Mohawk Valley Collection - Albany and Tryon County Militia

The work on the paint bench this month and part of February has been focussed on completing my first tranche of the Albany and Tryon County Militia that will form the core of my Rebel American army to oppose the Crown forces in my Mohawk Valley collection of AWI figures.

With a solid core of Crown forces completed, that has seen the build of the Kings Royal Regiment of New York, Butlers Rangers, British regulars and light infantry, Jaegers and the allied Mohawk Indian forces, I decided to shift the focus on to the American troops so that I could have a start to the collection that would allow some practice games, prior to doing something big with a much larger collection.

That work started last year with a few trial builds of some plastic and metal Perry options for American militia, but more thought was needed, together with some scratch building to complete the force I was looking to build.

With a lot of work put into the Age of Sail collection of model ships brought to a conclusion with the completion of the first part of the collection at the end of last year, I found myself with time to start work on my planned militia build that would see me constructing a force of some one hundred and forty four militiamen, to allow an eventual fighting of Klock's Field, perhaps one of the most significant engagements in this bloody conflict on the northern frontier of New York state in the AWI.

Obviously with this number of troops I was looking for the most cost effective and attractive option to build a militia army with character that would capture the look and spirit of the Rebel forces that formed the frontline defence in the Mohawk Valley in the 1780's and the idea of the Perry's to adapt their plastic Continentals for this option had a strong appeal, with plenty of scratch building options on offer, as covered in my post over Xmas and linked below.

JJ's Wargames - Mohawk Valley Collection American Militia Scratch Build

The Xmas work schedule also saw the completion of my Jaegers together with some metal militiamen to add even more variety to my plastics build, link below.

JJ's Wargames - Mohawk Valley Collection, Jaegers & Militia

In addition, if you are interested in seeing some of the other units built prior to this work, I did a summary post capturing the key build with a link also below.

JJ's Wargames - AWI Mohawk Valley Collection

So, back to the militia, and introducing the first twenty five percent of my militia army for the Mohawk Valley ready to take on my Crown troops and Indian allies.

On March 8th 1772 the Province of New York passed a bill for the establishment of organised militia in each county in the colony, and four years later with the start of the American War of Independence, the Tryon County militia had become an army of rebellion under the control of the Tryon County Committee of Safety, fighting in the Saratoga Campaign of 1777 at the Battle of Oriskany.

The Battle of Oriskany, August 6th 1777

The battle would herald the ongoing struggle between the rebels and loyalists of the Mohawk River valley in New York state, as the 800 strong Tryon County militia column of Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer found itself ambushed by a loyalist force of some 400 Iroquois Indians and 100 men of the King's Royal Regiment of New York led by Colonel Sir John Johnson, with the former marching to the relief of Fort Stanwix under siege by a British force under the command of Lt. Col. Barry St Leger, supporting operations by General Burgoyne, marching down the Hudson Valley.

The ensuing battle was a disaster for the Tryon County men losing some 465 casualties to just 28 on the loyalist side, with the survivors forced to flee under the pursuit of the vengeful Mohawks.

The Saratoga Campaign of 1777 - Map courtesy of Wikimedia
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burgoyne%27s_March_on_Albany,_1777.svg

Burgoyne's campaign ended in failure and his subsequent surrender in September brought France into the war and would see a change in leadership in British Canada as the forces there went over to the defence, until a lack of direct French involvement in the region prompted a more aggressive response in 1780 as the Mohawk Indians and Crown forces returned to the Mohawk Valley and beyond, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

The Champlain and Mohawk valleys would be the access routes of the loyalist columns and with the Continental Army otherwise engaged in operations around New York, Philadelphia and having to commit forces to defend the south, the defence of the New York, Northern Department fell on the shoulders of local leaders and local forces in the form of the five regiments of New York and two regiments of Massachusetts State Levies and the five regiment of Tryon and sixteen regiments of Albany County militia.

The Battle of Oriskany gave the militiamen an early inoculation to the shock of battle and the battles to come and I wanted my representation of these men to reflect their experience and better preparedness for the actions that followed in 1780 and 1781, with these men kitted out for the marches they had to conduct often in pursuit of enemy raiding columns.

Thus these soldiers carry the blanket rolls and packs more often seen on the regulars as part of that preparedness and in amongst the soldiers I have sprinkled a few rifle armed volunteers who can readily stand in as my Militia Ranger options, clad in hunting shirts and able to form into small skirmish groups.

In 1779 the Tryon County militia was combined with the Albany County militia and on March 20th 1780, Brigadier General Robert Van Rensselaer was given command of the second brigade and in 1781 Marinus Willett was appointed in overall command of New York militia.

Colonel Marinus Willett - Ralph Earl

By the time Willett was appointed to command the militia, the Mohawk Valley had been ravaged as part of Sir John Johnson's 'Great Raid' in September and October 1780, with supporting operations the previous May along the Champlain Valley; during which the militia had been given the run around suffering defeats at Stone Arabia and Klock's Field and failing to intercept and decisively defeat the invading columns, and leaving the Tryon County militia reduced from about 2,500 men to just over a thousand men at arms but with very low morale.

The state of affairs prompted Willett to remark on assuming command that 

"I don't think I shall give a very wild report if I say, that one third have been killed, or carried captive by the enemy; one third removed to the interior places of the county; and one third deserted to the enemy."

However in June 1781 the combative style of Willett took immediate effect with his leading an attack against Lieutenant John Doxstader of the Indian Department, himself leading a mixed force of seventy rangers and Indians on a raid up the Schoharie Creek, skirmishing with rebel militia on the march, and attacking property and livestock close to Corrystown.

After removing 120 cattle and horses, the raiders set fire to twenty homes in the area and the smoke from the attack alerted Colonel Willett at his headquarters in Canajoharie, who immediately set forth with 170 odd militiamen and getting in front of Doxstader laid an ambush.

However Doxstader was warned of his peril by a scout and he ordered his men to disperse and attack the ambush site, but recognising he was outnumbered called a retreat, getting his men clear and taking six prisoners but being forced to abandon the livestock captured earlier.

 

The autumn of 1781 was dominated by another large raid into the Mohawk Valley, this time to be lead by Major John Ross commanding the second battalion of the KRRNY and, with Sir John Johnson on leave in England to settle financial matters, commander of the expedition of 734 troops and Indians.

4 Companies, 2nd Battalion KRRNY             - 198 (Major John Ross)

8th Regiment                                                   - 36   (Lt. Thomas Coote)

34th Regiment                                                 - 76 (Capt. William Ancrum)

84th Regiment, Royal Highland Emigrants    - 36

German Jaegers                                               - 12

3 Companies Butlers Rangers                         - 167 (Capt. Walter Butler)

Indians, mixed tribes                                       - 109 (Capt. Gilbert Tice)

Indians from the Genesee River Country        - 100

Ross, a Seven Years War veteran, would lead his force on a similar route to that chosen a year earlier by Johnson but was destined to meet stiffer opposition and to find less to destroy than Johnson, with many people having left and those few remaining able to take refuge in nearby strong posts, with twenty four such places in the sixty-three miles between Schnectady and German Flatts.

Colonel Marinius Willett was in command of the defenders, himself based at Canajoharie, having abandoned Fort Stanwix and he had on call some 1,200 regulars and 800 militiamen.

The raiding force marched swiftly to enter Corrystown on October 24th but did not burn it this time to avoid alerting Willett and his defence forces and making use of the surprise to enter the Mohawk Valley before the rebels could organise a large enough force to meet them. 

Suspecting that the rebels may well guess his force would exit yet again along the Mohawk to Oneida Creek and discover his hidden cache of food and munitions ahead of his force, Ross decided to change his plans with a more direct withdrawal to Carleton Island via the Black River and making best use of his surprise crossed the Mohawk at one o'clock on the 25th October, with rain teeming down and rebel militia already gathering on the opposite bank, his troops and Indians skirmishing with the militia and attacking and burning property on their march to Johnstown.

However it became clear to Ross that he would not be able to outmarch the rebel pursuit column organised by Willett, and entering the woods east of Johnstown, he determined to make a stand.

Colonel Willett's advance party appeared and retreated when fired at, but with the main body close behind them Willett led the advance across an open field supported by a single piece of artillery.

Ross's men stood their ground and as the rebels wavered, Ross ordered an advance causing a running fight as Willett's men broke and fled abandoning their gun.

Ross later wrote of the action,

'I lamented the want of a good Body of Indians, (few of those present venturing to engage), in which Had I been so fortunate, it would in all probability have crushed the Spirit of Rebellion on the Mohawk River, on our left the Rebels had planted a Field Piece with another Body of men, and in our following the enemy out of the Woods they kept up a brisk fire, the Troops advanced to attack, the very countenance of which made the rebels give way.'

It seems Ross's advance was brought short as his right flank was attacked by another 'body' of the enemy, and Ross ordered his own 3-pounder turned on them as the afternoon closed out to evening with this last rebel attack driven off and Willett able to disengage, whist Ross's men sheltered in the wood, destroying abandoned enemy ammunition before resuming their march north.

Ross reported that his men acquitted themselves well stating more than 1,200 rebels had pursued them, 400 of them Continentals, and his casualties as negligible whilst the enemy lost many officers and at least twenty men.

Willett pressed his pursuit of the Crown force and caught up with their rear-guard at West Canada Creek, with Ross having just got his column across at 2pm on the 30th October. He went on to report;

'Just as the Troops had all got over, the Rebels made their appearance, and fired upon our Rear, the fire was returned. Captain Butler who commanded the Rangers covering the Line of March was unfortunately killed, several men were also killed and wounded. The Enemy had greatly the advantage of Ground and their favourite object of firing at a distance, wherefore I ordered the Troops to move forward in order to take possession of the first favourable Spot that offered which was accordingly done, the sick and wounded were sent on.'

The Battle of Johnstown would be one of the last battles of the war in the north as news spread of the British surrender at Yorktown effectively seeing the running down of major operations, as the peace negotiations moved into full swing.

With a stiffening of regulars among their ranks the Albany and Tryon County militia proved they were a force to be reckoned with under the right leadership and with them not being asked to do more than their capabilities offered.

In time I plan to create a large force of these chaps, stiffened with the odd gun or two, some state levies and occasionally the odd group of Continentals with a refighting of Klock's Field a key objective.

I am really pleased with the way these plastics have turned out and I think readily provide a very cost effective and attractive alternative to building a large fore of rebel militia.

Sources referred to:

The Burning of the Valleys - Gavin K. Watt

King's Men, the Soldier Founders of Ontario - Mary Beacock Fryer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryon_County_militia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marinus_Willett

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Butler_(Loyalist)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_County_militia

Lot's more to come on JJ's as I'm off to club today to play in the follow up game of Maurice featured in my previous post, before setting off tomorrow for a short break in Yorkshire, where I am planning to visit HMS Trincomalee in Hartlepool, the last surviving British Napoleonic Wars type frigate of the Leda Class and sister ship to HMS Shannon, and the second oldest warship afloat.

More anon

JJ

Mohawk Campaign Game - Scouting Mission Playtest

Just before the Xmas break I was busy getting my Jaegers finished off for my Mohawk collection 

JJ's Wargames - Mohawk Valley Collection, Jaegers & Militia

and in the process of pondering all things AWI Mohawk Valley ideas, as I am want to do, I came across a video review on YouTube illustrating a playthrough of the Mini-Game, Roger's Rangers by Decision Games and written by Joseph Miranda, which after a little bit more research on Boardgame Geek, I picked up a couple of copies, one for me and the other for my FIW enthusiast and mate Steve M.

Boardgame Geek - Rogers Rangers

The video link can be followed below with Centurion's Review showing a playthrough of the Scouting Scenario.

Centurions Review - Rogers Rangers

Of course I immediately spotted the problem with the game in that it is focussed on the right theatre in North America and with a similar theme but very much on Roger's Rangers and their role in the French Indian War, but, I thought might, with a little tweaking, work just as well recreating the adventures of Butler's Rangers and the King's Royal Yorkers in the American War of Independence.

Readily adapted artwork from the Perfect Captain AWI game served for my new counters to represent the two forces engaged in this theatre

Thus I sat down to play with this little project, to make the necessary tweaks with the map, units and cards to put the game into Cyberboard where I could playtest it to see if the idea would work or not and I thought you might like to see the results and how I got on.

When I say tweaks, that included a redesigned map, new counters to represent the different troop types and some changes to the Mission and Operations cards to change the descriptions to being more appropriate for this theatre in the AWI together with artwork to compliment the theme. The rules of play are however as written so once those aspects were done the game was ready to test.

My redesigned game map to represent the AWI frontier

So with the module finished over the Xmas break I decided I would start playtesting in January and for those unfamiliar with it, I should explain if you haven't followed the links above, that this is a solitaire game with the player running the Rangers force or in this case Crown forces and the system generating any opposition that you might bump into as you strive to complete one of four missions, which if playing the full campaign can be linked one after the other, Scout, Rescue, Frontier Raiding and the Big Campaign.

An example of one of my theatre-themed
Mission Cards and the subject of the first play test

The Mission Cards drive the set up and objectives for each game and in the example above, the game I am reporting here, my loyalist force under the command of Sir John Johnson are tasked with moving into enemy territory from one of the staging posts, either Fort Oswego or Fort St John, to recover the 'Intel' represented by one of seven objective counters randomly placed on the map and hidden from view until revealed when my force enters the area.

Of course some of those other objectives can aid or hinder my march to find the Intel counter and so every time one is turned over adds a little moment of anticipation in the game, in addition Ops (Operations Cards) can also help or hinder this process.

Two examples of Operations Cards that can get revealed each turn of the mission and in this case alerts the player to the possibility of contact with the enemy. Note the Alert Level being higher makes this more likely.

To achieve each mission, Operations Cards are required to allow it to continue, and this mission starts with six, which are used up each turn of the game mission, and can be lost because of events or equally gained in the same way. If you run out of ops before returning to base with the objective, the mission fails.

In addition I also need to build my force with the 8 RP (Recruit Points) allotted and take necessary gear to help my men achieve success, and these all cost RP and I am limited to 3 units represented by the Command factor, although my leader, Johnson is a free addition to the force.

Gear, in the form of boats and the green objects help to overcome likely obstacles during the mission
and the objective counters give each mission its purpose.

The numbers on each unit counter refer to combat factor (left) and movement (right), with the former requiring a die roll equal to or less than to defeat an enemy unit and the latter determining how many spaces on the map can potentially be moved to on the march, determined by the slowest marching unit in the column and special terrain such as Rebel Forts or Mountains that force the column to stop despite their move allowance.

Rebel units are simply deployed to the map when generated so don't require a movement rate but just have a combat factor, and commanders are counted as elite units giving a plus factor to the Tactical Superiority die roll which determines who shoots first and also have a Combat Factor of 1 (Crown) or 2 (Rebel) to simulate their small ability to influence the battle at that level should it become required.

The game test set up with six operation cards ready to drive the game and my loyalist force starting in Oswego

The screen shot above shows the module set up ready to go with the Scouting Mission, with seven objective markers placed on the map from Unadilla to Castle Town and up to Crown Point.

The Alert Level, indicates how ready the Rebels are for an incursion by Crown Troops and indicates how many troops might oppose me if I bump any on my route

My RP level is at zero as I have purchased my force of Kings Royal Yorkers, Butlers Rangers and Mohawk Indians and am taking the Long Rifle and Hatchet as my gear, attaching them to the latter two units, intending to start my march from Fort Oswego to Unadilla before moving into the Mohawk Valley.

Turn One - Arrival at Unadilla

So armed and ready my little force made its way south from Oswego via Lysander and stopped at Unadilla, having moved two areas, the furthest the force can march with the slower moving King's Yorkers in company

On arrival, the first Op Card was turned and it was not a good start, revealing my march had been spotted by Oneida Indians allied to the rebels, thus raising the Alert Level to two and reducing my remaining op cards to just four and barely into enemy territory.

On the positive side my arrival allowed the release of loyalist prisoners held in the area and adding an RP to the pot and the potential to raise more men and gain more equipment if needed.

The force then marched on to Fort Hunter, with the added threat of Rebel strongpoints in the area which causes Crown troops to halt the march immediately on entering the area.

Turn Two - Arrival at Fort Hunter

The subsequent Ops card was a rebel attack on my Ranger Camp which as I hadn't built one had no effect, and the turned objective marker revealed farms and homesteads which were burnt and destroyed, gaining me a further RP, which I forgot to record but will include in the next mission, as the march continued to Fultonville offering the opportunity to return to Oswego, should I fail to gain or, worse still, loose further Ops Cards.

Turn Three - Arrival at Fultonville and Rebel Ambush

Fultonville revealed the Butler's Rangers Op Card, which I at first put to one side in anticipation of using it later if required, only to find the revealed objective counter heralded a Rebel Ambush, now with the Alert Level at 2, setting up two randomly picked Rebel units, revealing Riflemen and Militia waiting on my march route.

Rebel Riflemen and Militia attempt to ambush my force, but the Butlers Rangers Ops Card helps to ensure victory for the Crown.

Thus I decided to play the Butler's Rangers card immediately giving my troops the automatic gain of the Tactical Superiority, meaning my chaps got to fire first with my KRRNY and Butlers hitting on 4's or less on a d6 routing the enemy before they knew what hit them, whilst also gaining me one Ops Card for winning the skirmish. 

Emboldened by my victory I decided to press on with the mission and head back up the valley to Fort Hunter ready to face events in Turn Four with my two remaining ops cards.

Turn Four - Return to Fort Hunter and the Battle of Fort Hunter

Needless to say my bold move to go back along the Mohawk Valley deep into Rebel territory was a risk with only one op card left and too far away to get back into Canada, and indeed the Rebels were waiting for me with a column sent out to hunt my force down now that they were aware of its presence.

The Rebel Army Ops Card immediately moved the Alert Level up further to 3 and required a die roll to see how many Rebel Units would oppose me revealing the three seen above, with a tough force of State Levies, Rebel artillery and militia in support.

Fortunately Sir John Johnson and the Long Rifle capability of my Rangers gave me +2 to the Tactical 

Superiority die roll which I easily won and all my units defeated the Rebels in quick succession to award me a battle victory and two additional and highly valuable Ops Cards to continue the mission.

It seemed as if fortune was favouring the brave and so Johnson's little army moved on to Ballstown, where the next Ops Card announced the Mohawks thirst for revenge and the possibility of further Indian allies joining the column, but sadly a die roll of 4 revealed that this Indian warband was busy elsewhere.

Turn Five - Ballstown and Success! Loyalist supporters meet the column to pass on the vital intel.

However Johnson's luck continued as the objective counter was turned to reveal the sought after Intel and the force could now focus on the challenge of getting back to Oswego and completing the mission.

With just three Ops cards left Johnson decided to avoid the Mohawk Valley on the return march, with the two Rebel Fort areas only slowing the march and increasing the risk of interception, and instead head back down the Schoharie Valley at Fort Hunter and try to get back via Unadilla.

Turn Six - Return to Fort Hunter and avoidance of Rebel Army

Fort Hunter proved yet again a dangerous place to march past as the third visit saw the turning of the Rebel Attack Operations Card that required me to roll a D6 higher than the Alert Level of 3 to avoid a battle, which was ideally what I was looking for and needles to say 'lady-luck Fortuna' duly obliged.

Surely now with just Unadilla between my troops and sanctuary at Oswego there would be nothing to prevent Sir John returning with the valuable Intelligence reports.

Just when you think this game is easy it seems to throw in a few more surprises as the next Ops Card turned on arrival at Unadilla announced a possible Rebel Ambush and similarly to avoid it the D6 roll needed to be higher than the Alert Level 3.

Yes, get in there! 

What a conclusion to this first mission and successfully achieved allowing progress on to the next Mission, 'Rescue', following the Intel revealing that Loyalists were being targeted to join the local militias at the risk of imprisonment and confiscation of property on their failure to enrol.

Turn Eight and Sir John's little force makes it safely back to Oswego with the Intel following quite an adventure along the Mohawk to Ballstown.

The end of the mission was completed with one Ops Card remaining and a Recruit Point in the bank both of which are carried over to the next mission.

This first mission was great fun to play and suggests lots of possibilities for using with the Mohawk Valley Collection of figures going forward and I look forward to showing how I get on in the next one entitled;

In addition the simplicity of the basic game invites further tweaks to the set up to perhaps vary the threat posed by the Rebels and raise the anticipation levels a bit more  - more anon.

Mohawk Valley Collection - American Militia Scratchbuild

The Perrys provide the answer in getting more variation into my Rebel Militia

As mentioned in my last post looking at the Jaegers and militia that were added to the Mohawk Valley AWI collection, my attention would be turning to Rebel militia units and State Levee companies that formed the principle defence against attacks by Crown troops and Indian allies.

 

As anyone who has built a collection of AWI figures using the Perry range of miniatures will know, the range of militia offerings is somewhat limited given the range of civilian attire these chaps likely turned out in and the need for plenty of pose options to give that very irregular look of militia that you don't associate with regular troop types.

Which started me thinking about how to best represent these troops in my own collection and get those variations in the look I was after as I experimented with a few metal and plastic Perry figures while I concentrated efforts on my Crown forces.

Interestingly the Perrys faced a similar challenge when they were building forces for a planned AWI campaign they later ran and posted an article on their Facebook page that was just the solution I was looking for and I have posted the results of the first stages of that option, namely to create my militia from the AWI American Continental Infantry box set with the use of extra variation provided by the British Napoleonic Infantry plastic box set.

You can see an example of their build project in the header picture and is exactly the look I'm after for my Albany and Tryon County boys, and the other pictures show the various combinations I have come up with so far, using this idea, ready to be painted once I've finished Bob's ships which are in the shipyard as I write.

I added to the suggestions on how to build these chaps by, as directed removing the lace and shoulder wings from the British arms, but also carefully removed any show of the bayonet scabbards that would have been Continental apparel.

Likewise I have added in the hunting shirt options included in the Continental box set to add yet more variation to the coat and waistcoat sets, and a good mix of hats further helps add to the irregular look.

I really love the options that plastic figure sets offer the gamer and with a judicious mixing in of the odd metal figure from the Perry offerings I aim to have ten units of twelve figures in no time to complete my Rebel army for Klock's Field.

More anon, when I look at the plans at this and the other collections in my New Year's Eve annual review.

JJ