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Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Jessop and His Scoundrels Escape!

Photo courtesy Wargamesinthedungeon
Having taken the siege gun 'Old Molly' in the previous episode (see Action at Oak Tree Forge), Jessop Callahan and his merry band set off to fetch the gun back into friendly territory.  Unfortunately for the colonials, the woods are teeming with hidden enemy ready to pounce when the time is right.  Flush with his success in securing the gun, Jessop thinks little of security on his march through 'Indian Country' and has neglected to send out flankers.  What could go wrong?

The gaming table is laid out and poker chips scattered about the beautiful terrain.  Jessop's colonials will be in march column with the goal of exiting the table in the lower right of the game table shown in the photo below.  His order of march is randomly determined. 

Similarly, the British ambushing forces are randomly allocated to jump off points too.  The British, under the command of Archibald Watts, are set on recovering 'Old Molly' lost during the heated action at Oak Tree Forge.  Archie's objective is to prevent the Americans from exiting with the gun and to destroy the colonials' will-to-fight by scattering Jessop's column.  

For more scenario details, better in-battle photos, and Matt's perspective on this action, please visit Wargamesinthedungeon, AWI Campaign, 'Old Molly' Part 2.
Initial dispositions
Photo courtesy Wargamesinthedungeon
Once again, my battle report is viewed from the Zoom-cam and told from the American perspective. Descriptions of the action are embedded within each photo. White arrows show movement. Red arrows show fire or charges. Yellow arrows show retreats. For me, viewing as a slide show works well.  Now, on to the action!













This action was really a nail-biter from the get-go.  When I first saw my marching order nearly surrounded by a ring of British jump-off points, my confidence was not high.  The Americans got lucky in that 'Old Molly' was in the middle of the column rather than at the back.  The British were unlucky in that only Archibald's regiment was situated on the far side of the creek.  If the Americans could push hard down the road and cross the bridge before Archibald could be reinforced, the battle may be won. 

Early on, Archibald had difficulty getting the Natives to act in a timely manner.  When the Natives finally closed, the warbands cut through the green troops and colonial skirmishers like a hot knife through butter.  That success was short-lived, however.  At a crucial time in the battle where Archibald could have dispersed the Virginians and perhaps the Delawareans as they approached their objective, the British failed two activations.  That, and the Natives inability to crush Jessop allowed the Americans to slip away.  As Jessop and 'Old Molly' exited the table, Archibald was heard to exclaim, "Jessop and his scoundrels escape!"  Oh, did I mention that Matt's newly painted British light infantry skirmishers, seen here, attacked quickly and retreated just as quickly?

Thanks again to Matt for designing and GMing a very entertaining action.  It really was a near run thing.  What waits for Game three?

40 comments:

  1. Another great lit.e AWI action Jonathan but I am beginning to despair of the British leadership...if this carries on, the colonies will be list!

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    1. Thank you, Keith! This was another fine set-up by Matt. The outcome was in doubt until 'Old Molly' left the table.

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  2. Great looking game and a nice scenario too

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  3. Excellent - I wish my Zoom pics were is good as that!

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    1. Thank you, Tony! From my remote viewer perspective, this is all working very well. I wish I could get a close-up during the game to see Matt's beautiful troops.

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  4. Lovely looking game and at least you are a lucky general!
    Best Iain

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  5. A splendid game Jonathan, nice report!!

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  6. Thanks Jonathan a remarkably balanced write up 😀 good to see it from a different perspective. I agree in hindsight if more of the ambush had arrived on the far side of the river that would have made the bridge a real pinch point and hard to cross. This might be a nice scenario to try again sometime with slightly larger forces On a slightly bigger table where the options for the Rebels are to rush the bridge or flank around it ? It would give some interesting options.

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    1. Matt, I am a remarkably balanced guy! I am game for a replay of this one.

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  7. Sounds like another short sharp action with a plausible scenario. It’s not going well for the Crown.

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    1. Another short, sharp action, for sure! Let's see if the Rebels can hang on for one more game...

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  8. Matt does put on a nice table and another case of good enjoyable action in a restrained space ... very good.

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  9. That looked like great fun to me, and the random element in the British jump-off points certainly adds suspense for both sides.

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    1. Suspenseful fun, indeed! We both had to make tough decisions throughout the game.

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  10. Your blog was hijacked and posted on The Miniatures Page.
    http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=542768
    The poster, Tango01 has been asked repeatedly to at the very least credit the blog by its name. These requests have also fallen on the deaf ears of the owner of TMP. see below.
    http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=542759
    Great blog you have, and thank you for taking the time to make it. Figures are beautiful!

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    1. Not only did my complaints fall upon deaf ears but my TMP account was locked nearly two years ago for complaining! I simply asked each TMP post be limited to two copyright violations per post rather than posting most of the photos from each of my posts.

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    2. Unfortunately it is still happening.
      http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=543158
      He hit the JAR site the other day and the editor wasn't thrilled. I don't blog, but highly support those that do. Several of us have been making an issue.
      Please keep up the good work though!!

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  11. Another lovely game put on by Matt and once again your annotated pics really give a great idea of how the game unfolded. A tricky scenario for the Americans, but the order of march was OK and failed command rolls, coupled with the random placement, made it a tougher proposition for the British. Certainly a scenario that has lots of replayability to it due to the variables already mentioned.

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    1. Steve, when Matt first sent out the map and scenario, I figured the Americans would really be in a hard place. As the British deployed all on my side of the creek with one exception and many of those behind me, I thought I saw an opportunity for success. It was hard fought and I only squeaked out a victory. This was a challenging contest for us both. This one has high replayability just you say. It was great fun!

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  12. Sounds like a challenging and enjoyable scenario Jonathan.
    Regards, James

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  13. Huh, I somehow missed the first battle. I must be distracted. But lucky you to be able to play on one of Matt’s tables! I have the envy. In fact, reading about the same great game on two blogs is kinda like being in high school and hearing about some great party that you weren’t invited to... 😀😀

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    1. You are so funny, Stew! I never even heard about the great parties I missed! The battle report for "Action at Oak Tree Forge" has a link at the beginning of this post.

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  14. Excellent, with your continued success we shall see this war over by Christmas!

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    1. Having the troops home by Christmas has a poetic ring. My hunch is that Matt may make this third battle a real toughie for the Americans.

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  15. Great looking game, and another close call win for the Colonials!
    A variation on the classic wagon train scenario, which is always fun for a change of pace!

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    1. As I have said before, Matt really lays out a handsome gaming table. Close call for the Colonials, no doubt. Actually, the outcome was in doubt for the entire game. Classic scenario to get your stuff off the table before being destroyed.

      Thanks for commenting, Peter!

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  16. The terrain and the skirmish itself is looking superb again. I'm happy about your decission to share with us such battles too.

    I could not write comments for a while because I had my installation of Windows 10 and I didn't wanted to write under a different name.

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