A Boy's first foray into wargaming

    As mentioned in the last post, I recently introduced my son (7) to wargaming, and he did quite well in his first two battles. Here is how that came to be and what came to pass...

    Around Thanksgiving, he discovered Little Wars TV, and was enthralled. While he was devouring their back catalog, I asked if he'd be interested in giving what they were doing a try. He enthusiastically replied, and I began thinking about what I could do to put something together for him. Between him and his sister, I don't have the time I once did to sit and paint up armies; nor can I justify selfishly spending the money required to put together a top tier army of miniature figures. Thinking about how to put this together for him in a way more engaging than a cardboard chit boardgame, but with less financial and time investment than a traditional miniatures game; I remembered something Games Workshop used to do to encourage entry into the hobby in their '90s boxed starter games, papercraft! I spent some time scouring the internet for what's new in the world of paper terrain and miniatures (having had a book of skirmish based Civil War paper flats as a boy). I quickly found Peter Dennis and his paperboys (here and here) as well as the wonderful resource and community of his facebook group.

    I downloaded one of the FREE sample pages from Peter's website, and tried my hand at snipping, the results were better than I remember paper soldiers being. Just before his Christmas Break began, I showed my son the lines of figures Peter had made for Helion Publishing and asked which era he was most interested in. He responded with the American Revolution, and for the cost of a few dollars in the pdf, quality paper, glue, nice detail scissors, and a presentation board sheet for basing, I was off to the races. I read over Andy Callan's 2 page introductory rules that were included in the book, and they seemed easy enough for a 7 year old to grasp, but nuanced enough that it wasn't just a game of “who rolls higher wins.” I proceeded to spend the next two-and-a-half weeks printing, cutting, folding, gluing, snipping, and basing the forces Mr. Callan suggested for an introductory battle. The army was coming together at rate I would never have been able to accomplish with traditional figures. By New Years, I had them as well as some basic terrain (a house and some fencing), now we needed to make a battlefield.

     In the Paperboys group, someone had mentioned that you could use felt yardage as a sort of sandtable by putting shirts or towels underneath to form hills and the lightweight of the figures would be supported and give a more realistic looking hill shape than other commercially available or DIY options. After a quick trip to the local Hobby Lobby, I came home with a few yards of Olive Green felt, as well as other colors to indicate different terrain features (Kelly Green for woods, golden yellow and copper brown for fields, & c.). Fortunately, my parents live close by and agreed to host the game on their dining room table, and mentioned they still had some of the terrain features my dad made for me as a boy (particularly several yards worth of nice real stone walls, that ended up being the perfect height for the ~28mm paperboys). I went over to their house after the kids were in bed to set up the battlefield and introduce my dad to the rules (I had decided it would be fair to give him one side and for myself to act as an advisor for my son and a referee for edge cases that always seem to come up in these kinds of games). The battlefield was relatively simple, a house on a hill served as the objective, a dense wood protected it's flank, fences and walls crisscrossed the area to make maneuvering a bit of a challenge. In the morning the forces would join and the little general would get a chance to shine.

    The objective of the battle was simple: The Brits needed to drive the Americans from the hill, the Americans shatter the British regiments (in the introductory rules a unit cannot move once it has taken 50% casualties, and if it takes more than 50% it is removed from the field entirely). The forces were a bit lopsided to account for the increased quality in discipline and training of the British regulars. Here is the Order of Battle:

Americans (commanded by my dad) had 1 General (who could be attached to a Regiment to help influence them in movement or combat at risk of becoming a casualty) commanding:

2 Regiments (6 stands each) of Continental Line (equal in quality to the British)

3 Regiments (6 stands each) of Militia (who shoot well, but in melee are always at a disadvantage)

2 Detachments (4 stands each) of Riflemen (incredible mobility, range, and accuracy, but only fired half their stands at a time due to the laborious process of loading a rifle vs. a musket)

1 Artillery Detachment (good range, but low chance of doing any real damage unless up close)

British (commanded by my son) had 1 General commanding:

4 Regiments (6 stands each) of Regulars (each represented by different types of troops for easy identification: 1 Highlanders, 1 British Regulars, 1 Hessian Fusiliers, 1 Hessian Grenadiers)

2 Artillery Detachments

 

    We mistakenly alternated deployments, and my dad countered my son at every opportunity. The final deployments were the Riflemen to secure the woods and were opposed by the Hessian Grenadiers, in the Center the Militia and Artillery were to secure the Hill and were opposed by the Highlanders and 1 British Cannon, on the far flank the 2 Continental Regiments were going to square off against the British Regulars and Hessians and the final cannon. We were set to begin!

    Before we began the young general took me outside to conduct a “pre-battle briefing” as he had seen on the Little Wars episodes; his plan was simple, use the Grenadiers and Highlanders to fix the enemy in place while the Hessians and Regulars smashed the flank and rolled up the American line. The first couple turns were spent moving troops into position (the rules use card draw to determine how well the Regiments follow your orders). The Grenadiers and Highlanders were making good progress, but the Hessians were slow to move and the flank attack would now be made in echelon. The Americans were having difficulties getting the militia to the hill and were getting bogged down and stacked up on themselves.

 

 

    By Turn 3 the British flank attack had closed with the Continental Line, and attempted to drive them off with a bayonet charge! The American fire and bravado drove the Brits back handedly, rendering them almost completely ineffective for the rest of the battle. Meanwhile in the Center, the Highlanders pushed back the Militia and American guns. And in the Woods, the Grenadiers had broken one of the Riflemen Detachments.

    The young general took me outside for a mid-game conference, his original plan had been dashed, but he was determined to persevere and snatch Victory from the Jaws of Defeat! He needed to hold the Highlanders in the Center, while the Grenadiers pushed through the woods and the damaged remnants of the flank assault redeployed to drive the Militia back. This was a risky plan, as the Highlanders were now almost completely surrounded and taking fire from all sides. It took 3 turns for the maneuvering to be complete, and despite the withering fire from the Americans, the Highlanders didn't lose a single casualty (due to both some bad attack rolls on my dad's part, and some fantastic disruption saves on my son's). Most turns resulted in the Americans whiffing their shots, but on the final turn before the maneuvering was completed the Scots received 10 hits from the Americans, and managed to rally 8 of them (at the end of the turn each unit rolls dice to rally its hits, if after rallying the unit has over 3 hits, it removes 1 stand equal to every hit over 3; his dice rolling was nothing short of miraculous).

    Now that aid had arrived, the Highlanders attacked! Capturing the enemy guns, and driving a Militia Regiment from the field. The great brawl had begun, as soon the Grenadiers charged another Militia Regiment and drove them back in a heavy combat. For turn after turn Regiments charged and counter-charged into the maelstrom. Soon, all the Militia had been broken or routed, the Grenadiers had been destroyed, and the battle hung in the balance as the Continentals and Highlanders squared off for a final showdown.

    After several tense rounds of hand to hand combat, the Continentals were finally driven from the field, the Highlanders and their young general were victorious! Despite being involved in five separate melees and several rounds of blistering enemy fire, the Highlanders emerged not only bathed in Glory, but without having suffered a single casualty! They would be heralded in the British broadsheets and paraded in front of the King himself whenever they finally returned back to Britain! The young general thoroughly enjoyed himself, it was all he talked about for several days. A new wargamer had been born!

    A couple days later, on the last day of his break, I asked him if he'd like to play again against me. He stuck to the same deployment as against his grandfather. I tried to be a little fancier and push a Militia and a Rifle Detachment through the Woods, hold the Center with the Continentals, and hold the open flank by the House with the other Rifles and the rest of the Militia. My militia struggled to maneuver through the woods and were easily dispatched by the Grenadiers, the open flank was rolled up like a sleeve by the Regulars and Hessians, and the Highlanders held the Center in place while the jaws slowly snapped together. It was an even more impressive victory for the British; if the first battle against his grandpa was a bloody Bunker Hill, this was are thorough trouncing like Camden.