Neil Thomas inspired rules for the AWI
I have long been interested in gaming battles of the American War for Independence, and I came across a set of variant rules based on Neil Thomas' "Napoleonic Wargaming" rules.  There are actually a few such variants floating around the interwebs; the set I like best was written by Brian Cowan and posted the the Neil Thomas Yahoo group.

The first few playtests have gone quite well.  The rules seem to capture enough of the flavor of the period without getting bogged down in details, which is what originally drew me to Neil's rules.  The only house rules I'm using at this time involve morale rolls, where units that fail continue to roll until they pass or run out of stands, and the artillery rules.  The standard rules call for an artillery unit to be immune from charges by enemies when within 8cm of a friendly unit.  This has led to some very irregular situations on the battlefield.  So at this time I'm experimenting with a rule to require an infantry unit to attach to an artillery unit to protect it.

I thought it would be fun to post a detailed battle report with pictures.  First, I'll give the army lists used for the battle.

Continental Army List:
4x Continental Regulars (Infantry, Average)
2x State Militia (Infantry, Levy)
1x Dragoons (Cavalry, Average)
1x Artillery (Light, Average)







British Army List:
4x Line Infantry (Infantry, Average)
1x Grenadiers (Infantry, Elite)
1x Light Infantry (Infantry, Average)
1x Dragoons (Cavalry, Elite)
1x Artillery (Light, Average)








As you can see the lists share several units of similar quality, but the Continentals get inferior militia units while the British get versatile light infantry and elite grenadiers.  To offset this clear advantage somewhat, the Continentals will be put in the role of the defender in the scenario and the militia will have a sturdy stone wall to line up behind.  The playing area is 36" square and the Continentals will be allowed to set up anywhere on their half of the board.  The British army will approach their position, starting within 6" of their board edge.

The next post will show the initial deployment of forces and the opening turns of the game.