Sunday 11 July 2021

Battle of Long Island : AWI Von Heister Attack

 This is our second scenario covering this battle. Whilst Grant ‘demonstrated’ against Stirling see our battle here  https://wargamesinthedungeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/battle-of-long-island-1776.html) General Howe famously took the bulk of his British troops on a flanking march to the East through one of the undefended passes through the Heights. Von Heister was ordered with his Hessian troops to assault the centre of the Heights to keep forces under Sullivan pinned down. The agreed signal for the assault was a cannon shot but it seems this was delayed allowing many of the American forces to pull back to Brooklyn. The map below shows our Battle One in Yellow and today’s second scenario in Blue.

Interestingly I found the sketch below although pretty hard to glean much info from this ?
Jon had once again done the hard work creating the scenario map below accompanied by the detailed orders of battle.
Obviously we were waiting for my Hessians before we could do this battle, but like so often happens I now realise I need to have at least one unit of Hessian Musketeers , oh well we made do but another unit to collect and paint 😀 the hard life of a wargamer
Here is the battlefield converted to the table. The American forces in place behind their abatis. I am not sure Jon’s source but he had deliberately left a gap in the western pass so this was faithfully reproduced on the table. The escarpments are impassable, the woods provide cover. I added a few fences and small buildings on the assumption that the area close to the village of Flatbush would be beginning to be farmed and populated by this date.
Sullivan with Little’s, Hitchcock’s and Knowlton’s continentals those American unit with Flags are classed as veterans
Chester’s Veterans manning the defences and in the woods Allen’s PA  Riflemen
Von Heister’s force arrives from the south, they must enter on the road but can then deploy out required.
The jägers in skirmish formation and British combined light infantry spread out whilst the artillery takes up a position on the road, the main Hessian infantry then brings up the rear, ready for the final assault ?
One unit of jägers moves to the left flank drawing fire away form the main column, the Continentals behind the abatis immediate open fire
Sullivan realises that his position is not as strong as he had hoped and dithers slightly on which hole to plug
The British artillery opens up
There is firing now all along the line
 whilst the cannons are not devastating they gradually inflict damage on Sullivan’s force
Allowing the main infantry to begin advancing towards the defences
The 42nd Highland Regiment have been ordered to pin the Americans on the right flank (I also need to get a unit of Highland infantry !) and they exchange fire for much of the battle with Chester’s command neither side really having much impact
Eventually under combined artillery and skirmish fire one of Sullivan’s regiments is forced back
Despite being at half strength the jägers who are better shots cause considerable damage
To the sound of drum beats the Hessians advance, they won’t be taking any prisoners
Spotting the gap they charge through successfully charging the defenders, Sullivan himself is lucky to escape, and at the same time the three unit of defenders wavers and pulls back (the Americans rolled a double 1 morale check !)
Sullivan forced back
Manages to rally his command
and the grenadiers who are isolated due to their exuberant charge are attacked with fire from all sides.
Suddenly the Americans who looked beaten are back in the battle
Then one of the rallied regiments changes it’s mine a flees the field
Having been blasted with a volley from the Hessian second unit
The jägers are now upto the defences and causing annoying casualties, until they too are temporarily forced back
The British light infantry is now also through the gap, although they are down to half strength 
The artillery continues to blast away at targets in range although as Sullivan pulls back they move out of range
Finally Sullivan fails a morale check and pulls back off the battlefield (flees) back to Brooklyn
The last few Americans stay but they know it is only a matter of time as more enemy troops advance
Making a dash for safety Chester’s command
They are given a volley from behind to speed them on their way
Even on the right the Scott’s have advanced to the defence
Von Heister has taken the field destroying the defenders or forcing them to retreat
Finally the artillery falls silent with no more targets

A very fun game, we both thought the British had failed their initial assault and the Americans would be able to hold out, but things gradually turned around. Then it looked like the British were over stretched. In the end according to the specific it was 11 to 7 in favour of the British so a clear victory but far from one sided even though at the end the Americans had been mainly eliminated. We are now deciding how we might complete the battle with a third scenario ? There is clearly something in the withdraw back to Brooklyn which would make a nice final challenge.

32 comments:

  1. That's another win for the British and their Allies, which is great to see after so many American wins! As always the table and figures look great and the scenario works really well. Looking forward to the next game with a fighting withdrawl type scenario in the offing?

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    1. Thanks Steve ….nice to get a victory and yes the final episode in our Long Island battle will be a fighting withdrawal by the Americans. The Maryland 400 perhaps ?

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  2. Matt, you present an outstanding account of the action with super game photos too. This was a very exciting battle in which the Americans had great difficulty getting their troops to stand and fight. At first, though, I thought Sullivan's defenders would cut your attack down before it could close. Not to be! We were awed by the advance of your beautiful Hessians.

    Scrapping the suggested R&P point totals of about 24pts per side, we are learning how to construct a historical match wherein the attackers have a good chance of pulling out a victory. In this battle, attacker numbers were boosted about 60%. That seemed about right.

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    1. Very kind Jon as we know it was closer than the results might suggest. History paints the Hessians in a bad light for putting some of the American prisoners to the sword, not quite sure what the equivalent in wargaming terms is ?

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  3. A welcome thrashing for the ungrateful upstarts in the colonies! God save the King! Grand looking game too Matt!

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    1. Thanks David, you’ll be glad to know the Hessians are all sturdy metal chaps and perhaps that is why they performed so well ?

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  4. Fantast8c game, loved the ebb and flow

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  5. Another stunning looking game, Matt, thanks for sharing. Some horrible morale rolls for the Yanks, looking forward to a third fight.

    V/R,
    Jack

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    1. Thank you Jack, it is about time the Americans suffered a bit after all the revolution would have ended very soon had they won all these victories ?

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  6. A lovely looking game Matt…
    And an enjoyable write up.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly glad to provide a small diversion 👍

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  7. Matt, thanks for all the photographs, it is a nice table to set a narrative against. The barricades look great and that picture of the battlefield makes quite a statement about the high ground.

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    1. Thank you Norm for following it through. As far as I know the terrain today is much less pronounced but we can assume it was a fairly pass at the time of the battle.

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  8. Another great game, and that picture of the battlefield makes the terrain look quite rugged and only partially tamed.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence…the terrain is somewhat different today !

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  9. Great looking game and hurrah for the newly painted Hessians!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain , at least the hessians were able to make a showing !

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  10. Wonderful images of beautifully painted AWI troops and terrain as well, Matt. Always inspiring to see.

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    1. Thanks Dean a much more colourful and interesting period than most people think 👍

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  11. Splendid stuff as per, Matt. The crown must have opened its purse wide for those Hessians, they are truly showing their mettle or should that be metal🙂

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    1. Thanks Phil……we’ll se how many survive before we pay them !

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  12. Another great scenario Matt and nice to see the Brits (and Krauts!) get a win! Seems like some of the luck fell to the Hessians this time. I look forward to seeing what scenario you guys come up with fir game number three!

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    1. Thanks Keith it was certainly nice for the ‘brits’ to get a win in. We are looking for a third scenario to round off our Long Island battle, likely to involve the retreat of the Americans back towards Brooklyn

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  13. Very cool battle report and everything looks really grand too. You guys are doing a great job constructing scenarios as well. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew hopefully the next scenario will also be interesting ?

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  14. Awesome BATREP- enjoyed it thoroughly!

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  15. Cool AAR, as usual you’ve kept up a high standard presenting an interesting game.

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  16. A truly first class game. Brilliantly staged and sounds like great fun to play in. Your terrain and figures are beautiful.

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    1. Many thanks Mark ? Thanks for taking the time to comment 😀

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