Battle of Brandywine AWI : August 1777

The end of last week saw a change of period and a return to the AWI. This was a separate game to our ongoing campaign so as a face to face battle I could get a few more figures on the table, in fact nearly everything I have for the Battle of Brandywine.

Just a reminder of the Battlefield today the view here looking downhill from the American artillery 

Our scenario was based on a scenario published some time ago in Wargames Illustrated and using Rebels and Patriots I have just enough figures to stretch to the full scenario

Our table as setup, I made one slight adjustment giving the British a couple of units on this side of the Brandywine river, these would arrive from turn 3 and randomise which Ford they could use. I felt this would force the Americans to keep some forces by the river to hold their flank rather than simply allow them to rush to hold back the main British assault

The cream of the British army, Grenadiers and British guards 

As expected the Americans quickly try to redeploy when they realise the British have outflanked them

The firing starts against the British advance

The British guards advance towards the base of Birmingham hill

To their left the British third brigade arrives and advances under the watchful eye of Cornwallis (the red markers indicate ‘first fire’)

The British start to return fire but should they be driving the attack forward ?

Some Hessians arrive over the river, but the Americans have left a unit to guard the crossing

Some of the Americans are forced back but the rest seek to form a strong defensive line

The British choose to avoid a direct assault on Birmingham hill, during use their artillery which has a fairly bad effect on the defenders

The British have attempted to outflank the Americans by river advancing through the cornfield

A strong defence line is eventually in place and the British are starting to struggle to keep up any momentum

The 3rd Virginia are still holding the Meeting House

…..but then they are thrown back only for the British to be pushed back as well

The British elite troops have won out against the American left and are gradually driving them back but it is probably too little too late

The Americans are holding a strong centre where the British are making no progress, and although the defenders of Birmingham Hill have been severely thinned out the British have no chance of driving the American from their position. At this point we gave the win to the Americans as it was clear the British don’t have the force to break through and the Americans could start to withdraw in order. A fun battle and nice for me to play with the Americans for a change 🙂 next time I might give the American a few more challenges to deal with.

Still not managed to complete too much new stuff, I did pick up these French from EBay at a very low cost considering the unit includes the warlord metal command figures. The bases have been recoloured to match mine, and the figures all highlighted to try and bring them to life. They have come out pretty well.

Finally another landscape picture looking over the northern fells for those that enjoy them 👍

Thanks as always for checking in, yesterday we played a SYW battle so will post that soonish

Matt ❤️