Spencer's Ordinary 26 June 1781 (2)

Some maps from the biography of John Grave Simcoe the commander of the Queens Rangers sahowing the progress of the action. It can be found online at link

There are also details in the Pictorial Field book of the Revolution at link and a copy of Simcoes own journal link

Spencer's Ordinary 26 June 1781 (1)

I'm a regular visitor to Giles Allison's blog Tarleton's Quarter and the latest update covers the action at Spencer's Tavern (or Ordinary) one of the small actions leading up to the seige at Yorktown. It's a very tempting small scale action and I'm tempted to buy the latest British Grenadier rules scenario book just for the scenarios.

The forces involved are quite small, but dominated by cavalry. From Greg Novaks book the AWI in the South:

Loyalists (Simcoe)
Queens Rangers Foot 240
Queens Rangers Horse 120
Hessian Jaegers 60
1 x 3pdr Light Gun
+ Cattle/Baggage being driven off

Patriots (Butler)
Macpherson Light Horse 120 * (mix of 1st Light Dragoons & Armand's Legion)
Virginia Rifles 120 *
Light Infantry 100
2nd Pennsylvannia 180
* 50 Doubled up with cavalry

Using a similar scaling to the BG scenario would give

Loyalists (Simcoe)
Queens Rangers 4 x 12 fig foot units (strength 5)
Queens Rangers Horse 6 x 4 fig cavalry units (5)
Hessian Jaegers 1 x 6 fig open order rifle unit (5)
Artillery 1 x Light gun (3)
+ Cattle/Baggage being driven off

Patriots (Butler)
Macpherson Light Horse 6 x 4 fig cavalry units (5) *
Virginia Rifles 2 x 6 fig open order rifle unit (5) *
Light Infantry 2 x 6 fig open order units (4)
2nd Pennsylvannia 3 x x 12 fig foot units (5)

* One rifle unit is considered to be doubled up with two cavalry units, The pair of cavaltry units must move together and suffer-3" move deduction and -1 on morale and melee while carrying the riflemen. It takes a full move to dimount the rifles and for both units to reform.