Battle of Trenton 1776 : American War Independence

The next battle in our ongoing campaign is Trenton which took place on the 25/26th December 1776. Unlike our campaign the Americans had been doing badly and Trenton although a fairly small engagement was a huge moral boost. Famously Washington took a huge risk crossing the Delaware river in difficult icy conditions. Then set up a quite complex battle plan splitting his force to attack the unsuspecting Hessians encamped in the town of Trenton. The plan was the Hessians would be drunk from celebrating the festive season so caught off guard. In fact the weather was so poor nobody expected an attack. Significantly outnumbered the Hessians initially put up a stiff defence but when the escape route across the Assunpink Creek  was cut off they surrendered. There is plenty of info on the battle including some splendid maps including the period one below

There are also some good explanatory maps of the action

and here is Trenton scaled down for our table measuring about 4’6” by 6’ I have squeezed in the essential features the two American brigades will enter as shown

The challenge in the battle is getting the balance of objectives, it is too easy for the Hessians to just run off rather than stand and fight we played with a number of scenarios specific rules.

1. Greene’s brigade would enter turn one, but Sullivan would have to test at minus 3 from turn 2 onwards this represents their historical delay.

2. There are two hessian and one dismounted dragoon skirmish units, which had been posted as lookouts on the three main roads. We randomly rolled a D6 and they would be placed on the road 6” back as it happens I rolled three 3’s so they were placed 18” back towards the town.

3. Whilst the skirmishers could activate first turn the hessian infantry and the hessian cannon, would each have to take a decreasing D6 test before their activation. This represents their shock at being caught out by the bold American attack.

4. The Petty Run would act as difficult terrain so slow units down.

5. No units would have first fire rule, the Americans powder was damp after the crossing and the Hessians were caught by surprise.

6. objective wise the game would end when the Hessians were down to one third three smaller bridges if captured would give a minor victory for the Americans but they would need to fight through to the Assunpink bridge to claim a major victory.

As most of you know the British while attacking in previous battles have struggled where the odds have been less than 2 to1 so of course the Americans are roughly 2 to 1 (what could possibly go wrong !) so on to the action Christmas Day 1776

All quiet in Trenton, the weather is bad no attack expected !

The three Hessian regiment and artillery are located on the two main streets but fail to activate turn one. (Note to anybody with a mathematical mind please calculate the chances when rolling a D6 and being able to roll one lower than that required to activate for 5 turns in a row ! It simply shouldn’t be possible but that is exactly what the Hessian Artillery did !)

Meanwhile Greene’s brigade enters the table and opens fire on the outpost pushing them back 

Greene sends a number of troops to outflank the town.

Sullivan’s command is delayed and only his skirmishers arrive on turn two.

The Hessians on King Street have activated and formed up, finally a chance to give the Americans a taste of lead !

Skirmishers exchange fire on the river road

Despite the cold the Americans fan out quickly to assault the town from several directions

The Rall Grenadiers have activated and are moving to block the river road

The rest of Sullivan’s command arrives, but they are restricted by the Creek

Hessians in the town open up volley fire and send the skirmishers back

Greene advances with his artillery trying to get it into a best position

Sullivan held at the bridge but for how long

Things are already tight for the Hessians the cannon is continuing to fail to activate and the Lossberg Regiment on Queens street almost unbelieveably fails to activate FIVE yes FIVE turns in a row, they only needed a six !

Meanwhile somehow the Americans roll a double 6 and an additional infantry units lost in the snow perhaps arrives on the edge of the town 

Despite its impending doom the cannon crew stubbornly refuse to wake up, perhaps they had been drinking 

Sullivan is pushing along river road

American artillery finally opens up and the first Knyphausen regiment flees. bad to worse !

Finally when activation is automatic the hessian cannon is moved out of the church yard. My memory has blank out this disaster but I am not sure the cannon actually fired a shot before the crew had been shot from all sides.

The Americans are now pushing into the town

The Rall grenadiers have had little to do so far but they continue to block the road

At this point there is a tiny chance they could break out so they charge Sullivan lead unit. He very narrowly escapes death but then the Hessian fail their morale check and are forced to pull back.

The next turn they are hammered by Sullivan’s troops and the Hessians are left with only one unit.

Americans are swarming into the town

From all directions

If there were more Hessians they would be in trouble

But the last unit has chosen to flee across the Assunpink

The Americans celebrate a good victory, if not total victory as they didn’t manage to capture the Assunpink bridge when the game ended.

A splendid game and battle which rather too closely reflected the historical events. Despite the obvious disappointing result for the Hessians it was great fun. What went wrong ? I actually think the balance of 2 to 1 was about right. And the special rules felt appropriate. However, the Hessian activation and morale rolls were literally the worst you could possibly imagine. The cannon and the Lossberg regiment failing to activate for 5 turns really unbalanced our balanced scenario. Of course it isn’t really designed as a scenario where the Hessians will survive more can they hold on. I failed so many tests I lost count 😀

So that brings to a close 1776. I am hoping to pull together a little video if I get a chance over Christmas.

Thanks for looking 👍