American War of Independence, Die Kriegskunst, 28mm

Lately we’ve been tinkering with rules, trying to come up with a playable Seven Years War version of General de Brigade. We’ve called our version Die Kriegskunst (The Art of War), which has a suitably Prussian sound to it. It this game we decided to change theatres, but not the rules, setting the game in Colonial America rather than the German-Polish border.Dougie Trail’s Prussians were pretending to be Hessians for the day, taking on my American Rebel militia. the idea behind the game was to test good troops (classed as Veterans and Line) against rubbish ones (Garrison and Militia) holding a strong defensive position.The four battalions of “Hessians” advanced against the right of the American line, harassed by the American 4-pounder and their skirmishers. The assault was launched with two battalions up, and two in support (the rules encourage this period tactic), and the first attack was repulsed – both battalions being forced to retreat, after taking substantial casualties from musketry.However, these are Hessians we’re talking about here, and they went in again, this time driving the Rebels back from their fence. By the time we ended the game the American right wing was in retreat, while the unengaged left was starting to feel a little isolated. Militia tend to bug out in those kinds of circumstances…

Tags: Die Kriegskunst