Tuesday, January 19, 2021

BatRep: Action at Barrett's Farm

Grenadiers give 'em cold steel!
photo courtesy of Matt at wargamesinthedungeon 

With the table set and troops mustered, Matt and I began another remote gaming session.  With the scenario specifics given here, the battle began. 

The battle report uses screenshot photos captured from my iPad as seen from my vantage point.  The series of photos contain brief annotations embedded within each photo.

















Well!  This was a tense fight from the start.  The Rebels had difficulty bringing their troops onto the table.  When the militia did appear, sometimes, they appeared upon the British flanks.  In the early phases of the engagement, the rebels seemed to have the advantage given their superiority in numbers.  As the battle progressed, the quality of the British force negated this advantage.  In the end game, the cold steel of the grenadiers carried the day, discouraging all but the most resolute rebel unit. When the clock ran out, only the Rebel riflemen remained on the table.  Convincing victory for Matt and his British forces.  Still, the action seemed balanced overall with both sides having opportunities for victory and challenges to overcome.

The whole action lasted about two hours, I reckon, which seems about the right length for a remote game.  I enjoyed the game very much and hope Matt did too.  Oh, Honor Point totals ended up as 10 to 5 in favor of the British.  The Colonials have work to do in Game 2 to correct this Honor Point deficiency.

49 comments:

  1. What an excellent looking and sounding game Jonathan...
    I am more and more attracted to this kind of skirmish level game... the lower amount of figures certainly allows you to try out periods you would normally shy away from...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. The game was a fun one, Aly, with much tension and drama throughout. If you are attracted to smaller games with easy to learn and play rules, one could do much worse than R&P. Thanks for your comment!

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  2. Looks like a great game Jonathan - good luck for the next one!

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    1. The action looked great and provided an interesting contest for both. If Matt continues to field his elites and me poor militia, I will need Luck to step over to my side of the table!

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  3. A great looking game Jonathan - its somewhat ironic that the three scenarios designed by a Brit (Matt), the American forces won and now, in the first American designed scenario, the roles are reversed! Seems like a realistic and reasonable outcome though - Matt obviously didnt go for any of that wishy washy hold your fire and try to talk them around approach..!

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    1. Matt's gaming table always looks just perfect. It is a real pleasure to push troops over such lovey terrain.

      Not only was the outcome realistic and reasonable but historical as well. When the British found the guns, they burned the trunnions so that the guns could not be transported. Next time, we get to see if Matt's battered column can make it back to Concord without incident. Ha ha. There will almost certainly be an "incident" laying in wait!

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  4. A lovely looking game as always by Matt, plus your scenario seemed to work out very well. Out of interest, what might have happened had the British not found the arms cache at the first attempt? Do you think they would have had enough strength left to force the Rebels back to search the others?

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    1. Hi Steve. Yes, the scenario, even in its maiden voyage, seemed to hold up to produce a good game. I think early on Matt figured he was Done For only to later to realize that it was the Americans that were in serious trouble.

      Given how the action played, if the guns had not been in the first cache searched, the Honor Point margin would have been 6 to 5 British. Of course, had the first cache turned up empty, Matt may have moved on to other caches more quickly. Very astute observation, Sir!

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  5. A lovely sized game, good to see the R&P rules are working so well for you.

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    1. Thanks, Norm! For remote play, I think this size of action is almost optimal since the remote player can see the entire table.

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  6. A very nice looking game indeed!

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  7. "Ganz großes Kino." how one of my friends would describe it. Well done report and perfectly showed skirmish. Cheers

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  8. Great looking game and troops, Jonathan. I particularly like seeing the use of mult-fig bases for games like this (individual casualty removal). I did the same with Lion Rampant and casualty counters.

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    1. Thanks, Dean! I prefer multi-figure bases over individual figures too since it is less work to move a bunch of figures. In remote games with someone else moving the figures, it does not matter much.

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  9. Sounds like a good scenario, that played well and of course a good looking game!
    Best Iain

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    1. Correct on all counts, Iain! We will wait to see Matt's thoughts are the same...

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  10. Great looking game and interesting scenario

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    1. For me too! You get the same few of the table as I. Thanks you, Ross!

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  12. Sweet God! Everything looking amazing Jonathan!

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    1. You are funny, Michal, but spot on. Matt's battlefields are works of art.

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  13. Perhaps the rebels could just give in and accept the rule of a well meaning sovereign. But then....where would the fun be in that. A good scenario and one I think we might see played out with ACW. 👍

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    1. No concession from the rebels! I look forward to seeing you transport the scenario to the ACW,.

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  14. Another fun scenario, and no surprise that riflemen were still there as they looked like good quality troops from the scenario outline. It will be interesting to see how many British make it safely back to barracks in the forthcoming scenarios.

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    1. The quality of all of the American militia was quite suspect but they had numbers on their side. Clearly, not enough! The British were beaten up in this clash too so I expect to see a few British reinforcements in the next battle installment.

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  15. Well, the King's men were due for a "W", and got a solid one here!

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    1. Yep. The English were due for a win and got it in convincing style. Militia were no match for the elite flank companies of the British Regular Army. This time...

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  16. Very cool. I’m glad that the scenario played out well. And it’s always a treat to see Matt’s AWI stuff. 😀

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    1. Stew! Great to hear from! I have been wondering if you fell to illness again. Matt does have pretty stuff.

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    2. Thanks! No illness or anything bad; just overwhelmed with real life stuff. 😀

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  17. Nice table and nice to see the 'good guys' winning for a change :)

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    1. George, gotta let the "good guys" win once in a while.

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  18. Matt's terrain looks brilliant.Every single piece.

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  19. Great terrain and a lovely game. What more could a gamer want?

    PS, heavy deficit that. Time to roll up those sleeves!

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    1. Right! Playing with Matt's toys, if even virtually, is a real pleasure.

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  20. Great report Jonathan. Looks like you had a fun time, despite not winning the action.

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    1. Thanks, Mark! It is rarely about winning but enjoying a good game with a friend as you well know.

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  21. Looks like the game was as nice as the set up.

    Christopher

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    1. Christopher, the game was quite a good one. At different points, each of us thought all was lost. Well, I was correct at the end of the game...

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  22. Great game and write up. Gets me in mood to solo some AWI. Curious as to the actual time to play the game.
    Thanks,
    John

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    1. Thank you! Playing time was no more than three hours and probably closer to two.

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  23. Hello Jonathan, I used your scenario to try out a first game of Rebels and Patriots with my gaming pal. My set up was not quite of Matt's high standard but worked for us. (We've seen Matt's games at the Phoenix show in Cumbria too, so we know how good his terrain looks.) We played it twice and you can see how we did on my pal's blog https://wargameamateur.blogspot.com/2021/06/a-first-outing-for-rebels-and-patriots.html
    A nice scenario, we enjoyed it and the rules.
    Thanks and all the best, Steve

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    1. Thanks for giving the scenario a try, Steve! I am glad it was useful and generated a fun game for you.

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