Yesterday Steve and I fought this Black Powder scenario out of the Rebellion supplement.
Its a tricky one because to reflect the problems of heavy fog causing disruption on the day, units can only pass their command roll on a 7 or less and a blunder occurs on the roll of an 11 or 12.
For the British, their command rolls go up to 9 when Cornwallis arrives with reinforcements but this can only happen after the British have started losing units and Cornwallis has to dice on or below the number of beaten British units using one D6.
Howe's British forces are on the table and the 40th Foot and two small light infantry units are well advanced when Sullivan's American forces attempt to come on. Kynphausen's British & Hessian brigade is just behind Germantown.
As the first of Sullivan's men come on, the advanced British units beat a retreat to close up with their brigade commander, Grant.
Until all of Sullivan's men have come on, Steve cannot dice to get Armstrong and Greene's brigades on. Once they are on, he can then dice for Smallwood's brigade to arrive on the British right flank and Alexander's brigade to come on behind Sullivan's brigade - hope you are following all of this !
The British are now organised and lined right across the table waiting for the American attack
Knyphausen decides to be a bit more aggressive and orders his men forward on the left of town
Sullivan's men are advancing just beyond Chew House
Grant has thrown a blunder and one British battalion which should have moved to occupy Chew House instead goes into Germantown !
So, instead, Grant manages to get one of the Light Infantry units to take Chew House before the Americans can
Knyphausen continues his advance despite American artillery causing some damage
Greene's American forces start to arrive on the left flank and one unit has already reached the ploughed field, facing the Queen's Rangers
Washington is up on the hill but is still blinded by the fog
The Queen's Rangers are ordered forward to oppose Greene's men
Knyphausen has backed off because more American troops are now facing him
but his Jagers are still harassing the approaching enemy
Steve has now thrown a blunder and against his wishes, an American battalion has charged Chew House !
The Americans are now pressing forward in numbers on their left - causing the Queen's Rangers to back off as they are heavily outnumbered
The Light Infantry have beaten the Americans at Chew House and they have routed off the field
Another blunder ! The Guards were supposed to march to the right flank to help the Queen's Rangers. Instead they are marching towards the enemy guns !
Al Murray, the local pub landlord thinks this is probably unwise
We now see the arrival of Smallwood's brigade on the American left
and Alexander's cavalry have advanced ahead of his infantry, heading for the left flank
as the Guards are intent on charging the enemy guns, Howe feels it necessary to support them with another line battalion and the light infantry
The Queen's Rangers continue their retreat as three enemy battalions advance on them
Alexander's infantry move over the hill and into the woods facing the centre of the British lines
The Guards have smashed the enemy artillery which has fled - as American battalions march past in the fog !
Howe has managed to get the Guards and their supporting troops to come back to the main line - but will the British right flank be turned ?
Now Knyphausen blunders ! Instead of moving forwards, his brigade goes right into Germantown
American cavalry charge the Queen's Rangers, having taken two casualties from closing fire
Knyphausen meantime is trying to sort his men out !
The Queen's Rangers have managed to score some hits on the lead American battalion
Their morale is high having already seen off the earlier American cavalry attack
American infantry are now moving through the woods so the attack is going to hit all along the line it seems
Knyphausen launched another attack on the left and forces back Sullivan's men in disorder
This must be the calm before the storm !
Sullivan's men have broken so now the Hessian Jagers turn their attention to Armstrong's militia
On the British right, the Light Infantry have evaded from the American advance as more enemy cavalry threaten the flank and the Queen's Rangers have been charged
Musket and cannon fire erupts all along the line as the Americans close in
The Americans are clearly pulling out on the British left - Knyphausen has done his job
The British Light Infantry manage to plug the gap at the end of the line from where the Queen's Rangers just broke, as the American cavalry charge
Initially staggered, the Light Infantry recover having seen off the cavalry attack
In the centre, the American infantry trade shots with the British line at close quarters
The Light Infantry have shot away the lead American battalion now
They really are punching above their weight on this flank !
Still the Americans refuse to charge in the centre, exchanging fire in the hope of breaking the British resistance
The American left flank has broken as word reaches them that the rest of their brigade has been beaten by Knyphausen
and an American battalion in the centre front line has also broken and run
Knyphausen continues to chase American units from the field
Steve is still determined that a big push in the centre will break the British
Grant's big American brigade has now broken and with that, any chance of Washington winning at Germantown.
Cornwallis has just arrived too and his lead battalion has shown on the right flank but the day is won.
A pretty big AWI battle this with 16 American battalions with 2 cavalry regiments up against 11 British battalions (12 if we include the late arriving one from Cornwallis).
The chaos caused by the fog made it frustrating for both sides too with blunders and failed command rolls happening all the way through the game - a novel twist to Black Powder.
