REBELS AND REDCOATS-War in the colonies

Had a great game of Blackpowder with my brother, he being the rebels and myself the redcoats. The game began with my forces under the command of Howe refusing to move which allowed Pigots brigade to catch up giving me an intimidating amount of red coats on the field. After being sniped at from Charles town my light infantry turned on the left flank to clear the edge of town of militia. The rest of the force headed up toward the redoubt on the hill. Orders were ignored with some failed command roles leading my light infantry to charge off toward Charles Town after wining a musket duel with riflemen. The rebels had a few failed command roles themselves with Starks brigade deciding not to march across the fields toward Howe but wheel and head towards the hill to support their comrades.

Stark quickly got his units back under control and turning towards the enemy while the British artillery realized they had brought the wrong size shot for their cannon reflected by a dodgy roll. They could no longer fire until a 6 was rolled at the beginning of a turn. Meanwhile the marines went tearing up the field towards the enemy with out any support and into rebel range of fire.

The marines end up retreating after coming under fire from the rebels on the hill which allows the so far very inactive British to redress their ranks while continuing to fire on the snipers in Charles town.

Howes Brigade finally reaches the redoubt with Grenadiers storming the defense and sends one unit of rebels fleeing. They leave themselves open to return fire and are forced back before fleeing the field. Meanwhile Starks militia come to  the rebels help tying up half of Howes brigade in a musket fight across the field.

The Marines finally get into the redoubt wiping out the rebels to their front and clamber over the defenses. They are gunned down by the surviving militia but the British finally get their artillery ammunition resupplied and begin bombarding the redoubt. The rebels see off  a number of approaching companies but more crown reinforcements arrive. With renewed cannon fire causing havoc Prescotts defenses crumble as the redcoats advance and they retreat.  

The game was great fun with the British taking the field but it took some time with some bad command rolls and a stiff defense from the militia. Next step is the British attack on New York and the beginnings of the Continental army.

With Bunker Hill complete Rebecca the Redcoat raises her cup of tea says chin chin and moves on down to New York for the next stage of the campaign.

Now Bunker Hill is out of the way it’s time to move on to the next scenario in the rebellion expansion for Black Powder. After the British abandoned Boston they reorganized and headed towards the loyalist heartland of New York. Washingtons forces had control of Manhattan but Howes British troops managed to out flank the rebels and cause them to retreat and eventually pull out of New York. Howe hesitated giving Washington the chance to escape with his army. The Chatterton Hill scenario details one of the outflanking maneuvers performed by the British. If they can take the hill they can position artillery on it and bombard the rebel positions.

This battle has allowed me to collect some continental infantry for the first time and paint some varied rebel uniforms and some German Hessian units breaking up the red of the British forces.

good thing about red coats is they can be used for lots of different regiments if you dont mind the facings being a different colour. This next battle has a force made up of lots of Hessian units so a new set of minis is needed. I already had some warlord Germans and I’ve ordered some Perry miniatures to boost the collection. I have found it difficult to find the correct colour schemes for some of these units so I’m using a bit of guess work with the images I have found.

After Boston the British reorganized and headed for New York and with them came a number of German units which would be known as Hessians. I had picked up some plastic kits from Warlord but recently boosted them with some Perry metal minis. I managed to paint these two units in two days.

I have completed my Hessian force although I have found it difficult to find the correct colour schemes for all the units and I certainly wont be doing any stripey trousers anytime soon. They may not be all historically accurate but they look alright.