Matrix Games Forums

Will you fall back from Boston and let the British overextend?

This map made me wonder how history would have progressed had the British opted to hold only significant ports with some surrounding terrain and told the Continental Congress they could have the rest as long as a cease-fire took hold.



Cheers

ORIGINAL: StuccoFresco
Will you fall back from Boston and let the British overextend?

Not as much as I probably should.

ORIGINAL: cathar1244

This map made me wonder how history would have progressed had the British opted to hold only significant ports with some surrounding terrain and told the Continental Congress they could have the rest as long as a cease-fire took hold.

The British seriously considered a stand-in-place cease fire. They might have even made the offer. But I don't think they ever controlled enough territory to cause the Americans to believe it would have been in their best interest. The British would have been playing off of their reputation of invincibility, and the unsophisticated Americans would not have been impressed.

But there were always those in Congress and Parliament that wanted to stop the war now, without waiting for a military decision. In scenario terms, I'm always looking for ways to include diplomacy in the design. The trick is to get players to think like their historical counterparts without actually forcing them into a specific course of action.

October 1780

Another British force arrived off Portsmouth this month. This time they were able to take it.

De Galvez finished securing Mobile and then marched on Pensacola. The 6th Battalion of the Royal Americans Brigade surrendered the city after a brief fight.

And being that this is a turn of second efforts, Hand renewed his assault on Detroit and captured it with the help of some VA Militia.

“Two out of Three Ain’t Bad”

November 1780

I think my peripheral strategy is starting to work. Even though I’m taking a terrible pounding at Boston (as usual) the loss penalties are narrowing. And by capturing many of the isolated British outposts I’ve managed to nudge the victory level into the win column.

Keep going!

December 1780

I had hoped that the French could continue campaigning through the Winter this year but I don’t think that will happen. Some British sortied out from Savannah and inflicted a sharp blow on Lazun’s Legion (the scouting group for the French forces). Just as well because we needed to fall back to get our supply situation straightened out. It is taking longer than expected to repair the bridges. When they resume the march, Lincoln will also head down from Augusta with two Continental regiments, the NC Dragoons, and some SC Partisans. The force they will be going up against at Savannah appears to be mostly Loyalists. But we do know that at least one British Foot regiment and Tarleton’s Legion are still there.

When these operations commence in the Spring, maybe it wouldn’t be too much to hope that Gates will lead his army back to New Bern.

January 1781

Normally in Winter the British pull back close to their bases. This year I’ve noticed, at least at Boston, that they are maintaining their positions on the front lines. This tells me they plan on a New England push in the Spring. We’ll see.

February 1781

As we come out of Winter 1781, the FEF is still stuck in the marshes of East Florida. It has been surprisingly difficult to repair these bridges. I’m thinking of sending down a couple more HQs to help out.

Lots of enemy activity detected in several places. I think this is going to be an eventful year.

March 1781

I think I’m in for a bruising next month. I made some limited attacks with artillery near Providence. The turn ended after the first round and I wasn't able to regroup or dig in. Now the British will emerge from their Winter quarters and reign terror on everyone that participated in the attack.

April 1781

The Redcoats finally decided to break the stalemate in New England by conducting landings at New Haven and New London, and conducting a frontal assault on my right wing. There’s nothing we can do to stop this so I’ll just roll the front back another 20 miles.

Meanwhile in the southern theater, the remainder of De Galvez’ army has arrived and the Spanish took over garrison duties at St. Augustine. That frees up Rochambeau to make an all out drive on Savannah.

May 1781

The British continued their New England offensive by capturing Newark and Amboy in New Jersey. This evens up the objective totals at 50/50. However, we still have a victory point lead of 30. This means that the British must have called up some extra reinforcements. There are British theater options to call up 6 additional Brigades. But there is a victory point penalty due to the geo-political consequences of withdrawing troops from other parts of the Empire. Remember, by this time in the war the the French and Spanish were engaging the British in theaters other than the North American.

SC partisans and NC dragoons did some heavy scouting of Savannah this month. They identified 5 Loyalist regiments and 3 British Foot regiments guarding the approaches to the city. We couldn’t get any spies inside the city so the number of defenders there is unknown. If they keep their current deployment, the best plan would be to slice off the defenders on the Savannah river and then conduct a combined land-sea assault on the city’s defenses.

Wouldn't it be too costly? Do you have enough troops?

It will be a hard fought battle, to be sure. But I've got more French troops standing by in St. Augustine and the West Indies. And half of the enemy is composed of Loyalists. Not as tough to beat on the battlefield as British Regulars.

June 1781

Well, it doesn’t look like I’ll be attacking Savannah this year. I’ve got every engineer in the army working on those bridges and I just can’t seem to get them repaired. Maybe next year.

Redcoats occupied Morristown and Princeton. PA Militia delivered aggressive counterattacks at both locations. They recaptured Morristown, but Princeton remains in enemy hands.

July 1781

Nothing new this turn. It must be the quietest July on record. Initial probing attacks against the British defenses as Savannah confirm that I am not yet ready to take the city by storm. This is going to require a slow wearing down of the defenders combined with a blockade of the port.

August 1781

Well, I was all set to back off from Savannah and take a long term approach, but the Redcoats sortied out again and forced my hand. They practically wiped out the The GA and SC continentals and are threatening the French contingent as well. So I have 2 choices: 1) give up on Savannah completely and withdraw back to St. Augustine, or 2) throw everything I have into a sea assault and take the city by sea while the British are preoccupied further inland. I chose the latter. So we brought up the Spanish fleet to help with bombardment (Spanish ground troops are forbidden from operating outside of East or West Florida, but their navy can go as far as Charleston). It was a hard fought battle but the ground was taken on the last round of the turn.

Brilliant move, but the map doesn't show up.

That's odd, it doesn't show up for me either. I'll try to post it again.

Edit: Still not working. It's only a 48 KB file so I don't know what the problem is.