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| Sir William Howe - 1777 |
If like me you have come to appreciate the delights of Carnage & Glory II and have been following the progress of Sir Arthur Wellesley's career here on JJ's and can't get enough of this stuff can I suggest you might want to check out Jan Spoor's blog, where you will be able to follow the progress of Sir William Howe and his 1777 Philadelphia Campaign using the AWI variant of C&G following a similar format to the scenarios and games staged here on JJ's.
http://cardboardandmetal.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/a-new-project-at-cardboard-caserne-1777.html
I love the AWI/American Revolution, which in many ways had a huge impact on the development of the British army and the way it would fight in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period providing as it did invaluable experience that enhanced the steadiness of British infantry and its formidable reputation for use of fire-power and bayonet; with the evolution of the two rank open order line and the light infantry tactics that would inform officers such as Sir John Moore who served in America and would be a key founder of the Light Infantry training centre at Shorncliffe and the famous Light Division.
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| Night Attack at Paoli Tavern |
The 1777 campaign is a great one to focus on with some major battles, Brandywine and Germantown and you could conclude with the Battle of Monmouth the following year. In addition there are some very interesting small scale actions like the Battle of Paoli Tavern. The armies involved are some of the largest fielded during the war with some very interesting units and commanders and both armies, with the Americans in particular, developing their tactics and skills after the initial clashes of the war culminating with the arrival of von Steuben and the improved discipline and drill regulations for Continental troops that really make this one of the most interesting periods to look at.
Some parallels between the Peninsular War and the American War of Independence. In America's attempt to break free of British control, they fight what is a combination of guerrilla and traditional warfare. The French bring arms, limited manpower and eventually, their navy.
ReplyDeleteIn the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish try to break free of the French with guerrilla and traditional warfare. The British brought in arms, limited training and use their navy for keeping the French from reinforcing or supplying by sea. Just didn't see the level of brutality in America that was seen in Spain.
Those are interesting parallels. Perhaps the ferocity in the American conflict was more pronounced between Patriot and Tory, and the casualties suffered by the total population of the colonies was IIRC extremely high, particularly for a war from the so called "Age of Reason" period where usually the fighting was principally between small trained armies leaving the majority of civillians out of it.
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