"Battle of Germantown." Topic

"Following defeats at Brandywine, Paoli, and the British capture of Philadelphia on September 26, 1777, George Washington attempted to gain the initiative. He received that opportunity a week later when British General William Howe divided his army. Howe encamped at Germantown, Pennsylvania, seven miles northeast of Philadelphia, with 9,000 men, while other troops garrisoned the city and moved against American forts obstructing the Delaware River. Washington reinforced to 11,000 troops and decided to attack using a plan similar to the one that he employed at Trenton in December 1776.

On the night of October 3, four converging American columns began a sixteen-mile march towards Germantown. Generals John Sullivan and Nathanael Greene…"

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Amicalement
Armand

Hadn't seen this map before. Thanks for posting the info.

Probably my favourite AWI battle to play.

Yes, lost in the fog, what's not to love!

Not lost, merely disoriented…😉

A votre service mon ami! (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

"Ain't you ever been lost?"

"No, but I've been a mite confused for a few days."

Bill Tyler to Henry Frapp in THE MOUNTAIN MEN.

Just read Michael Harris's new book on Germantown. Highly recommended.

Agree. McGuire's is excellent also.

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

"Ain't you ever been lost?"

"No, but I've been a mite confused for a few days."

Bill Tyler to Henry Frapp in THE MOUNTAIN MEN.

I thought that was Daniel Boone.

Maybe, but it's also a line from a great movie.

This is a really tough battle to game, if you start from the beginning of the battle, past Cliveden, to where the British line waited. Having put on this game twice at HMGS cons, there is a lot of dead ground, unless you allow the British forces to move out earlier than they historically did. It's also hard to encompass the flank battles, that contributed very little to the main actions.

Strange, but I found Germantown rather easy to game.
I just made each British unit roll for activation before they could do anything. On turn 1, if they hear "alarums and excursions without" they roll a D6, activating on a 6. On turn 2, a 5,6. Turn 3 etc.
Same thing for the columns wandering in the fog.
Don't over think it.

So let me clarify my post. What makes gaming Germantown tough is the sheer size of the battlefield, with multiple columns coming by different roads. If you attempt to do it in anything approaching scale, you need a big game area. Much of that game area will not be used, other than troops marching through it.

My experience is that the British usually stand pat and force the Americans to come to them, which is what historically happened. Of course in the real battle, due to the columns arriving at different times, fog contributing to multiple friendly fire incidents, and the fact that the Americans had largely spent their ammunition shooting blindly into the fog and each other, there wasn't much of a battle by the time the American meet the British battle line.

Of course a bad morale throw can change anything. But there a lot of pesky historical facts that make this a complicated battle – not the least of it is it's sheer size. My experience anyway. Opinions may vary. I was lucky enough to win an award for this game when I last ran it at an HMGS convention.

Michael Harris book out on the topic.