The Battle of GermanTown, 1777

Last night witnessed  another of Tony’s AWI 28mm extravaganzas, the battle of Germantown, using the “Loose Files and American Scramble” rules.

Having gone to the trouble of bringing his boxes of terrain Tony decided to make the most of it.  The Americans advanced into a maze of fields and fences towards Germantown in a heavy mist.  Under “Loose Files and American Scramble” advancing in anything but a straight line across open ground is not straightforward.  This was not going to be easy for the Americans.

The Americans in the centre and right flank advanced through the fog towards the Chew House to engage what they thought was a British Regiment in front of them. After firing and causing casualties the British regiment mysteriously disappeared into the fog and re-appeared intact inside the building.

The troops on the left slogged through the fields having to stop at fences and then continue. Just as they were about to break into open ground they were set upon by American reinforcements and the desultory fire from off table caused some confusion in the ranks as well as severely wounding the general in command of the militia.  

The Americans tried to storm Chew House but were driven off with heavy casualties and a broken regiment.  Seeing no  way of advancing into the village the  brigade halted to exchange desultory musket fire with the British defenders.  Given the American command and control limitations  and the difficulties in manoeuvering troops under these rules, there was not much option, especially given the congested area on the American left.

On the left flank the troops cleared the maze of fields and started to advance across more open ground around Germantown. Suddenly a volley of fire from a single building decimated one of the lead regiments. Not good. However the reinforcements advancing from the left flank managed to get three units into close combat range with the British light infantry in the same building .  Dice were rolled and an American victory was declared with the British fleeing from the house.

With the evening drawing on the Americans began to line up for an assault on the British camp held by Von Knyphausen’s Hessians. However it was decided to call the game a draw at this point with the Americans about to take possession of the town although Chew House was still holding out, it was about to be surrounded. This was a reasonable re-enactment in miniature of Germantown with confusion and the American focus on their inability to take Chew House.