The American War of Independence, Black Powder, 28mm

It seems strange that such a small engagement could have sealed the fate of a continent. There was less than a division aside at the battle, and it was indecisive, but it ended British hopes of defeating the rebel colonies, and thus saving North America from itself. Freeman’s Farm is one of those strange battles where the outcome was wildly out of proportion to the size of the fight. Anyway, so much for the one-sided history lesson. This little refight of the battle was fought out in Orkney, using Black Powder. Purists amongst you will note that some of the British uniforms and flags are wrong, but my army is formed around Lord Cornwallis’ force in the Southern colonies, not Burgoyne’s army in up-colony New York. My apologies.Anyway, on with our battle. The scenario centred around the American attack on Brigadier Hamilton’s brigade, which was centred around Freeman’s Farm. Geeneral Burgoyne was also there, keeping an eye on developments. The American commander (none other than the gifted General Benedict Arnold) had a force of two brigades at his disposal, plus another following up behind him. One of these three brigades consisted of Morgan’s rifles and other light troops, and it started the battle by skirmishing with the British from the cover of the trees to the south of the farm. Arnold’s main column approached via the track leading northwards from his camp. Two thirds of the way up the table the track split, as a secondary trail led to the north-east, passing close to the farm before reaching the Hudson River, which was somewhere off the table to the east. Just to the north of the fork was a small hill, where Brigadier Fraser’s small brigade of elite British troops defended an artillery redoubt.Arnold (played by Orkney gamers Roger and Chris) left a screening force facing the redoubt, and wheeled everyone else to the right, to attack Hamilton (played by Alan). Back on the redoubt Fraser (played by Mark) was under orders to hold his position, and for the first few turns he contented himself with engaging the Americans with his artillery. This proved pretty effective, and eventually a regiment of New York continentals broke under the pressure, and fled the field. By then though, Arnold’s men were applying heavy pressure to Hamilton’s outnumbered line. The pesky skirmishers kept scoring “disordering” hits on the units, and forced Hamilton to divide his forces, to screen Morgan’s men in the trees. Eventually the pressure proved too much, and first the 62nd Foot broke, and then the 21st were forced to retire back to the farmhouse. The Americans then charged Hamilton’s small artillery piece, and the British were forced to give ground, and regroup just in front of the buildings.At that point Arnold’s third brigade appeared on the road, and deployed like the leading brigade had, with part of its force screening the redoubt, and the rest heading towards Freeman’s Farm. This proved too much for Fraser, who – orders or not – decided to pitch in. His intervention effectively pinned the American reinforcements in place, and bought time for Hamilton to reorganise his line. Arnold was busy reorganising his troops for a final assault on Hamilton’s shaken command, and there seemed nothing to stop him sweeping them from the field. At that critical moment salvation appeared in the form of a brigade of General von Riedesel’s Hessians. These three battalions appeared behind the farmhouse, and they deployed in support of Hamilton.That’s the situation in the first picture, with the Hessians arriving, just as Arnold’s men are closing in. This arrival effectively brought out battle to an end. it was clear that an assault would now be too costly for the Americans,  while the British lacked the strength to see off their opponents. In effect the battle was technically a draw, but the American army had performed better than their opponents, and of course the inability of Burgoyne to destroy them meant that history repeated itself – his campaign and his army were now doomed.The game was a very fast moving and enjoyable one, and best of all the gamers are all getting used to Black Powder, and know what to do, and what to expect. However, for this game we used Bill Gilchrist’s Black Powder amendments, which he worked out over the course of a dozen or so AWI battles. The biggest difference is having firing between initiative moves and regular moves, which effectively gives the defender a bit more of an edge. It also seems a more logical way of doing things.

Tags: Black Powder