Rev War Battle Problem.

This game comes from a back issue of The Courier.  The battle problem creates a challenge for both commanders and sets up a situation familiar to players of this period.  A larger British force must capture its objective in a limited number if moves.  The American commander must hold the enemy off for a number of moves and withdraw his forces to safety.  Both sides need to avoid high casulties. 

 I plan in the next weeks to play this out twice;  once in the Rev War and again with my War of 1812 figures.

The American commander must try and prevent the British from capturing the village (hold 3 of the 4 buildings) for 7 turns.  They may set up their command anywhere to the left of the small stream.  The Rifle regiment may set up, in ambush in the woods marked "C".  It is not placed on the table until seen or it fires.  The American forces must withdraw off the board by way of the bridge over the larger stream by turn seven.  Militia regiments may retreat off the table by road " D".

The British main force enters on road "B" and must capture the village by turn 7.  The British commander may send up to 1/4  of his force to enter on road "A",  but will roll a d6 to determine which turn they arrive.  

If either army suffers over 50% casualties (included routed figures as well as casualties) they must withdraw at once.

Order of Battle:

American Forces:

3 Continental line battalions

2 Militia battalions

1 Rifle battalion

1 Dragoon regiment

2 Artillery battery

British Forces:

6 Regular line battalions

2 Elite battalions

1 Light or Jager battalion

1 Dragoon regiment

3 Artillery batteries

Rules Review "The Whites of Their Eyes"

  It should be of no surprise to readers of this blog that I am a big fan of self published War game rules.  Nothing against the professional published glossy rules.  I buy them and read them and often play them at club game nights.  But for my own games I really like something different.  So I am always on the hunt for new rules.  Once I find a set I tend to stay with them.  This way I actually learn the rules.  "The Charge of the Light Brigade" rules I use for my Crimean games I have been using for over twenty years.  I just discovered Jim Purkey 's rules and very happily use them for War of 1812.  But my American Revolution gaming has of late been lacking something.  While I enjoy "Loose Files And American Scramble" no one I game with shares my interpretation of the rules.  This means games tend to get into long discussions of what the rule really meant with too many interpretations causing a disruptive gaming night.  So I am on a quest for a better set of rules and I believe now I have found them.

   "The Whites of Their Eyes" by Stephen E. Haller are a set of wargame rules for fighting battles of the American Revolution.  These were originally published by The Courier in 1977 and revised and updated in 1985, 2000 and 2018.  At present the rules are available from the author who still plays them.  They could be considered a throw back or "old school" rule set.  They include saving throws, alternate turns , and use six sided dice.  To me that can be a good thing.  After play testing them I found they give me a fun game which stays within the spirit of the time period.  There are also a number of unusual twists within the rules to make things very intetesting. 

A couple aspects of the rules I really like. 

 Light troops in open order or as skirmishers  (rifle men, jagers, Indians, legion infantry and light infantry) can actually act like light troops skirmishing.  They have a split move.  You can move a portion of your movement, fire then move the rest of your movement.  In play this gives them a obnoxious quality.  You can move up to get a better shot then move away.  But be careful you do not get caught by line troops in a melee as they will eat you up.  Shooting by these troops while in a open order is also different.  Line troops volley by counting up the total number figures and checking the chart for number of possible hits.  Defender then throws a saving roll to see how many casualties they get.  Skirmishers fire one dice per figure. Regular Light Infantry, because they were better disciplined can close ranks and fight as elite infantry.    Once a unit has taken casualties skirmishers can aim at the command stand to possibly hit the unit commander.  If they do it effects the unit when they take a morale test.  Another nice rule is troops behind a wall or fence get a little additional range (3 inches)  to their fire because they are resting the weapons.  Saving rolls for hits are interesting.  Instead of multiple additions and subtraction for results it's a simple modifier for hits.  Personally I like it.  

Artillery is also a little different then most games.  When they fire you point to target and where you are aiming.  Roll a dive and this gives you a deviation.  You might hit right where you aimed, or slightly to the right of left depending on range.  Close range is always where you aimed and there are no saving throws for figures but at close range.  

Morale is interesting.  You have a basic morale factor, and can add and subtract  modifiers to it.  Roll two dice and you have to get a seven or better to pass.  Militia in the open or near British regulars get a deduction.  But in woods or under cover they get a addition.  Lots of little things like this give flavor and cause troops to act as their historical counterparts.  

I like these rules a lot.  It gives you a simple fun game which stays to the spirit of the period.  To give a better idea of how they work my next post with give a small game.  Stay turned for more.

Update 7 May 2020:  Steve Haller, the author of these rules has given me permission to send out a PDF version of the rules.  The total page has the authors email if you wish to contact him.  Please use the contact form at the bottom of the blog page here to send me a email and I will forward the rule to you. 

Evidently some emails to me have not gone through. I can be reached at dinosaurfifty5@yahoo.com

The Courier, 1970's

I discovered The Courier magazine in the early 1970's at my local hobby store, Bowens Toys and Hobbies in Bedford Massachusetts. Bowens was a wonderful place.  My parents went to the local grocery store and dropped me off there to stay out of trouble.  Here were wonderful delights to amuse and entertain me.  Shelves of exciting looking Avalon Hill games.  They promised you could recreate history by refighting historic battles.  Then there were shelves and shelves of plastic model kits;  Tanks, ships and planes.  And boxes of Airfix plastic soldiers from all time periods.

But best of all I found my first copy of a self published newsletter from a group led by  Dick Bryan and the New England Wargamers Association called "The Courier."  This was not the slick color publication in the 1980's but a smaller newsletter.   It opened my eyes to the wonderful world of miniature war games. Sure, I had been playing board games, but here were people playing with  real rules for playing toy soldiers.  Great looking painted figures, on terrained table tops and lots of research to get correct uniforms and tactics.  Most people were playing Napoleonics, especially a game called Column, Line and Square. The author of the rules Fred Vietmeyer write the most entertaining battle reports and gave great insights in to how and why he wrote his rules and how they represented his historical research. His debates with Bob Jones, and others were a model of how to have different opinions but still be polite.

  This was great stuff and I eagerly looked forward to each new issue. It was the first thing I went to each visit and I saved my pennies to buy them when they came out.  I read and reread each copy and studied them untill they fell to pieces.  When I got into reenacting I found a small group of friends who also war gamed with miniatures .  We read and studied copies of the Courier and plotted games and figures.  we played with Scruby miniatures in first 2 5mm and later in 9mm.  It was a wonderful start to a life long hobby which has brought me much joy and happiness.  

One of my favorite columns was by Steve Haller.  He was my guru for American Rev War gaming.  Now those of us who were interested in this time period were a very tiny, smallish niche within a small niche.  But what he put out in each article was a treasure trove of information.  Battle reports, regimental histories and uniform research.  There were suggestions on how to organize your regiments for the table top and discussions like realistic objectives for our games or finding correct buildings for the era.

More importantly he backed what he wrote about with source materials.  After each article I was off to the library to find these holy grains of knowledge.  On weekends I would take the bus to Harvard Square and it's collection of used book stores to hunt down books.   It was through these articles that I set out on earning  a degree in history and eventually a thirty year career with the National Park Service at Rev War sites.

Two articles by Steve Haller always have stood out.  The first was a two part article on Greene's and Cornwallis armies 1780 - 81.  Here were listing of units, troop strengths and uniform information.  Everything you needed to create these two historical armies.  The second was a campaign formatted to re fight the Cowpens - Guilford courthouse campaign.  This was outstanding. One did not worry about logistics and map movement. Instead there were a series of interconnected battles who results carried over to the next fight.

 Each side started with a historical order of battles.  Each month of the campaign players were given a series of options.  So January 1781 as Morgan you started with his light Corp.  On a die roll either Picken's or Sumner's or both militia may join you.  You then had the option of either attacking Augusta, Ninety Six or fighting Cowpens.  The British rolled and might reinforce the outposts you were attacking.  While you had the historical order of battle you might get or lose reinforcements.  Once battles happened casualties were removed and you moved to next month.  Replacements and reinforcements were figured in. You had a wonderful system to set up possible battles and firefight the campaign.  Simple but neat and very playable.  I have fought this campaign out and enjoyed it very much.  Of course you can read about it here in the blogs archives.

Lastly, a word of thanks.  To Dick Bryant for his wonderful publication which started me in this hobby.  To the members of NEWA who put the publication together, contributed many articles and created a folklore and history  to this hobby that I still am thrilled to hear and learn about. I am honoured to have met many of these people over the ages and I game with some of them to this day.  Finally to  Steve Haller who started me on a life long fascination with (and thirty year career working in) the time period. Thank you both.