Battle of the Clouds : American War of Independence 1777

After slightly too long we resumed our AWI campaign. Following Brandywine, the British camped around Chads Ford. Then chased the American Rebels east and North. 

The two armies moved roughly parallel to each other eventually ‘bumping’ into each other in Chester County. Where the so called Battle of the Clouds took place. Historically it was really only a small skirmish across two locations.

Most of the battlefield is built over today but apparently a number of historical buildings still exist. I enlarged the skirmish slightly to make it a worthwhile battle with R&P. 

In our battle the Americans have been caught strung out and need to move their baggage (three wagons) off the table at the far left corner. The wagons can’t be shot but can be assault, must stay on the road and be activated as normal moving 12”. British in a fairly historical position will look to cut the road. The weather played a key factor in the historical battle with a huge thunderstorm effectively spotting the battle when every bodies powder became wet. We would roll for the rain from the end of turn 4 the rain would then increase until no shooting was possible and only hand to hand combat. The heavy rain would also slow the movement of the wagons.

The rebel wagon train strung out on the road

The Hessians with their jaegers on the parallel road

Quickly the battle develops as the wagons begin to move off, the Hessians open a worrying fire to slow the Rebels. In the far distance the British under the command of Cornwallis are looking to cut the wagons off

The boot tavern

The rebels continue to move off to the East

And drive the jaegers back temporarily 

With a number of double 6 activations the British get unit units of reinforcements

At this stage the  Americans are progressing well. With only a couple of failed activations with the wagons

The bulk of the American force is concentrated in the fields along the road holding the British back for as long as they can 

The American skirmishers have been driven back

Still the battle rages as the weather changes and the skies open, the rain initially half the effectiveness of all shooting

With the reduced effect of shooting the British light infantry are able to charge down the road and successfully knock out the Rebel cannon.

As the rain continues the British grenadiers break out looking to give the rebels cold steel

And then the thunderstorm really gets going and all shooting becomes ineffective

The grenadiers charge across the open ground and almost wipe out the first regiment they hit driving them back down the road, the wagon is also now stuck in the mud.

The last volley of the battle from the Americans, they have managed to get two wagons to safety before the rain set in

Now Cornwallis pushes all the British forward determined to catch the last wagon, redcoats push down the road and the grenadiers despite being shaken charge in again

The shame of it the grenadiers in their weakened state are thrown back

The battle has now become very tight, the wagon is making very slow progress and the Americans are getting very shaky.

The British spot an opportunity to capture the enemy General to throw the whole American army into chaos

Washington is now surrounded and the Americans desperately try to save him whilst the wagon refuses to activate in the mud

A final charge from the British and Washington is in trouble

Washington somehow manages to survive the assault but is driven back over the fence broken, one more turn will see him captured or better killed but at this point the Americans manage to activate the last wagon bringing the battle to a close.

A really fun and furious battle, very close right to the end, it really was close but the British missed their chance. The thunderstorm and the loss of shooting added a real twist. If the rain had come any earlier the Rebels would have struggled. Thanks Jon for a great battle.

Tomorrow I’m back to ECW and then all being well another CoC battle with George and then Saturday a trip to the Battleground wargame show. Not running a game this year just attending as Joe Public but if anybody is going and wants to say high let me know. So a busy hobby week.

I’ve been wrestling with the next ECW cavalry regiments as they are bit fiddly to stick together. I also discover I have some more warlord plastic cavalry I had forgotten about so in total possibly 5 more cavalry units to paint and about the same infantry if you don’t include the rest of the Scottish. I’ve also picked up secondhand a few extra bits to make some baggage/camp markers as these seem to play an important part in ECW battles.

Thanks as always for passing through 

Matt ♥️