Battle of Klock's Field 1780 - Maurice

 

Background

In the fall of 1780 Lt. Col. Sir John Johnson, illegitimate son of the famous Sir William Johnson and commanding officer of the Kings Royal Yorkers, lead a raid into New York with the express purpose of razing the ripening crops in the valleys of the Schonharie and Mohawk rivers.  Joining him on this raid was his half-cousin Joseph Brant with his Mohawk followers, and Lt. Col. Walter Butler with his Rangers.  With the addition of some British regulars, Hessian jaegers and small independent companies, the total force numbered somewhere between almost 900 men.

New York Province was by no means universally in support of the rebellion.  In fact it is questionable if there were ever much more than half the population that could be counted as “patriots”.  Thus Johnson knew he could rely on Loyalist (a.k.a. Tory) sympathisers for information, supplies and even recruits.

Arrayed against the raiders were the various militia units of New York.  Training and uniforms were scarce for these men, but when they fought in a natural skirmishing style they performed better than their senior officers would have given them credit for.  They chased Johnson and his men up and down the valleys, in a deadly game of cat and mouse, gaining strength in numbers all the while.  This game came to a head at Klock’s farm late in the afternoon of October 19.

Van Rensselaer’s militia skirmished with Johnson’s force as it drew up behind a stream.  The better trained Loyalists stopped the Rebels in their tracks but were too distracted to detect a flanking movement through the wooded highland on their left.  The Tyron County militia, sneered at by Van Rensselaer, came pouring out of the bush and sent Johnson reeling back.  Darkness and exhaustion from constant marching prevented an effective pursuit and the Loyalists slipped back up the valley, their strategic mission of denying supplies to Washington’s army accomplished.

The Game Set Up

Rather than a standard deployment the nature of this battle was more of a chase.  The Loyalists aren’t interested in hanging about or advancing.  They need to be off with as much booty as they can carry, and burn what they can’t.  Accordingly, the game is played along the length of the table with the Rebels deploying within 12” of the eastern edge and Loyalists setting up anywhere within 2/3rds (48”) on from the western edge.  Just to ensure the Loyalists don’t just dash off the western edge, the victory points are determined by booty and destroyed foodstuffs.

Each barn burned (the large structures on the map) is worth 2 dice to the Loyalists.  Each razed house is worth 1D6.  The rebels get the same dice if the structures remain untouched.  To burn a house or a barn the Loyalists must commit a full unit and have them in contact for a full turn.  (Does it take unit to burn a house?  No, but it forces the Loyalist commander to make some hard strategic decisions.)

If you have the figures, throw in some of cattle that require herding.  (Pigs require herding as well).  Each animal requires a herder and both would move at the speed of infantry in line.  Escaping with a herd is worth 2D6, killing them is worth 1D6 and a recaptured herd is worth 2D6 to the Rebels.  Try the same thing with a waggon.

“Fort Nellis” is a stone house in which the local farm families have barricaded themselves.  They can’t shoot out but they can defend themselves.  Assume they are a Garrison.  (The Mohawks tried to storm a similarly fortified house down the valley and lost some men in the effort.)

Other structures cannot be occupied.  They provide wood protection to units behind them but otherwise don’t affect line of site.  (Unless you have very small models, these buildings will be way out of whack with the ground scale.)

US

Commander = Brig. Gen. Robert Van Rensselaer

9 Conscript Regular = Militia (32)

1 Irregular (Tyron) Militia (3)

National Advantages

Skirmishers – All irregular units may re-roll failed evasion attempts, may fire up to 6BW (9)

Notables

Col. Abraham Cuyler (Sir Theodore Creasey

44 points

British

Commander = Lt. Col. Sir John Johnson

3 regulars = Butlers, Converged Bn., Royal Yorkers (18)

1 gun (1)

1 irregular = Indians (3)

National Advantages

Steady Lads –All regular infantry re-roll combat die when defending (9)

Notables

Lt. Col. John Butler (Thomas Burgess)

Joseph Brant (Lavrenti Duklevich)

31 points

The battlefield with the Americans setting up on the right of the map

 This was our third game of Maurice and I wanted to try out the "Notables" section of the rules and see how flexible the game could be with a small scale scenario. Over the years I have collected various scenarios off the web and from other sources and so "dug out" one I had played previously with other rule sets and found gave an interesting game. The scenario by Mike Manning was originally designed for "Age of Reason", but I have rejigged the orbats to suit "Maurice".

To add some spice I decided to use some of the Notables to represent some of the junior commanders who led forces during the battle.

The set up with the American militia formed by the road along the first stream

 As you can see in the picture above the Americans massed their forces by the road intent on slowing the Loyalist Waggon train and hopefully turning the flank and cutting the Loyalist regulars off from their exit route back to Canada.

Colonel Butler commanding the regulars, busily burning down barns!

The Loyalist commanders were keen to amass points by destroying and capturing as much booty as they could before "bugging out". The way Maurice calculates the morale of a force based on the number of regular units it contains, the Loyalists could not afford to take many casualties, with only 4 morale points vs 8 for the Americans. In addition the card play only allows the commanders to carry out limited choices during their play and so the decision to rally units, move units or burn barns became critical as the game progressed. We played that a Loyalist unit had to declare it was burning a barn by remaining stationary during a march move next to the target building.

The New York and Albany State Militias prepare to advance with the Tyron irregulars operating in the woods

The American Commander found himself using up cards to close as quickly as possible on the Loyalists to stop their destruction and to slow their withdrawal down. Having to cross disordering terrain also caused occasional stops to re-dress the ranks.

Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Johnson oversees the Artillery and Indians also busy destroying barns

 Eventually the first decision point arrived as the militia closed in on the Indians and Artillery drawn up amongst the buildings near the road. The Loyalists had concentrated their card play on the regular infantry force and suddenly found their other group threatened. As they attempted to depart the militia let rip with couple of well aimed volleys wiping out the gunners and crippling the Indians under Brant before they could flee to the woods.

The militia close in for the kill

On the militia flank two units turned to line the fence facing Colonel Butler's units. The three Loyalist battalions moved immediately to deal with the threat and with Butler's ability to move his force in difficult terrain without the being disordered allowed his line to threaten to disrupt the militia advance.

Colonel Butlers forces prepare to engage the Rebels from the flank

However the militia were not to be intimidated for long, and after finishing off Brant's Indians, they let off another punishing volley against Butler's Rangers causing three disrupts and forcing a rally move by the Loyalists. With the destruction of their gun crews and Indian allies the Loyalist forces morale was reduced to one point. They needed to leave quickly.

As the musketry hots up the Loyalists prepare to depart whilst destroying field crops along their route

Colonel Butler ordered the withdrawal, but with his Rangers carrying a further three disrupts he arranged for them to lead off and sprinted for the table edge leaving the British combined battalion and the New Yorkers to bring up the rear. 

The race is on between Van Renesslaer's militia and Johnson's regulars

The race to get clear of the enveloping militias was on, and with both sides down to only a couple of cards in their hands, it was unclear who held the advantage. However as the first deck of cards was reshuffled and three new cards issued to the Loyalists who were forced to pass because of having used all their last hand, the Americans closed the retreat route off. The Brits would have to fight their way clear.

Cornered!!

The Loyalist infantry were carrying disrupts from their struggle to break free from the fields previously so were in bad shape to face off the militia. The first two volleys from the Americans sealed the game and with the destruction of the British combined battalion, Johnson's force broke.

The Loyalists prepare to fight their way out

This proved to be an intensely interesting and fun game with two well matched adversaries. The destruction points were close at 12 to the Loyalists and 16 to the Americans. If the Artillery and Indians had evaded destruction the Infantry could have put up more of a fight, and had the Indians fallen back earlier they may well have had a chance to be more destructive to property. Everyone really enjoyed the rules, good game.

Thanks to Martin, Andy, Ian and Steve for a fun afternoons gaming

Jon

Can you guess what it is yet?

Here is a photo of the initial purchases for our Christmas game.  Can you guess what we are doing?

There are 560 foot and 36 cavalry, seems like a reasonable mix to me.

Blackhawks Down

Andy explaining to Chas that, birthday or not, he is not taking number 343 home with him !

Black Hawks Down in Mogadishu - Force on Force

Hi all,

This weekend saw our annual trip up to North Devon for our Summer Game which had added significance this year as our host, the gentleman that is Mr Charles Carter, recently celebrated his 60th, so it gave us a chance to have a lot of fun with a jolly nice chap. Thanks Chas, a great day, good times.

So to the game. I have included the briefing sent out to all players with the relevant orbats and victory conditions. As you can see a very powerful US Ranger and Delta Team task force are tasked with extracting the persons of interest, whilst subduing if necessary any armed resistance, which seemed likely following the shooting down of one of their Black Hawk helicopters.

This shooting down has also necessitated the rescuing of the helicopter crew from the crash site. Our game started as per the brief with the Ranger teams securing the buildings around the Olympic Hotel and fast roping onto the crash site (see the map for approximate positions).

The American force were taking no chances as their motorised convoy headed in from the north on Highway 1 and all troops were on over watch as they nervously looked out over the apartment blocks of down town Mogadishu. The tension was rising like the smoke from the barricades of burning tyres at the southern end of Highway 1 and as the Ranger team approached  Black Hawk Super Six - One it "kicked off".

US air support gives cover as the Rangers secure the crash site

 As the Rangers closed in on the crash site and started to assess the crew casualties the first shots rang out from nearby buildings as Somali militia gunmen opened up with small arms fire.

Rangers having dropped on the crash site move up to secure the area and prepare demolition charges on the wreck.

First contact!, Kate chewing Somalis open up on the Yankee invaders

The Ranger teams coolly took on the militia groups and drove them off with well directed return fire. First round to the Americans.

The view from the south looking up Highway 1 with one Ranger Chalk securing the perimeter. The Olympic Hotel is the large building on the left with roof security teams and the "persons of interest" at the front door. The HUMVEE convoy can be seen at top entering town.

As the US motorised convoy entered town, the Somali forces gathered in nearby streets, along with mobs of angry citizens mixed with traders and goat herders just trying to mind their own business. These obstacles made life difficult for US forces when attempting return fire, as any casualties on civilians were a gift of points to the militias.

Civilians intermingled with Somali militia

As the Americans edged into town the US air support kept over watch, taking occasional anti-aircraft fire from below. This was sufficient to allow the militias to rapidly gather ready to ambush the Yankees.

US air support provides deadly airborne sniper cover. This was very effective at taking out the RPG teams that threatened the task force vehicles.

Three moves in and the Somalis struck. An angry mob coming in from a side road threatened to disrupt the approaching convoy. US troops were forced to debus and attempt to disperse the crowd. This they managed to do but as the crowd dispersed, further shots were fired from militia in nearby buildings, killing one US Ranger.

"Man Down!!". The first casualty is a fatality as the Rangers are forced to deal with an angry mob of civilians.

Meanwhile further down the main highway, the Rangers in their attempts to clear nearby buildings approach a block of apartments covered by an their machine gun support team. The second ambush was sprung with three militia groups able to pool their fire on to the lone Ranger squad and causing a second casualty, forcing the group to fend off their attackers whilst attempting to remove their wounded colleague.

As the Rangers prepare to force an entry into the nearby building the Somali militia prepare to spring their ambush.

Weight of numbers making up for lack of quality and the Rangers are drawn in to an unequal firefight.

With the battle raging at one end of the street and another at the other end, the US commander having got a sit rep from his group leaders demanded over the radio that any further movement must be done under the protection of over watch groups. The Americans then brought up the HUMVEE's to add their fire support to free the Rangers in the first ambush zone.

The battle rages on the first corner as the HUMVEEs add their 50cal fire support

The security teams at the Olympus Hotel were bombarded for requests for over watch fire support as the Somali attacks grew in intensity.

The Olympus Hotel, with its VIPs waiting for their taxis at the front.

The battle at the second junction, swiftly becoming known as "Hellfire Corner" was becoming a death trap for the Rangers there trying to free their wounded. With support from further up the road looking more unlikely, the US commander put in a shout for a strafing run from one of the circling Black Hawks in a desperate attempt to relieve the pressure on his men.

The casualties continue to mount at "Hellfire Corner"

The Somalis were getting the measure of the Yankees. With the majority of the US teams on over watch fire, the militia were throwing in multiple attacks at the same point, which was wearing down the hard pressed Rangers ability to keep up the quality of their fire support. Eventually with their over watch degraded up would pop a "kate" chewing elite group of militia toting an RPG or heavy weapon and pop off another Ranger.

The Somalis numbers had grown significantly as the game progressed and thus their anti-aircraft fire became more potent. As the second Black Hawk strafing run came in over the city, the second helicopter was shot down crashing at the north west corner of town. This was was a body blow to US morale, forcing them to change the plan and get the VIPs out from the North and pull out the wounded and crashed helicopter crews at the same time.

Black Hawk Super-Six Two down with the Delta Team at the corner with a man down

The second crash site had to be secured and quick. The race was on to get the crash site secured and Lt Chas "Dutch" Carter was just the man for the job leading his four man team in the direction of the wreck. A shot rang out and over US radios the call no one expected went out. "Delta Team, man down", its Dutch!!

Not only that but now the HUMVEEs were taking hits, two being quickly disabled and with the truck brought in to carry out the VIPs taking damage the convoy was now only able to limp along at half speed.

The wheels are starting to come off with a second crash site still unsecured

The final moves of the day simply confirmed a crushing defeat for US ambitions in the horn of Africa. The last futile attempt to get their wounded away simply added more Rangers to the growing list of MIAs. Around 12 Rangers fell into Somali hands many lightly wounded facing being paraded in front of the worlds media. The arrest and detaining of the "persons of interest" seemed of little consequence given the losses US forces had sustained. This was however at great cost to the Somalis whose dead and wounded were littering the roads and streets near to the Olympus Hotel.

The survivors of Ranger Chalk 1 are rounded up ready to face the press

The following day after the Battle for Mogadishu, we all enjoyed a super cooked breakfast and headed down to the Cobbaton Tank collection which is close by. On the way out Vince showed off a Hungarian paratroopers light AK47, surely not a trophy from Mogadishu?

The collection of vehicles and weapons are well worth a visit if you are in North Devon, and I took time to grab a shot of a "rare beast", a Challenger 17lbr tank 1944 vintage.

A fun time was had by all, good company, great banter, and great fun. Thank you to Chas for pulling together a fun days entertainment, and thanks to Andy C, Andy W, Vince, Nathan, Steve, Nick, John and Clive for making it happen.

 Next Year Rorkes Drift.

JJ

Maurice - AWI Game

Yesterday saw the first game of "Maurice" played at the club and I brought out the AWI collection to try out the rules. A lot of good comments have followed the release of this rule set and we were all keen to see if the excitement matched our experience.

I set up the terrain and put together the armies as detailed in the rule book to do Brandywine. We diced for sides with the Americans being the defenders and having the choice of table edge. The British positioned the house by the road in the American deployment area as the objective and watched as the Americans deployed first. After the British had deployed, the two sides appeared as below.

As this was our first game both sides were keen to push the rules and see what they could do. Both sides opted for flank attacks by setting up units in march column ready to set off. The American units are out of shot behind the wood at the end of their line. Like wise the British units are out of shot, left foreground.

Initial deployments with the British line on the left and the American to the right holding a ridge line. The house in the American sector is the game objective.

The game is played in alternate turns of card driven actions, with the attacker starting the sequence. The British on the attack started with 8 cards to the Americans 5 and the cards control which units can be activated, in what sequence, and throw in some nasty "Event" surprises every now and then. The units are simply Infantry in groups of four bases, Cavalry likewise and Artillery on single bases. The number of bases determine how many "disruptions" the units can take before being destroyed. Thus five disruptions will destroy an Infantry or cavalry unit, two for artillery. Disruptions are caused by combat and movement through difficult terrain or interpenetration's. Thus you can see the two units of Continentals who are attempting to flank the British have each taken a disruption for crossing the stream in their path as indicated by the little red dice.

The American flank attack, encountering difficult terrain on their march

The gradual accrual of disruptions can be countered by rallying affected units, but there lies the problem. When the fighting really gets started, you can't do everything you want or need to.The choices start to face the commanders, "Do I play an event to cause the main British attack to stumble into hidden disruptive terrain or do I rally my front units who wont survive another round of combat?"

Now this is what you call a flank attack, four battalions of Guards and Grenadiers lead Hessians  around the Americans left flank. General Howe oversees the deployment.

As the cards are played they can be replaced to a lesser or greater extent depending on what actions they are driving. As the game progressed both sides hands became gradually weaker, which forced a lull in the battle as both sides took opportunity to pass on their moves thus replenishing their hands with three cards. For the British, this was the pause before the final assault, for the Americans, realising their position was compromised by the attack on their flank by the Guards and Grenadiers causing the destruction of two units and a loss of 5 points on their 15 points of Army morale, this was an opportunity to be able to realign their front to hold on, and recommence their own flanking manoeuvre.

The Guards and Grenadiers, after a stiff fight for the hill, turn the American flank and look down on the American  army below, as the British main force closes in for the kill.

As the final stages of our battle commenced the musketry duels between the centre forces reached their climax and the British "National Advantage Characteristics" started to take effect with their ability to re-roll missed disruptions caused by their firing. As American units melted under this withering fire, their army morale followed suit and as they desperately tried to relieve the pressure by throwing in their militia to support the Continentals on the British flank, the American army morale collapsed and the game was over as we started to play the second deck of cards.

Its looking bad for the Americans in the centre of the position as the British regulars close in

We had a great game and really enjoyed the whole system. We played with two players on each side and our game lasted about three hours continual play. The rules started to become intuitive very quickly and we had time at the end to switch sides and play a second game which went quicker with our familiarity with the  play mechanisms.I guess one of the proofs of how good a game is, is how many people want to play it and I think that Maelstrom and North Star can expect half a dozen orders for rule sets and card decks very soon.

I will be running more games next month and will be trying out the additional rules for using Nobles as well as planning other armies to use with this set. I rather fancy French Indian wars, War of 1812 and Jacobite Rebellion. 

Thanks to Sam Mustafa for producing an excellent set of rules and to to Jason, Nathan, Ian and Andy for a fun days wargaming.

Jon

I Aint Been Shot Mum V3 - Neuville au Plain

I have been desperate to play a game of IABSM V3 since their recent release, but have been busy putting a Napoleonic collection together. Yesterday at the club gave me an opportunity to see the rules in action, and I thought they were great. Five of us played the game with two of us having played a couple of games previously, so it was a bit of a "hand holding" session as we all got to grips with the basics.

I selected the scenario Neuville au Plain from the All American Scenario book, by Dave Parker, which covers the Normandy battles of the 82nd Airborne Division. This particular scenario has all arms represented so gave us a chance to see the full mechanics in action.

Map of the battlefield, Germans enter on the road from the north (bottom) 

The historical battle on June 6th had 3rd Platoon, Dog Company, 505th Parachute Regiment, commanded by Lt.Turnbull, holding the village of Neuville, with a forward section placed in the farm(table centre). They had a bazooka team, a 57mm AT gun and a liberal sprinkling of machine guns to assist them in their defence. Their objective was to prevent enemy forces proceeding south down the road to St Mere Eglise.

View from the west with the farm centre table and Neuville top right

The American defenders were able to call on support from an additional platoon from Easy Company 505th.

The German forces in the area were the 1058th Grenadier Regiment from the 91st Luftlande Division and they had a full company supported by three assault guns and some medium mortars.

Table from the east with Neuville in the foreground and the roof of the chateau centre bottom

The Paras in our game took up fairly historical positions holding the orchards in front of Neuville and blocking the north/south road with the section in the farm, backed up by the 57mm ATG on the crossroads in the village to their rear. The Germans entered the table on blinds on the road from the north and being quickly spotted by the US troops proceeded to break out into the fields with two sections supported by two assault guns going to the east flank whilst one platoon supported by the StuG probed the road and the farm complex.

The north/south road seen from the German perspective. The farm on the right saw a bitter battle.

The use of blinds really adds flavour to the game with that feeling of uncertainty as both sides started to feel out each others position. The Americans being deployed in cover and hidden only deployed dummy blinds, which greatly improved their spotting efforts but left the Germans very uncertain as to what they might "bump" as they approached buildings and orchards desperately trying to spot the enemy troops.

The battle kicked off when the platoon approaching the farm in the centre bumped the airborne defenders. promptly loosing a section to the initial firefight. The Germans fell back to nearby hedgerows and called in their mortars and StuG for support in suppressing the defenders. The section commanded by Sgt Mitchum kept up a fierce fusillade throughout the game and his presence held the defenders firm.

The 57mm ATG took its opportunity to support the farm by shooting up the StuG on the road, causing damage to the vehicles gun sights and forcing it into cover

One of the Marder III assault guns supporting the Grenadiers approaching Neauville on "Hunt" orders

With the furious battle going on in the centre the main German effort focused on penetrating the US defences via the orchards in front of the village. The first section entering the trees with the MMG section in support was immediately engaged by a Para section under 2nd Lt Fonda who during the ensuing battle was killed, not before his force had pushed the German troops back to the hedge row bordering the plantation.

The German Company Commander Hauptmann Pfefferbeisser and Zug 3 leader Feldwebel Bratwurst observe the initial stages of the battle 

With both flanks of their attack pinned down in an attritional firefight, the German commander went for the direct approach by sending his third platoon across the field in front of Neuville supported by the other Marder. This was met by a fusillade of fire from the Para mortar section armed with two 30cal machine guns having lost their mortars in the drop but finding the machine guns en route to the village. They also loosed of a couple of bazooka rounds that narrowly missed the Marder, but with the losses inflicted on the German infantry and the death of their Zug Commander, this force was also forced back into cover.

With the arrival of 1st Platoon Easy Company into the defences, that stabilised American losses, we called it a game.

The Germans had lost a platoon of infantry and the American defenders, one and half sections, but the defenders were holding firm in a very strong position with all the indirect fire support and anti tank assets still available.

Easy Company under Lt Stewart go firm in Neuville effectively ending any further German attacks

The 57mm AT gun that won its duel with the StuG on the Cherbourg Road

Sgt Mitchum's heroic defence of the farm under 81mm mortar attack with three shocks and a pin to contend with

Lt Turnbull's defenders in the centre of Neuville covering the orchards and fields to their front

We felt the game really captured the command and control difficulties that this kind of battle generated. Unlike other WWII games I have played, you can't make "swooping" moves across open terrain in front of enemy troops without getting badly shot up. You actually have to adopt the tactics of the day by attempting to pin with part of your force whist manoeuvring with the other and keeping your leaders close and in touch to keep events under control. It was also notable that as the game went on commanders started to sacrifice some of their fire to save an action to take cover making their troops a harder target to the inevitable return fire.

The play of the game is greatly enhanced by the Fire Table that IABSM uses. This chart not only resolves fire combat but sorts out the morale results all in one go, "brilliant"!! This means reduced die rolling, less checking and more gaming. In addition any potential casualties are resolved simply using a d6 (1,2 = no hit, 3,4 = shock, 5,6 = dead) which means you can learn to resolve combats really quickly. I am looking at other rules I use far more critically now as I am starting to feel life is too short to be wasted on numerous checks and lists of factors.

The game really roles along and even though you are using cards to determine activity we squeezed in 12 moves of play in an afternoon of gaming, and most of us hadn't played the rules before.

Congratulations to Too Fat Lardies for a great update to their original rules, I think I will be playing a lot of IABSM in future.

Thanks to Ian, Steve M., Jason and Nathan for a fun game

Jon