Saturday 23 May 2015

Surprise attack on the British party

 Usually I play on the French side, but as two British players were unable to participate in today's game, I fought alongside Redcoats. This was my first play againts my fellow (till now) allies and it was the very first game of our new British player Radek, who was nevertheless able to enlist almost 600 points of soldiers!

We mustered:
  • 2 units of 12 line infantry - famous Redcoats
  • 3 units of Rangers (two of 6 and one of 4 men)
  • 3 units of Indian allies (each 6 warriors strong - two with bows, one with muskets)
  • unit of light infantry (6 men strong)
  • Regular oficer with Visionary skill
  • Ranger officer with Insiprational Skill
66 models and 580 points.

 Our enemies used mainly Irregulars and Indians with a unit of 10 regular infantry. We haven't count them, but it was approximately 840 point!

 French objective was to crush us totally. Our was simpler - just to reduce their numbers by 50%, then we win instantly.

 Set up was as follow: Redcoats marched on the road, flanked by Irregulars and Indian allies. French could surround us any way they like.





Saturday 4 April 2015

My first contact with AWI - The Hessians


During the American Revolutionary War, Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel (a small independent country in northern Hesse) and other German princes hired out some of their regular army units to Great Britain for use to fight against the rebels in the American revolution. About 30,000 of these men served in North America. They were called Hessians, because the largest group (12,992 of the total 30,067 men) came from Hesse-Kassel. They came not as individuals but in entire units with their usual uniforms, flags, weapons and officers.


Units were sent by Count William of Hesse-Hanau; Duke Charles I of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel; Prince Frederick of Waldeck; Margrave Karl Alexander of Ansbach-Bayreuth; and Prince Frederick Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst.

The Hessians did not act individually. Their princes determined whether to hire out the units. Many of the men were press-ganged into Hessian service. Deserters were summarily executed or beaten by an entire company.

Hessians comprised approximately one-quarter of the forces fielded by the British in the American Revolution. They included jäger, hussars, three artillery companies, and four battalions of grenadiers. Most of the infantry were chasseurs (sharpshooters), musketeers, and fusiliers. Line infantry were armed with muskets, while the Hessian artillery used three-pounder cannon. The elite Jäger battalions used the büchse, a short, large-caliber rifle well-suited to woodland combat. Initially the average regiment was made up of 500 to 600 men. Later in the war, the regiments had only 300 to 400 men.

About 18,000 Hessian troops first arrived in North America in 1776, with more coming in later. They first landed at Staten Island in New York on August 15, 1776. Their first engagement was in the Battle of Long Island. The Hessians fought in almost every battle, although after 1777, the British used them mainly as garrison and patrol troops. An assortment of Hessians fought in the battles and campaigns in the southern states during 1778–80 (including Guilford Courthouse), and two regiments fought at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781.

Americans, both Rebel and Tory, often feared the Hessians, believing them rapacious and brutal mercenaries. Hessian diaries frequently express disapproval of the British troops' conduct towards the colonists, including the destruction of property and the occasional execution of prisoners, the latter being doubly upsetting when American Germans were among them.

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Greetings to all weary wanderers

The struggle of brave soldiers, cunning Indians and stubborn settlers continues on our tables for almost two years (checked - the very first battle we fought was 8th June 2013), and since then a lot we were able to achieve in this topic.


First of all, we've found a group of great players, with whom we all share a similar approach to the game - fun of creating great story and joy of playing are in the first place, whereas the rules are only somewhere on a background; just a mere excuse to spend quality time. In addition, each of us appreciates the setting, hence on our tables we use only painted miniatures and we try to keep new terrain as neat as possible.

This was probably the main reason to create this blog - the desire to show off, what we have already done and try to propagate it. Although some of us have their own blogs, most don't and a large part of the work was never shown.

Similarly, we lacked a place to publish ideas for campaigns and scenarios - on our blog focused on painting miniatures it seems a little bit out of place - and here we can safely write anything we want. Also reviews, changes to the rules, after action reports written from several perspectives, etc. that all should appear here from time to time.

We will publish new posts regularly and we hope that everyone interested in the conflicts in the second half of the 18th century willl find something interesting here.

Howgh!

Kadzik & Yori