The Battle for Cooch’s Bridge : American War Independence

We have reached September 1777 in our AWI campaign and the small battle of Cooch’s Bridge, apparently the only battle to take place in Delaware in the AWI. Not a huge amount of info on what was a small engagement. But most of the details are available if you dig about. 

A perfect sized scenario for Rebels and Patriots

Our setup, the Americans are on Iron Hill and their objective is to get as much of their army off the table over the bridge as possible. The British advance will be phased as it was historically. The swamp is very difficult terrain so will both slow and force minus 1 activations.

The bulk of the American army formed up on Iron Hill watching the advance of the British !

Hessian dragoons by the church and jaegers lead the way on the attack

Historically Maxwell the American general had handpicked some Light infantry who were sent out to skirmish/ambush the advance which they did very effectively close to the roadside tavern

The Americans start to move for the bridge but unfortunately a couple of units are sluggish to get moving failing early activations

As the American lights skirmish with the Hessians more Mercian skirmishers are sent forward to slow the advance and give time for the Americans to escape

Still a couple of units languish in camp ?

The next wave of British arrive, mainly redcoat light infantry.

As the British forces build up the American light infantry make a huge blunder, failing an activation with a Double six they choose to charge forwards, caught in very heavy crossfire they are wiped out. One of the major American roadblocks removed !

British surge forward on the right and open fire to clear away the remaining American skirmishers

The final British infantry arrive down the road led by Gen Cornwallis himself

The position midway in the battle, the Americans now have troops in and around Cooch Farm and are trading volleys with the British light infantry

To the sound of drums the British advance in column down the road

Battle rages many of the Americans are now behind the farm heading for the bridge which is not far away

Ominously the British move out into line formation

Oops while leading the defence and in the thick of the fighting Maxwell is shot from his horse ! The Americans morale wavers a little 

The British close in, the American run for the bridge, the red markers indicate first fire which means some of the Rebels haven’t even discharged their weapons during the battle !

They still Farm but British light infantry is closing in several American units are captured or broken as they are caught around the bridge

The British finally cut off the scape and the final two American units are trapped around the farm.

You haven’t heard this often during the campaign but a resounding British victory, hurrah ! almost all the rebels are killed or captured. It was of course a fun battle and the Americans have had it their own way for so long it was nice to turn the tables. Early failed activations, the loss of the light infantry on about turn two, the loss of Maxwell all contributed to the victory, the British failed remarkable few activations. I had made them veterans as seemed appropriate and felt the fact that Cornwallis would never really be able to add his leadership bonus balanced this out. Next for the campaign is Brandywine so we are just planning how we might manage this remotely.

Finally just received this update from Perry miniatures and I’m looking forward to getting a couple of boxes when they come out 😀

Thanks all for checking in

Matt ♥️

Battle of Corunna : 16th January 1809

Mentioned on one of my previous posts we played the battle of Corunna, a good chance to get the Naps out for their first battle this year. Obviously a very famous encounter from the Peninsular War. But also a large battle. Using John Sutherland Scenario book and with a bit of licence I was able to cover most of the battle. Effectively each Battalion or unit is the equivalent of a Brigade historically. (The editor I previously  used for doing my blog posts seems to have stopped working making it more annoying to post so the test will likely be even shorter than normal)

A map showing the lead up action to the battle, basically the British are being chased by the numerically superior French and looking to escape. The grim winter forced march cost many lives and as the British approach their fleet at Corunna they were pinned by the French under General Soult.

A period map of the battle 

The essence of the battle setup up is the British hold a series of low hills protecting the town of Corunna. There are three main villages Elvina, where most of the fighting took place, Piedralonga and Oza slightly to the rear of the British line. The British are outnumbered but they need to hold the three hills. We had a couple of scenario designs features. Given the huge numerical advantage we gave the French some command issues and brigades would fail to activate on a 1or 2. Historically Sir John Moore was mortally wounded during the battle so so if any units took wounds from firing within 12” inches then each turn a check would have to be made to see it he had been wounded.

Looking down the French line in the foreground the French light cavalry, Elvina in the centre of the battlefield

From the other end the thin line of British defenders

Hope’s Brigade looks particularly isolated !

British reserves under Paget

As the battle starts with some preliminary artillery fire from the French would you believe it second turn John Moore fails his wound test and has to be carried from the field 😂 we then allowed Hope to take over as I believe he did historically leaving his brigade on the British left

The french fail a number of activation tests at the start, the cavalry seem reluctant to get moving

Eventually the french massed columns get moving towards Elvina

The British reserves start to move forward as well

The British invest the village of Elvina

But a small detachment of french light infantry get into the small church, the British guards charge forward to through them back out…

The British reserves now pull up onto the ridge

The french start to surround the village

Despite the ferocious charge of the guards the french hold the church and the British are in danger of being outflanked

The french are pushing into the village, but the small stream and the defended terrain hamper the advance, the British fight tenaciously

The french now push around Elvina making for the ridge

But they are held back on the left

On the far right of the french line it has taken ages to force their way across the stream under fire and they can’t close with the defenders

British light cavalry from the reserve charge across the ridge catching some of the French in column

And on the left the french cavalry finally get a charge in but make little impact

The french are now pushing onto the ridge and through Elvina

And finally on the french right they break across the stream and the heavily outnumbered defenders of Hope brigade start to break, true to form only the Highlanders hold

The fight for the ridge, the British desperate now, throw the already exhausted and shaken foot guards into to combat

The french have captured one of their objectives the hills at the back of Peidralonga

The french though have failed to make any impact on the left, again true to form the broken ground has prevented the french cavalry making any impact

In the centre the ridge is being contested although the French have taken the village. At this point we came to our time limit. It felt pretty much like a draw although perhaps the French have the advantage and are still pushing forward.

A good battle and nice to get the Peninsular collection out on the table. I was keen to see if we could recreate larger battles with some sense of scale and this seemed to work out ok 👍

A bit of painting this week mainly completing italian forces for Sicily

Two captured French tanks handed over to the Italians by the Germans. A repainted R35 and an R39

An M13/40 Armato light tank, you will note nones of the tanks have any markings this was because I couldn’t find the decal sheet, but it finally turned up at the weekend so I will apply a few markings later

And the Italian infantry who were partly painted, four squads of infantry. A mix of uniforms as they had supply problems at this point in the war, the Italians saw combat this weekend but more of that later ?

Thanks as always for popping by, only three battles to catch up on now 🙂

Matt ♥️