Washington’s War Session Report: The American Perspective, 1778-1779

October 24, 2011

This report will continue the Washington’s War game between John and I.  See the links below for the other parts:
American 1775
British 1775
American 1776-1777
British 1776-1777
Now on to the next two years.

Year: 1778
American Hand: 3op, 1op, 1op, Nathan Hale, American Martyr, Lord George Germaine Offers Royal Amnesty, Jane McCrea Indian Atrocity Sparks Outrage, Joseph Brant Indian Leads an Iroquois Raid
I end up with several event cards this turn. That’s probably good since it looks like I may be without the Continental Congress this turn.

And the British start their advance with a Major Campaign. John moves his forces into Baltimore and takes out Arnold. I’m a bit confused why John didn’t just move straight into Delaware. So I take advantage and bring in some reinforcements there. But then the British advance slows. I use my events and the rest of my ops trying to add more American control to the board and reverse some of the British gains in the South. With no end to the war in sight and the British poised to pounce next turn, things aren’t looking good.

The start of 1779

Year: 1779
American Hand: 3op, 2op, 1op, 1op, Hessian Infantry Bayonet Charge, Lord North Offers a Royal Amnesty, Don Bernardo Galvez Captures Pensacola
Dang… three worthless event cards. I’ll have to be careful about how I get rid of the Lord North card I really don’t want to see that played against me. I’m still surprised we haven’t seen any the War Ends cards.

John is able to strike right away again starting with a Minor Campaign that targets Philly and the Continental Congress as well as Rhode Island. The Congress is dispersed and I’ve lost more colonies. The only silver lining is that I am able to discard the British events during the battles. Although, in hindsight I probably should have considered using them.

I then focus on a counter attack for next turn. I don’t have the strength this turn but I may be able to turn things around then next. My Generals are positioned to flip afew more PC markers at the end of the turn. The South is one turn away from really getting turned around. Hopefully I can turn it around in the next turn because right now it’s not looking so good.

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Posted by Rick

Washington’s War Session Report: The British Perspective, 1776-1777

October 19, 2011

This report is my perspective of the next two years of the Washington’s War game with Rick.  The first two parts can be found here and here.

Year: 1776
British Hand: 2 op, 2 op, 1 op, 1 op, Minor Campaign, Hortelez et Cie, Josiah Martin Rallies Loyalists

As the British player, this is an okay hand. I really like the Minor Campaign, but the lack of 3 op cards is getting a bit frustrating. As Rick mentioned, he had forgotten to move Mr. Washington to winter quarters and thus has to spend his first card getting his army reinforced. I decide to move aggressively and send Burgoyne and company to Charleston, SC to kick out the pesky rebels. This is pretty easily done. After flipping and placing markers in both SC and MA to keep General Rick guessing, I land Cornwallis in New Bern, NC. Eventually this force moves to Norfolk, VA to kick Gates and his force out. Meanwhile, Rick is placing markers as quickly as he can in VA. He sees that I’ve locked up the South and is trying to set up a barrier of PC markers in VA to slow me down. But I will not be stopped!

The end of the 1776.

Year: 1777
3 op, 3 op, 2 op, 2 op, 1 op, 1 op, Light Infantry (discarded and picked up The Gamecock)

This is a hand on par with last time, and I’m happy about getting a fun British battle card too! It’s tempting to use the 3 op cards to move around some of my slower generals, but I think that Howe is best kept in Boston as an “army in being” and there’s not a lot of damage that Carleton can do up in Canada. So I use two consecutive plays of 3 ops cards to drop PC markers all over the place. Some of these are immediately countered (like my play in Genessee, NY), but Rick is countering by moving armies onto the spaces and letting them sit there. That just means fewer armies coming south to deal with my heavy hitters.

I move Burgoyne and his small army to Charlottsville, VA, hoping Rick will attack, and attack he does! We both lay down combat cards, but I get the better of him. Then it is time to move Cornwallis further north. The year ends with an American army popping up behind me in SC, but I can at least bring in reinforcements down there to deal with it.

At the end of the year, I feel like the game is starting to swing in my favor…

The end of 1777.

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Posted by John

Washington’s War Session Report: The American Perspective, 1776-1777

October 11, 2011

This report will cover the next two years of the Washington’s War game between John and I.  The first two parts can be found here and here.

Year: 1776
American Hand: 3op, 3op, 3op, 2op, 1op, 1op, Minor Campaign
This time my hand is much better operations point-wise.  I again opt to go first to continue to act and hopefully force John to react.  But my first move is to put 3cu with Washingtonto try and recover from my big first turn mistake.  If I don’t reinforce Washington I risk Howe taking him out.  The mistake is quite costly.  I use the rest of my turn to place PC markers.

Near the end of the turn I move Lafayette and his 3cu to Fort Detroit to score an easy American victory.  The French alliance marker is now at 5.  The British meanwhile continue to slowly creep up from the south and take out Arnold on the way.  I’m not too worried about that though as the American troops just act as speed bumps in this game.

The end of the 1776

Year: 1777
American Hand: 3op, 2op, 2op, 1op, 1op, Minor Campaign, “Mad” Anthony Wayne, 2op
The Americans usually do better off when they aren’t aggressive militarily.  Just use the American forces to slow down the British advance.  However, with the French Alliance at 5 and the +2 drm battle card, all I am thinking is where is my next battle going to be!  I start by reinforcing the south by moving Arnold back into Virginia.

Then John starts hitting me with 2 consective plays of placing PC markers in 6 locations.  The board is getting red.  I start to look for ways to isolate those markers.  I see two spots and take one with a one op card.  Moving Lafayette to Genesee, NY, cuts off one British PC marker and it’s bait to set a trap for Carlton.

John doesn’t bite and instead sets his own by moving Burgoyne into Virginia.  I take my chances and attack with the help of “Mad” Anthony Wayne.  However, the British bring their Light Cavalry so it turns into a straight up die roll and I lose.  Losses are minimal though.  John continues to press north so I bring in Lincoln and 2cu into South Carolina to try to shake things up a bit and reclaim parts of the south.  The distraction seems to work as John brings in his reinforcements into the south.

With my last plays I try to position my armies to avoid too much isolation but it’s not looking good. But then The Gamecock: Thomas Sumter is discarded and I grab that to shore up any isolated PC markers in the south. I’m still feeling OK, but I think the tide is turning.

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Posted by Rick

Washington’s War Session Report: The British Perspective, 1775

October 8, 2011

As mentioned in Rick’s previous post, we played a game of Washington’s War via ACTS and VASSAL from August to September. What follows is my perspective during the first turn.

I’ve played the Americans far more than the British (6 v.s. 3), so I decide to play against type and choose the forces of the grand 18th century empire. Rule Britannia, down with the rebels!

British Initial Marker Placement (For the King!):
Wake, NC
Fort Niagra, NY

My strategy here was to open up the backcountry a bit up north, and to force Rick to keep spending points in North Carolina to keep up with me.

Year: 1775
British Hand: 2 ops, 2 ops, 2 ops, 1 ops, Pennsylvania and New Jersey Line Mutinies, Nathan Hale: American Martyr, Benjamin Franklin Appointed Minister to France

Ick, ick, ick! Already I have no good way to move generals Carleton (Quebec) and Howe (Boston). This means Clinton will likely stay in the leader box too. Also, I’ve got to deal with two American event cards. The Mutiny card is a godsend, however. I’ll wait until near the end of the turn to ditch Nathan Hale and hope Rick doesn’t have an ops card to snatch it up.

I’m a little surprised that Rick’s first play is to raise an army in VA; this is usually the time to start plunking down political control (PC) markers right away. I adopt the southern strategy and bring General Burgoyne and 3 combat units (CUs) into St. Mary’s, GA. My plan is to lock up the larger southern states first, then strike north from a position of strength. I spend the next few card plays locking up all of Georgia and linking up to the Loyalist backwater towns in South Carolina. (In hindsight, it would have been better for me to cause Rick’s lines to Mutiny first…this was a misstep on my part.)

By the end of the first turn, I’ve got a pretty strong position, holding GA, SC, NC, and Canada. While it isn’t enough to win the game at the end of 1775, it’s about what I hoped for. And Washington’s failure to move into winter quarters just makes me smile a bit. The only downside is that the French Alliance track is moving in the wrong direction…

The end of turn one...

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Posted by John

Welcome to our new home!

October 4, 2011

Chances are you were directed here after you caught the announcement on the old site. Please do us a favor and update your links, bookmarks, and RSS feeds now! Thanks…

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Posted by John