Tuesday, September 21, 2021

R&P White Plains BatRep

Battlefield and Initial Deployments
courtesy https://wargamesinthedungeon.blogspot.com/
After nearly two months from our last Rebels & Patriots AWI series game (Maryland 400), Matt and I picked up where we last left off.  That is, New York 1776.  Next battle to fight is the Battle of White Plains.  Matt drafted a scenario and the battle was fought on Sunday.  As always, Matt commanded the British and I took command of the Rebels.  Again as typical, the Americans were on the defensive while the British were set for another assault upon the colonial defenders.  This time, the Rebels were outnumbered (actually, outpointed) about two-to-one.  For a minor victory, the redcoats need to take Chatterton Hill.  For a decisive victory, the British must take the bridge leading into White Plains.

Let's see how the battle played out.
The British face a long line of Rebels upon the heights.
Americans on the left and Anglo-Germans on the right.
Rebels step forward to close the range.
British cross the river in force
 with two regiments making for the ford on the right.
Rall and his Hessians advance on the American right.
The dragoons charge the skirmishers but pull up short.
Fire erupts from the Americans. 
 The once confident (and newly painted) dragoons suffer
mightily before breaking for the rear.
Militia on the American right fire into Rall. 
Seeing the dragoons flee, Morale Check time.
The light infantry skedaddle having rolled a double 1.
One Hessian regiment breaks for the rear.
A second British regiment rolls a double 1
and flees the battlefield.
The British guns finally drive off one of the skirmisher
 units as a heated exchange unfolds on the American left.
On the American right, the long inactive militia
awakens to deliver a withering blow to von Rall. 
Not only do the Hessians break but Rall is killed.
While the American skirmishers in the dead ground
between the lines break to the rear, the remaining
Hessian regiment is the target of concentrated fire.
The Hessians break and another British regiment
 on the British right is destroyed.
At 75% casualties (!), the battle is over and the remnants of the British left wing limp back toward safety. Victory to the Rebels!

For the British (and Matt), the action at White Plains was a brutal affair.  Early in the battle, Matt suffered three double 1's in morale checks.  At least two of the three failed checks caused Redcoat regiments to evaporate.  The American militia on the far right of the American line (barely visible in most of the game photos) activated only once (or was it twice?) the entire battle.  When it did activate, it hit Rall with a devastating volley causing ten hits.  Even outnumbered nearly 2-to-1, the Rebels proved that they are tough to dislodge when defending favorable ground.  As seen time and time again, attacking in R&P is perilous.

As always, a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday morning.  Matt's table is always a pleasure to fight over.  This time, the Rebels bounced back from their record of 1-1-1 at Long Island.

What is up next in this series?  Perhaps the Battle of Fort Washington or Battle of Trenton.  We will see.

Thanks again to Matt for hosting another superb outing. 

50 comments:

  1. Three snake-eyes! Normally only my opponents see the horror of that, when I roll! I hope Rall can be resurrected in time for the next game. Still, nice to see the Yankees win one. Love the notations on the photos. Effective. Looking forward to the next game report.

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    1. Yeah, three snake-eyes and everyone at a crucial roll. Matt had some very bad luck on this day. Losing Rall was a blow, for sure, but the British commander was also a casualty.

      I look forward to the next battle in the series too.

      Thanks, Joe!

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  2. A splendid game, really like the annotated pictures it gives a real feel for the flow of the encounter. Winning has an attacker in R&P is beginning to look impossible, perhaps they are designed for more of an encounter game?

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    1. Thanks, Phil! Without drawing in an arrow or two, I find it difficult to follow the action in these stills from afar. Glad you find them helpful too.

      Attacking in R&P is very, very difficult. The defender can stand and shoot while the attackers attempts to cross the beaten zone intact. Not an easy task. This is made even more hazardous when the defender can concentrate fire on one target at a time. The rules actually require this tactic since the closest target gets all of the attention in fire.

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  3. Great game!! Redcoats and Dragoons breaking and running- Howe is spinning in his grave. I haven't played R&P, but have a copy on my shelf. It looks like a fun set. Great BATREP!

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    1. Thanks! Howe is indeed spinning in his grave as were most of the British at the end of battle.

      R&P is an easy game to learn and it plays quickly with little muss or fuss.

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  4. A great looking game, but brutal for the Anglo-Germans for sure! Rolling double 1's for morale sounds horribly familiar to me:(.

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    1. It sure is a great looking game. I enjoyed the sight of the result too! Very brutal day for the Anglo-Germans. Matt had a rough day on the field of battle.

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  5. Well I didn't expect that result at the beginning, I bet you didn't either?

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    1. No, and neither did Matt! Per-game, Matt thought the Americans were in serious trouble.

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  6. That was disastrous for the British. I kept expecting to read that 'then they brought their greater numbers to bear', but they just kept getting broken! A combination of your brilliance and Matt's rolls, I am sure!
    Regards, James

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    1. It was a disaster, no doubt. The beating did not affect Matt's morale, though. He hung in to the very end.

      More Matt's rolls than any brilliance on my part. I primarily stood fired.

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  7. Great looking set up and figures, Jonathan. I like the varied troops types too.

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    1. Matt gets all credit for the game, Dean. Great set up to play on.

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  8. Another gorgeous table by Matt with lovely minis and a tough loss for the Brits. Three double ones..... oof! Without those nasty rolls, I think this would have been a different result.

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    1. Another gorgeous table, indeed! Yes, those low probability failures played a big role in the final outcome.

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  9. A table looks awesome! Miniatures and terrain are top-notch as well as the game! Congrats!

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  10. Splendid looking game and brutal and bloody victory to the rebels

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  11. Lovely looking game and an unfortunate run of luck for Matt,attacking seems fraught with this ruleset!
    Best Iain

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    1. Yes, Matt experienced some very bad luck. Attacking seems very, very hard in R&P...

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  12. That all looks great and I was looking forward to your and Matt's take on this having stumbled across some of the battle site when we were there in 2018. I remember the walk up the Heights as being quite steep, and felt like surrendering when I got to the top.

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    1. Hi Lawrence. Walking the battlefield is a terrific method in gaining an understanding of how the battle unfolded. Matt, unfortunately, never made it close to scaling the heights in this one.

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  13. A great looking game as lalwyas with Matts table and congratulations to you Jon but I beginning to wonder how accurately these rules reflect the period, if miltia can overturn a 2:1 advantage in the favour of regular troops...? I guess if you do Trenton next (an American attack I think?) and the same sort of thing happens in reverse, it may prove my point - was attacking THIS hard in the period - I dont think so, or why would anyone have ever done it? The British were the aggressors in the majority of AWI battles and were successful in most cases I would think, although often pyrrhic victories, such as Guildford Courthouse or Bunker Hill, owing to the high casualty rate - but they didnt break and run every second battle! Maybe in trying to recreate the high casualty rate R&P has gone too far in disadvantaging the attacker?

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    1. Thanks, Keith.

      The americans only had two militia regiments in battle and both of them were positioned on the American right. The British were facing regulars on the attack against the heights.

      From my many, many games of R&P, I agree that attacking is very difficult especially across open ground. I think skirmisher effectiveness is overrated too. Skirmishers deployed in front of a defending army prevents the defenders from being targeted until the skirmishers are driven off. Skirmishers can take (and dish out) a lot of punishment. It typically takes an attacker three turns to reach a defender. In that time, the attacker could suffer 50% casualties. No army can sustain those casualty rates for long.

      The rules recommend force size of 24 points each. Matt and I have been allowing the attacker double the defender's points and we still see attackers thrown back more times than not. Of course, poor dice, and the situation becomes even worse.

      I am hesitant to attack in this game...

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  14. Very entertaining report. You guys are killing it with R&P. Looking forward to next installment to break the tie. 😀

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    1. We are having good fun fighting our way through the AWI!

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  15. Lovely looking game and just a nice size (for me). I know there is now a fairly consistent trend in showing the attacker having a hard time of it, but I am thinking that it is the nature of unforgiving dice that seems to lay at the heart of the matter and that better games come from overall average die rolling … is that a fair conclusion?

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    1. Norm, this is a nicely-sized battle especially for remote play.

      As for attacking in R&P, my reaction is that it is too perilous. Yes, it should be perilous but not impossible. Bumping attacker to defender ratio up to 2-to-1 has not been helping much. Even with average dice rolling, an attacker is likely shot up badly before coming to grips with the defender. See my response to Keith above on skirmishers as an added hurdle to cross. Perhaps we are playing games larger than which the rules are designed?

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  16. That's looking very nice. I love your style to write some notes on the photos. I hope to play next weekend.

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    1. Thanks, Andrè! I look forward to seeing you return to action on your gaming table.

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  17. Great game and report Jonathan! Some lousy dierolls indeed for the anglo-german forces. At 75% casualties I would say it was quite a mauling for his Majesy’s troops.

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    1. glad you enjoyed the report, Mike! Yes, the rebels gav the King's army a very bloody nose on this day.

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  18. An excellent report and good looking game.

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  19. Based on what I glean about the rules based on others in the same family, that string of “snakeyes” more than erased the British force advantage. Enjoyed following the action (one of our group has Rebels and Patriots; we haven’t played it yet, but the time is coming).

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    1. The dice rolling certainly changed the nature of the game. Could the British have succeeded without the string of double ones? We may never know.

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  20. Another cracking looking game Jonathan…
    Matt puts on a good show…
    It was certainly very brutal for the British… when the gods of dice turn their backs on you… you definitely know about it.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Matt puts on a very good show. Always a pleasure to look in on his games and move pieces around. The dice gods certainly abandoned Matt this time.

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  21. That looks a fun battle to play out Jonathan. It might make the basis for a game for our group when we get out of ‘home detention’ and back home face to face gaming again.

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  22. An outstanding report about one of my favorite battles. You did a great job with figures and terrain. Well done for the Americans but I agree with an earlier post Howe must be spinning in his grave!

    Lastly, I do hope you do Fort Washington. I have been doing a lot if research on the fight and am interested in how you tackle it.

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    1. While the report is my doing, figures and terrain are all Matt’s handiwork. Yes, Howe just be holding his head in hand at this outcome.

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  23. Thanks Jon for the write up another battle giving food for thought about the low British morale and their ability to drive the Americans away.

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    1. Thank you for the entertaining battle. The Redcoats had a tough day; very tough day.

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