Cowpens-Guilford Courthouse Campaign Refought: Battle of New Garden Meeting House.

  For the final battle of the campaign Greene and Cornwallis armies fought a meeting engagement at New Garden Meeting house.  The Americans fielded the army they would have at Guilford Courthouse.  I gave them a additional North Carolina Militia battalion  and Maryland-Delaware light battalion intact instead of returning it to its parent battalions.  The British got both battalions of the 71st regiment, the light battalion  and the British Legion infantry since Cowpens had not been fought.  Lastly since the battle was so large it was fought at club game night since we had additional players and more room.

Peaceful farm before The Battle with The now famous geese!

The Americans set up on the north side of the table.  They had a large woods with a road running through it on their left with more open fields in the center and right.  This area was dotted with fences, crop fields and two ridges.  Woods were rough going exception on road.

Riflemen in the woods.

Continental line battalions.

  The American commander placed his Continental line regiments (1st & 2nd Maryland, 4th and 5th Virginian and the Light battalion and a medium gun) in his center.  On his right he massed his cavalry (Lee's, William Washington's and Militia horse) and supported them with four Virginian militia battalions and a medium gun.  Both commands were to attack the British and try to push through.  In his left he placed two rifle battalions in the woods and four North Carolina Militia  battalions to support them  this command was to try and hold off the British.

Com Bose and 33rd Regiment

British Legion and Light troops advancing through the woods.

  On the British side the commander recorded to send Tarleton, his Legion cavalry and infantry with the 17th Light dragons and Light Infantry battalion through the woods to turn the American flank.  He then deployed the two battalions of the 71st to guard his left with the Regiment von Bose, 33rd and 23rd to attack in the center.  The Brigade of Guard's were in reserve.  The subordinate commanders questioned if the cavalry should be in the open but their objections were over ruled.

  The game started by the Amercans aggressively advancing in the center and right.  Their guns were placed to support the advance.  The British countered this by advancing the von Bose, 33rd and 23rd in the center.  In the woods the British pushed forward, but at reduced speed.  All the time sniped at by the riflemen.

  Because the British commander advanced the  Von Bose 33rd and 23rd  one behind the other. The Continental line was able to mass against them.  First artillery and muskets fire forced the von Bose to check morale.  Poor dice saw the Germans rout off the board!  The two Maryland regiments  then attacked the 33rd regiment supported by the Light battalion.  Heavily outnumbered the 33rd routed.  The Royal Artillery went down fighting as their gun was over run.

  Seeing the mass of cavalry approaching the commander of the 71st moved out to meet them . He advanced his two battalions against the cavalry and four battalions of militia.  Trying to support his commanders he moved one battalion towards the center and the Continental line while the other faced off against the militia.  This left the American cavalry to swing around the British flank.

  The Highlanders charged the militia and caused numerous casualties.  But the militia morale held and the Highland 23rd fell back disordered.  Unfortunately the American cavalry were there in their flank and rear.  With no where to go the Highlanders surrendered.   The other battalion advancing towards the Continental line was ridden down by cavalry who attacked them from the rear.

23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers fighting the Maryland regiments.

last stand of the Fusiliers.

In the center the gallant 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers stood their ground.  A devastating volley caused the Light battalion to retire in disorder.  The two Maryland regiments charged but could not make a dent in the Fusiliers.  Both regiments fell back disordered.  Looking over their shoulders for support the Fusiliers saw the Brigade of Guard's move in the direction of the woods!

The British Legion had made slow but steady progress.  They had pushed the Riflemen back.  The British light infantry and Jagers, supported by a squadron the the Legion attacked the militia along the stone wall and routed them.  At this point the rest of the Legion Cavalry were moving out of the woods and ready to attack the American flank.  But what he saw was the entire Continental line in position to fight him.  Additional militia battalions were moving up.  And the American cavalry were moving forward to engage.  Deciding to save what was left of his army the British commander ordered them to retreat and save what they could.

This ended the Cowpens-Guilford Courthouse Campaign.  The American had crushed the British army and won a decisive, but unexpected victory.

The Race to Weitzel's Mill: part 3

The Race to Weitzel's Mill: part 2

The Race to Weitzel's Mill: part 1

  Another article from Gorget and Sash.  A brilliant article about The Weitzel's Mill action by Kenneth Hayes.  This is the best researched article I have read about This battle and it has the added bonus of an number of pictures from the battlefield.  Kenneth Hayes has done a number of outstanding articles and this is one of his best.

Aloha from Hawaii

Janine's special drink, that she calls a Hawaiian Sunset. Photograph by Janine.

  If I 've been strangely quiet it is because I have been on vacation.  Janine and I have always wanted to go to Hawaii and this was the year we made it happen.  Two weeks off, coordinating flights (a must if you travel stand by) and setting up time shares.  Spent a week in Maui and a week in Oahu.  A beautiful tropical paradise.

Relaxing after swimming with the sea turtles. Photograph by Janine.

Cold Wars 2019: wrap up

  Not much to report on Sunday morning.  Due to the long ride back to New England we were up and on the road by 9:39.  Going over my pictures here were a couple other games that drew my attention.

A WW1 game.  Outstanding terrain.  Note the crashed aircraft.  Someone is having a bad day!

A beautiful sailing ship game.

The Battle of Isandlwana.  Amazing terrain!  Looks like the poor company of infantry is about to get overwhelmed.  Outstanding depiction of the action here.

From another Zulu vs British game.  We were talking to the game master who was a most excellent fellow.  I really liked how he mounted his Zulu.  An irregular shaped base with the figures fitting into it.  Easy to move, looks like irregular formation and easy casualty removal.  I think I will use this for my Riflemen and skirmishers in my Rev War and War of 1812 games.  Brilliant!

Another beautiful American Revolution game.

So another Cold Wars done.  As always I enjoyed myself.  Beautiful games, friendly gamers and a very nice location.  I feel the Host is improving greatly and on the right track.  I had heard that HMGS will be signing a three year contract to hold games there.  If so that is good.  I understand that some people had issues with parking and food.  I experienced neither of these issues.  Once parked the car stayed there.  As far as food there were plenty of places within a short walking distance.  I tend to have a good breakfast and then a early dinner and I am done.  I really liked the Starbucks and the two friendly people who worked it for very long hours each day.

looking forward to next year!

Cold Wars 2019: saturday

The Cold Wars dealers area on Saturday.  There were a couple of long time exhibitors not attending this year (Eureka miniatures USA and Baggage train).  But a couple new I had not heard of .  Impudent Mortals has outstanding MDF buildings at very reasonable prices.  Perfect for North American.  They have outstanding instructions on how to put them together through their web sites.  Highly recommended as Hal would say.  Here is a link to his site: https://www.impudentmortal.com

An interesting American Civil War Game.  Looked like Brother vs Brother type game.  But I liked the nice house in the center.  I liked it so much I found the Charlie FoxTrot both and bought one!

Very interesting terrain for a Napoleonic battle.  Showed what you could do with very tiny miniatures.  I believe these were 10mm.

A very clever Wings of Glory game with Zeppelins!  Looked like a great game and everyone was laughing and having fun.  Outstanding!  The airships were models of the USS Akron and Macon suitably altered.  The grandmaster was great fun to talk with and very enthusiastic.

Very clever game with outstanding terrain.  Here the Union army could capture and destroy the CSA Tennessee.  Outstanding iron  clad ship models. Again a fun game where players and host looked like they were having great fun.

One of my favorite looking games .  Howard Whitehouse ran this toy soldier game.  The figures looked like they   came  out of those comic book adds we all saw in our youth.  Great old school terrain .I think the Rules used were his Gentleman at war rules.  I want to try this out!

One event I attended in Friday and Saturday were talks by Frank Chadwick and Glenn Kidd about game design.  These were incredibly interesting talks in his to write rules and how to translate your research into playable rules.  Both men were super knowledgeable.  A nugget I got from this was so not let the small details of research take over your game.  What level of game do you want?  Again, both men were outstanding.