In the small AWI battle I fought yesterday an entire flank of militia troops crumbled without the British regulars getting to grips, but rather firing steady non moving volleys (2 hex range - 5 combat dice for 4 block regulars when standing and firing - this is the Napoleonic C&C chart for line infantry with no changes). The dice were reasonably good, but it was not so much the losses that did for them, even though British musketry did thin the ranks, but the retreat flags that sent most of them flying to the rear. Also, my militia units only take 3 hits before they are lost so between the hits and the retreats the entire flank was swept away! When they did return fire (before heading off) it was largely ineffective, taking 2 redcoats who were recovered a couple of turns later on a 'Rally card'...... useful little card to hold.
Funny enough Tony had pretty much the same experience I think in his French v Spanish Napoleonic C&C game recently (
read here), so I don't think I have got things too wrong for my militia, they behaved pretty much as I would have expected, and in fact I pushed them forward hoping they would at least inflict some casualties before they broke. A lost militia unit under my adaption does not deliver a VP, rather like the Cossacks units in the Russian expansion.
First unit to go was surprisingly Hessian riflemen, caught between 2 units of continentals who moved up before firing, then followed up with a charge which routed them totally. All in all a fun solo game and I remain very happy with the overall look of things.
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| Steady British regulars advance against the American right - militia supported by artillery. |
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| Loyalists - Queens Rangers and Kings Royal Yorkers move on the right flank. |
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| American artillery field of fire. |
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| Militia - who chose not to put up too much of a fight! |
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| Continentals on the hill. |
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| Overview - entire American right flank has collapsed! |
I do intend to make a new board, but I keep putting it off as I know it's going to be tough going marking out all those 55mm hexes. Occurred to me that I could even extend the size of the board by a few hexes each way for fighting bigger games...... I just wish there was an easier way to do it?
Commission work.
Some more of the 20mm ACW's I'm painting for John - we have below Union Revielle set, 5th New York Zouaves command group and 3rd New Jersey cavalry- the 'Butterflies'. I'm now working through the 14th Brooklyn Regiment with red kepis.
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| 14th Brooklyn - currently on the painting desk. |
All below for the collection of 'Old John' - 20mm scale.
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| 3rd New Jersey Cavalry. |
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| 5th New York Vols - command set. |
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| Wakey wakey boys! |
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Glad to see you playing Lee. The figures look great on the board. I've noticed something similar about no VP units when playtesting my own Indian scenarios. You use them as a softening up force. Do you penalise them for moving?
ReplyDeleteVery nice, great work! Love the guys in the sleeping bag!
ReplyDeleteSome things never change. Thirty five years ago I played a mini-campaign at one o the fledgling HMGS conventions here in the US. My command mainly consisted of some American militia in rather largish units of some twenty four figures. One of my units formed up in line and was ready to blast away a smallish unit of some ten Hessian figures. But before I could even pull back the hammers on my muskets, the Hessians were given the ability to fix bayonets and charge. Yep...my militia took one look at the shiny, steel bayonets and bolted. The last time they were seen they were crossing the Georgia border - and the battle took place in North Carolina! Militia were fragile and probably the result you suffered was pretty realistic.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comments.
ReplyDeleteCK - I don't penalise militia for moving. I think overall it's about right now, if they stand they can shoot reasonably well but not the controlled volley fire of regulars obviously. I have also introduced another of Chris' ideas - the militia dice roll when attacked in melee combat - an infantry symbol removes a figure (panic and run!) before the enemy resolve combat, and a flag symbol means they simply retreat 3 hexes, subject to normal C&C support rules. I'm a great admirer of those militia guys who turned out to fight with such patriotic zeal.
CC - thanks for the comment. Seems that's about as much as we should expect from militia troops, maybe get them behind some field works and they might stand a little longer.
Cheers,
Lee.