Monday 28 October 2024

The Battle of Bennington August 1777 : American War Independence

This weekend saw a return to our ongoing AWI campaign. We have reached 1777 and the battle of Bennington. Despite its fairly small size perhaps only involving 3000 troops in total it is considered something of a turning point in the War. As such there is quite a bit of information on the battle on line and some beautiful illustrations of the battle.

Here the Hessian defenders in the Redoubt come under hand to hand conflict.
A period sketch of the battlefield which is quite confusing
and another more simple interpretation. For our game using Rebels and Patriots the battle is ideal with a wide range of troops and units on both sides. 
Our setup, I had roughly worked out the points for the two forces giving the American attackers a bit of an advantage about 20% more. The river is crossable but would hamper line infantry, not skirmishers. In the end I gave the Americans only one commander General Stark and with the wide deployment this was likely to give some activation challenges. The Hessian reserves would arrive on a reducing D6 roll with some randomness on their exact location on the flank. As the whole area is wooded and with a fairly large battle I removed the cover bonus for troops in the woods, but those in the earthworks and skirmishers would still get a cover bonus. One final bonus for the Rebels Warners’ command would be allowed to move D6 onto the table at the start.
Allied Canadians manning the earthworks at the bridge, the rest of the Allied force on the road or in the redoubt.
Stark advances across the bridge
The Canadians return fire and the Americans are initially thrown back
Dismounted Dragoons in the redoubt have little to do, but the cannon opens up and starts to weaken the attack by Nichols’ command
Who are advancing through the woods
Initially the Americans suffer multiple activation fails but the Allies can’t quite break the attack
Still the Americans advance
Warner is now across the river and the Allies are desperately hoping their reserves  will arrive soon
Both sides have Native troops supporting them and they end up in hand to hand combat in the woods
The attack from the right has been disrupted so the troops spread into the field
The Americans are mainly across the river now and Warner is advancing along the road
There has been a fierce fight at the redoubt with the Americans thrown back but now Stark is pushing across the bridge
Finally the Hessian reserves arrive, but the Americans fire two dramatic volleys throwing them immediately back
A second round of combat at the bridge and the Canadians finally break, allowing the Americans into the earthworks
Baum is now faced with the choice pull back to the redoubt or charge with his Grenadiers to retake the earthworks by the bridge ? No choice at all really in they go, the initial combat goes their way and they retake the works, but the grenadiers overrun and follow up, and in the second round of combat Baum is killed ! Ouch a really bad roll by me !
Baum dead in the earthworks 🙁
The Americans are starting to get the upper hand now
and numbers are starting to count as the Americans close in on the redoubt
More Americans moving over the bridge
With the reserves driven off by Warners’ units on the road the battle is up for the Hessians. An American win…..

A fun and difficult battle the sign of a good scenario is when both commanders think they are losing all the time and it certainly felt like that for both sides here, even if the result eventually went with the larger American force after the Hessian reserves were driven back in one turn.

A couple of painted units this week, other stuff hasn’t been finished yet….
Early war BEF mortar which has been in the queue for a while
and a Psyker for my Tallarn force.

That’s it for now, I’m off to London for a few days so no gaming for a bit

Thanks as always for checking in Matt







27 comments:

  1. That came across as a very finely balanced scenario, and the 20% numbers advantage to the Continentals seems fair enough. Very enjoyable.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence it certainly felt close during the battle until my reserves were ruthlessly beaten back. Then the numbers counted for the Americans 🥲

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  2. Great to see your AWI campaign with Jon back on the table Matt, although from the Crowns point of view, seems like it has started where it finished up, with the Americans in the ascendancy!

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    1. Thanks Keith sorry I couldn’t furnish the allies with a win, perhaps next time ?

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  3. Great to see the campaign back underway and what a battle

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  4. A cracking continuation of the campaign indeed!

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  5. Another fine game, have fun in London

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    1. Thanks Martin…….will try and have fun. But I’m basically down to decorate and do jobs on the house and it needs a lot of work !

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  6. Great game and lovely table. Too bad for Baum, unlucky dice.
    I like the troops and the psycher.

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    1. Many thanks Joe…as it happens I read the battle account after the event and discovered he was mortally wounded historically which I hadn’t known, so perhaps the gods were against me

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  7. Great looking game Matt, the table looks superb. Good battle to do as there is not too many troops but a challenging one for both sides. No luck with the dice and a good win for the Continental army. Your new additions look grand as well, the BEF stand is particularly goos.

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    1. Thanks Donnie, it certainly works as a large R&P skirmish game. I’m not so worried about the result as long as the contest is close

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  8. Another lovely game and scenario there Matt and yet another American win! A turning point in the campaign? Great work as always on those newly painted units. Enjoy London!

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    1. Thanks Steve certainly the Americans are on for the campaign win. I suspect as Jon has mentioned that despite lots of careful thought there is a tiny home and away bias in the scenario designs ? Although even though the British do seem to lose I often feel they could have turned things around.

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  9. A grand extension to your AWI campaign! Enjoy Lawnden!

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    1. Thanks David…..down in London mainly decorating and doing house jobs for my son ….the Wong kind of paint brush !

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  10. Thanks for the game, Matt! Yes, I think we both thought the battle lost until the tide turned on T7. I thought you had me until T7 when the colonists finally had a turn of fortune. I don't recall a game wherein I failed so many Activation Rolls. While I was not making much progress taking ground, I did slowly erode your strength. Baum, leading the grenadiers, made one too many charges as victors leapt over the barricades in pursuit. Splattering your reinforcements with two devastating volleys was a shock to me too.

    Good game and a pleasure to be back at your handsome table.

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    1. A very enjoyable game what ever the result 🙂

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  11. A cracking looking and sounding game Matt…
    It looked like a perfect sized action for Rebels and Patriots…
    Lovely new additions as well…

    All the best. Aly

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  12. great looking game as always and seems like the scenario was crafted well. 😁

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  13. Looks like a great game and fantastic looking table. I have just taken the plunge and bought 2 AWI 6mm Baccus armies.

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  14. Another cracker Matt the 20% increase seems about right. we played our first outing using the 10mm, thanks for the scenario;-)
    Cheers
    Stu

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