Mini Guilford Courthouse

[goat major]

I'm experimenting a bit with AWI rules at the moment.  I thought i would give Loose Files and American Scramble a run out for a section of the Guilford Courthouse battle - the initial American line North of the road. The best British units against the worst so deliberately chosen for some contrast .



In real life the field was freshly ploughed and had undergone some heavy rain. Initially i didnt give it a terrain effect. The British regiments made some good movement rolls, closed the distance before the militia got any volleys in and made short work of them. Two turns and it was all over. A reasonable historical result. I decided to tweak it to make it more interesting for a second play through making the field the equivalent of moving through woods so that it reduces movement and has the potential to cause disorder



Turn 1: The British cross into the field and make hard work of it picking up disruption to their formations (the little green dice). Since they are well out of musket range they spend a turn to dress their lines and bring their DP (disruption points) back down. Being elite formations they can do this by spending a turn stationary.



By Turn 3 the British are pushing forward at a faster rate and getting close to the American lines



Turn 4: The militia fire a volley and are particularly effective against the 33rd causing them an additional 3 disruption points. Webster decides to throw caution to the wind and launches a bayonet charge immediately



The 33rd disrupted by effective militia volleys falter before the fence and their charge isn't pressed home. Badly disorganised they exchange fire with the militia at short range.  The 23rd make contact with Linton's militia and in a short fight easily rout them



Halting the 33rd was a great achievement for the militia but as their left flank collapses against the 23rd the remaining regiments start to lose faith and some of their men start to run for the rear. The 33rd muster just enough resources to charge again and the militia line collapses. But it was a tough fight. The first American line has been dispersed but the 33rd will need to take at least 3 turns to regain their formation and they have lost 2 companies.



All in all this two page set of rules feel like they have a lot going for them. There are a few areas of vagueness to resolve  - especially in multi-unit combat. And i think I'll adapt the command and control rules from something like Feu Sacre /Couldn't  Hit an Elephant.  There's room to add little items of detail as well to round out the period feel. But overall it felt like good system.

Tomorrow I'm think of giving the same scenario a go using British Grenadier and see if the extra 98 pages of rules add that amount of value  

[fred.]

An interesting double play though. And telling what difference the terrain makes (and I assume more average movement dice rolls)

Will be interesting to see if the extra 98 pages of rules add anything to this setup!

[Steve J]

Nice to read about the two games and the difference the changes made to the games. As for the extra 98 pages making a difference, well, we'll have to wait and see.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great looking game

[jambo1]

A very enjoyable read and nice looking game to go with it.

[Norm]

Thanks, Love these little micro situations for giving a window to examine rules.

[Techno II]

Great looking game

I'll second that !

Cheers - Phil

[FierceKitty]

Where is the courthouse? 

[FierceKitty]

What's the mat, btw?

[goat major]

Thanks all !

What's the mat, btw?

It's from Geek Villain, their Autumn Grass one. A lot of their mats have pictures of stones on them which are out of scale for 10mm but this one is just grass

[Ben Waterhouse]

Looks like an elegant set of rules, thanks for the demo.

[holdfast]

Having painted up a shedload of Peter Pig AWI a couple of years ago I tried British Grenadier and was fairly daunted by the rules. Time to dig them out and try again but with LFAAS.

[goat major]

Holdfast. In many ways that are quite similar but BG is difficult to comprehend - the editing and proofreading leave a lot to be desired. I'm also not entirely convinced on using the General de Brigade engine which seems fiddly.

I replayed the scenario above yesterday using British Grenadier and got a similar result in about 50% more time. It's more granular than LFAAS especially in the charge and close combat mechanics (declare charge, move charge, shoot defensive,  take charge test, take defender test, fight melee - whereas in LF its all wrapped up in a single roll).

LFAAS feels more elegant but being a 2 page magazine article it has a lot of holes that will need filling.

I'm going to try another couple of scenarios from the battle next week to get more of a feel for the two systems.

[goat major]

Just set the table up for another mini experiment over the next few days - part of the action around the third line at Guilford Courthouse.

The 1st Maryland have just rebuffed the 33rd who have fallen back into the woods to reform. The 2nd Maryland and 2 guns hold the road, but the 2nd MD are slightly disorganised by their formation and the sight of the 2nd line retreating past them. Opposite them the 2nd Guards have just emerged from the woods and will launch an immediate assault, unaware that their left flank will be exposed to the 1st MD and that Washington's cavalry can attack their right flank

This should try out some faffy situations for Loose Files and BG rules - close range manoeuvring, artillery, cavalry  and flank attacks,

[Norm]

'Faffy situations' should bring some interesting aspects of the rules out :-)