The Battle of Bound Brook 13th April 1777

So for the next AWI Battle in our ongoing campaign we have moved to April 1777. The Battle of Bound Brook took place in New Jersey on the 13th April. Having looked up the history on the net I needed to amend things to create something that gave an element of balance for both sides. Historically the small American force of around 500 men form various Pennsylvanian Regiments under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln held a defended position at the crossing of the Raritan River at a village called Bound Brook. Although dug in to a redoubt the British approached the crossing with a massive force of  3 to 4,000 troops in three different columns. Whilst the Americans put up a spirited initial defence when the second column arrived at a second crossing General Lincoln ordered a retreat which the Americans executed well. 

Whilst I have never been to the Battlefield there appear to be a number of small information and commemorative boards at the site of the battle and they have had a number of rather fun re-enactments https://youtu.be/N0SWLt2oa5E .

Shrinking the battle down, our skirmish focusses on the initial engagement between the first column commanded by General Grant which was led by Hessian Jaegers, and it is their  report of the battle which appears to be the most notable record.

A rather nice historical map of the engagement I think made by the Hessians involved

Our battlefield with the key elements. American pickers are holding both bridges. Grants Column will approach from the right across the causeway. They have little choice but to push towards the Old Stone bridge. The second British column under Colonel Donnop composed of Hessian Grenadiers will arrive on Queen’s bridge. These and some American reinforcement will arrive on a rams on D6 roll. The Americans objective is too hold the bridges for as long as possible. Anyone who has already read Jon’s report will know that we joked at the start that if he could hold for three turns he would consider it a victory. The British troops are all General graded higher than the defenders and have an advantage in points.

American pickets on the Old stone bridge

General Lincoln in the redoubt, this was a pre game shot and actually in the battle we moved the cannon slightly further forward

Grants Column arrives led by the Jaegers who are superior to the pickets

A spot of luck for the British the Grenadiers arrive early on Queens Bridge giving the British two lines of attack

The pickets start to pull back and the jaegers push forward but are unsuccessful in killing any 

More fortunate dice rolling for the British the second unit of Hessians arrive fairly early as well

They just have to storm across the bridge, but the skirmishers cleverly pull back revealing an American unit formed up and ready to fire

The cannon in the redoubt also opens up, so rather than pulling back the Americans are really up for a fight

The stone bridge is now forming a bottleneck for Grants troops who can’t deploy !

The leading Hessians are devastated by a volley from the Americans (the first of many poor morale rolls sees them flee the field)

Things are starting to go from bad to worse the second Jaeger troop mistaking their colleagues for advancing Americans in the smoke and confusion delibera a volley of friendly fire !!!!

Even at this stage all is not completely lost as the British are across both bridges

But they find themselves literally surrounded on all sides by enemy fire which is devastating

Insult to injury the British artillery fails several activations and barely gets on the battlefield, not even firing a shot 

Another failed morale check and the final Grenadiers flee back across Queen’s Bridge

General Grant has made it to the bridge but can’t make any headway

The Americans with their tails up ‘pour it into them’

and the British call it a day to await the third British column to arrive. General Lincoln will be able to withdraw in some comfort having given the British a very bloody nose.

Are well…..😢 some thoughts. Firstly as Jon has mentioned on his blog the British did make a number of really poor morale checks way below average. This should be counted by a couple of double 6’s at the start and the early arrival of the Hessians, it may of course have been better if they had arrived later. The Americans rolled extremely well on their fire rolls and catching the British in very effective cross fire. The British cannon played no part and this evened out the two forces numerically. I wondered after it it would have been better to bring this on at the front of the column ? Hindsight of course. As so often happens it felt fairly balanced at the start but the British were thrown into confusion early on and couldn’t tactically find a way out of it.

It really was an enjoyable battle, we had great fun and both laughed at the misadventures of the British assault. I have reflected on the campaign so far it really isn’t about ‘winning’ battles, and with out pontificating too much,  I see the campaign as a journey through the AWI learning as I go about the history, the challenge is creating scenarios which reflect the history in key elements, shrinking this down onto the table and hopefully giving both sides chances for victory. Of course it doesn’t always work out 🤔

Anyway more to come as we move through 1777

All the best Matt👍