General de Brigade

[Ezza]

Having recently moved home and during the unpacking I discovered, nestled amongst a stack of CD's, the computer game Campaign 1776 that I must have bought a few years ago.

The blurb on the back of the box is a bit over the top;

"In the late 1700's, the 13 British colonies in America decided to do something incredible; declare their independence from their King and country. The resulting struggle would put the most powerful country in the world against this rebellion. The outcome would decide the fate of the world."

As you can see from the game screenshoots at
http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/products/RifMusk/1776/1776.html the game looks similar to the American Civil War Battleground series. The advertised price of the game is $49.95, but I seem to recall buying it from eBay for a lot less.

Included are over 40 scenarios and 4 campaigns, thereby providing plenty of scope for creating BG scenarios. Each scenario comes with a unit orbat for each side, so let me know if you want the orbat for any of the scenarios.

Ezza

[Gentleman Johnny]

Hello Ezza,
As you say a bit excitable on the box-back! Computer game graphics have obviously moved on a bit recently... but 40 is a lot of scenarios and the inclusion of a lot of what-if's is interesting. But, does Clinton's Bunker Hill plan produce a good game ?
Go on then... for comparison (with my own) lets have a look at their Bennington scenario(s) OB(s)...
GJ

[Ezza]

Hello GJ,

The scores on the doors for the Bennington scenario's are as below. Note that a unit with a 0 next to it's strength is part of the scenario but are not available from the first turn. So if you want these strengths I will have to play through the scenario until they arrive.

Historical Bennington

Historical American

Total strength for Turn 1 is 1039 men

Stark's Militia 289
Nichol's Militia 250
Henrick's Militia 301
Stickney's Militia 97
Hobart's Militia 102
Green Mountain Boys 0

Historical British

Total strength for Turn 1 is 565 men

Raiding Force

von Ludwig Dragoons 172
Jagers 50
Breyman Grenadiers 51
Light Infantry 48
Tories 98
Queen's Rangers 144
Artillery

Relief Force

Jagers 0
Breyman Grenadiers 0
von Barner Light Infantry 0
Artillery


The what-if Bennington scenario has the same orbat with the Relief Force arriving in an earlier turn.

How do they compare to the information you have at hand?

Regards,

Ezza

[Gentleman Johnny]

Thanks Ezza!
I've just rummaged out my notes...

I had (rounded out to get to BG! at 1:10) the following:

Crown Forces
In the redoubt:
Prinz Ludwig Dragoons 200 but I used 24figs plus a separate command base for Braun (but didn't include the few grenadiers)
& 1x 3lbr Hesse Hanau Art
At the bridge:
Frasers Marksmen 6
Jaegers 8
Peters Queens Loyal American Rangers (not Queens Rangers) 16
Canadians 4
Pfisters Loyalists 14
1x 3lbr
In the woods:
Indians 13
I left them in for colour and unpredicability and to give Herrick something to think about...
Relief Force
Breyman Gren Btn 32+command
Barner 24 +6skirmishers
2x 6lbrs Hesse Hanau Art

Americans
Stickley NH Militia 48 (24x2)
Hobart NH Militia 48 (24x2)
Gregg Vermont Militia 16 (Stark)
Brown Brekshire Milita 16 (Stark)
Manchester Vermont Milita 16 (Stark)
Mounted Milita 6
Nichols NH Milita 48 (24x2)
Herrick Vermont Rangers 16 + 8 Skirmishers

Flanking Force (Warner)
Green Mountain Boys 16
Vermont Rangers 20

I've already tweeked the numbers to get sensible sized units so the computer game is not really far off, my sources were (Aplhabetically!) : Novak, Osprey, RtL, Various. (!)
But the miss-identification of the Queens Rangers is problematic and quite misleading... and the American reserves have not been included which is why my Strark figure is higher...

How does it grade the units and is this compatable with the BG! approach?

GJ

[Ezza]

GJ,

The grading system can easily be transferred over to BG as units are rated from A (Elite) to E (Levy). The troops available at the start of the game are rated as shown below;

American

Stark's Militia B
Nichol's Militia B
Henrick's Militia B
Stickney's Militia B
Hobart's Militia B


British

Raiding Force

von Ludwig Dragoons C
Jagers B
Breyman Grenadiers B
Light Infantry B
Tories E
Queen's Rangers D

A bit of tweaking required for unit ratings, methinks.

Ezza

[Ezza]

GJ,

The labelling of Peters Queens Loyal American Rangers as Queen's Rangers could be down to the limited space available to show unit names.

But then perhaps they should have considered listing the unit as Peters Rangers, Loyal Rangers or similar to avoid confusion.

Ezza

[Gentleman Johnny]

Hello Ezza,
The reduction in size of the militia units may be an intentional reduction to prevent an instant 'streamroller' effect, or it may be that there are reinforcements available later in the scenario... and because of this I can see the scenario working at that size, but Stickney and Hobart would only have 10 figs each which isn't going to work well.
I am more concerned with the grading of the troops... to grade all the "Rebels" present effectively as 'Line' is a bit much. The much higher number of unit commanders also works in their favour
The grading of the PLD as 2nd Line may be an attempt to factor in their not being used to fighting on foot and carrying cavalry carbines as opposed to muskets... However, RtL suggested that due to their swords they should have a higher melee rating (and I agree with this wholeheartedly).
The Canadians wer ereluctant but there weren't many of them, Frasers marksmen (LI in the computer list) were hand-picked sharpshooters so should be elite, the same could be said for the jaegers. Pfisters Loyalists are probably right as Militia but the QLR shoudl be better than that...

I found the best way to game Bennington was to forget the log cabins and place the Loyalists all on the same side of the river as the redoubt than make the river unfordable - crossable only via the bridge - and to give Stark his full force so he doesn't really have space to deploy properly.

The 'Campaign 1776' scenarios have probably been tweeked to run with the games own engine and produce 'balance' which is a luxury not always available in the field!
That's not to say they might not be worth a bash though!

GJ