The Battle of Fieldsboro Hill - AWI

[T13A]

Hi



Rebels had 3 brigades with a total of 10 regiments, 4 of which were militia, holding the farm in the centre and 2 redoubts. Their job was to hold the hill/ridge which stretched the length of the table more or less.



The British also had 3 brigades, one of which was made up of Hessian troops. I controlled the Rebels and I used Charles Stewart Grant's 'Programmed Wargames Scenarios' book to set up the game and control the British, who were attacking.
The American commander (i.e. me) General Greene's plan was simply to put the most unreliable brigade, the militia (classed as 'raw') in the centre 'garrisoning' (in Fire and Fury terms) the farm and the two redoubts either side of it and the other two brigades made up of 'Continentals' (classed as 'trained') on either flank supported by some a total of 4 light guns and 2 howitzers.
The British plan as devised by General Mallinson (as 'thrown' for from the Programmed Wargames Scenarios' book) was for the Hessian brigade to 'demonstrate on the right and to attack the main Rebel position with the two British brigades in the centre and on the left. Most of the British units were classified as 'veteran' with the small Hessian Jäger unit, the 42nd Foot (the Black Watch) and the light infantry battalion classified as 'Elite'.
As it turned out Brigadier General Rall in command of the Hessian brigade was too busy eating his bratwurst mit pommefrittes to order his brigade forward and they never fired a shot in the battle.


Above, Colonel Cornwell's brigade, (from L to R) 3rd Foot (the Buffs), 43rd Foot and the Light Infantry battalion on the edge of a wood just before they started their advance (taken from Fieldsboro Hill just behind the Rebel line).



Above, the British centre, Brigadier General Webster's brigade, (L to R) 42nd Foot, 23rd Foot and the 10th Foot in reserve.



Above, the Rebel militia brigade garrisoning the farm and the two redoubts in the centre of the line.
The action started with General Mallinson ordering his battery of 2 six pounders and 2 5.5" howitzers in the centre to bombard the farm in the centre of the Rebel line. Unfortunately for the Rebels the militia regiment holding the farm quickly decided that they were required to be somewhere else and departed for the rear. However General Greene (me) had wisely decided to hold a regiment of militia in reserve just behind the farm and these were quickly able to replace their comrades heading rearwards. General Mallinson, as soon as he saw what was happening ordered Brigadier General Webster to send the 42nd Foot forward to attack the farm with the 23rd Foot on their left to support them and attack one of the Rebel held redoubts. The 10th Foot advanced behind them in support. As mentioned before on the British right the Hessians decided that this was a good time to settle down for lunch.
Meanwhile on the British left Colonel Cornwell ordered the light infantry battalion into 'open' order and to advance up the hill to attack the Rebel riflemen holding the wood at the top of the slope and on the extreme Rebel right. He also sent forward the 43rd Foot in support of the light infantry to attack the Rebels in position between the wood and the redoubt being attacked by the 23rd Foot. The 3rd Foot advanced in their support. Not surprisingly the light infantry raced ahead of the rest of the brigade which seemed to slightly unnerve the Rebel riflemen shooting at them. However being shot at (including taking some rounds of canister in their flank from two Rebel 3 pounders) and advancing uphill caused the light infantry to hesitate about 50 yards from the Rebels until Colonel Cornwell personally came to rally them and first firing a volley they then stormed forward with the bayonet (it is believed that that this was the first time on a British battlefield that a certain L/Cpl Jones was heard herd to shout the now immortal phrase, "They don't like it up em, they don't like it up em"!) After a very brief resistance (the rebel riflemen lacked bayonets) the Rebel riflemen retired losing about 50% of their strength and the light infantry secured the wood.



Above, the Light Infantry battalion pausing just before being rallied by Colonel Cornwell.
Meanwhile to the right of the light infantry the 43rd Foot were advancing uphill against the 'German' battalion (trust me, an American regiment recruited from Germans already in the colonies) and the 1st Maryland (Continental) Regiment. Although suffering casualties they charged the 1st Maryland without pausing to fire and after another brief resistance caused the rebels to retreat.
While this was going on in the centre the 23rd Foot attempted to charge the Rebel held redoubt (to the left of the farm) and the 42nd tried to storm the farm itself. Unfortunately for the 23rd they faltered just yards from the redoubt and had to retire. However on their right the Scots, again firing a volley just before going in with the bayonet, soon routed the militia piecing the Rebel centre.



Above the 23rd Foot, on the left attacking Rebel redoubt and 42nd storming the farm. Rebel militia routing in the distance.
At this point General Greene (me!) decided that with his right flank turned and his centre broken that enough was enough and called a general retreat.
Game over (and I'm still trying to get over being beaten by a 'book').

Cheers (I was robbed)! Paul

[Techno]

Looks absolutely cracking, Paul. 

Damn fine 'piccies'.......Love it !

Cheers - Phil

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Lota work der 

[Norm]

I am not getting any images coming up - just a space with a minus sign

Any suggestions?

(Oh - iPad user! If that makes a difference)

[Techno]

Erm.....

I saw the pics earlier....But I can't see them now, either.

Cheers - Phil

[mmcv]

Ditto, I can't see them. I'm guessing you shared these from Google Photos? I've had issues with it in the past where it'll initially show then disappear again. Think it's maybe they're just using temporary share links so doesn't really work for embedding. There is a way to make it work (I remember posting a guide in the technical section here) but it proved such a faff I ended up using Imgur instead. It's still a bit of a faff, but slightly less so.

[T13A]

Hi Guys

Sorry I haven't a clue about what is going on, I can still see the pictures on my desk top but not on the i-pad and mmcv is absolutely correct they are on Google Photos. 

Cheers Paul

[Steve J]

No images for me either .

[T13A]

OK, I have created an Imgur account and will attempt to post the photos again from there in the order that they were originally posted above, fingers crossed!















Cheers Paul

[Norm]

Lovely, thank you.

[mmcv]

Beautiful looking game, can see the pictures now!

One thing I would suggest when posting is to define a width on the image so it fits in a bit better. I usually go for 800
E.g.

Code Select Expand

[img width=800]https://i.imgur.com/YwwKfag.jpg[/img]

Looking really good though, thanks for sharing!

[paulr]

Great looking game

Interesting that you played the defense against a 'programed' attack, I suspect most of us would have played it the other way round

[mmcv]

Great looking game

Interesting that you played the defense against a 'programed' attack, I suspect most of us would have played it the other way round :-

Maybe you're just showing your inner agression and need to attack? 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Beautiful figures

[Steve J]

Lovely looking game and great figures too .