Following the fall of New York to the British in 1776 Captain Gerald Ramsey of the 5th Regiment of Foot was sent with his men to 'fly the flag' in the neighbouring environs and obtain some oaths of allegiance to the Crown from the local populace. Minutemen and other rebels led by Captain Elisha Wallace, prepared to give the Redcoats a bloody nose...
Leading two groups of Regulars the Honourable Captain Gerald Ramsey advanced down the road towards the village of Westbury to obtain the requisite oaths of allegiance.
Whilst the thoroughly unlikeable Lieutenant Horace Swinton marched with another two groups of infantry across a farmer's fields to obtain the oath of allegiance from the bally colonial cabbage grower.
Ahead of the British Line Regulars where Light Infantry Skirmishers, one group commanded by Sergeant Roach, the other, having advanced before Lieutenant Swinton, by Sergeant Preston.
Stopping his troops by the first house he came across, Captain Ramsey sauntered across to knock on the door and enquire on the inhabitant's allegiance...
Further ahead though there was no question of allegiance to the Crown as local Rebel Philomon Miller deployed a group of Militia Skirmishers in the main townhouse...
And promptly unleashed a volley of fire at Sergeant Roach's skirmishers!
Unfortunately, not only did they not hit one Redcoat the Rebels managed to set fire to the building they were in! From a rules point of view this was not a major problem unless the first token in a chapter pulled was Tiffin and the chances of that were something like 1 in 36. Still it gave Andy and Phil a good laugh...
Roused by the musket fire Cotton Taggart soon arrived on the scene leading ten Minutemen.
Sergeant Roach's men returned fire at the Rebels in the burning building without effect...
Whilst Captain Ramsey chatted to a local gentleman who assured the British Officer that King George was the best and Washington a smelly bounder.
Sergeant Preston's Light Infantry Skirmishers took up position behind some rail fencing and opened fire on the advancing Minutemen...
One of the Rebels fell dead...
And with the Skirmishers being able to Sharp Practice (take another firing action), a second volley from them saw another brave American fall and his comrades take some Shock!
Realising he was unlikely to inflict many casualties on the Rebels behind the walls of the burning building, Sergeant Roach ordered his men to switch their fire to the Minutemen in the open, though without effect. The local farmer was somewhat shocked to the British shooting at his neighbours.
As Preston's men shot at Cotton Taggart's more Americans arrived in Westbury, Horatio Galbraith deploying a group of Militia Riflemen in the tree line.
With Captain Ramsey having obtained one oath of allegiance, Lieutenant Swinton decided it was beneath him to talk to the local farmer's wife so ordered the slightly more likeable Ensign Frederick Hillingham to persuade the smelly peasant to put her X on the document proving her loyalty to King George...
And whilst Hillingham was engaged with the woman, Lieutenant Swinton ordered his men to continue their advance.
Meanwhile another group of Militia Skirmishers turned up, drawn by the gunfire, commanded by Giles McMullen, positioning themselves in cover to take some shots at Swinton and his men when they started to advance down the road.
Finally Captain Elisha Wallace arrived in the battlefield with another two groups of Minutemen...
Sergeant Preston's men kept up their fire on Taggart's Minutemen...
As did Roach's... However they exposed their flank to Miller's men in the burning building...
And the Rebels unerring fire took down three of the Skirmishers and piled Double Shock on the Light Infantry Skirmishers!
Lieutenant Swinton ordered his men forward in column only to be met with a volley from McMullen's Skirmishers which killed one Redcoat and inflicted Shock on the others.
Meanwhile Ensign Hillingham's attempt to get an oath of allegiance from the farmer's wife saw the door slammed in his face and the farmer fire a barrel of buckshot at him from a window. Fortunately for the young officer it missed.
Wallace ordered his Minutemen to fire a volley at Preston's Skirmishers hiding behind the rail fencing...
Which, despite the protection offered by the fence, saw one Skirmisher fall dead and his comrades take Shock.
Now what did I say about 1 in 36 chances? The next chapter saw the Tiffin token pulled first which meant that any buildings on fire collapsed - three of Philomon Miller's men being killed by the falling timbers!
Despite this setback, the Rebels fought on with both Taggart's Minutemen and Galbraith's Riflemen pouring fire into the British.
The Rifle fire breaking Sergeant Roach's men who fled the battlefield.
McMullen's Skirmishers continued their firing on Swinton's column with another three Redcoats falling dead and the Regulars taking more Shock.
With the fierce fighting going on across Westbury, Captain Ramsey took shelter in the entrance to a barn and attempted to gain the oath from another civilian.
Whilst his men stood ready to unleash fire on the Rebels, despite two of their own falling to Rifle fire.
Wallace's men now had their gumption up firing volley after volley to their front, and whilst the Rebel Captain was unable to bring his men under control...
The mass of musket fire took its toll on Sergeant Preston's Skirmishers.
Wary of marching into the fire of the Minutemen, Lieutenant Swinton ordered his depleted column to target McCullen's Skirmishers with a view to sweeping into the flank of the uncontrolled Minutemen if they could despatch the Skirmishers.
However a volley from McCullen's men ploughed into the Redcoat column killing another infantryman and a glancing shot spinning the odious Swinton to the ground, knocked unconscious!
Captain Ramsey's entreatments to the civilian at the barn failed...
And matters went from bad to worse for the British as another Minutemen volley was loosed at Sergeant Preston's men...
Killing another Skirmisher and piling Shock on the survivors who only did not flee due to the presence of Ensign Hillingham.
Unable to gather more than one oath of allegiance, Captain Ramsey ordered the 5th to fire a presented controlled volley at the Minutemen to their front...
More of Taggart's Minutemen fell dead, but the brave Militia boys held!
Which was more than could be said for Lieutenant Swinton's men. Another volley from McMullen's Skirmishers hammered into the Redcoat column...
The front group with the recovered Swinton yelling at them managed to stand firm...
But the second group fled back down the road with excess Shock.
Another volley from Wallace's Minutemen slammed into the Skirmishers...
Another falling dead, though the survivor with an Ensign and Sergeant commanding him, stood firm.
Horatio Galbriath moved his Riflemen forward to reduce the range to the British line...
Their volley inflicting Shock and another casualty on the Lobsterbacks.
However it was Giles McMullen and his Militia Skirmishers who had the honour of inflicting the coup de grâce on the British...
Firing another round into the surviving group of regulars, more Shock was inflicted and Lieutenant Swinton was knocked unconscious again by a Rebel bullet!
This proved too much for the Redcoats who broke and ran, dragging the unfortunate Lieutenant with them... The British Force Morale hit zero and the day was the Rebels!
A good game, although clearly quite hard for the British to be successful as the scenario was written (they really needed to obtain three oaths of allegiance to stand any chance of winning). Pondering what happened Andy decided on a few tweaks and soon we would return to Westbury again...
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