Battle of White Plains 1776

  At the end of October 1776 Washington had retreated from Manhattan to Winchester county New York.  Taking position at the village of White Plains the Americans dug fortifications.  But they left a low series of hills and ridges to their right empty and unoccupied.  On the morning of 28 October both sides raced to capture these ridges.  The Americans arrived first and started a small entrenchment.  The advancing British crossed the Bronx river to attack the Americans while a Hessian Brigade out flanked the position.  After causing heavy British casualties the Americans retired off the field.

  Because of the interesting troop types and colorful nature of the time of year I thought this would be a wonderful table top battle.  In addition the battle holds a warm memory for me as the very first battle reenactment I took part in in October 1972.  American Heritage magazine ( in April 1973, volume 24, issue number 3)  has a picture of my young self in ranks of my first regiment!  Janine volunteered to make lunch for the group of us.  A wonderful spaghetti and sausages with salad feast.  So now on to the game!

  View of the Chatterton Hill.  A very long ridge the length of the table top. The ridge littered with fields, walls and fences.   In addition a small redoubt had been constructed guarding a corner of the ridge.

  American forces consisted of a brigade of four militia battalions from Connecticut and Massachusetts.  General McDougall 's Continental brigade (19th Continental, 1st and 3rd New York Regiments and Smallwood's Marylanders).  In addition Haslet's Delaware regiment and Captain Alexander Hamilton's artillery battery arrived to assist.  The Americans were to hold the hill as long as possible and cause as many British casualties as possible.  The Americans set up using the various walls and fences as cover.

 view from the British position  towards the American lines.

The British launched a brigade of four battalions across the Bronx river to assault the American position.  They were screened by two companies of the loyalist New York Volunteers.

Colonel Rall's brigade outflanks the American position.  Here two foxes watch as regiments Knyphausen, Lossburg and Rall advance up the hill.  A detachment of Jagers skirmishes ahead of them.

Between the British brigade and Rall the von Bose and 17th Light dragoons advance.

    The British command set up on Wolf hill opposite Chatterton hill. A battery of three heavy guns were set up.  Although they could not move from that position they did provide support.  A battalion of Light Infantry and Grenadiers stood guard as reserves.  Lastly Sir William Howe observed the attack (distracted by Mrs Loring). A Shepard and his flock seen unimpressed by the unfolding battle.

  The American brigadier moves his battalions up to the crest of the hill.  Curiously instead of advancing the rifle armed skirmishers they are kept behind the main line defense.

  The American center is held by two Continental regiments and two militia regiments, Hamilton,'s battery and some riflemen.

  Taking advantage of the stone walls he positions his battalions.  Hamilton's battery takes a position to pound the advancing British in a enclosed field.  Lastly, the 19th Continental battalion advanced down hill to annoy the British.

  Concentrating their fire on the exposed 19th Continental the Royal Artillery force them to retreat back up the hill after suffering heavy casualties and failing its morale.

  The British line crossed the Bronx river. Because the Ford was only wide enough for two battalions at a time it was a time consuming process.  The Loyalist New York Volunteers from a skirmish line to try and protect the line.  Captain Hamilton's battery causes numerous casualties before itself coming under the fire of the massed Royal Artillery.

  The American left flank is guarded by a small redoubt manned by a militia regiment.  A New York continental regiment supported by Smallwood's Maryland Regiment and a militia battalion protect the exposed flank.

  The New Yorkers take heavy fire from the three Hessian battalions. They fail their morale test and rout.  Smallwood's stands alone against the advancing Germans.

  Suffering heavy casualties the Grenadier Regiment Rall fails its morale test and routed back down the hill.  The remainder of the brigade continues its advance.  The jagers skirmish against the militia in the redoubt.   Note the 17th Light Dragoons have flanked the American line!

  Undisturbed by the rout of the Rall regiment the Lossberg regiment charges Smallwood's Marylanders. The 17th Light Dragoons also charge in on the Marylander's flank. Too much for the gallant Marylanders they retreat uncovering the American flank.

  All of this is too much for the American commanders.  The various militia battalions reacting to The routing or retreating units fail their morale and retreat.  Wanting to save his Continental battalions he orders a retreat.  This ended the game.

  All agreed it was a fun scenario and they would like to play it again. I think next time the Americans could be more agressive.  Playing it again they could have advanced the rifle armed men to snipe and skirmish with the advancing enemy. This will make the British advance more difficult.  I also wonder if the Royal Artillery battery in the hill was too powerful.  I might take away one stand of guns in my next try.  I will add a few more walls and fences next time  and add some fall color trees to get the time of year correct.  All in all a successful game that will be fought out again.  Thank you to Andy, Jim, Warren and George for attending and playing.

Wargame table

  Getting ready for a game at my house I thought I would show what type of a table I have and my views on terrain.  My friend George refers to my table and terrain as updated old school.  That is I go for an old school simple but practical set up but using the better quality materials we have available to us today.

 My philosophy is I am playing with toy soldiers in a fun game.  I want terrain that is simple, but practical.  Terrain that does not detract from playing a game and can be used over and over again.  It also has to be able to be packed up and can travel to club game nights.

  The tables I use are 6' x 2.5' folding tables from Home Depot.  This gives me a nice 6' x 7.5 game space.  A fourth table would give me more room and would be a future purchase.  But for the space I have now this works.

  Hills and ridges are presently pieces of insulation board left over from when I finished our basement.  Again, future project would be to make a series of hills and ridges and paint them to match my ground cloth and add static grass. Rather then sloped hills I have always liked the old style steeped hills.  They remind me of the old style contour maps.  These are what I eventually wish to make.  My ground cloth are three old Citadel gaming mats.  These are covered in static grass and have a nice (but unrealistic) green color.  I think the green looks old school and being a lighter shade showed off the figures better.  The material drapes very nicely to make hills.

Trees, fences , roads and buildings are standard wargamer terrain available today.  I have not yet found a river I truly like.  So again I will have to make them.  I also like to put in little fun things. In any game you might find a Shepard and flock of sheep.  Or a pair of fixed hiding in the woods.  And ducks and geese tend to ignore the chaos around them.  These are ideas I picked up from the nice individual at Miniature Soldiers and Stuff Blog.  I ran into him at Cold Wars and was thrilled by his table set up.  I think they have made my humble table set ups more interesting and more fun.

So that is what I am using and how I set up for a game.  If any of you have suggestions or improvements I would enjoy hearing from you.

B-17 Crash

  Each year, the Collins Foundation hosts a air show of World War Two aircraft at Worcester (ORH) Airport.  It is great fun to see the old planes, especially taking off, flying and landing.  In addition for a extra fee you can go up in the plane for a short ride.  A fan favorite is the B-17.  I have greatly enjoyed these show at work over the last three years.  The last one was September 20 to 22.  Here is a picture I took of the B-17 while at ORH.

  On Wednesday October 2 the B-17 was at a air show at Bradley  international Airport at Windsor Locks Connecticut. Just before 10:00 am the aircraft took off with thirteen people aboard, three crew and ten passengers.  Shortly after take off the B-17 developed trouble and requested  to land.  On landing the B-17 lost control and crashed into a deicing building and erupted in flames.  Seven people were killed and a number of others (including a ground crew member who was in the building and two firemen) were injured.

   The death toll might have been worse but for Chief Master Sgt. James Traficante of the Connecticut Air National Guard.  He was aboard and trained in responding to crashes.  He had brought his flame retardant glove with him and wearing these was able to open the hatch for the survivors to escape.

   Shortly after the crash the Airport closed to all aircraft.  Incoming planes were diverted to Worcester, being the closest airport.  This creates a very busy day for us.

  For us at ORH this was a shocking chain of events.  As I mentioned the B-17 was always a fan favorite and we all knew the pilots.  We all looked forward to the aircraft coming in for a landing.  And we all knew people and relatives who went up for a ride.  We were all shocked at what happened but were busy with the rash of planes landing at our little airport.

Wayside Inn Fife and Drum Muster

    I guess it is officially fall here in New England. How do I know this?  Because Saturday was the annual Colonial Faire and Fife and Drum muster at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury.  This event is something we look forward to each year.  A chance to get together with friends, enjoy the fall weather,  hear lots of very good Fife and Drum music and have a couple beers. This event has been going on since, well I do not know.  I have been going since the mid 1970's and it was an annual event then.

   What happens?  There are about 20 different Fife and Drum bands. Some are very small, only about a dozen members.  Others very large with 30 or more.  Costuming (this is not where you go for authenticity) ranges from colonial type dress to 19th century band uniforms and everything in between.  There are bands that have been together performing for decades; and other started just last week.  But each group gets a time to appear on stage and perform. At the end of the day lots of people get together to jam.

   In addition there are craft persons selling their wares.  Blacksmiths and artist and basket weavers.  Individuals selling reproduction colonial clothing.  This year there were a farm that raises Alpaca and sells their wool. Our dog Fritz was most puzzled by what these strange animals were!

  The muster is held by the famous Wayside Inn.   For nearly three hundred years there has been a inn at the location. The Sudbury minute men and militia marched from here on April 19.  The poet Longfellow used this location for his "Tales from the Wayside Inn" which included the poem "The Inn Keepers Tale" better know as "The Midnight Ride if Paul Revere. "  Today you can still stay over night and get an outstanding meal here.

 Here are some of our favorite Fife and Drum groups.  Prescott's Battalion started as a volunteer group at Minute Man NHP.  It is still going today.

The Middlesex County Volunteers are also still going strong.  They have appeared around the country and around the world.  A brilliant group and a delight to hear and watch.

  A newer group and one of our favourites is the William Diamond junior Fife and Drum.  These are high school students from Lexington Massachusetts.  They look and sound outstanding!

The Dansey Flag

  The "Dansey Flag" is one of a handful of flags which were used during the American Revolution and still in existence today.  It is  possibly a grand divisional color of a Delaware militia unit, although which one is not known. It is named after the British Officer, Captain William Dansey who captured it sometime between the Battle of Couch Bridge (3 September 1777) and the  Battle of Brandywine (11September 1777).  He reported the event in a letter dated 11 October 1777 at Germantown; and states he captured it along with a number of other items from "a Rebel Colonel of the Delaware Militia". Held by his descendents as a treasured heirloom the flag was sold at auction in 1927 to the Delaware Historical Society.   This silk flag as it exists today is somewhat faded but is in otherwise excellent condition.

   There is a record of Colonel John Haslet's Delaware Battalion, along with Colonel Smallwood's Marylanders, fighting at Long Island on 27 August 1776 with "their colours flying", but what these looked like is unknown.

  The portrait of Dansey was done after his return to Great Britain after The war.  It is owned by The Duke of Wellington's Regiment Museum in Halifax England.  The letters Captain William Dansey write during The war have been published.

www.amazon.com/Captured-Rebel-Flag-Regiment-1776-1777/dp/1907417052

   Both the flag, letter mentioning it's capture  and portrait of Dansey will be displayed as part of the Museum of the American Revolution 's upcoming special exhibition "Cost of Revolution: The Life and Death of an Irish Soldier from Sept. 28, 2019 – Mar. 17, 2020."

She wore a yellow ribbon

  At game night Peter put on one of his outstanding " Yellow Ribbon" games.  Cavalry vs Indians doesn't get better on the table top.  Visually the games are beautiful and the rules cover the actions as they were fought and not a Hollywood version. The rules, "Yellow Ribbon" reflex the realities of fighting in the old west.  These are one of Greg Novak's  best rule sets.

  One aspect of Peter's games are his meticulous pre game briefings.  Each figure in the game is named and players have orders and objectives for each command.  For the U.S. Forces their objective was to move the wagons and mule train through a valley and off the board.  Commanders had to maintain a steady stream of ammunition to their men as they used up a lot and fast.  There weapons had longer ranges but they had fewer men and were less mobile. 

  For the various Indian war bands these briefings explain their marksmanship, medicine (morale) and victory points.  Yes, they were supposed to stop the wagons. But each band could gain victory points for other things.  These included capturing horses, counting coup or collecting scalps.  It is very difficult to coordinate bands and once your medicine (morale) is exhausted your band leaves the field.  In other words Indians fight like Indians and not Napoleonic light cavalry.  One of the most difficult things for the Indians were activating their war bands. To do so you had to roll two six sided dice and equal or better your medicine. Hard to do if your medicine was 12!  Thus some bands moved right away while others watched the game unfold and never moved!

  The action commenced with the U.S. Forces slowly advancing through the valley.  Some war bands advanced against them, others stayed put.  The cavalry dismounted to form firing lines while the War bands advanced and skirmishes with them;  then fell back when their medicine failed. 

  My three bands of Oglala Sioux activated right away and I moved them towards the right wing of the U.S. Line.  Due to random movement speeds (throw three dice) I could not coordinate the advance and it was more of a one at a time attack.  Each band moved forward, exchanged fire with the skirmish line and fell back.  On my right Bruce also advanced his bands to skirmish with the cavalry troop to my left.  Poor Art and Dave could not get their warriors moving!  An interesting part of the game was each bands medicine points.  For each casualty you got you lost two points. This caused you to call back and rally. If you lost all points your band was removed from the game.

  Byron's cavalry troop managed to put up enough fire to cause my bands to retreat. But I finally caused enough casualties on him that I could close.  At this point he ran out of ammunition and I wiped out his troop!  Although his horses got away I managed to gather a tremendous amount of victory points so I could go back to my tribe and brag about my great brave victories!  Actually I had all but exhausted my medicine points and had to leave the field.

  In the other side of the hill the U.S. Gray horse troop tried to charge a war band and got their captain shot out of the saddle!  One of Dave's war bands managed to drive off some horse holders and capture a number of horses.  And finely, in the last turn he got his last band activated!

  All in all a fine game and a great evening.  Thank you Peter gives great game.







   

British Brigade

 Now that I have added the 4th and 49th Regiments of Foot to go with the 23rd and 33rd Regiments I have a full brigade of line infantry.  Eventually I will add a second brigade of line but for now this creates a very nice command.  And ready for my Battle of White Plains game I am working on.

  Reviewing the brigade is Lord Cornwallis.  I have also attached a light 3 pounder gun for fire support.

   I am planning on remounting my mounted command figures on round bases.  Brigade officers will have small bases for a single figure.  Division commanders slightly larger to hold two figures.  In addition I like how my artillery on round bases looks in my War of 1812 collection.  So I will remount my Rev War artillery likewise.