MM02 Germantown (4 October 1777)

MM02 Germantown (4 October 1777)

Germantown

I have to say after the consistency of the British wins in MT10 (5-1 in most cases), I'm not happy with this scenario and will pull it back for redesign. The fog was a historical feature, which amongst other things saw a friendly fire accident by the Americans.

The British won Germantown, but were surprised and could have lost easily enough without the delay caused by the resolute defence of Chew Mansion.
Some possibilities for balancing this are to move forward Greene's force by a hex, and to remove the -1 on moving Spanish ranged fire.

If anyone has other thoughts, please let me know.

After having just played Germantown twice, I have a couple of thoughts:

Remove the -1 die modifier for fog. That would significantly affect the Americans. They are still going to be pretty outgunned, but being able to roll one die when moving sure beats not rolling at all. The main problem I see with that is that you remove the simulation of the fog, which was a significant event in the real battle. Brad Hurst (Tarheel) is working on a Caldiero scenario in the fog and he's trying a range restriction of 2 (which affects ART only, of course) and a maximum move of 1. I don't think implementing that at Germantown would affect the balance, though.

I note that some of the other AWI scenarios give the Americans a +1 for Standing Ranged fire. If added at Germantown, that might give them a bit more of an edge as well.

The other AWI designer allows the Americans to conduct all Leader Checks with just 1 die. None of our flags were from Leader kills, but the Americans need all the help they can get.

I'm not sure those would tilt the scenario balance enough to give the Americans a shot at winning, but they're the only ideas I have. Maybe coupled with the ideas in your post above they would.

Having said all that, I enjoyed playing the scenario as both sides, and thanks for taking the time to create it; it's certainly a challenge as the Americans. I actually thought it was pretty good for the semi, where you switch sides and the whole idea is to do better than your opponent did. It does, however, magnify any "dice issues."

Cheers,
Thom

Been thinking over the Continental Army, and my views are thus;

The Continental Army was essentially a volunteer, citizen army. They were for the most part militia initially, with not much battle drill. There were some experienced frontier fighters from the French & Indian War, mostly in the north.

The Army of 1775-1776 was a composite state force, recruited for a year service. They behaved better than expected at Bunker Hill, but still lost. 1776 sees a series of defensive engagements. Trenton is an exception, a winter surprise raid.

1777 seems the Continental Army lose a series of battles in the Philadelphia campaign, but achieved a vital success at Saratoga in defeating Burgoyne. A significant factor at Saratoga is the terrain, which favoured the frontiersmen. Enlistments are now for 3 years. Despite defeats, the Continental Army survives, and gains experience.

The winter of 1777-78 is spent at Valley Forge, under the training of von Steuben, creating a tougher, better trained force. From 1778-1780, the Continental Army fight small engagements, but generally the regular troops perform creditably. The British shift operations to the Southern theatre.

So I can see an evolutionary aspect to the Continental Army.
So whilst I'm not unhappy with their Spanish characteristics in 1775-76, for 1777 they should improve, and improve again in 1778-80

So my though here is
1775-76 = as Spanish
1777 = as Spanish, but remove moving battle -1 (melee & ranged)
1778-1780 = as 1777, but gain +1 Standing Fire

This would make them better in all 4 scenarios of the Philadelphia Campaign (Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth Courthouse & Monmouth).

Germantown V3




changes in Battle notes highlighted
Battle Notes
British Army
• Commander: Howe
• 2* Command Cards (*increases to 5)
• 4 Tactics Cards (Optional)

American Army
• Commander: Washington
• 5 Command Cards
• 6 Tactics Cards (Optional)
• Move First

Victory
5 Banners

Special Rules
• The Americans use the Spanish blocks and are treated as Spanish, but remove moving battle -1 (melee & ranged)
• American units may not form square.
• British start with 2 Command cards and draw 2 each turn until they reach 5 Command cards.
• The Portuguese units represent Hessan & Loyalist units, which are treated as British in all respects except that Line
Infantry melee with 1 additional die.
• The Spanish Guerrilla Action rule is not in effect.
• Wissahickon Creek is not fordable except at the ford. Frankford Creek is fordable, and units may move and battle in
printed fords without penalty.
• All Ranged fire is reduced by 1 die due to the Fog.
• Chew Mansion (a walled Farm) is worth a Victory Banner to a side that occupies it at the start of their turn.

Should Hessian light infantry`s moving fire round up (like the British), or round down? And how about Militia? British army havn`t unitd this type.

Fencer wrote:

Should Hessian light infantry`s moving fire round up (like the British), or round down? And how about Militia? British army havn`t unitd this type.

Hessan Light round up

Militia always round down

Thank you! Vassal contains an error when describing the French militia infantry about it.

Fencer wrote:

Thank you! Vassal contains an error when describing the French militia infantry about it.

I recall I fixed that after this discussion . If so, I must have re-introduced the error when I refreshed the charts in a more recent version, assuming I re-scanned the French chart (the error is in official charts). I will fix it again when I get a moment.

Mark-McG wrote:

Fencer wrote:

Should Hessian light infantry`s moving fire round up (like the British), or round down? And how about Militia? British army havn`t unitd this type.

Hessan Light round up

Militia always round down

I've just been taking another look at this for the next maintenance release of the C&C Nap module. I've realised why I left the French Militia as "round up". It is because (so far as I can see) there is not a core, standard rule for Militia rounding. Instead the core rules refer the reader to the National Characteristic charts. All player aids that I've checked (French, Russian & Prussian) have the French Militia rounding up. So I will leave that alone for now. I think the unit detail on this site is incorrect for French Militia and should read "round up". Happy to be corrected if there is an errata ruling somewhere that I don't know of.

My initial response on this thread was because I got confused, as the change I did make was to include "retreat 3" on the player aid, because that part is a core rule.