"Oriskany scenario victory condition suggestions." Topic

So I am working up a scenario for Oriskany, using my clubs AWI rules. I am using the British Grenadier scenario as a guide. I could not find any victory conditions in the BG scenario. If they are there I am not seeing them. So what should be the victory conditions?

You would think the wagons would figure into the equation but from my reading the Americans didn't care about the wagons once the attack began and as far as I could tell didn't try to hold them, recapture or keep them moving. I think the Americans were just trying to survive.

So should the victory be based on casualties? Who suffers the least casualties based on straight up numbers or a percentage? What percentage? I am thinking you would count any unit that exits the battlefield as casualties. This would prevent the Americans from just running off the board. Need to find a reason for the Americans to stay and fight.

Should the victory be based on holding a terrain feature like the road? But again I think the Americans were just trying to survive and didn't care about holding any terrain. So I need a victory condition that forces the Americans to stay and fight the battle. Any suggestions?

The relief force needs to stay on the field at least until the Continentals in the fort make their sortie which seriously disrupted British/Iroquois morale. If they leave the field too early some of the ambushing force might be able to return and fall on the garrison who were outside the walls, disrupting their morale and possibly leading to the fall of the fort. An unsuccessful sortie coupled with a disastrous relief attempt might have led to British success in the Mohawk Valley.
Herkimer's force must hold the field long enough for the garrison to achieve their success.

Casualties should play some role in determining victory. This is especially true in regard to the native forces. Though the Loyalists and Iroquois defeated and decimated the militia, the losses among the Iroquois had a deleterious effect on their morale for the rest of the campaign. Indian populations were too small to accept heavy losses.

The Indians were also badly hurt by the sacking of their camp.

Herkimer's force didn't run because they were surrounded. They suffered more than 75% losses. The majority of them dead.

I used to do Oriskany in the 1970s/early 1980s. As a straight up wargame the Loyalists almost always won. If we divided the Loyalists and the Native commanders and gave them different victory conditions, things got more interesting.

Victory points for Herkimer and for the Loyalist commander were based on the outcome of the action. Victory points for the Native commander were based on "scalps taken" and losses sustained. This encouraged the Native commander to be aggressive when the militia was most disorganized, and to become more conservative as the militia defenses became better.

We gamed it Saturday. Great game I will need to tweak the scenario a little. The Indians need to move faster than our rules allow for skirmish movement. Each side caused over 50% casualties to each other when you through those that routed off the battlefield.

It is one of those scenarios that one side or the other will big time. Very bloody indeed and everyone has bad morale and there fore are fragile.

One Indian War Party failed their morale and had to loot the wagons. But suffered one hit from musket fire on the way and promptly left the battle. Great game everyone had a good time.