Lexington & Concord. 19.04.1775.

16 marca 2024

Lexington & Concord. 19.04.1775.

Some time ago, Michael suggested a small campaign to reenact some battles from the American War of Independence. To prepare for this, he painted new militia units. Last Thursday, we played the very first battle of that war using Black Powder rules.

SCENARIO: Michael Schneider
UMPIRING: Michael Schneider

SCENERY: Michael Schneider, SESWC

FIGURES & MODELS: Michael Schneider

1. Forces.

UNITED KINGDOM

(Bartek, Tim)

COLONISTS

(Alasdair, Campbell, David)

2. The game.

Michael has prepared some surprises for us in the scenario. In addition to the objective points of 1 point for destroying/saving a building in Concord and 1 point for any destroyed unit, he has also given us something else, but we will discuss it later. Tim and I have prepared a plan together. I have decided to do things differently than in the original war. The Light troops will fight in Lexington, and the Grenadiers will bypass the woods and head straight into Concord with the main objective of burning everything there.

In the battle of Lexington, it is believed that Campbell's Militia fired the first shot. As a result, our side gained a victory point. However, it is still unclear who actually started the war. To prevent such disputes, Michael decided to deduct one victory point from the side that started the war. Our Grenadiers have successfully reached Concord and are currently preparing for an attack. However, the town is heavily guarded by the Militia, making the mission challenging.

The battle for Concord began with one of the Grenadier's units charging Alasdair's Militia and defeating them quickly. The other Grenadier unit started burning the buildings in Concord. However, the number of incoming Militia men increased, so I used a little trick and kept one Grenadier unit behind the Colonist lines, destroying the objectives. I successfully burned down two buildings. Alasdair received support from David and Campbell's militias, who then surrounded my units. Knowing that I wouldn't leave Concord alive, I decided to stand and fight. First, they trapped one of my units and defeated it. Surprisingly, the other unit survived a few turns of melee, but it was eventually defeated too. My mission was accomplished, and I gained three points for our cause but lost two. Overall, the job was done much better than in the original battle.

In the meantime, Tim fought against the remaining militia of Campbell's in Lexington. He stood bravely and even managed to destroy one of the Colonist units, earning another point for our side. However, our successes proved to be a disadvantage for us when, on turn 8th, our main forces were supposed to arrive. At that moment, Michael sprang another surprise on us. The British commander had a rate of 9, but for orders, it was 9 minus the difference in points. This could be either added or deducted depending on whether the British got more points or not. Unfortunately for us, we were winning and the main forces did not arrive until my brigade was completely destroyed. When they finally arrived, we decided to retreat to Baltimore since our job was done. The British won 5:3 in points.