Bemis Heights (3) - Terrain & Objectives

Final update 20th October 08

The British were drawn up in line on ridge covered by a wheatfield overlooking the middle creek. The open ground was 1000m, which was wider than the British could cover. At my normal scale 1 foot (300mm) represents 250m so the open ground extends 4 foot with woods on either side, a nice fit to a 6 foot wide table. The American table edge represents the middle creek. The top of the ridge is about 15" from the creek, so providing enough room for the Americans to move on without immediately being under musket/rifle fire.

One plan I have shows the area behind the British line as completely wooded, but I others show more open areas. The roads in the open have no effect on movement. Codes on the bottom of the map relate to the American arrival points.

To the British left rear are the Balcarres and Breyman redoubts with the cabins (only one depicted) in between.

Treat the forests as open woods



Useful battle map from the Library of Congress

Objectives

American: To drive the British off the table - for victory in the game they must drive the British back into their half of the table and capture at least one redoubt within 20 moves.

British: They must remain at or in front of their starting positions up until move 5. Victory for the British player is holding both redoubts and causing at least double their own losses on the Americans.

Bemis Heights (2) - American OOB

Final update 20th October 08.

Basic data comes from a number of sources, including Novak, Boatner, Morrisey, etc. The standard calculation is 50men = 1sp (Open Order 25:1), however for playability the strength points in some brigades don't add up to the overall strength.

Morgan's Brigade (500) arrives turn 1/2 (1) - deployed between A and B

• Virginia Rifles #1 5sp OO
• Virginia Rifles #2 5sp OO
• Dearborn Light Infantry 5sp (2)

Poor's Brigade (1,500) - arrives turn 1/2 (1) - deployed between E and F

• 1st NH 5sp
• 2nd NH 5sp
• 3rd NH 5sp
• 2nd NY 5sp
• 4th NY 5sp
• 1st Conn Militia 5sp Militia
• 2nd Conn Militia 5sp Militia

Learned's Brigade (1,400)- arrives turn 3 - deployed between C and E

• 2nd Mass 5sp
• 8th Mass 5sp
• 9th Mass 5sp
• 1st Canadian 5sp

Ten Broek's Militia Brigade (1,250) - arrives turn 5 on the road at E in column

• Although actually ten regiments strong deploy on table at 5 x Militia regiments each 5sp

Patterson's Brigade (1,800) - arrives turn 7 on the road at E in column

• 10th Mass 5sp
• 11th Mass 5sp
• 12th Mass 5sp
• 14th Mass 5sp
• Mass Militia 2 x 5sp

Glover's Brigade (2,100) - arrives turn 9on the road at E in column

• 1st Mass 5sp
• 4th Mass 5sp
• 13th Mass 5sp
• 15th Mass 5sp
• 2nd Albany Militia 5sp Militia
• 17th Albany Militia 5sp Militia
• Duchess & Ulster Militia 5sp Militia

Benedict Arnold is treated as the overall comander, he arrives on turn 3. Each move roll 2d6, if the score is 11 or 12 he is recalled by Gates and takes no more part in the battle.

Notes

1) One brigade will arrive on move 1 the other on move 2, dice for which arrives first
2) Alternatively Dearborns can be deployed as two open order units each 5sp

Bemis Heights (1) British OOB

Final update 20th October 08

Basic data comes from a number of sources, including Boatner, Ketchum, Morrisey, Novak, etc.

The British force that marched out on 7th October 1777 was very much a reconnaissance in force rather than the full scale offensive that Burgogne had originally proposed to his council of war.

The OOB is for my rules notes are shown as (#)

Right flank - Fraser

• Light Infantry #1 5sp OO (1)
• Light Infantry #2 5sp OO (1)
• Royal Artillery (medium guns) 3sp
• 24th Foot 5sp

Centre - Riedesel (2)

• Brunswick Grenadiers 5sp
• Von Specht 5sp
• Von Rhetz 5sp
• Hesse Hanau Artillery (medium guns) 3sp
• Royal Artillery (heavy guns) 3sp

Left - Acland

• British Grenadiers 5sp
• Royal Artillery (medium guns) 2 @ 3sp

Other forces:
Breyman redoubt (3) - Breyman (8)

• Breymann d3+2sp (4)
• Hesse Hanau Artillery (medium guns) 3sp

Balcarres redoubt (5) - Phillips

• Royal Artillery (medium guns?) #1 5sp
• Royal Artillery (medium guns?) #2 5sp
• 20th Foot d3+2sp (4)
• 63rd Foot d3+2sp (4)

"Cabins" (6)

• Canadians 3sp, Militia

Optionally in the woods on the British right - Indians/Canadians 5sp OO.

Optionally in front of the Balcarres redoubt an outwork with a piquette of 1sp

(1) Could be combined as a single close order unit 5sp
(2) The exact German units involved is not clear in the sources I've checked so far, I've used the two regiments from my collection
(3) Just fortified at the front and side, nothing at the rear 200m long with 2 guns defenses commander by Colonel Breymann
(4) The exact strengths of the defenders is unclear and there is some mention of some losses due to troops being dispatched to assist the forces in the open. To determine the exact number. roll a d6 1,2 - 3sp; 3,4 - 4sp; 5,6 - 5sp
(5) A large substantial work with abbatis in front 500m long with 8 guns
(6) Just considered as cover (loop holed palisade)
(7) The artillery that marched out was 12 guns = 15 sp, rather than create 3 powerful full strength units I have shown them as 5 weaker 3sp units so they can be more accurately dispersed across the frontage. This also makes them less effective and better reflect their performance in the battle.
(8) Optional - Breyman was a tyrant and some sources suggest he was shot by his own men, so when he tests for "risk to general" add 2 to the die roll.
(9) Optional - Fraser was deliberately shot by one of Morgans riflemen while rallying his troops. To reflect his inspiring leadership he has a +2 morale bonus, but he tests for "risk to general" whenever any of the units under his command lose a casualty(sp) from rifle fire.

Will

Command & Control - Ideas (2)

I found the time to play test the rules a few days ago and found a number of problems. See the Battle of Greenford for details. While playing I made a number of tactical errors, which were based on playing the game assuming normal control. One factor may cause problems in offense.defense games is that it increases the time that the attackers spend under fire, especially artillery.

Firstly as mentioned by Steve it's quite slow. The idea was mainly to provide a mechanism to allow solo play. I also found that by allowing for the casualty effect meant that non-commanded units had it a bit too easy. The solution to both is to drop the casualty effect from the calculation. It's already covered in a sense by the morale and other factors, so it is probably overkill.

As expected sending troops into woods caused command/control problems as they often missed the required dice roll, even if they were just 2 lower. Using the commander was similarly a problem. I hadn't added this as a factor, but given they have to fall back to do so then the command distance is increased and the issue is adequately covered this way.

I will now use the following

+2 if the commander is with the unit (attached)
-1 Per 12" away from the commander
-2 If out of sight of the commander
+1 if a well trained unit
-1 if a poorly trained unit
-1 "group" move (several units belonging to the same commander moving together)
+1 if the CinC is within 6" of the commander (optional)

After all command rolls are completed any individual units that have not tested for command can test independently needing a 3 of lower be be able to move (still with +/-1 for training).

Rules available as Word document

A copy of the rules is now loded on esnips at link

Will

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.