Jay's Wargaming Madness: Liberty or Death

Showing posts with label Liberty or Death. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Liberty or Death! - Wargame Rules for the American Revolution (AWI)

I've called the rules I use for AWI "Liberty or Death!" and these rules have worked out really great so far in my AWI games. I'm calling this the final version. This ruleset also allowed me to really polish off the core "horse and musket" types rules (AWI, Napoleonic's and ACW). I have some updates/alignment to do on my other rule sets (Empires at War and This Hallowed Ground) as a result. All great things that have really brought this system into the place I've always wanted it to be.

I'm really at the point I want to do some "how to play" videos - which I may start/finish over the Christmas break (might take me a little longer, but some people have asked me for some videos).

Screenshots of the pages below. You can download the rules here.

Friday, March 6, 2020

AWI Scenario: Guilford Courthouse, 1781

I've always found the battle of Guilford Courthouse to be very interesting. This is a battle that could have gone either way, and I have to hand it to Greene, he cost the British dearly and lived to fight another day. Lots of key and pivotal moments throughout this battle. If you have not read the Osprey Campaign series book on the battle, I highly recommend it.

I believe AWI isn't all the popular right now - wargaming history shows that periods come and go in popularity. While this period isn't getting any love right now (it seems to me) - I'm really excited to get both Breed's Hill and Guilford Courthouse on the table. The great thing about this period, is that once you have the core of the forces built up, you will be able to run a lot of different scenarios.

Well, enough of my ramblings, on to the scenario details.

Rules & Scenario Map

This scenario is specifically written for my rules called Liberty or Death. These are available for download from here. These rules follow in the same base/core as my Napoleonic rules (Empires At War) and ACW rules (This Hallowed Ground).

Scenario map is below. The area was very forested outside of the cleared fields. Trees should be distributed in such a way as to provide difficulty to units wishing to use Run orders.

The fencing around the fields provides cover to units on foot.

British Order of Battle

Lieutenant-General Charles, Earl Cornwallis

1 x C-in-C

Webster

(1 x Commander)

23rd Foot

33rd Foot

O'Hara

(1 x Commander)

1st Battalion, Foot Guards

2nd Battalion, Foot Guards

Grenadiers

Leslie

(1 x Commander)

71st Highlanders

Von Bose Regiment

Reserves

(Commanded directly by Cornwallis)

Tarleton's British Legion

Hessian Jagers

Light Infantry

Artillery Battery - 3 x 3 pounders

American Order of Battle

Major-General Nathaniel Greene

1 x C-in-C

1st Line

(1 x Commander)

Butler's NC Militia

Eaton's NC Militia

Campbell's VA Rifles

Lynch's VA Rifles

Lee's Legion Infantry

Lee's Legion Dragoons

Washington's 1st/3rd Continental Dragoons

Artillery Battery - 2 x 6 pounders

2nd Line

(1 x Commander)

Lawson's VA Militia

Steven's VA Militia

3rd Line

(1 x Commander)

4th VA Regiment

5th VA Regiment

1st MD Regiment

2nd MD Regiment

Artillery Battery - 2 x 6 pounders

Thursday, February 27, 2020

AWI Scenario: Breed's Hill, 1775

There is a back story here. I had pre-ordered 12 boxes of Perry Miniatures new French Napoleonic infantry, but much like a Community Chest card in Monopoly, "shipping error in your favor" - I was mistakenly sent 12 boxes of American AWI infantry. I decided this was some sort of act of fate and kept a hold of the boxes (paying Perry for them).

As a result I arrive here at this. Two scenarios that have always stuck out in my head for AWI are Breed's Hill (commonly called Bunker Hill) and Guilford Courthouse. The plunge has been taken - I guess this is just going to happen now.

Fortunately, for the short term while I get my forces completed, Matt Hilzendrager has a decent AWI collection. Although it is based for skirmish wargaming, it will certainly suffice in order to play through the scenario. You may remember a version of this game being run at KublaCon a couple of years ago ...

That game was played using the rules Brother Against Brother.

For me I'm primarily inspired by this picture below ...

While not perfect, I believe this shows a much more historically accurate visual of the American positions. With that in mind I've set off down this road.

Rules & Scenario Map

Scenario map is below. The water areas displayed are shallow (swampy) and passable (although count as difficult terrain). At the bottom of the map is the shoreline/beach.

The redoubt, breastwork and fleches provide a fortified position for the defending American units. The reinforced fence counts as cover for the defending American units.

AMERICAN SPECIAL RULES

Limited Ammunition: The American army starts with 16 ammunition markers (can use powder barrels). Each time an infantry unit fires it uses 1 ammunition marker. If no ammunition markers are remaining when a unit fires, they are considered to be out of ammunition.

Out of Ammunition: Units that fire when out of ammunition resolve shooting with the minimum 2D6 for shooting regardless of unit formation, range, or modifiers.