The Battle of Breed’s Hill 1775

The scenario we played was from one I adapted from a back issue of Wargames Illustrated back in 2012. This gave fairly simple orders of battle which I then converted to our chosen rule set Rebels and Patriots. This is certainly a large game for a rule set primarily focussed at skirmish games. But in many respects the lack of tactical options faced by both sides at Bunker/Breed’s hill fits the rule set quite well I will put some more thoughts at the end on whether this worked or not.

As a virtual game and given the table was effectively 8 x 5 feet I increased the technology using three different camera views enabling Jonathan to swop between them, his feedback indicates this worked pretty well, Jonathan has shared his ‘remote’ thoughts on the battle here http://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.com/2021/03/battle-of-bunker-hill.html#comment-form

As every good scenario we had a number of special rules to try and reflect some of the historical elements in the battle. All possibly bar one of these worked really well and made an active impact on the game. I covered the general setup position in the video in the last post.

So on to the action.

One of the many maps available on the web showing the essential details of the battle which are well documented

Having read a number of scenarios I managed to get the majority of the features onto the battlefield, we played with a fairly historical set up with units deployed as above

The American militia have been busy through the night constructing a formidable redoubt on the top of Breed’s Hill it is now manned by Dr Joseph Warren and a mix of Massachusetts Militias

Colonel Putnam is closer to the Mystic River where Reed and Stark’s militia have strengthened the rail fences with stones

General Howe in the centre of the British line orders the British line forward, after all it seems unlikely the rebels will stand against British grenadiers, surely they will turn and run

British artillery on Morton’s hill the guns are hampered by a short supply of the correct ammunition

Closer to Charlestown the the 47th Regiment of Foot and the 1st Marine Battalion must wait to arrive as the first wave of British reinforcements

Local rebels in the town of Charlestown prepare to take pot shots at the British as they advance towards the redoubt

Colonel Prescott’s men prepare to receive the advancing British. 

To the sound of drums the 38th and 43rd Regiments of Foot march forward, confident 

On the British right flank light infantry is sent to assault along the mystic river

Supported by the 5th and 52nd Regiments of Foot

The British redcoats advance, but still no shot from the defenders, perhaps they are shaking too much to load the British soldiers laugh to themselves

and to boost their confidence the British guns open up as well

Waiting till they can see ‘the whites of their eyes’ the Rebels hold their fire as long as possible, they are also aware they have limited cartridges.

As the smoke clears the British line staggers !

They form line and start to fire back but uphill into the breastworks the shots have little impact, the British on the other hand are in the open and Pigott’s Flank Battalion is already shaken and forced to pull back

The British are bogged down and many haven’t reached the base of the main hill

Not surprisingly the grenadiers are made of sterner stuff and charge up the slope, only to find the rebels rather than fleeing have waited for their advance to release a withering volley into their faces.

In the distance the grenadiers are at the redoubt but other regiments are pinned at the base

Finally general Clinton is able to lead the first British reinforcements forward in support

On the right the light infantry are now engaged with Stark’s Militia, they are supported by the 5th Foot, the 52nd having already fled to the rear.

But then the single American artillery piece scores another direct hit and the 5th are broken as well, suddenly the British right flank is struggling to make headway

Back at the redoubt a fierce fight at close quarters

The grenadiers have cleared the breastworks of defenders

And charge in, but they are already weakened and dangerously isolated. Surely this hand to hand combat will force the rebels to flee, gen Howe waves on form the edge of the redoubt.

The British line just isn’t making any headway and on the left flank they are bogged down firing at the locals in Charlestown

Form bad to worse with General Howe up at the redoubt there are no officers on the right and the light infantry come under tremendous fire and are forced to pull back

This is the state of the British morale at this stage. 

The grenadiers have been forced back out of the redoubt but they are not broken and they prepare to charge again

The final British reserves the 63rd Foot arrive at the battlefield horrified by the carnage which meets them

The main British attack is stalled at the base of the hill, they rally fire and then are staggered again and shaken

Perhaps the 63rd can make a difference

The grenadiers having been routed, General Howe has joined the nearest Regiment and leads them up to the redoubt for the assault, perhaps now they can break through

Running low now on ammunition the Americans realise that even without bayonets a musket makes a good club and with a cheer they jump the redoubt to assault the Redcoats

General Howe is forced to retreat again

Nothing if not brave the 63rd march forward to the assault, bayonets fixed, this time, this time they will break !

The Rebels are forced back into the redoubt

 Hearing the the cheers from the redoubt more American skirmishers and infantry begin to arrive, they sense a famous victory

Even with limited ammunition the Americans find one more volley and the 63rd are also staggered back

Sensing the time is right Joseph Warren orders some of the men from the redoubt to try and flank the British 

General Howe dismayed by the belligerent defence of the Americans pulls back from the attack and rides back to the boats, the redcoats have been incredibly brave, following orders to the letter, pushing in attack after attack but the order to carry out a frontal assault was clearly flawed

In the final seconds of the battle the 63rd continue to fight but soon pull back as well.

A cheer goes up along the breastworks all the way down to the Mystic river the British are beaten, the shout goes out 

INDEPENDENCE INDEPENDENCE !

Some hours later when the British have withdrawn and allowed to collect their wounded Colonel Prescott the hero of the day and the defender of the redoubt leads a victory march into Charlestown, a strong message has been sent to the king and a significant step made towards independence. 

So an excellent battle very hard fought with no quarter on either side some thoughts.

Rebels and Patriots worked well at this scale, I think the battle took about 3 1/2 hours to play through. It is hard not to think the battle wasn’t slightly one sided and could this be the fault of the rules. Units formed up are slow, well they would have been, defending is much easier, it was, the extra rules we employed to represent reduced ammunition worked brilliantly after 6 rounds the Americans gradually started to fail to shoot but they still managed to get 1 or 2 key volleys off. The British were stronger in combat but by the time they reached the redoubt they were already staggered and weakened. The local skirmishers were annoying but should have been ignored. Two things that chance controlled were the repeatedly poor British morale rolls, but I can square this with the idea of marching in line up hill into a hail of musket fire my morale would be shaken ! Secondly the American artillery which was rated ‘green’ I think might have only failed to fire once or possibly twice and on the British right flank with the advance a long way in the open it crippled the British right before it started. Of course we set up deliberately with as close to historical setup as possible and what we got was a tremendous historically accurate depiction of what the British faced. Back in 1775, the only difference being back then the third final assault managed to break through.

Hope you enjoyed the battle it was great fun to plan, set up and play.....real wargaming fun 👍

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