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.