Hi again, twice in one day, what on earth is going on! The trip to the space centre was fun and the journey home not too taxing so I have been playtesting my scenario for the Battle of Hanging Rock. Anyone wanting more information on this fascinating little battle should hop over to AD's Blog where you'll find some excellent research. For this battle I am using Black Powder rules with standard units being 6-figure companies - somewhat different to the massive tabletop games seen in the rulebook itself, but an approach that I am finding gives excellent AWI games on a 6x4 or 8x4 table. Here is the set-up at the start of the battle. As you can see there are lots of trees. In the distant hill in among the woods are Bryan's loyalist militia. Clustered around the hut is the Crown forces' central camp while Major Carden and the Prince of Wales's American Regiment (PoWAR) are camped in the woods at the botton right hand corner of the photo:
...using the element of surprise the rebel militia rapidly overcome one PoWAR company but the remaining three are now shaking themselves intoa defensive line.
Rebel Centre:
...and wide holes are ripped in Bryan's position
...so Captain Rousselet of the British Legion seizes the opportunity to form a defensive line
...but those rebels keep on coming!
Hope you enjoy this eye candy. More Hanging Rock action tomorrow.
In the following photos we'll follow the action during turn 1.
Rebel left:
The left-hand column of the rebel army - 5 companies of militia - arrives somewhat west of its historical position and finds itself confronted with the PoWAR camp, which it immediately attacks.
...using the element of surprise the rebel militia rapidly overcome one PoWAR company but the remaining three are now shaking themselves intoa defensive line. 
Rebel Centre:The rebel centre with seven militia companies crashes into Bryan's loyalist militia on the hill. Again the element of surprise is in their favour despite one company being disordered by its rapid crossing of the stream...
...and wide holes are ripped in Bryan's position
Ignore the red coats. Bryan's men were probably not uniformed but I didn't want to confuse them with the rebels!
Rebel right:
Lastly, the rebel right-hand column of two militia companies, Davie's light dragoons and accompanying light infantry march across the bridge, heading towards the cetral camp. They don't move with sufficient alacrity to attack the camp on turn 1.
...so Captain Rousselet of the British Legion seizes the opportunity to form a defensive line 
...but those rebels keep on coming!
Hope you enjoy this eye candy. More Hanging Rock action tomorrow.
Very nice eye candy indeed!
ReplyDeleteSo, if I understand you correctly, you are using six figures to a base, each base is a unit? Or are there a variable number of bases per unit with them being dispersed on the table somewhat?
Look forward to the next entry.
Hi Dale, yes 6 figures = 1 "unit". This allows a small battle to still generate enough units to keep a Black Powder game interesting. I feel you need a dozen or more units per side otherwise it can all be over in a couple of die rolls.
ReplyDeletecheers
Steve
Very nice report and wonderful looking board!
ReplyDeleteCheers
Christopher
Good looking game! neat ideas about a different way to use the Black Powder rules. Are all the mechanics played as normal in these small unit games?
ReplyDeleteVery good looking game there. That last picture in your post is great, there is a very cinematic feel to it.
ReplyDeleteYes, normal mechanics, just smaller units.
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