Part II
The scenario for the Final match was “Howe’s Grand Assault” at White Plains. Father Todd and I each wanted the British and so we bid. It only took one round. He bid zero and so I prevailed with a bid of 1 army morale point. I surrendered it from my at-start morale, and we completed the game set-up. Father Todd rolled for General Washington’s combat modifier and was successful in bringing Washington into the game with a combat DRM of “1” vs. a possible 0. In a classic example of turn-about being fair play, his Militia Attrition die roll yielded the worst possible outcome and he had to remove seven militia counters from his deployed forces. The seven units he selected amounted to 1,300 men! The roads to upstate N.Y. and Connecticut must have been clogged with this human flotsam and jetsam as they streamed homeward, wanting nothing to do with His Majesty’s forces. He made his secret die roll to determine his Ruse de Guerre set-up and we drew our starting hand of two Opportunity Cards each. We were ready to start playing. It was 10:00 AM.
The first four game turns of this scenario are rain game turns. Rain is a strict task master in White Plains reducing MPs by 2, cutting strategic movement in half, reducing the range for fire combat, and inflicting a -1 DRM to both fire and close combat. It was a slog (no pun intended) as the British and Hessian forces tried to move forward, unable to get much traction on the muddy ground. At last, on the top of turn 34 (the third turn of the scenario), my troops closed to contact with dire consequences. Colonel Rall’s crack Hessian regiment was repulsed by artillery fire. Worse, the British 1st Grenadier Bn. was reduced. Indeed, Father Todd had “Chris Easter-like” success with his opening salvoes and earned the nickname, “Cannonball Carter.”
By driving back Rall’s Regiment, the 3rd Waldeck Regiment was left unsupported and had to carry an attack which, after accounting for rain, slope, fieldworks, unit morale, leadership, and cards, went in against the 9th Continental and the 10th Ct. Militia Regiment on Purdy Hill at 1:1, -6. “Mine Got!” cried the Waldeckers. They were lucky to escape with a Disruption.
Heavy fighting continued around Purdy Hill where General Washington had already refused his right, prior to the start of the scenario, and had abandoned several hexes of printed fieldworks at the base of the hill. At least three of those were discovered to be Ruse de Guerre hexes when British units tried to move across of fire across them. Having discovered Ruse de Guerre, the British were able to add the special Probe card to their hand. Speaking of cards, the British played “Double Cannister” and compelled the 9th Continental to Retreat. Even so, the slope of Purdy Hill proved too difficult, and the British were simply unable to make headway.
We broke for lunch at 12:15 PM after four turns of play with the rain finally abated. American Army Morale was 17 to my 15. SPs – Lost, which is a condition for Decisive victory, were 4 for Father Todd and 11 for me. When play begins in this scenario, the SP – Lost Track is preset to 3 SP Lost each, reflecting casualties that already occurred during the fight for Chatterton Hill. Eleven, however, is nearly halfway to the American Decisive victory condition of eliminating 23 SPs of British infantry and certain other units. VPs were less of a concern because to win a Substantial victory one only needs to drive the opponent to Wavering. Nevertheless, Father Todd led in that category as well, 3 VP to 1 VP.
Not yet mentioned is British action on the extreme flanks. On the right, Cornwallis was moving to threaten Horton’s Mill while on the left, on the west side of the Bronx River, Lord Percy and a mixed British/Hessan force were pressing on American Major General Lord Stirling’s command of mostly Pennsylvanians, pushing them slowly back toward the bridge at Christopher Yeoman’s farm. By degrees, the extreme British left extended beyond the American right and a hoped-for opportunity to turn and possibly roll-up the American flank was foremost in Lord Howe’s mind, even as his troops met repulse after repulse on the bloody slopes of Purdy Hill. American units, meanwhile, belonging to Nixon’s Brigade of Massachusetts Continentals, Colonel John Glover commanding, and Wentworth’s Brigade of Connecticut Levee, were streaming forward at the quick march, salting into the lines adeptly; Father Todd demonstrating an uncanny knack for knowing just how long to stand and when and where to fall back to maximize the ground and the arriving reinforcements.
We played-on after our 1-hour lunch break. Turn 36 was the first turn of clear weather. In a bold move to establish a surround situation on a stack of two British units that had gained a toehold on Purdy Hill, Father Todd advanced a 1 SP unit on the British flank. I had 3 SP of Howitzers within range, but they missed. In the ensuing attack, the defending British lead unit had to retreat but couldn’t, due to the surround and was captured. The second unit failed its morale check, had to retreat, and was also captured. My personal morale was beginning to falter, especially when I later picked up my Opportunity Cards to get reacquainted with them. To my mortification, I had forgotten to play the card, “Suppression Fire” during my defensive artillery fire phase. Rather than firing those Howitzers traditionally, I could have compelled his flanking unit to retreat without a defensive fire die roll. My two captured units would have survived, all other things being equal. Instead, I gave him a net army morale swing of 4 points, six more British SP’s – Lost, and two VPs. I was bedside myself, as those sitting around the table or anywhere within earshot can attest. I began to feel, for the first time, that maybe I was destined to lose the game.
Turn 37 proved to be the “tell.” Feeling desperate, I launched attacks up and down the American line on the top half of the turn. (Conventional wisdom suggests one should hold off attacking until the bottom half of a turn to capitalize on a potential double move and to ensure that the opponent won’t have one.) I simply couldn’t wait. I couldn’t allow Father Todd another turn of maneuver wherein he might fall back some more or, at the very least, consolidate and frustrate my plans still further. I had to attack!
I managed seven distinct attacks with attackers almost always stacked 6 SP in every hex. American artillery dice went cold and for the most part my attacks had good results. On my left, where I was hoping to envelope his flank, I managed a surround on the 3rd Virginia, the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, and Lord Stirling himself. Clearly I was hoping for a defender Retreat or a Disruption result. What I got was a Pin result which I took in stride because I thought, “What could he possibly do for a counterattack?” Three other American units in Stirling’s force were Disrupted by my attacks in that quarter and so there was scant little force available to him with which to support the Pinned units.
Throughout a Final in competitions, it is routine for interested parties to cruise by the game and check in on how it’s going. Those who had done so up until this turn saw a British army in disarray. After my half of turn 37, players later admitted that they believed the game had turned around and that it was the Brits who were now on the road to victory. Army Morale had switched around. My British were now back in High Morale with 16 while it was the Americans who were Fatigued with 10 morale points. The British had closed the SP- Lost gap and were now only trailing 11 SP to 9 SP. (The British only need to achieve 15 SP – Lost to win, although Militia casualties do not count, and Militia make up 40% of the American army.) Even the VPs had turned with the British now at 7 to the Americans 6. Things indeed appeared to be looking up for the Crown. Would the American Rebellion be snuffed out on the muddy ground and heights around the small farming community of White Plains?
We soldiered on, only to witness me snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I will try my best to explain.
To create the surround that I mentioned against Lord Stirling, his Virginians, and his Pennsylvanians, I had to ensure that two woods hexes adjacent to his stack were occupied by British units. ZOCs of course do not extend into woods and at all costs, these two hexes had to remain British-occupied. In effect I had units in a total of four hexes and ZOCs covering the other two. To achieve my desired odds and modifiers against Stirling in the attack that led to the Pin result, I didn’t need the SPs in one of those surrounding hexes where two British 3 SP units were stacked in one of the woods hexes I just mentioned. These units had a target of opportunity against a lone American militia who they would be able to attack at 2:1 +4, commanded as they were by General Leslie. They made that attack and got a defender Disrupted result. Dutifully, Father Todd retreated that militia unit 3-hexes. And then it happened!
Of course, the attacker’s lead unit must advance into the vacated hex. In a rookie mistake, and with my blood up, I made a cataclysmic mistake and pushed both attackers and Leslie into the vacated hex, uncovering the light woods I had been occupying in the process. I looked right at what I had done but I didn’t see it. It didn’t register. It wasn’t until Father Todd said, on his half of the turn, “I hope I get an attacker retreat so that I can pass into the woods hex you just left open.”
Father Todd is such a good sport, and we sometimes joke about Devine intervention when playing him. Is that what happened? He needed an attacker retreat to survive the pin-induced counterattack and that is exactly what he got. His lead unit escaped into the woods with Lord Stirling, and then his trailing unit prophetically failed its morale check and scampered away to safety as well. To add insult to injury, most of Father Todd’s disrupted units rallied after his movement phase and just before this attack and suddenly, what had looked so decisive for the British, appeared anything but.
Frankly, the rest is a blur. I never recovered, either on the gameboard or personally. Taken together, the overlooked card play that would have saved two of my units on Purdy Hill and the bungled maneuvering that allowed his stack to escape were too much to overcome; the first having set me on the path to defeat, and the second sealing my fate. This is not to take anything away from Father Todd’s play. It was calm, measured, and precise. I would almost say flawless but for leaving his right flank in the air and giving me at least the chance to turn it. Father Todd won the game Decisively causing 23 SPs Lost. Final army morale was 18 American and 12 British and VPs were 9:7.5 in his favor.
We finished at 5:15 PM. The total time at the table for the 2023 Final was 6 hours and 15 minutes which is comparatively fast as Finals go. Congratulations to Cannonball Carter! It’s the second time we’ve met in a WBC Final, and the second time I’ve gone home as a bridesmaid, and not the bride. I can’t say I gave him my best game, but his was a worthy victory, nonetheless. He took perfect advantage of my poor generalship.
In a general note to players of the BoAR series, White Plains is a deep and rich design with a bit of a learning curve to overcome. Take is slow and easy as you explore the game for the first few times that you play the scenarios. It will be well worth it in the end.
Previous Article: WBC 2023: Battles of the American Revolution After Action Report — Part I
Author: Mark Miklos
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