped to swell the militias depleted ranks.

The militia bested by Chris’s grenadiers had been heading west and had managed to stay just ahead of the British as reinforcements started to trickle in. By the 5th July dire news reached the Americans from Arrowhead - which had come under attack from the newly armed Cherokee. The supplies they were about to sell to the Americans had been destroyed. What could be done? General Cummings immediatly split the retiring militia group into two, allowing the weakest battalion to head up to Arrowhead to protect the villagers and the two remaining militia groups to retire towards the fortifications that his subordinate (General Motte) had been building around the coastal guns. 

Good news for the Americans came later on the 5th - the random events die roll had produced “reinforcements”. A battalion of South Carolina Provincial infantry had been ferried across the river from the south  and were disembarking at Trappers landing. As they disembarked and began to march north, fresh sails could be seen arriving in the estuary. British ships!

Frustrated by the militia slipping away and the failure of his promissory note issue, General Parrott decided to issue a proclamation to the slaves working on the settlers farms. If they escaped their masters and brought supplies to Trappers Landing they would be granted their freedom and protected by the crown.

On the surface this seemed like a great ploy. It would pay back the settlers for their disloyalty, and potentially still bring in some of the supplies his force badly needed. 

Once again the dice Gods punished Chris. The farms at Arrowhead were small and though slaves were held there, there weren’t as many of them as he’d imagined. The attacks by the Cherokee had hardened the farmers hearts and the arrival of the militia sent to protect the settlement helped stifle any idea of a slave revolt. 

At this point, when I thought fate couldn’t get any worse for the British, it naturally did.

As part of the initial campaign information the players were both given a bit of background on their two immediate subordinates. General Parrott had this pair:

Colonel Montague Mountjoy Sykes (2nd Baronet of Lulworth), and Lt Col Parsifal Matthews (KB).

The back story for Sykes was that he socially outranked Parrott but had been passed over for command of the current expedition and was not a happy bunny. None of that would have mattered a jot had Chris’s next random event roll not been “command friction” which took him off down a whole other rabbit hole.

Chris was advised that Sykes had been outraged by the decision to free the slaves and he’d written to Sir Henry Clinton the theatre commander to complain. Clinton duly despatched a note to general Parrott telling him that the proclamation must be rescinded immediatly. How did Chris want to deal with such an unruly subordinate I asked? Ignore it? Ride over to the mans location and confront him? Maybe he wanted to suggest something else?

What Chris didn’t know was that riding over to confront the chap had a decision tree outcome of a major argument potentially leading to a duel. Lol. Ever the diplomat, Chris actually chose to write a brilliant letter to Sykes putting him in his place and gently reaffirming who was in charge. It seemed to do the trick because further orders were subsequently followed, (though to General Parrott’s letter there was ominously no reply).

As the British pressed ever westward one of their pre game cunning plans finally came to fruition as the 33rd infantry disembarked from navy frigates at Trappers Landing. Even this coup de main was slightly tarnished by the discovery that the American provincial reinforcements had landed in the same spot the turn before and though already marching away he knew they could still turn to present an imminent threat. Rather than striking north, General Parrott ordered his new arrivals to start building defences.

General Cummings was all too aware that the British were closing in on the coastal gun positions and he ordered all his dispersed sub commands to move towards this location in order to defend them. His random event Die Roll produced “terrain” allowing him to choose a strategic map hex and add either fortifications, swamps or make it impassable. Graham chose swamps and nominated a hex he thought the British might attempt to traverse on their march.

On the 7th - General Parrott’s luck seemed to change. The 16th Dragoons arrived through a “reinforcement” random event adding to his forces in the nick of time.

The 16th Dragoons arrive in the nick of time.

Ordering his reinforced column of grenadiers artillery and dragoons forward to the coast he was unaware that Sykes with two elite battalions of light bobs had been delayed after stumbling into the uncharted marshland. Approaching the guns at Pringles Point, General Parrott found himself having to go it alone.

Defending the guns against Parrott’s grenadiers, artillery and dragoons were two battalions of militia a battery of guns and the coastal artillery which General Motte had ordered to be dragged around to face the oncoming attackers. Even ensconced behind their earthen barricades it was going to be touch and go. 

The bulk of the Americans behind their earthwork defences. A second militia battalion occupies a horse shoe redoubt out of sight to the right.

Could Parrott drive the rebels off and nullify the threat to the approaching British convoy of supply ships?

The grenadiers prepare to advance on the rebel fortifications. 

We’ll find out shortly.

Todleooh.

You couldn’t make it up

One of the recurring jokes in France is the nature of the folk that live in my region, la Creuse. They are portrayed in the media as backward paysan and there’s even a comedy franchise built around the fictional Bodin family (think the Archers crossed with Mrs Browns Boys). Unfortunately even the cruellest of stereotypes has a scintilla of truth at its core. 

I was sitting in the car outside the Bourganeuf Aldi today in town (other supermarkets are available) when a tractor pulled up outside the car park. Imagine my surprise (and amusement) when the driver nipped into the store did his shopping then calmly loaded his purchases into the front bucket of the tractor. I took this photo as proof so the current Mrs Broom wouldn’t think I was having another cowboys and Indians moment (see much earlier post). 

Thought I’d share it with you.

Difficult to see from my phone camera shot but he’s loading the bucket of the tractor from his shopping trolley. Lol. 

Toodleooh mes amis.

Cant see the wood for the decision trees

During my planning for the current AWI campaign I realised that I needed some way to not only engage the opposing generals militarily but also to force them to make some of the political and moral decisions that their real life counterparts had to occasionally confront.

Can’t see the Indians for the trees either. Cherokee on the warpath.

A random event for each player every turn might seem like overkill but it’s certainly built an interesting narrative for only a little pre game planning.

There are ten random event subjects and each turn a 1D10 roll determines which subject my generals will have to deal with. The chosen subject generally presents each general with a decision, the ramifications of which may continue off in several directions over time.

Since both players are now aware of this one, here’s an example:

A snapshot of number 8 on my pre scripted décision tree.

On turn 2 I rolled an 8 for Chris (British General) which produced an encounter with some elders from the Cherokee nation. The Cherokee were historically allied to the British but if this result had come up for Graham I’d have chosen a different tribal grouping. Note the red boxes on the tree denote the end of the subject for this faction. If Indians are rolled again for Chris it’ll be treated as a « no event ».

The Indians offered to assist the British in one of three ways but claimed they needed to be armed by the British first.

Unwilling to pass up the chance General Parrott agreed to arm them and asked them to interdict enemy supplies. What he didn’t realise was that unlike appearing as auxiliaries in battle or increasing his strategic map scouting range the supply interdiction option would develop randomly next turn depending on a 1D6 roll by yours truly.

Next turn I rolled a 4. Obviously I didn’t tell Chris. Rather than attacking the American military supplies which I’m sure Chris had hoped for, the Cherokee started raiding the American farmers in the small settlement of Arrowhead. Not only did this shift them from their majority loyalist outlook, the raids destroyed supplies that Chris had issued promissory notes for. Mmm.

Since I asked both generals to think as their real life counterparts might’ve done I’ve been surprised on several occasions by the answers they’ve come up with to deal with ongoing problems. Issuing Promissory notes to make up a shortfall in supplies being one of them. It was so unexpected and ingenious that I had to allow it even though it was outside of the game rules. It just goes to show that even with extensive pre game planning you can’t cover everything - though it certainly makes for a more interesting narrative when the players engage with you like this.

Toodleooh.

The quick and the dead. AWI Campaign battle 3rd July 1777

The British and Americans blundered into each other on the morning of the 3rd July while both forces were travelling in opposite directions along the O’Higgins trail - roughly in the centre of the map.

The American force under Major General Pinckney consisted of three battalions of the Owls Head militia and they were heading east to establish where the British forces were. Their orders were to simply scout and fall back if the enemy was discovered. 

Because movement is simultaneous in the campaign and both factions covered the same amount of ground there was no end of turn scouting and discovery, no organised fallback…they literally ran straight into each other. 

The British had divided their forces into several columns and the American militia by chance bumped into Brigadier General Parrott his elite Grenadier battalion and a battery of light artillery.

I used a modified version of C&C Tricorne with die roll activations replacing the cards - just to see how it would work out in a smallish engagement.

As you may note from the story below the Americans had already suffered from a number of militia desertions, (occurring as a result of a random event « discipline and desertion » die roll for poor old Graham). 

Note : If I rolled the same event in a future turn the number of men buggering off would be higher, but Graham nipped this in the bud straight away by hanging 1 in 3 of those that were recaptured. (Not knowing the pre scripted outcomes of his actions he was asked how he intended to deal with the issue). Grim…but problem solved.  

Henceforth he shall be known as « hang ‘em high Cummings ». Lol. 

Because his avatar was actually present at the battle my PBEM British Brigadier General, Chris, received the following report to update him on the outcome, which I’ve copied and pasted into the blog because I’m too damned lazy to rewrite it in a different narrative form.

“Your lads are in column and following a winding track through thick woodland. What you are not aware of at this point is a long column of American militia coming in the opposite direction. It’s early morning and thick patches of mist have settled in the hollows of the low ground.

You are just about to instruct your fifer in the front rank to strike up a jaunty tune when the sound of approaching men (in some numbers) reaches you. Swiftly you order the grenadiers to deploy in line across the track. (I assumed that two forces would be able to hear each other within a couple of hexes even if they couldn’t see each other).

The Americans hear the shouted orders of your officers and men as the grenadiers deploy and in somewhat of a panic their lead unit also deploys in line across the road. Both sides stare into the mist and silence descends. The Americans will start this battle at less than full strength since there have already been a number of desertions from the militia.

The militia unit at the rear of the enemy column (who are still at full strength) struggle up the hill side on the left flank and deploy in line.

The waiting begins to fray everyone’s nerves. Aware that sitting on your hands will accomplish nothing you order the grenadiers to advance into the fog bank as your artillery heads into the cover of the woods slightly to the rear.

As the grenadiers emerge from the mist they run straight into the nervous militia deployed across the road. At such close range there is no time for a volley and instead the militia rush forward to engage in hand to hand combat. The grenadiers are startled but are rallied by your heroic good self riding to the fore. (The militia combat produced a single flag result which should force a retreat on you but can be ignored if there is an officer present - or the defenders are elite). Unfortunately for the Americans hand to hand combat is not a one sided affair and recovering from the shock of the encounter your grenadiers strike back.

A terrible slaughter ensues. Already reduced in strength by earlier desertions the leading militia are overwhelmed and their leader (Pinckney) forced to flee back down the track to the unit behind which is still in column. (The grenadiers get 3 dice in melee, with an extra one for being full strength and another for having an officer present).  

After redressing their ranks your men advance with levelled bayonets along the track against the unit in column unaware that the full strength militia unit on the higher ground is groping its way through the mist onto your flank. Your attack goes in and causes two casualty markers and a flag. With only 1 strength point left the enemy takes to their heels (militia retreat three hexes) There is an officer present who could have allowed them to ignore the flag but under the circumstances I judged it best for them to run.

The hapless militia on your flank rush into the attack but your men’s blood is up and they too suffer severe losses and run for their lives.

Well done. A stunning victory…albeit against very weak opposition.”

Brigadier General Parrott was now flushed with success and General Cummings slightly down cast at the loss of so many men.

Fortunately for the story this situation would not last long - for the random events die roll and General Parrotts ambition are about to throw a spanner in the works for both commanders.

Toodleooh.

AWI Campaign 1 - Warning orders

I got the AWI campaign rolling last week, and I’m now in a position where I can reveal a little more about the initial setup.

I’ve played in two PBEM campaigns over the years but never actually run one. Due to this relative inexpérience and bearing in mind the enormous scope and workload of Norm’s recent Napoleonic endeavour I deliberately chose to keep this attempt to a more modest size and format. 

The British are coming!

The British player received this briefing

To: Brigadier General Parrot

 

From: Major General Henry Clinton

 

Tuesday June 3rd 1777

 

Warning Order

 

Sir. 

 

I am preparing to move the army north towards Elizabethtown. To this end additional supplies and reinforcements are being brought by the Navy from Charleston and will pass up the Stone River to be unloaded in Coldstream harbour sometime around the 12th - when the tides next permit.

 

Of some concern is a recent dispatch from the Navy claiming that when south of Arrowhead rocks HMS Roebuck came under fire from American artillery emplaced upon the bluffs. I have indicated their approximate positions on your map with a red X. (Map omitted here - see previous post for a refresher.)

 

Though the Admiralty can be prone to flights of fancy it may indeed be possible that the rebels occupying the south bank of the estuary have transported guns across to the north shore and established themselves there. 

 

In summary, whether the news be true or false, the possibility of them engaging our unarmed transports cannot be stomached and I would desire that you take such a force as you see fit to learn the truth of the matter.

 

I would entreat you to be quick upon it and pray you keep me appraised of your progress.

 

Yours, etc

Brigadier General Parrott and his Grenadiers.

The American player received this one

To: Brigadier General Cummings

 

From: Major General Benjamin Lincoln

 

Tuesday June 3rd 1777

 

Warning Order

 

Sir. 

 

I have received intelligence that the British intend to advance upon Elizabethtown by the end of the month, their hand currently stayed by a want of supply. Patriots in Charlestown have observed a large convoy of enemy shipping departing the port, presumably to address this very lack. Given where such succour needs be unloaded they have little choice but to proceed to Coldstream harbour beneath the very noses of the battery’s you recently established on the north bank of the Stone River.

I cannot but think that the enemy may have some intelligence of your positions and would caution you to take all steps necessary to protect this, our only means to strangle the enemy design at birth.  Should the enemy transports arrive unhindered I have grave doubts that we will be able to prevent their subsequent onslaught.

 

I would entreat you to keep me appraised of your progress.

 

Yours, etc

Brigadier General Cummings and some of his rebel chaps.

I gave each player 28 « game points » with which to purchase units - and a range of equally important army support options. 

Actual fighting units cost 3 points for the best quality ones down to 1 point for the less reliable militia types but choosing the fighting force was the easy part because, out of the 28 points they also needed to consider purchasing some of the following:

1 Point per unit of supply. A unit of supply includes ammunition, powder, victuals, clothing, and other necessaries. 1 unit of supply is consumed for every day the force under your command is in the field, as a result of every battle, and for every one level of défense your units construct in a strategic map hex. Additional supplies might be obtained from random event outcomes…but dont count on it.

 

1 Point per level of intelligence gathering – to a maximum of 3. 1 point assigned to this will give you an approximation of the strength of any detected enemy units. 2 points will reveal their type and strength, 3 points their type strength and posture (column / line etc.) Enemy units are automatically detected when they occupy an adjacent strategic map hex.

 

1 point per level of influence. (to a maximum of two) with any Indians or Settlers that you encounter. The point or points will provide a die modifier in your favor in any interactions with the locals. Generally, settlers may provide additional supplies and Indians with an enhanced scouting range if the interactions turn out well. Be aware there is usually a price to pay for this help.

 

1 point per level of naval support. 1 unit of Naval support may transport 1 pre embarked regiment to either Indian Cove or Trappers Landing.

Random events. 

Random events add a little spice to a game and each player is subject to one every turn. The mechanism is a simple 1D10 roll for subject but from each subject a « decision tree » of outcomes is triggered. I’ll spare you the detail on this with the game still in progress - but it’s fair to say it’s already produced some interesting outcomes.  The ten subject headings include: 

Political interference, Terrain changes, Indian interactions, Weather, Settler Interactions, Supply, Sickness, Discipline and desertion, Command friction, and Spies.

Points spent on influence become positive die modifiers when determining which branch of a decision tree outcome is taken in interactions with Indians or settlers. The more points spent on this the more likely a player will generate a favourable outcome.

I have encouraged the two generals to use the game rules as an outline and to act and behave as their real life counterparts might do when the rules don’t cover a particular situation or they wish to pursue  a  particular course of action that I’d not considered in the game set up. This free and easy approach has already bitten me in the ass and in the interests of fairness I’ve allowed both players to free style on at least one occasion - with very interesting outcomes.

As I write we are on day three of a possible 12 with the first battle already under our belts. A number of campaign altering decisions taken during these turns will be revealed in the next post as will the initial battle itself. For obvious reasons my reporting will have to remain somewhat after the event to prevent revealing information of use to either player.

Will the helpless British transport ships be shelled to bits or will plucky General Parrott punish the feckless rebels for their impudence? 

Honestly I have no idea. 

Maybe we’ll find out when « hang ‘em high Cummings » and « Parrott the great emancipator » next clash swords. Lol.