Guildford Courthouse - A Polemos Ruse de Guerre Refight

Next in my series of Polemos Ruse de Guerre refights from the scenarios in the rulebook is Guildford Court House, again re-themed from the American Revolution/American War of Independence to the War of 1812, given that is what my collection matches.  Again I have reduced this in size both in terms of playing area and numbers of troops to make it a more "DBA"-sized game, which had some strange/amusing effects in the refight, although this is very much within the rules, both in spirit and in letter.

Guildford Courthouse features a smaller British force attacking a larger American one, which has deployed its weakest troops in the front to encourage the British to attack into the depth of the position, manned by the best troops, in a manner similar to that which succeeded at Cowpens.

The Forces:

United States' Army:
C-in-C: Greene
Williams' Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Well-trained Infantry, 3 bases Infantry
Butler's Bde (Ploddind): 3 bases Poor Infantry, 1 base 6lb Artillery
Stevens' Bde (Capable): 4 bases Infantry
Kirkwood's Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Well-trained Riflemen
Washington's Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Trained Cavalry (optionally 1 x Well-Trained)

British Army:
C-in-C: Cornwallis
O'Hara's Bde (Decisive): 1 base Well-trained Infantry, 1 base Well-trained Light Infantry, 1 base 6lb Artillery
Webster's Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Infantry
Leslie's Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Infantry, 1 base 6lb Artillery
Tarleton's Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Cavalry

The Set-Up:
 

British (bottom) face the Americans (centre and top)

Overview - the forces face each other across a clearing.  The flanks are lightly wooded.

Another view

The best US troops defend the hill in the rear

The US militiamen defend in two lines, in the wooded area between the clearing and the stream

Corwallis troops formed up across the other edge of the plain

Another view; Cornwallis' infantry in the front line, his light troops and grenadiers behind, and Tarleton's cavalry in the rear

Another view

The Battle:

Cornwallis eschews fancy manoeuvring since he is outnumbered and decides he is better off simply trusting in the power of his bayonets to get to grips with the American militiamen before they can withdraw.  In shades of Fontenoy, the British advance and invite the Americans to fire first...

Which backfires somewhat, when the power of that volley, combined with some canister, routs the 71st Foot in a bloody moment...

The British musketry is somewhat ineffective...but this has the unintended consequence of persuading the American militiamen to stay in position...

"They can't drill, but they sure can shoot"...heavy casualties are inflicted on the redocats by the North Carolina militiamen

Reinforced by some Grenadiers however, the British generals reform their troops, fire a second and much more effective volley, and launch a bayonet charge...some of the militiamen and the riflemen are already running (centre, far-side of the stream)

...after a short, sharp fight the militiamen are in full retreat (top and top-left)...the British capture the American gunners and the entire brigade collapses...as do the riflemen on the American left flank (extreme right)

With the morale of his whole army wavering as the plan has gone wrong, Greene waves his second line into the attack: they discharge a powerful volley and disorder the British (see the casualties in the centre)

Greene waves his hat and dends his Virginians forward, with Stevens also leading, sword drawn...

The 33rd Regiment on the left of the British line holds and sends their opponents running (centre-left)

The rout of the British Grenadiers (bottom-right) and other British infantry (bottom left) makes the British Cavalry join the rout too, despite not firing a shot, crossing swords or losing a man!!

However, too many Americans have been killed and routed and Greene's army collapses, even though Cornwallis' troops are nearly broken also...

Game Notes: Quite a small, short affair this - almost a vignette of a battle, given the small number of troops, particularly on the British side, and the set-up which encourages a quick attack, rather than any fancy manoeuvring.  The American army rolled '10' for loss of cohesion after the rout of its leading militia brigade and from that point, the loss of another formation, or the loss of a single commander, would have finished them off.  Almost hidden from the main events, the stars of the show were actually the British infantry fighting on the flanks in the woods which surprisingly were able to destroy the opposing US riflemen.  This forced Greene to launch his "do-or-die" attack in an attempt to simultaneously break the British and thus save the game.  The Virginian militiamen fought fantastically well but the British were able to hold on - they lost units, but not formations: except for the cavalry of course, which I had clumsily brought up too close and misaligned.  I left them in a position in which two routed units could pass through them, and thus they were routed in their turn.  There are quite a few subtleties in these rules, which differ from others from the Polemos stable in particular, the shaken rules are simpler, but more straightforwardly brutal!
I did notice that cavalry in these rules can fight effectively in light woods.
As a game, there were absolutely no problems, everything went fine, a really smooth game.  Recommended.

Bemis Heights - A Polemos Ruse de Guerre Action

The Battle of Bemis Heights:

The action at Bemis Heights followed on from that at Freeman's Farm as part of what became known as the Battles of Saratoga.  A superior American force has spotted a British reconnaissance in force and intends to drive it back and if the opportunity arises, defeat the forces in front of it and take the defences.

This is the  next scenario in the Polemos Ruse de Guerre rulebook.  As I did for the previous scenario, I have made it smaller by increasing the number of men/guns that each base represents and reduced the playing area to 3'x2'. 

As in the last battle, I have re-set this into the War of 1812, since that is the period I have armies for!  It makes no difference in the rules...

Revised Orders of Battle:

United States:
C-in-C: Arnold

Morgan (Decisive): 1 base of Well-trained Riflemen, 1 base of Well-Trained Light Infantry
Poor (Capable): 3 bases of Infantry, 1 base of Light Infantry
Learned (Capable): 5 bases of Infantry, 1 base of Light Infantry
Broeck (Plodding): 2 bases of Poor Infantry, 2 bases of Poor Light Infantry

Britain:
C-in-C: Burgoyne

Fraser (Decisive): 1 base of Well-Trained Infantry, 1 base of Infantry, 1 base of Well-Trained Light Infantry, 2 bases of 6lb Guns
Riedesel (Decisive): 1 base of Infantry, 1 base of 12lb Guns
Breymann (Capable): 2 bases of Well-Trained Infantry, 1 base of Well-Trained Light Infantry, 1 base of Trained Native Americans*, 1 base of 3lb Guns (one of the bases of Well-Trained Infantry is in the Freeman's Farm position)

*This unit is an amalgam of small contingents, hence the unusual rating.

The author makes the point that this scenario is biased somewhat in favour of the Americans.

The Set-Up:

The Americans are approaching through the woods; Morgan's light troops (right) and Learned's brigade (left)

A wider shot, including Broeck's militiamen (left) behind Gen Arnold.

Poor's Brigade

The British advanced position: Fraser's and Riedesel's Brigades are outnumbered, but have plenty of artillery...

Breymann's troops are in the rear position

And an overview of the whole battlefield.  Freeman's Farm is the position at the bottom-left.

The Battle:
 

The Americans press forward to try and crush the exposed British

First blood to the Americans!  The 24th Foot is immediately sent into a howling rout (bottom-left)!  Lindsay's light infantrymen are pushed back by Morgan's troops (right)

Morgan quickly organizes another assault through the woods (right); Learned pushes his troops forward to outflank the British guns

The British light infantrymen scurry for the rear too, their order completely broken by Morgan's men

The British gunners are still holding firm however: a whiff or two of grapeshot have broken some on the skirmishing New York militiamen (top)

Learned has tried to turn the flank, but swiftly handled guns and rapid cannister fire have broken one of his battalions (right)

The position: the British are under heavy pressure and their right has been completely caved in, but they are still resisting stoutly in the centre and on the left

Breymann has brought up his grenadiers and has launched a spoiling counter-attack against Poor's Brigade

With some success!  Poor's units recoil through the woods in disorder

Breymann orders his men forward too, to try and crush Poor's command entirely

Broeck tries again to take the guns, through the withering hail of cannister...

Morgan's troops have worked around the flank: only Burgoyne in person and his picked Grenadiers can stop them...

...and stop them they do!  Morgan's light infantrymen run away (bottom-right)!

Broeck has had to retire for a third time: his militiamen just cannot get near those guns!

Poor's brigade has lost a battalion in rout (top) and the remainder are shaken...some inspiring hat-waving leadership keeps them in the fight...for now...

Morgan launches another attack into the British rear since that must give the Americans victory...

However, several things happen at once:  Morgan's riflemen are worsted by the bayonets of the British grenadiers, and they flee the field in rout (bottom-right)! However, a stray shot kills Burgoyne at this moment of triumph - history does not record whether it was a Parthian shot from one of Morgan's riflemen or from one of the Massachusetts men leading the supporting troops.  At the same time (left), von Riedesel was also killed and his infantry routed, at which point British morale collapsed

A closer look at Morgan's rout

The capture of some guns, the rout of the infantry and the loss of the Commander-in-Chief and one of the German brigadiers in the space of 5 minutes has given the battle to the Americans...

Game Notes: A really enjoyable game, since, despite the American strength, this ended up being a close-run thing and the British had two moments when they could have won: Poor's brigade could have easily collapsed when hit from two sides, whilst, if Burgoyne had survived, he might have just stabilized the British right-rear long enough to form a much stronger defensive position.  Great fun!

The rules again performed admirably.  The British guns were a little lucky to survive repeated attacks, but not that lucky: they rolled just a little bit better than their opponents, which was enough.  The Americans had most of their luck early on, and crushed the British right in very short order indeed. 

One thing I did notice is that I was using my generals in close combat far too much.  This is a hangover I think from other Polemos games.  In the Napoleonic rules, it hardly ever makes sense to leave them out: the bonus is high and the threat relatively low; so they should only avoid combat if one is certain you are going to win.  In the ECW and Roman rules, they should only go in if you think that they will win - the chances of them being lost are too high otherwise.  In Polemos Ruse de Guerre, it is neatly balanced: that bonus is handy, but the risks are just high enough to make me think that I should be doing it very rarely.

Once again I think that for solitaire play, my decision to reduce the number of bases and the size of the board is well rewarded by decreasing the time but increasing the intensity of the game play.

Figures as ever by Baccus 6mm, the buildings were  a mixture of Baccus and Leven.

Battle of Freeman's Farm (1812) - A Polemos Ruse de Guerre AAR

The Battle of Freeman's Farm: One of the scenarios included in the Polemos Ruse de Guerre rulebook is the Battle of Freeman's Farm.  Although in reality one of the battle around Saratoga in the American Revolution/American War of Independence, I set my refight in the War of 1812 instead, as that is what I have (small) armies for.  Gen Burgoyne was trying to outflank the American positions to their left and the American force is trying to stop, or at least, delay, him.
Although Freeman's Farm was a small action in the general scheme of things, the scenario in Polemos Ruse de Guerre is quite big: 36 British bases face 32 American.  But this is using a scale where one base represents 100 men: using Polemos basing, a figure-man ratio of 1:5  For my refight, to fit in with the size of my armies, I re-jigged the scenario for one base represents c.300 men.  This is quite within the scale of the rules, it just makes for a smaller overall game.

The Forces:

United States:

C-in-C: Gen Arnold


Right Wing: Gen Morgan (Decisive)
1 base of Well-trained Riflemen
1 base of Trained Light Infantry

Centre: Gen Poor (Capable)
3 bases of Trained Infantry
1 base of Poorly-Trained Infantry

Left Wing: Gen Learned (Capable)
4 bases of Trained Infantry
1 base of Well-Trained Infantry

Great Britain:

C-in-C: Gen Burgoyne

Left Column: Hamilton (Capable)
2 bases of Trained Infantry
1 base of Trained 6lb Artillery
2 bases of Trained 3lb Artillery

Centre Column: Fraser (Decisive)


3 bases of Well-Trained Light Infantry
2 bases of Trained Infantry
1 base of Trained 6lb Artillery


Right Column: Breymann (Decisive)
2 bases of Well-Trained Infantry
1 base of Trained Infantry
1 base of Trained Native Americans (i.e. This unit is an amalgamation of the Queen's Rangers and de Lacorne's Native American contingent, hence the unusual rating for these rules)

 Note: This order of battle is correct in terms of numbers but has been heavily adjusted to simplify the actual initial British deployment.  The much more detailed scenario in the book has units from all of the different columns intermingled along the line of battle.  I was pretty sure I would lose track of this, so for my refight I decided to simplify the order of battle to reflect more closely the physical deployment.  I still made a couple of (non-serious) errors during the game, mind!  I worked it out okay but I think I may have accidentally given the British an extra unit of trained infantry.

I have used some of the unit designations from the original scenario.  There were some Canadians fighting on the patriot side and so here there is a unit which is fighting on the US side.  They play quite a prominent role in the re-fight, so don't be confused...


The Set-Up:

The heavily-wooded battlefield.  British are towards the top, Americans towards the bottom.  Freeman's Farm is at the centre-right of the US position, Coulter's farm on the left.

Another shot.  The armies start quite close together in this scenario!

The British Right Wing

The British Centre (centre) facing the American Centre (bottom) throught the woods

The British Left Wing

The American Left Wing around Coulter's Farm

The American Centre and Right Wing, based around Freeman's Farm (right)

A view from the centre towards the British Left, along the stream and woods

 The Battle:

The battle begins, with the British attacking in the centre

And rather slowly advancing through the woods towards the American right.  Guns and woods don't mix well!

The first British attack miscarried but without serious loss, so Burgoyne just orders a repeat of the attack in the centre

The British clear part of the woods, but the New York regiment holds their position (centre-right)

The New Hampshires launch a counter-attack, forcing some of the British back through the woods (left)

In order to take the pressure off the centre, Gen Learned orders some of his units to move forward from the woods to start firing upon the British (centre-right)

Gen Poor reforms the New Hampshires in front of the Connecticut Militia, preparing for another counter-attack

A British infantry unit pushes around the American right (right)

The Americans and British trade volleys, with the British coming off worse and incurring serious casualties (centre)

The Americans follow this up with a bayonet charge, urged on by the hat-waving General Learned (right)!  The 1st Canadians push forward to assist (left)

General Poor's counter-attack goes in in the centre

Morgan's Rifles have been pushed back out of the woods and are now outflanked by the British!

Some of Gen Learned's Massacusetts' soldiers retire back to the shelter of the woods

Gen Poor's counter-attack in the centre is successful, throwing the British light infantry back to their start line!!

On the American right however, the British volley...

...and charge!

Burgoyne orders his centre to reform and resume the attack...

On the American left, Gen Learned joins the Canadians (left) and launches his second bayonet charge of the day

Which is crowned with complete success!  The British Grenadiers (centre) have retired with loss, whilst the neighbouring unit has been broken by the fire of the Massachussets men!!

In the centre however, Gen Poor's New Hampshiremen have been thrown back again; his New Yorkers just cannot be pushed out of their patch of wood however (centre)! 

On the American right, Morgan's riflemen have been routed (left), although the farm is still held

Gen Learned attacks once again with the bayonet, charging into the British Grenadiers (Centre); one of his Massachusetts' battalions has ushed across the stream in support (right)

Gen Poor under severe pressure in the centre

And is pushed back to the far side of the road

His New Yorkers hold off the British for the fourth time today!

But Gen Poor's command is under severe strain now: a New Hampshire regiment has finally been routed (bottom)

The British press forward again...

On the American right, the British form up ready to attack Freeman's Farm...

The British Right under pressure!  They try to outflank the attackers by bringing the mixed unit of Rangers and Native Americans around the flank...

...not in time to save the British Grenadiers though, who are finally overwhelmed and routed!

However, the American centre is in equally bad spirits: the remaining New Hampshiremen are broken and the supporting Conneticut militiamen are shaken...

The American centre collapses!

The unstoppable Canadians, under the inspired leadership of Gen Learned, beats off the flank attack and the Rangers and Native Americans retire into the woods (left)

Which causes the whole British Right to panic and retire!

However, whislt this was happening, the British have taken Freeman's Farm and its defenders have been killed or surrendered

The victorious American Left at the end of the battle

The American Centre and Right have been destroyed or driven off

 Game Notes: I had great fun with this one, in part perhaps because it was so new to me: I don't really know too much about the individual actions of the AWI.  It really came down to the wire, because although the American centre broke, the army as a whole held on.  Luckily for the British, they broke Morgan's command just at the same time as Breymann's troops were running away, since the British army's morale broke from a single roll.  Since the American army morale failed at the same time, and they had lost more units, the British were the winners (just!). Anyway, the game worked pretty smoothly considering it has been a while since I played these rules.  They really are the smoothest of the Polemos family, with many of the elements that create little bits of difficulty edited or removed.  You can tell that the author is a very experienced Polemos player, since at heart these rules are like the Polemos Napoleonic set, but simplified and - I want to use that word again - smoothed.  The only query that I had which I couldn't answer on re-reading the rules was the effect of enemy action on a 'force'.  If a force of either side becomes physically separated due to enemy action - say two bases are pushed back and two aren't - how is tempo then assigned?  Do they have to physically reform or not?  There do not appear to be any pursuits or follow-ups in these rules either, which I suppose I found a little surprising (since it means that troops don't 'take' a position - they force the enemy out of it and then occupy it next turn, but if the enemy is quick, they can sometimes re-occupy it first without a fight).

Anyway, I heartily recommend players interested in the FIW, AWI or War of 1812 to at least have a game with these rules.  As in all the Polemos series, the use of single-base units rules out dealing with the minutiae of unit and sub-unit tactics and gets one to concentrate at a more appropriate command level so the games really rattle along.

Figures and buildings are from the Baccus 6mm range, other buildings from Leven.

Lastly I must push Steve Jones exquisite AWI set-up in 28mm, including his version of Freeman's Farm for those looking for some proper AWI eye-candy!