Sharp Practice AWI American v British

My last game of 2023, an AWI Sharp Practice against Jerry and Dave playing a scenario from the 2023 Lard special "Raiding the Wilderness". Jerry took the British with Indian allies, I had the American Militia and Dave commanded the Continentals and State Line.

The British and their allies were attempting to raid a Rebel farmstead, seize supplies and ideally burn it down to show the Rebels the price of disloyalty!

All is quiet at the farm:

Beasts lurk in the woods while one lucky Native tries to drag three women off from an isolated hut:

The British are coming! Some militia skirmishers prepare to contest the farm:

A messenger sent back to the local Rebel commander has run in record time and returns with some State Line and Riflemen:

The Riflemen lead the way:

More Militia gather at the farm while the British send some Loyalist skirmishers into the woods. No sign of the Natives yet!

The Natives appear! Fire from the Militia is effective though reducing their numbers:

Fighting rages around the farm:

Natives mass on the flanks, the Militia are determined to defend their homes though:

State Line move up to threaten the flank of the British line:

The Natives have not managed to co-ordinate their attacks and the farm holds out:

One group of Natives charge home against the Militia! 

The State Line advance ominously on the British line:

The Militia hold the farm against the Native attack. Continentals charge the Natives in the rear!

With the farm solidly in the Militia's control, the British line heavily outnumbered and their Native allies fleeing the British withdraw and victory goes to the Rebels:

Another excellent game of SP with a bit more movement than usual. The variety of units was interesting and the scenario seemed better thought out than many. 

Jerry couldn't really co-ordinate his Natives into a single attack leaving them to be picked on one by one and the early appearance of Dave's State Line and Continentals didn't help either. The Militia also resolutely defended the farm to the death!

Sharp Practice AWI British v American

An encounter battle saw my British taking on Pete's Americans on a fairly open terrain in another Sharp Practice game.

First to arrive were the Queen's Rangers faced by some American skirmishers across a field:

British Line quickly followed in support of the Rangers:

Remarkable shooting from the Rangers sees three of the American skirmishers out of action in one round of fire!

Inspired by their success the Rangers charge across the field causing the skirmishers to flee behind some Continentals. Militia lurk in the walled field as well:

The Light Dragoons arrive and spy some more Continentals in the distance:

The Dragoons gallop towards them but don't quite catch the skirmishers shielding the Continentals:

The Continentals get a volley in but it isn't as effective as they had hoped:

One man down and five shock, the Dragoons gallop on!

They crash into the Continentals!

The Continentals are wiped out!

Meanwhile the Americans have been exchanging fire with the Rangers who are slowly taking losses:

The Dragoons move on to the second group of Continentals but come off much worse:

The Dragoons flee:

The Rangers regroup into a single unit:

Fire from the British Line routs the American skirmishers breaking their army:

A bit of a different game on a more open than usual table where the quality of the British units paid off. Pete was very unlucky though with the dice with his initial skirmisher unit and failure to dent the Dragoons before they got into combat.

American War of Independence British

I've also finished the remainder of the AWI British in 15mm. Again these are Essex figures most of which were painted years ago.

The 4th King's Own Foot:

The 9th East Norfolk Foot:

The 54th Foot:

The 60th Foot:

Combined Light Infantry:

The 42nd Royal Highland Regiment:

Royal Artillery and some Officers:

The 17th Light Dragoon's:

Loyalist Foot:

I now have two 15mm AWI forces neither of which is really quite big enough to make an army and as far as I know no one else at the club has anything suitable to play them either!

I guess the choice now is to leave them in the box never to see the light of day again or add some more units which, at the moment, I don't feel greatly inspired to do. At least they are all finished though!

American War of Independence Rebels

One of the long abandoned projects I found when I did my inventory was a box of Essex 15mm American War of Independence figures.

Since I already had a load of 25mm AWI figures I have no idea why I bought these (or their British opposition). Looking at the figures there were enough for six 20 figure infantry regiments, three guns and crews and three generals.

As with the HYW English army I painted a few weeks ago I went for a quick and simple paint job on them to make them useable rather than works of art!

A Continental or State Line unit in brown coats:

Another Continental or State Line unit this time in blue coats:

A Militia unit prepare to defend their homes:

Another Militia unit emerges from the treeline:

Riflemen defend an earthwork:

The Green Mountain Boy's, a State Line unit, advance:

Three guns and crews:

The Rebel high command:

As with the HYW English I think they look okay considering how long I took to paint them. The Essex AWI range is quite limited and lacks a bit of variety really.

The question now is what to do with them? I have an equivalent number of 15mm AWI British most of whom are painted so they do have some opposition.

I thought about trying to turn them into a 'King of the Battlefield' army but firstly they would probably do very badly against 7YW armies and secondly there are nowhere near enough of them!

Once I finish the British I might try using a very old rule set, Washington's Wars, which I used to play many many years ago and enjoyed as they have some interesting ideas. Probably the most realistic thing to do with them though would be to stick them on eBay!

Sharp Practice AWI British v Rebels

We thought as it was July 4th yesterday last night's game should be an American War of Independence Sharp Practice.

Gary and Cley, being of American extraction, took the Rebels while Mike and I had the redoubtable British. Mike was commanding the British infantry while I had the cavalry and artillery.

The scenario was that Thomas Jefferson had written the draft of the Declaration of Independence and was ready to distribute it. Unfortunately the British had got wind of this and decided to attempt to capture the declaration! The sneaky rebels had sent out three messengers, one with the actual copy and two with dummies. Two messengers were on the road with the final one still in the Jefferson home:

The British quickly established a strong position in the Jefferson House and captured their first messenger:

The Rebels were slow to react as the British Legion cavalry close in on the second messenger:

The British continue to strengthen their position in the farm:

The Loyalist cavalry captures the second messenger:

Finally the Rebels get their act together and advance on the Jefferson House:

The Rebel cavalry attempt to attack but take heavy fire:

The Rebels form up to advance. In the background a strong column of Continental Line attack the farm:

The two captured messengers are being escorted off the field while the farm is under heavy attack:

The Rebel cavalry flee while the Militia look on:

The British take some losses but repulse the Continentals:

The farm is now securely under the control of the British:

British Light Dragoons gallop into contact with some Militia skirmishers:

The skirmishers are wiped out by the Dragoons. Rebel morale has broken and they flee the field. They did manage to get the third messenger to safety though:

So with the battle over it was time to see who had the actual copy of the Declaration. On a roll of 1 to 4 the British would have it, on a 5 or 6 the Rebels. The die was thrown and came up 1 so the British won the day!

Another enjoyable game and the two players per side worked well. As ever with TFL games the British had the best of the luck with the initial deployment allowing them to set up a strong position in the farm before the Rebels got their act together.