Sharp Practice AWI Defence in Depth Game

As the last of our AWI Sharp Practice games, for now at least, my Tuesday night gaming friend Dale and I decided to give the Defence in Depth scenario a run. 

The idea is that the attacker has to traverse the length of the table to overrun an objective point on the defender's baseline, which in this case was to be positioned behind the walls of a redoubt that Dale had purchased with his support points. 

We diced for sides; I ended up with the British in the attacking role and Dale the defending Continentals. Both sides were allotted the same number of points with no additional weighting for the attacker, something which we were both a little sceptical about and I had been hoping to be the British but on defence.

Here is the initial table layout with the British arriving from the right:

The Continentals deployed first and took up a formidable position with some good quality line adopting a defensive position behind a fence line, an artillery piece covering the redoubt objective, and a unit of militia guarding their flank:

While two groups of State Militia and a unit of skirmishers including a marksman took up a forward position on top of the sole hill. First on for the British were some Indians who attempt to scout their way around this position using a 'moveable' deployment point:

They however take a blast from the artillery at effective range and decide to retire behind a fence. Meanwhile the remaining British in the form of three groups each of grenadiers and loyalist infantry plus a group of dragoons make their entry in the background, just in front of another lovely piece of terrain created by Mark of '1066 and All That' https://stracmark.blogspot.com/:

The Indians take another salvo from the artillery:

While the grenadiers get the better of their firefight with the State Line and skirmishers, reducing the latter from six to two figures. Both American groups decide therefore to withdraw although the Continental Line advances to challenge the grenadiers:

The artillery meanwhile continues mauling the Indians who now decide to withdraw to the safety of the barn, another of Mark's beautiful creations, now carrying a large amount of shock and leaving their leader unconscious on the fence line:

The grenadiers advance and engage the Continental line and eventually force it to withdraw as well, while the dragoons reach the crest of the hill and prepare to charge over it and into the militia protecting the flank of redoubt:

The charge is successful and the militia are routed from the table. The dragoons are now however reduced to two figures and their leader and will soon vacate the battlefield. The grenadiers also advance over the crest of the hill and engage the artillery in the redoubt, destroying it and leaving the redoubt unoccupied. However they have suffered so much shock in doing so that they are unable to advance and secure the now vacant objective to win the game, instead retiring behind the hill to rally while the loyalists cover their flank:

 

This provides enough of a pause for the State line to turn 90 degrees and march behind the dragoons to resecure the redoubt:

The loyalist regiment meanwhile loses the firefight with the Continental line and is forced to withdraw to rally off shock, but at least the grenadiers are now ready to resume their advance. 

The Indian leader too has regained consciousness and rallied off the shock of his followers, ordering the advance to take over the position of the loyalists in an attempt to keep the Continental line occupied:

As the loyalists are now forced to withdraw:

Army morale on both sides is precarious with only five points from eleven left for the Continentals and six for the British. The grenadiers must now risk a frontal charge before all is lost:

They make contact and melee the defenders with twelve dice to the defenders' six, with 5s or 6s causing a casualty:

In spite of these odds the defenders manage to inflict three casualties to the grenadiers' two, forcing the latter to withdraw. The grenadiers manage to rally and surprisingly charge again, and this time the dice are even at six a piece, but again they fail to beat the State line suffering two casualties to the latter's one. The grenadier leader is also killed and British morale now crumbles to zero.

This was a much closer game than either of us anticipated and could have gone either way, on a knife edge to the last. We enjoyed our three games of Sharp Practice and I was especially pleased as it finally gave me a chance to get some of my Perry AWI figures on the table.