Bennington continued – the relief column...
Hello, Following on from ‘Some Bennington Pictures’ posted in January - and faced with my regular opponent being on holiday I thought I’d have a solo bash at the attack on Breyman’s relief column that arrived too late to help Baum... The Relief Force This is quite a small engagement so I played it at 1:10, (as with the earlier Bennington): My table is metric so it is 6’7” x 3’11+1/2” and I am in the happy position of being able to leave it in situ so this was played out at a very leisurely pace over the three evenings last week and finished on Saturday pm... more leisurely than necessary, but I took notes and... some pictures :wink: Turn 1: Starting orders could not be changed until turn 2, the first casualty was to skirmish fire from the Light Infantry, while the Green Mountain Boys enfilading fire caused DP’s only. Barner's Light Infantry Skirmishers Turn 2: The militia managed to roll ‘double 6’ on movement and crashed into the rear of Warner’s Brigade – DP’d all round. Breyman changed to Engage orders, deployed the artillery and split the Grenadiers into two wings. Vermont Rangers and Militia Turn 3: The Militia suffer Loss-of-Nerve during the change-orders roll and revert to Hold instead of Engage. Both Grenadier wings picked up a DP Riedesel/ Prinz Frederich by movement die and Rhetz/Specht while fording the river. The Green Mountain Boys rolled a ‘double6 ‘ enfilading Barner’s L.I causing seven casualties; the Risk-to-General resulted in Breyman being lightly wounded . But, the L.I pass their morale check. The Green Mountain Boys Turn 4: Warner moves to Assault orders, the three militia battalions are still stuck on Hold. Herrick – who has been following the crest of the ridge and is now on Breyman’s left flank – changes to Engage orders. Breyman also changes to Assault. More Vermont Rangers on Breyman's left flank Turn 5: The Militia yet again fail to change their orders from Hold. Warner’s Rangers declare a charge on Barner’s LI, but they take heavy fire after the initial movement and fail the morale-roll halting with DPs. The Grenadiers on Breyman’s right also declare a charge; against the flank of the Green Mountain Boys who are unable to manoeuvre without entering the river and picking up a third DP, they charge home forcing a retreat. The GMBs fail the subsequent morale test and remain in retreat. Meanwhile on Breyman’s left flank, Herrick has advanced in line and passed his morale test despite taking five casualties from one of the 6lbr’s. CHARGE! Turn 6: The completely inert militia fail to change orders again. Barner’s L.I reach 50% casualties, but the grenadiers have occupied the GMB’s position and roll ‘double6’ enfilading the Rangers who also reach 50% casualties. The risk-to-general-roll see’s Seth Warner’s horse shot from under him, but he carries on. The situation is critical. Both CinC’s are attached to battalions on 50% casualties facing each other. Warner sees that the GMBs are already in retreat just to his rear with the Grenadiers poised deciding if they will charge him or the GMBs again next turn. Whereas, Breyman’s knows that if Barner is forced to retreat he has only skirmishers on his left and the Grenadiers will be exposed on his right, the other Grenadier wing is engaged with Herrick and unable to assist. It looks like the moral-roll will be decisive. Barner’s L.I (needing an adjusted roll of 3 to hold their position without further casualties) roll a net 2... But, Warner is in the same position... he rolls a net 4... BUT only because the GMBs had just passed their own test so were no longer in retreat over his shoulder AND because Barner had just gone into retreat to his front, without those adjustments he would also have been net 2 and forced to retreat! The Crown Forces centre collapses and the remnants make their escape. A Splendid Game, but above all SPLENDID RULES!!!! Thanks! The Final Throw of The Dice OB follows if anyone else fancies a bash: The Crown Forces are all in the same brigade so I classed Breyman as Average rather than Poor to compensate for the three American Brigade commanders. Crown Forces: Breyman (Ave) Barner’s Light Infantry Battalion 3x 2fig skirmishers + 24figs - can deploy as one battalion or split into two wings of 10figs, or one wing and the other in skirmish order. (Line) Breyman’s Grenadier Battalion 32figs – can deploy as one battalion or can split in to two wings. (Line) 2x 6lb &six crew (2nd Line) Begin on Move orders in column on the road, three movement rolls (3x 2d5) from the table edge, the skirmishers and artillery (which is limbered) can be in the column, on the flanks or ahead. American Forces: Warner (Excellent) Warner: Green Mountain Boys 16figs (Line) Vermont Rangers 20figs (Line) Herrick: Vermont Rangers 20figs (Line) Hobart/Stickney/Gregg: Militia 3x16figs (Militia) There are far more American units slightly further back on the road from Bennington coming this way but we need not concern ourselves with them! Warner is on Engage orders and enters mid table length on the flood plain. Herrick is on Move orders and enters on top of the ridge from the narrow table edge. The militia are on Move orders and enter on the road at the narrow table edge. Table overview from 2/3 length looking up the Bennington Road - taken after the initial positioning of the forces. A ridge 12”-14” deep runs the (long) length of the table with a liberal sprinkling of trees. The river runs parallel to the road the entire length of the table and has a cost of 1DP to enter. Fields, fences and bushes have no effect. GJ

I've travelled this area quite extensively, and whilst subsequent human settlement and re-forestation has rendered it impossible to see much of the battlefield from any one location, your terrain is a very good tabletop representation of the local countryside at the river level. If I had to be picky, the ridge would be VERY heavily wooded, but given the cost of scale trees and the likelihood of the fighting spreading that far up the hill, not a biggy. All in all, spot on IMO. Much like Rall, Breymann has acquired a very poor reputation as a tactician, for no apparent reason other than an untimely death and a supposed reputation for being a bit of a martinet. I think your classification of him as average is more than justified in this case - after all, men weren't usually given command of a grenadier battalion (much less the entire Brunswick advance guard) for no good reason. In fact, whilst excellent would be a step too far, for the purpose of a regimental-level action like this, I would almost consider classing him as average-plus-a-bit. Overall, a lovely little game and great "eye candy". :D Do you use 28mm base sizes, as it looks like your figures are more widely spaced than, say, Giles' collection? The Brunswickers did adopt British-style open order formations, so it's not innaccurate.

Super battle report! The table and figures look fantastic. I spent some time in the NY/Vermont area recently. It is so very wooded, it is hard to imagine how anyone fought there. I think this is one more example how well the DP's play into the game. Were Barner's Light Infantry German Fusiliers? I couldn't quite tell from the pictures. Where did you get your fences, I love them? I have been looking for just the right wooden fences and have struck out so far. Mike B.

Thank you chaps; I shall reply separately to avoid the answers getting lost amongst all the words! RtL I know what you mean about the trees, the centre of the ridge is quite sparse, BUT! the ends were thicker! It is a purely visual thing and as long as Herrick picks up SOME DP's moving along the ridge their job is done. I don't (YET!) have eough Birch/Beech trees to fill it and didn't want to use inappropriate flora - which prevented me from using my apple-orchard or the vast array of xmas-tree pines I had in reserve in the 'Tree-Box' :) . (There are three willows next to the river too) I've been holding out for some Copper Beech but haven't seen any yet :( ... Trees are on the shopping list... On the subject of Breyman's rating I agree he does seem to have had a bad press: He can hardly be blamed for having his horse shot from under him by Warner's men if Philip Skene riding alongside is telling him that the men ahead are Loyalists... and the Grenadiers he cut down at Beamis Heights were running away and it probably was a bit too late to say 'would-you-mind-awfully...' The speed of his advance to relieve Baum is probably the thing he can be criticised most for, but the terrain is not terribly well suited, Baum ahead of him had not been much quicker and the weather was awful. Plus - I doubt that Skene had fully explained the urgency of the situation when sent back to request assistance. Whereas, the units at Stark's disposal were awash with more-than-able commanders. This probably explains why he produced such a complex plan of attack, if Stark had been presented with a bunch-of-duffers I get the impression he would have tried something simpler... But to have Stark himself plus Warner and Herrick - to name but three - is likely to make whoever is on the other side look less capable. I like the idea of Average-And-A-Bit, maybe allow +1 on the initiative roll (only on alternate turns?) but not the morale/DP removal benefits of an 'Excellent' rating? In the above action Breyman lost the inititative six times out of six, suggesting that (if I'd had a opponent) the coin would have decided that it was me playing as the Crown! As to the bases: These are standard 28mm size, but of course the figures are a bit smaller, I did try 18mm bases (tested by drawing them full size on paper - no expense spared!) but they just wouldn't quite fit I so went for 28. I think this works visually, and also means I can actually base in three ranks by making the base only 1cm deeper. I've done this with the French and the '2nd Line' Brunswicks. The basing-in-fives thing for the French seems physically complicated and the mental leaping involved in basing-four-but-counting-six must get a bit much in the evenings, so I knew I wanted the French in x3's. I did it to the Brunswick 2nd Line as shorthand to distinguish them from the 1st line units they would be alongside. It seems to work so far! The +1 for the dense target seems to get round the 'handier' frontage issue I've seen discussed elsewhere... The Brunswick Dragoons in the 'Some Bennington Pictures' post are in x3s. GJ

Hello Mike! I trust you will have seen RtL's response on Barner's LI, (we are lucky to have him!) so I shall simply reply to the fence question: I too got tired of looking for fences, so I made them... I saw a piece suggesting using wooden kebab skewers, but thought this too clunky even for 28mm, so I used cocktail sticks with the spikes sliced off. The bases are very thick (not less than 2mm) plastic card, it is a bu**er to cut, but once done it is utterly warp resitant, strong and light. I keyed it and added some quite coarse ready-mixed plaster. The rocks are from a bag of gardening-supplies type gravel. I will never need to buy gravel again - one bag is enough :lol: . The gravel is glued (woodglue) onto the plaster when it has nearly set, soft enough to be able to push them in a bit, just so they are not sitting on top of the earth. I painted the plaster brown and the rocks slate grey then light grey and dry brushed over with pale grey. Paint the cocktail sticks first - this is the WORST bit - and then cut the ends off, mid brown then pale brown and dry brushed pale grey. Leave the sliced ends unpainted. Then used a pin-vice drill to make holes for the cross pieces, wood glue them in and leave to set. When all the crosses are dry slot in the bars. I then repainted the base and added the flock to the wet paint. Job done. I used 9inch, 6inch and 3inch sections. Go for it! It is not quick, but if you grit your teeth and listen to some good music while you're painting the sticks three times it is not so bad!!! :twisted: GJ

RtL: This had not occured to me before, but is it possible that Brunswick copied Britain and sub-contracted their requirement - in that Barner's LI may not actually have been Brunswickers, but from another, or various other sources? This could explain their not coming from the existing Brunswick regiments... ? Are they known to have been Brunswick residents prior to serving?

GJ - I've never found any information on the unit other than this website:- http://home.ica.net/~claus/Page0.htm The site describes the unit as the "elite" of the Brunswick corps, but its lack of use in appropriate situations has always raised questions in my mind as to how good it was and where/how the men were recruited. That said, the page on the uniform says the unit was called "The Combined Battalion" though whether this is because it was musketeers and jaeger, or whether it indicates the provenance of the rank-and-file, is unclear. To answer your point, it's possible they were "foreign" but I think other Brunswick units stayed at home and its possible they could have been drawn from the "best" (ie quite possibly whoever the colonel wanted out) of these units. From what I've read, they don't seem to have been taken from the units that did go to America. I've put in a question along these lines to the website of the Canadian re-enactment unit that portrays them, but it's come back as undelivered which is worrying. I'll try again and post whatever comes back.

Excellent write up and photos GJ. I have always regarded 20mm as the ideal wargaming scale but gave up on that in the 70's with the domination of 15mm and 28mm. Having spent decades building up predominantly 15mm armies blissfully unaware of the growth of 20mm plastics it came as a very pleasant surprise recently to discover just how wide that range now is. I cannot face to replace my 15mm figs so have taken the opportunity of starting to build AWI forces in 20mm which is one of those periods I have intended to wargame. Your photos have confirmed I have made the right decision and my first units are starting to form. Well done for posting these and look forward to seeing more in the future.

All the scales have something to be said for them and it largely comes down to a matter of personal taste. There are gaps in the 1/72 ranges (Queens Rangers, Highlanders, Spanish, British in campaign dress...), but there are far fewer gaps than there used to be AND there are gaps in ALL ranges. The smaller scales (6/10mm) allow BIG engagements in a modest space or modest engagements with LOTS of figures whereas the larger 25/28mm figures are obvioulsy oozing with character and detail. They are all valid. I would have to quibble a bit about 2mm - can't see the point of that but: 1/72 certainly works for me! GJ