Wednesday 11 August 2021

Shoemakers Farm : Battle of Long Island AWI

Many of you will already have seen Jonathan (and Phil’s) blogs about his Shoemaker Farm scenario. Myself and Phil had the pleasure of playing the game on Sunday evening. The tech worked smoothly showing what is possible in this virtual world. Needless to say it was a very enjoyable game and a nice way to spend the evening thank you Jonathan for putting in the effort to set this up.

Anyway I took a few screen shots of the game really just to outline my British strategy and how it unfolded.

The American rebels have taken up a defensive position in Shoemakers Farm on the high ground and on the left in the corn field. With 4 roughly equal sized brigades my plan was to send two brigades straight towards the bridge, this would include my combined Grenadier units. One of my smaller brigades has been sent towards the Farm itself but will hold its position until the fourth brigade who are being sent on a outflanking move to the right.
A few moves into the battle and the main British assaults have gone in, the grenadiers are supporting the left but the other brigade has taken a real hammering getting across the river. With the flanking move in position the main assault to take shoemakers farm is also in full swing hitting them form the right and the front.
Again a further couple of moves and the left is looking good. But the defenders of the farm are putting up an extremely tough resistance. Eventually the farm is taken at the sharp end of a bayonet. 
This was the position at the end of the battle, when the Americans realised that to hold off a complete defeat they needed to start to withdraw. The British have done well on the right and the left, pushing the Americans back. But somehow the militia holding the heights are still clinging on, our feeling was they might go at any time but they have bought the rest of their army time to escape. A British victory which was confirmed when Jon added up the points but the butchers bill has been very high.
A final shot from the side camera, showing Jon’s excellent AWI collection.

So a very fun game hard fought. It does show that remote gaming when the tech is working well is potentially more than just a substitute for face to face gaming. The game has even got me thinking about hex based games as there is some benefit reducing the measuring element etc… I am likely to be looking into this in the near future as I have a couple of collection which could get some more table time using this approach.

One final thank you to Jon for setting this up 👍 I am sure we will be having more games in the future.



16 comments:

  1. Outstanding British strategy and battle recap! I enjoyed seeing the development of your plan and putting into work on the game table.

    Your two guard regiments working in tandem with support really pushed the rebels back on the left. Almost pushed clear off map! I ss less sure of you wide flanking maneuver on your right but they arrived in plenty of time to stop rebel reinforcements from reinforcing the farm in a decisive manner.

    You performed skillfully after that opening artillery barrage decimated your lead regiment while still in column. What were your thoughts at that point???

    Glad you enjoyed the game and the presentation. It was all great fun for me too. One interesting aspect of these three battles is that the players have an overall view of the battle and can snap photos from that perspective while I can see the action as it resolves closer to ground level. I think that dual perspective is useful.

    I appreciate your encouragement and we can tackle another battle soon. Well, provided Phil is up for it!

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    1. Far too kind Jon in relation to my strategy but I am sure many officer during history has secured victory through luck. Fair to say when the 22nd I think it was were wiped out crossing the bridge my eyes started to water. No doubt a cheer went up later when we were able to put the artillery to the sword.

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  2. A most enjoyable game Matt, it was nice to be able to sit back and concentrate on the game without having to move stuff and remember rules. The no nonsense rules helped too I thought. A third and costly victory to the British. Certainly up for another bash.

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    1. a tough fight …what next I wonder ?

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    2. Definitely looking forward to playing again perhaps next weekend ?

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  3. Glad to read that the game had the desired result in that the ungrateful Colonials were beaten!

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    1. Don’t tell him but I think I am getting to know Phil’s style 😀

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  4. That makes it three out of three for the Brits, but always at a pretty heavy cost......long term, I can't see us holding on the Colonies, unfortunately!

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    1. It didn’t feel so easy in the game I have to say…..and a costly victory indeed

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  5. Replies
    1. Jon can take the credit of course, but it does have me developing some ideas around hexes !

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  6. A nice account to read on top of Jonathan's. I suspect the rules (along with the host and technology) play a large part in the success of remote games. If they are accessible enough it must make the game easier to run and leave the players more time to concentrate on tactics rather than having to constantly look up text, tables and charts.

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    1. Confidence and competence in both technology and rules are important factors for success remote games, I think. My account of Matt and Phil's battle go up on the blog tomorrow.

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