"Have you gamed Paoli?" Topic

How did you do it?
What rules did you use, and how did you modify them?
Did you give the Yankees chances to realize what was going on and fight back?
Did you deprive the British of ammunition for the entire "game"?

To fight it you must understand it…and it wasn't the complete rout that some suggest. Wayne apparently knew he was going to be attacked, testified to that at his courts martial, and prepared to retire. Unfortunately the noise and confusion of that night, inherent in a well planned night attack, foiled his attempts to withdraw in good order. He has chastised by his colonels for failing to retreat until it became too late, but he expected the arrival of a large group of militia and tried to wait until they arrived. You could fight this as Wayne deploying his troops to defend his camp and see what happened. As far as the "bayonets only" issue, if Wayne had put up a firm defense the British would have resorted to volley fire.

It was Wayne's experience at Paoli, seeing his usually firm men succumb to the panic that helped convince him a night attack on Stony Point could work, even if the British suspected they were coming, which they did. I included a section on Paoli in my Stony Point book for that reason.

I'm going to get McGuire's our your book before I do any planning.

I thought the British not only took the flints away, but confiscated them too.

Yes.

McGuire's book is good.

Is this another game we need to discuss to tempt me to trek up to the wilds of Luzerne County?

And the re-enactment is a lot of fun too.

We should run a game during that re-enactment weekend.

Nerds come together.

Eric

We gamed this years ago with a few of our club in Paoli (about 1/2 mile from the site). The American objective was to try to get as much equipment out as possible, knowing you were going to lose people. After the game we went to the site and I noticed that the same place where my wagon broke down was in the ditch near the third base line of the ball field. I miss our friend George who had done most of the research and work for the game.I would not think this would be a game for a lot of players, but can work with the right conditions.

I thought the British not only took the flints away, but confiscated them too.

Winston (a little behind the curve, here, but..)
– according to John André, who was Maj Gen Grey's ADC, "No soldier of either was suffered to load; those who could not draw their pieces took out the flints."

Major John Maitland, CO of 2nd Light Infantry battalion, remonstrated with General Grey saying:

"The whole of the battalion was always loaded, and that if he would only allow them to remain so, he would be answerable that they did not fire a shot. The General said that if he could place that dependence on the battalion they should remain loaded but that it might be attended with very serious consequences if they began firing. They remained loaded."

Maitland was as good as his word although, as McGuire explains in his book, eventually men of the 2nd Lights did open fire when they entered the woods at the far end of the clearing and fanned out into small groups to pursue the routed Pennsylvanians.

It made more sense for the 44th and 42nd following in the second and third wave to remain unloaded since they had friendly forces to their front as they cleared through the abandoned campsite.