Fire & Fury War American War of Independence

Yesterday in celebration of his Birthday my regular gaming opponent Mr. Ireland put on a War of Independence game based loosely on Guildford Courthouse.
He took the part of the defending continentals leaving me to attack his position with the dastardly British.

The initial British deployment. The Continental militia can be seen lining the rail fencing mid table.

The Continental deployment in three lines.

My basic plan was to launch two parallel brigade strength attacks on the first line of Continental militia & then exploit the expected breakthrough with a third brigade of foot & a small unit of dragoons. That at least was the theory, what actually happened was an unexpectedly staunch defence by the militia which halted my left hand brigade & threw it back with substantial losses requiring me to reinforce that flank with part of the reserves to prevent a counter attack into the rear of my army.

While this disaster unfolded the right hand brigade attack developed into a prolonged firefight which was ended by the British going in with the bayonet although this tactic was only partially successful with one battalion bouncing off the militia defenders. Subsequent assaults were more successful but by now the Continental second line had entered the fray and the attack was again held.

At this point we called it a day as it was obvious to us both that the British would not be strong enough to achieve anything more than glorious defeat. All in all a good game, one that we will re-visit in the future- though perhaps with the militia 'tweaked' so they are less stubborn when facing regulars.