Just in time to get a post in for the end of the month(!), I spent the evening setting up for wing scale 'Cowpens' battle for Volley and Bayonet, from the American revolution. Battle to follow soon.
I must cite these superlative references: Kieth McNelly's excellent V&B site, and J.D.Glasco's equally superb gaming and research resource.
The V&B wing scale is proving to be an excellent simulation for the smaller battles of the war, just as the larger scales allow for good 'scaling' up to Saratoga, Germantown and Monmouth. As Cowpens is a small battle, this level of flexibility allows the same set to be used across the period, across the campaigns, and with a few tweaks, across centuries of linear warfare. (Apparently there is another set which tries this, without success, but with lots of D6, lots of expensive black books, and lots of confusion...it's slack, and tastes of chowder :O )
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| British entry - Tarleton's command not as flexible as the Americans, though his troops have the edge in quality |
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| ...having to use a standard English redcoat commander...you may note that my Tarleton figure has been subsumed into the British Legion cavalry at the end there ...I had to 'smush' a few units' strength points together to make it work, due to lack of a few figures. |
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| American defenders, and the ridgeline is not 'exactly' perfect, but will suffice |
Looking forward to getting this done during the week - a relatively small battle, but don't those open flanks look inviting?
...and now a nod to the kids' D&D game, where I am moving from the 5e funk to a proper old school rpg - 'Shadowdark'... You can thank me later.
Darren,
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff! I'm thinking F&IW would work equally well in the smaller wing and division scales.
You may also enjoy:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/15-questions-with-frank-chadwick/id1530488608?i=1000648682672
Neil
Nice link - many thanks Neil. Yes - I'll be looking at FIW soon, and I have 15mm Scottish Jacobites being dusted off for the Bonnie Prince Charlie books.
DeleteEagerly awaiting this BATREP, Darren! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve. Have just organised both forces historically - Americans in three lines - Washington (the younger's) cavalry at the rear - we'll see how it all goes down soon.
DeleteLook forward to AAR
ReplyDeleteMany thanks. Should be soon ;)
DeleteFirst AWI battle I fought on holiday in Cornwall in 1983. I went armed with the April edition of Mil Mod (with Cowpens as that month’s Battles For Wargamers), the card strips I used for Pony Wars and a set of Newbury colonial rules. Played it all on the chalet coffee table while my parents were out gallivanting: I was supposed to be quietly revising for my O levels!
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT! I suspect you learned more from the game than revising for O Levels. Cowpens is an interesting little battle. Tarleton probably should have stuck to studying law at Cambridge, and not gambling away his fortune... At least then he would not have suffered the curse of Holywood script-writers, and been turned into the infamous, church-burning, Tavington in Mel's movie version.
DeleteI distinctly remember wasting time reading David Eddings' 'Pawn of Prophecy' when I should have been revising for O's. Fantasy (I wouldn't call them Sword and Sorcery) novels were all the rage then. Hmmm...time might have been better spent revising - I never did finish the trilogy...
And very risky, considering they were retakes and my dad had threatened to march me to the army recruitment office if I didn’t pass… It was the AWI lists in the Newbury rules (purchased for my collection of Peter Laing British and pipe cleaner Zulus) that got me thinking about the period, so this combo of Stuart Asquith and hideously complex mechanisms started it all. After armies in 6, 15, and 2 x 25mm I’m not playing with the new Hat plastics. F knows what I will do with ‘em, but it’s fun chopping them about.
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