Guilford Courthouse - 235th Anniversary

[Techno]

Looks absolutely terrific........Again !! 

Cheers - Phil

[jchaos79]

wow such great display of wargaming!

[Womble67]

Great looking table

Take care

Andy

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great looking game!

[paulr]

I'm reposting these post with the pictures moved from ph#t$b%ck&t to flickr, if a moderator could replace the initial posts with these it would be appreciated

15 March this year was the 235^th anniversary of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

To mark the occasion we planned to refight the battle using Wing Scale Volley & Bayonet during a 3 day Wargames event over Easter here in Wellington, NZ.

Below are a few taster pictures, I will report on the two battles in later posts.

Pierre the Shy discusses the advantages of 10mm with a new convert



The forces of the King deploy for battle by Hoskins farm



The American first line, North Carolina Milita supported by Lee and Washington's Legions (Near and far wings respectively)



The American second line, more experienced Virginia Militia, wait behind the denser forest



The American third line, Maryland & Virginia Continentals, wait behind the stream (Guilford Courthouse just out of shot to the right)

[paulr]

In the first game Peter (Pierre the Shy) commanded the British and I commanded the Americans.

The British advanced across the fields and fire was opened by both side



I advanced both American Legions on the wings, including Washington's cavalry on the far side.



Peter responded by advancing the Royal North Carolinas on the British right, the British Legion Dragoons on the left and charging in the centre. As expected the North Carolina Militia routed (red & yellow markers).



Rather than push through the denser Forest in pursuit of the North Carolinas Peter turned Webster's Brigade to the left to take on Washington's Legion and Leslie's Brigade to the right to tackle Lee's Legion. The Brigade of Guards supported Leslie while the British Legion Dragoons supported Webster.



At this point I should have withdrawn both Legions to the support of the American second line. Extracting them was harder than I expected and the casualties to both Legions mounted rapidly exhausting both. However Webster's Brigade was exhausted in the heavy fighting.

This left the Brigade of Guards and the Leslie's Brigade to take on the American second line. Initially the British moved up and exchanged fire with Stevens' Virginia Militia.



Stevens' Brigade stood their ground and exchanged volleys with the Guards and Highlanders (71^st) while Lawson's Virginia Militia moved up in support on the British left and the exhausted remainder of Lee's Legion moved up on the British right.



The Guards and Highlanders (71^st) charged while Regiment von Bose and the Royal North Carolinas moved up in support. This routed Stevens' Virginia Militia Brigade but they, supported by Lawson's Virginia Militia and Lee's Legion, inflicted enough casualties to destroy the already weakened Highlanders and one Battalion of the Guard.



With all the British Brigades exhausted the battle drew to a close.

The Continentals had not engaged however the loses to the North Carolina and Virginia Militia and more particularly to the both elite Legions forced the Americans to again withdraw across the Dan River into Virginia.

The British had won a costly victory.

[FierceKitty]

Mmmmm. Epic scale.

[paulr]

Excellent looking table and the game demonstrated that it is a tough nut to crack for any would be Cornwallis' out there.

It proved to be an even tougher nut in our second game on 26 March, apologies for the lateness of this report.

Pierre the Shy (Peter) and Roy commanded the Americans and I commanded the British, Germans and Loyal Americans.

Peter and Roy were aggressive with Washington's and Lee's Legions respectively and the British soon found themselves in trouble on both flanks. Leslie's brigade on the right had managed to charge and rout the North Carolina Militia to their front but Regiment von Bose was caught by Lee's Light Horse and routed. The loyalist Royal North Carolina Regiment that had come up in support was being out shot by the veteran light infantry and Virginian riflemen of Lee's Legion.

On the left Webster's Brigade had been forced to support the Hessian Jagers and Guards Light Infantry with the 33^rd Foot due to the pressure from Washington's Dragoons, veteran Light Infantry and Virginian riflemen. This meant that they had not yet been able to charge the North Carolina Militia to their front. The Guards Brigade had also had to move up to counter Washington's Dragoons.



The 33^rd Foot's charge was repulsed and the Guards volley through the light wood was ineffective.



Back on the British right Lee's Legion Horse had redeployed and successfully charged the loyalist Royal North Carolina Regiment. Casualties were rapidly mounting in the 2^nd Battalion, 71^st Foot. The British Legion Dragoons moved to the right to cover this rapidly weakening flank.



Lee's Legion Horse supported by fire from his veteran light infantry rapidly overwhelmed the British Legion Dragoons and forced Regiment von Bose to take shelter in the buildings of Hoskins farm. Accurate fire from Lee's  Virginian riflemen forced the survivors of 2^nd Battalion, 71^st Foot to disperse.



Close range volleys from the Guards inflicted some casualties and forced Washington's Dragoons to withdraw. Multiple charges by the 33^rd, 23^rd and Guards routed the North Carolina Milita and some of the Virginia Milita.

But more Virginia Milita advanced and casualties were rapidly mounting on both the Guards and Webster's Brigades.



The battle ended with Regiment von Bose ejected from Hoskins Farm and the exhausted British Legion Dragoons withdrawing with them. The casualties suffered by both the Guards and Webster's Brigades had exhausted them and they also had to withdraw.



Another interesting game, this time a clear victory to the Americans.

[paulr]

Today I stumbled across this post https://jdglasco.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/a-link-to-someone-elses-volley-bayonet-version-of-guildford-courthouse/ on Jeff Glasco's very useful blog, Gentlemanly Wargaming

Given the amount of inspiration I've have drawn from Jeff's blog I was very please by his kind words

Therefore, I was motivated to upload the pictures to flickr and repost with updated links

[pierre the shy]

V&B wing scale is so well suited to AWI - I really loved playing Paul's Camden, Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse scenarios - some of the most fun games I played, even if I did only have a 33% win:loss ratio 

I look forward to using Paul's Redcoats in some actions against Lafayette, Rochambeau and the French expeditionary force sometime soon......was that subtle enough Paul     

[paulr]

I found an Order of Battle for the French at Yorktown on Jeff Glasco's blog

While I was nosing around for anything else useful I stumbled onto his link to this thread

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Beautiful looking game

[Ace of Spades]

Great stuff folks, absolutely wonderfull looking table and figures and good reading!

Cheers,
Rob

[lowlylowlycook]

That's one amazing battlefield!

[paulr]

Thanks all 

Note I reposted these as the original pictures at the beginning of this thread are now blocked by Ph#t$b@ck*t