AWI Campaign - Battle of Fairfield Bridge, November 16th 1776

It has been a while since I have had a game from the American War of Independence campaign. So far the British forces have won 5 of the 8 battles and recently secured Philadelphia. After a brief respite they are now marching again towards Newcastle. Leading to the ninth battle game of the campaign.

Campaign moves and battles

The American commander took a bit of a gamble with his three columns by making two of the columns very strong and one quite weak. The way I have been determining the available forces for a game is to have them divided into three columns and roll a D6 for each one. The lowest scoring column does not appear on the table and is considered too far away to march to the sound of guns. Where D6 rolls are equal the commander choses the column.

Rolling for American column available for the battle

The gamble paid off! Giving American forces 13 units and British 11 (they were more conventional with an even split across their columns. Both forces were already depleted due to persistent rain and as a consequence could not include one artillery and two other units of their commanders choice.

The battle of Fairfield Bridge was to take place November, 16th, 1776. The tabletop terrain was all randomly generated as I have done so throughout this campaign. This time a river was introduced, which was fordable by all except artillery who could cross at the bridge. The table layout provided a interesting decision. The most defendable side had the river closest to the edge, but only two terrain (building and bridge) squares to boost a commanders resolve. While the least defendable side furthest from the river had three square which if occupied would boost command resolve (two hills and buildings).

The British won the D6 roll and opted to defend along the river.

The numerically stronger American forces line up 

British forces prepare their defence of the river

Light infantry in the woods defend the centre

American forces ready to go

I will post the battle report soon. The game has been played. I am trying to keep my posts shortish as I find long posts consume too much time and can become a bit of a chore.