"Battle of Springfield (1780)" Topic

After the Battle of Connecticut Farms, on June 7, 1780, had foiled von Knyphausen's expedition to attack Washington's army at Morristown, New Jersey, Knyphausen and Lt. Gen. Clinton decided upon a second attempt. Although the British were initially able to advance, they were ultimately forced to withdraw in the face of newly arriving colonial forces, resulting in a Continental victory.

Our reconstruction using 28mm figures and British Grenadier rules started with the original dispositions: Greene with a single brigade deployed across the front covering Hobart gap and the two bridges across the Rahway river and the Crown forces advancing in two columns, one column would advance along the Galloping Hill Road, straight through Connecticut Farms and Springfield, while another column would take the Vauxhall Road north of Springfield.

Our battle opened with the Hessian brigade pushing across the Galloping Road bridge and ejecting the 2nd New Hampshire (standing in for the 2nd New Jersey) from the Presbyterian church yard after a short cannonade. The 2nd attempted to reform, aligned on defensive earthwork occupied by North Carolina troops, but the Hessians followed up and drove them back to the high ground above Hobart Gap. Turn two saw the Hessian regiment assault the works and rout the understrength defenders, while the other royalist column fanned out towards Vauxhall bridge on the opposite flank. American reinforcements began to arrive from the direction of Morristown as the defenses began to collapse.

Turn three and the British/Loyalist column advanced on Vauxhall bridge where they were checked by accurate fire from the defenders

Commanding the American left, I chose to bring on my best formation (Webb's Additional Regiment) first. This proved to be a good call and they hastened to cut off the leading Hessian regiment which had become separated from it's supports

Across the table, the Crown forces failed to capture Vauxhall Bridge and wasted much effort looking for a ford

Meanwhile, Webb's Regiment head crashed head on into the Grenadiers von Rall on the Galloping Hill road and sent them reeling back across the bridge.
This effectively ended the game as the Crown forces had failed to take or hold their objectives (the bridges and Hobart Gap) and the lone Hessian regiment that had broken through the American defenses was isolated and obliged to surrender.

Nice looking game.

Very nice.

Eric

wow that is a 10.

Very interesting. I am going to run this battle at Cold Wars. How big a table did you use?

Twelve by six, I believe. I wasn't the host. It's an interesting scenario – tough for the Brits (even more so with BG rules which seemed to hamper movement and punish formation changes), but definitely winnable.

Right now I have it set for two 5x16 tables that are parallel until after the second bridges. We are using Black Powder. It has been good so far. Both sides have won, but it ain't easy.