The American War of Independence, Patriots, 28mm

We planned to play a Napoleonic game this week, but as one player cried off we came up with an alternative. I have a fairly large American War of Independence collection which rarely gets an airing on the tabletop, and so we thought we’d use them to try out Patriots. These are a set of company-level rules available free on the web from The Perfect Captain. We’ve used their same system before for the English Civil War (where the rules are called Very Civil Actions), so we thought we’d give the AWI version a try-out.The idea behind the fictional game was that spies reported that the local political leadership of the Rebels (Patriots, call them what you will) were holding a meeting in the Winn Arms, a tavern in the little settlement of Winnsborough (now Winnsboro) in the backwoods of the South Carolina colony. Actually, as the British commander I didn’t know which building in the town they were in. My task though was to capture the town, and seize these politicos of the rebel Committee of Safety, including the local landowner Richard Winn. To make this a little harder the town was garrisoned by two companies of SC Militia, while other militia units and over-the-mountain men were close by, and would march to Winnsborough when they heard the shooting. I say British commander, but the Colonel was the only true Brit on the table – all the rest of his command were Americans – Loyalists – loyal to their rightful King and Country. Colonel Pettigrew had four companies at hand – three of Loyalist regulars, and one of SC Loyalist militia, supported by a squadron of British Legion dragoons and a light gun detachment.At first the battle went well for the rebels, commanded on this occasion by Dougie Trail. Their militia formed a firing line along a rail fence to the south of the town, and poured a heavy fire into the ranks of the advancing loyalists. Casualties mounted, as first the Royal SC Militia were routed, and then a company of British Legion Infantry were driven back.  The only thing that prevented the loyalists from losing the initiative was the rule that forced the defending militia to take a fear test when enemy non-militia troops get within 12″ of them. This led to one unit of militia retiring, and while the other stood its ground, it soon found itself outflanked, and forced to pull back into the hamlet. At that point it looked like the loyalists were onto a winner. One loyalist company supported by the gun were busy harrying the rebels on the west side of the village, while the dragoons were busy riding round the eastern side of the town to cut off the enemy line of retreat.That was when the rebels received some timely reinforcements – the first of the militiamen, supported by a company of sharpshooters – the “Over-the-Mountain Men”. These militia were better-motivated that the ones defending the town, and they forced a line on its western side, allowing the retiring militia a chance to rally behind them. Meanwhile the sharpshooters began peppering the advancing loyalists from the woods skirting the western edge of town.This was all very good for the rebels, but in the end it wasn’t really enough to turn the tide. The retreating Farifield County militia rallied in front of the church, only to be ridden down by the British legion dragoons, who thundered in from the east and smashed into them. The only bright spot was that the loyalist militia were also faltering, having suffered heavy casualties from the sharpshooters, and also from militiamen holed up in the church. What this meant was that while the dragoons were able to clear the roads of the rebels, the remaining die-hard patriots were firmly out of their reach, and the loyalists now lacked the infantry firepower to dislodge them quickly. Of course, they did have their light gun detachment, and if things had continued the rebels in the Fairfield Church would have been pounded into submission.The real end of the game came when the patriot player announced that the politicos (who had been hiding out in the church) had successfully made it off the table, and were now out of reach. If attacked they’d merely escape out the back and off the table to the north. Deprived of a nice clean end to the game, and faced with continuing casualties, Colonel Pettigrew decided not to storm the church, and gave the order to withdraw. While he had given the rebels something of a bloody nose he had also taken about 25% casualties – more than he inflicted – and worst of all his mission of capturing the politicos had failed. He would have to face the ire of General Cornwallis back in Camden, who no doubt would send someone with a bit more fire next time – someone like that go-getter Colonel Tarleton…As for the rules, they worked – up to a point. There seemed to be more modifiers than in Very Civil Actions, and with higher firing and melee factors the number-crunching was sometimes a little fiddly. For instance, a firing factor of 7, multiplied by 3 for three stands, plus 25% for being formed, then down a column ’cause the defenders are in cover – there must be an easier way than going through all that a dozen times a turn! Patriots sort of work, but they don’t do so as well as they do for the earlier period. We’ve noticed this before, which is why we abandoned the similar system for The Russian Civil War and The Spanish Civil War. Its just too fiddly… The search for the “perfect” set of small action AWI rules continues…

Tags: Patriots