The American War of Independence, Black Powder, 28mm

This week’s game was a refight of the Battle of Camden, one of the shortest stand-up fights of the American War of Independence. In the real battle, all Cornwallis had to do was to advance his army towards the Americans. That was enough, and half of the rebel army ran away. As they outnumbered the British by almost two to one, this was a pretty poor showing on their part, even my the standards of militiamen! The flight of the Virginia and North Carolina militia left the Continentals over on the American right completely exposed, and despite some doughty rearguard fighting they were soon forced from the field. Well, few wargame rules can reflect this sort of mass panic, but the organiser (Bill Gilchrist) rated the American militia as poorly as he could, and we set about refighting the battle using Black Powder. The game was played out on an 8 x 6 foot table. The British began the battle by advancing all along their front – pretty much as they did in the real thing. Webster on the right of the road was fired on by Armand’s Legion skirmishers, who halted one of his three battalions. On the left Rawdon came on pluckily, pausing only to redress his ranks before charging into the American line. The trouble was, under Black Powder you get a bonus in hand-to-hand combat for supporting units, and given American numbers, they’d always have more supports than the British. That meant that unless luck was on their side, the British would have a tough time of it against in a head-on fight.The real question was  – what would the American militia do? They had to take a “break test” every time they suffered a casualty, but thanks to some nifty dice throwing they held their ground. The battle soon degenerated into a mile long melee, with the Americans having more troops in the fight. Over on the British right the 33rd Foot was finally driven from the field by Armand’s Legion, which allowed the Virginians to lap round the flank of Webster’s remaining troops.Things were starting to look dicey for the British. Still, they had a battle-winning reserve – the cavalry of Tarleton’s British Legion. Could they break the Americans and turn the tide?They charged down the road, but surprisingly the North Carolinian militia stood, and with some help from the American artillery they managed to cause enough casualties to halt Tarleton’s charge. Disordered and shaken, the cavalry were soon driven from the field by a combination of musketry and unlucky die-rolling. By that time the remaining British infantry were outnumbered, outgunned, and cut off from support. Both British brigades had now lost a couple of units, while the Americans were starting to mass around their flanks. Clearly history wasn’t going to repeat itself, so the British commanders wisely ordered a general withdrawal.The way it worked, it was a pretty easy defensive victory for the Americans. The British lacked the numbers to strike a decisive blow, and with the exception of the left flank they attacked the American line in penny packets, and not in a co-ordinated assault. Sure, if we refought the game and wanted a more historic result we could slant the odds even further, by giving the British a “terrifying charge” bonus, and depriving American militia units the ability to support their companions. However, that wouldn’t make it much fun for the American players, whose victory here was as much a matter of good luck than anything else. The best thing was, we fought the battle to its logical conclusion in a few hours, and everyone enjoyed both the experience and the spectacle. That’s what wargaming is all about!

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Tags: Black Powder