"ATKM - Monmouth Courthouse Scenario?" Topic

The President of our local gaming group (Potomac Wargamers) has asked me to put on an American Revolution game.

I thought I'd try out the rules from All The King's Men, and their scenario for the Battle of Monmouth -- 28 June 1778; considered the largest land engagement of the American War for Independence.

Although designed for 54mm figures, I'll be using 28mm as the rules can handle both scales equally.

Has anyone played out the Monmouth scenario from ATKM? Is it too large a battle for a Saturday afternoon game 12:00 – 5:00 P.M.?

The group often plays rather large games from the Napoleonic, ACW, colonial, WWII, and modern eras. It is not uncommon for four to six players to turn out for a game, so two to three players per side is what I expect -- with me as umpire.

Am I being too ambitious? Am I being unrealistic, wanting to get my Anglo-Allied army onto the table -- they've not seen action now for almost 2 years.

I have never used ATKM's rules, but the group I game with did Monmouth a few months ago and it was a big game, we played from 10am-5:30pm with an hour break for lunch.
I wish I took pictures but I didn't….So I'm hoping you do!
I think you should do the game.
After all what good is having beautifully painted figures being left unused?

I've played both the morning and the afternoon scenarios from the British Grenadier scenario books twice each, but only using the BG rules. In all four cases, we have been playing three-a-side and each "half" of the battle has typically taken all of the time period you are talking about without a meal break (and that's the actual game – set-up time was extra).

I'm pretty sure it's not the biggest land action in terms of actual fighting (the afternoon was really pretty quiet due to the heat). Long Island and Brandywine (maybe also White Plains and Germantown?) had more troops actively engaged.

I've done Long Island and it was a VERY long affair.

That being said, I think using the ATKM rules might go between one and two days total for Monmouth, depending on how you want to play the scenario.

If you cut out the opening bits, the whole Charles Lee business, you can probably make it work.

My two shillings worth.

Eric

"d," thanks for wanting to use the ATKM rules for your game. That's awesome! For an afternoon's game based on Monmouth, I would focus on Lee's efforts to slow the British convoy rather than stage the whole battle with Washington's forces included. You could let Lee and his subordinates know Washington is on his way, but the guy just never manifests! It would be a pretty good game for 2-3 players per side, especially with the British more interested in getting off the north end of the table than fighting.

If you had players familiar with the rules, you could pull off the whole battle, but with newcomers' learning curve, better to be a little modest in plans.

I hope this helps.

Ken

Thank you all for the prompt feedback, encouragement, and constructive input!

Just what I needed to help me stay focused and keep the game manageable.

When you receive a request from The President -- even if it's the President of your local gaming community; you cannot simply ignore it.