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I was inspired by the 'winning as colonials' thread to write up an AAR. I've played the rebels once before in the 1775 scenario, and found it pretty simple. The AI broke out of Boston, but then sent about half it's army to New York in penny packets that I was able to wipe out. The main army ended up in Albany, and the AI had no ports when the reinforcements arrived, so they were stuck in Halifax. The AI did an awful job of getting it's armies out of Nova Scotia and I was able to grind them down and win in early 1779 (took a long time to get to Detroit).

So I'm turning up the difficulty and trying again.

Game Options:
AI difficulty hard (means that the AI moves a little faster, fights a little better, gets a few more replacements, and their leaders activate more often - ugh)
AI detect bonus low (the AI gets a small bonus to detecting my forces)
AI aggressiveness normal (low might actually be harder, but it would also make it easier to get the British to sit still)
AI gets more time to plot moves.

Scenario 1776, patch 1.11a. I’ve never played this scenario, and this is the first time I’ve fired up the new patch,

I chose this scenario because I think it is harder for a human rebel than the 1775 scenario. The big British reinforcements arrive very quickly. In 1776 I won’t have the luxury of beating down the initial force before all the other armies show up.

My plan is reasonably simple. At the same time I want to
-Keep the continental army alive and build up the number of continentals available to me.
-Kill small enemy armies whenever I can. Britain cannot replace any lost battalions
-Keep control of at least one strategic city in each of the four areas. Ideally, keep control of all strategic cities in one area. Generally ensure that I can recruit as much as possible each July and January. Use garrisons to minimize militia decommisioning.

January 1776

Canada

Situation:
The New Years assault on Quebec has failed. Arnold (with Morgan in tow - two of my better generals) commands an army outside Quebec with two understrength regular battalions, one understrength militia battalion, and a supply. The militia is from Maine which has no strategic cities (quite apart from not actually being a colony) so it cannot be put into garrison for the winter to stop it from disbanding. The 2nd Massachusetts milita is in Montreal. At Ticonderoga, in what is more or less Canada, John Stark has his mountaineers, a supply unit and the 3rd New York militia. Enemy forces are all inside the walls of Quebec. At a guess they have a regular, two militia battalions, and fixed infantry and artillery garrison.
My goals for Canada are to save the two regulars by getting them back to Albany and to delay the advance of whatever reinforcements the king might send to Canada.
Orders for January:
-Arnold to march his entire force back to Montreal in evasive posture and to go into garrison there.
-2nd Massachusetts to march to Trois Rivieres and garrison that city.
-Stark to bring the 3rd New York into garrison at Fort St John – this is a fort that will limit British access to Lake Champlain. They might not take it, but if they don’t it will be very helpful for me to hold it. Stark to leave his mountaineers and supply in Ticonderoga, he’ll pick them up before the spring.

New England

Situation: Washington with four major generals and three brigadiers is facing the main Royal army in Boston. He has ten regular battalions, two militia battalions, an artillery and a dragoon. This is the continental army, and it’s main job is to stay alive. It’s facing a Royal army of 15 regulars, 1 militia, 1 artillery and 1 dragoon. There is a militia unit in Cambridge, one in Providence (with general Greene), one in New London, and one in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Knox with a regular, a militia, the siege artillery and a supply train is in Hartford. Ethan Allen is in Norwich, New Hampshire with Seth Warner’s mountaineers.
My goals for New England are to keep control of one city in both July and January ’77, and to hold a city here and there so that I can recruit as much militia as possible in those months. Other than that the continental army must stay alive and keep as many regular battalions alive as possible.

Orders:
-Washington put on defensive posture. I expect to be attacked, but hopefully I’ll give the British a bloody nose.
-The four outlying militia battalions march to join Washington. I keep Greene with his unit so it will get there more quickly.
-Knox to march to Westminster. The siege artillery cannot make it to Boston this turn. I could send it to Worcester, but I’d rather have it closer to Portsmouth and Norwich. If by some miracle I’m still besieging Boston in February it will, of course, join Washington.
-Allen to stay in place. Norwich is as good a place as any for him to wait out the winter, and it will take him more than a month to get to Concord which is the only spot I’d rather he be in.


The situation around Boston, with militia ordered to join Washington.

Middle Colonies
Situation: My (mobile) forces are: Schuyler with two militia battalions in Albany, one militia battalion in Fort Stanwix, Paterson with two militia battalions in New York, one militia battalion in Morristown, and two militia battalions and a continental in Philadelphia. There are no enemy forces present. My goals here are to hold all strategic towns in July, and most of them in January ’77. I’d also like to keep New York for as long as possible, because it provides British replacements every quarter.
Orders:
-Schuyler to bring the 4th New York militia to Ticonderoga. He can’t make it to a city this turn so he brings the supply unit to prevent winter damage. The 5th Connecticut militia to remain in Albany as a garrison.
-1st New York militia to advance from Fort Stanwix to Fort Oswego. If it’s vacant I’ll occupy it and I’ll be able to bring troops back from Montreal by boat and drop them off directly. If it’s garrisoned I’ll take some winter damage and retreat back to Stanwix.
-Paterson to take his two battalions to Hartford
-3rd New Jersey to go from Morristown to New York
-The three units in Philadelphia to march to Princeton (they can’t make it to New York in one turn).

South Central
Situation: I have single militia battalions in Annapolis, Alexandria and Williamsburg. The enemy holds only Norfolk, and I guess they have two militia with a leader there. My goals are to take Norfolk (which means I’ll need a regular to garrison it) and wipe out all enemy militia. If the British army comes calling my local forces will run to the hills. My orders are to gather the two Virginia militia in Richmond while the Annapolis militia marches to Lancaster, Pennsylvania on it’s way to Philadelphia.

Deep South
Situation:
I have single militia battalions in Hillsboro and Camden, and two militia battalions under Moultrie in Charlestown. Moultrie is critical as his militiaman ability means that militia he is stacked with fight much better. I have fixed garrisons in Charleston and Savannah. There are individual enemy militia battalions in Salisbury and Ramsay’s Mill North Carolina, and I suspect that there another two militia battalions and a leader in Fort Ninety Six South Carolina and in Augusta. The enemy has a fixed garrison in Ninety Six. My goals are to wipe out the enemy militia as soon as possible, run away from the regulars, and hold at least half of the strategic towns by January ’77.

Orders:
-Moultrie, with both militia to march towards Camden
-Both other militia battalions stay in garrison in their current locations.
Moultrie will try to run the loyal North Carolina militia to ground first. He won’t make Camden, but will be in a good position to react to enemy moves in February.

The West
I have the 8th Pennsylvania milita in Pittsburgh and George Rogers Clark and his ranger right next door in Fort Henry, Virginia. Both will hold tight until the spring.

Leaders
Almost all of my leaders are with Washington outside Boston. I have a maximum command of 34 units, and am using 14. Moves will add four units to this army, but will also add Greene, who can command another 4 units.

The leaders under Washington are major generals C Lee, Gates, Lincoln, and Ward, and brigadiers Sullivan, Glover and Putnam. Glover cannot be detached from his regiment, which is one of my best, so he will stay. Ward gives a huge morale bonus to militia he is stacked with, so he has to stay. With Greene that will give a command of 22, which is more units than I have. (18 without Greene, and I’ll detach him in February.) Everyone else will go elsewhere to do something useful.

Gates is sent to the Deep South where I plan to collect a large army. He is chosen because he has the best defensive rating. Lee is sent to the middle south where I have no leaders. Both move to Philadelphia in January en route to their commands. Putnam is sent to join Knox who has a larger army than he can command. Lincoln moves to take command of the three battalions moving from Philadelphia to New York. Sullivan is sent to Montreal, where his fast mover ability will be used to get the two regular units out of Canada more quickly. I don’t worry too much about charismatic leaders because my plan is to put militia in garrison in their home states for the winter so they don’t disband.

edit: Changed ranks

...Pocus or someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I think that militia CAN disband whether or not they are garrisoned within a town. I myself have lost Norwich as well as other places due to a militia unit 'deserting' its post over the winter when they could not be easily replaced.
...Also a minor point. Washington was the ONLY Lieutenant General during the American Revolution. Four Major generals were intially appointed, the rest were Brigadier(one-star) generals.

Thanks for the note on ranks. The militia will not disband if they are in garrison (not outside the town) in a strategic town (not an objective) in their home state. So any militia unit that is not from New Hampshire can disband in Norwich. This is as of patch 1.09, I think.

February 1776
Canada:
Situation: In January the British attacked Arnold from inside Quebec. Carlton has four companies of regulars, 5 companies of militia, and 6 batteries of artillery. Arnold has only 3 companies of regulars, two of militia, and one of light infantry. All of Arnold's battalions are pretty badly damaged when he retreats from the skirmish. Almost all of his supply is used up. He managed to get away from the battle, but has not made it to Montreal. The 2nd Massachusetts militia received a replacement company and is in garrison in Trois Rivieres from where it should be able to cover Arnold's retreat. Stark and the 3rd New York garrison Fort St John. Sullivan is in Montreal with no troops to command.
Orders:
-Arnold and Morgan and their army to Montreal.
-Stark to pick up his mountaineers in Ticonderoga, leaving the militia in St John.
-Militia garrisons remain in place.

New England:
Situation: Howe did not attack Washington, and all four militia battalions joined him. Washington used a fair amount of supply to survive the winter, but still has enough for the moment. Paterson's army is in Hartford, but Clinton with the British dragoons has taken Worcerster, and Knox did not make it to Westminster.
Orders:
-Knox’s army is split. Knox, the continental troops and the supply wagon to march through enemy occupied Worcester to join Washington. Putnam to take the militia, and the heavy artillery to Derry, New Hampshire en route to Portsmouth.
-Allen to redeploy from Norwich to Concord for the spring. Patterson to bring his militia units to join Washington.
-Washington to stand on the defensive

Middle Colonies:
Situation: The 1st New York militia went into garrison in Fort Oswego, although I didn't capture any boats. Everyone else moved as expected.
Orders:
-Schuyler to complete his move to Ticonderoga.
-Supply from Ticonderoga ordered to Albany to replace the supply Schuyler is bringing with him.
-3rd New Jersey to march to Hartford.
-Lincoln’s army (2 militia, one continental) to Ridgefield.
-1st Pennsylvania ordered from Lancaster to Philadelphia.

Middle South:
Situation: My two militia battalions united in Richmond. Governor Dunmore with two militia units left Norfolk and taken Portsmouth, Virginia and Warrenton from me. Perhaps he's on his way to Hillsboro?
Orders: The two militia are sent to retake Portsmouth where they will be joined by Major General Charles Lee. General Gates sent to Lynchburg Virginia so he can reach the deep south in March.

Deep South:
Situation: Moultrie ran into a loyal militia unit that has four companies, but it got away with no casualties. It is now between Ninety Six and Augusta. Another enemy militia battalion took Charlotte North Carolina. I have no idea where the other two battalions might be.
Orders:
-Moultrie with two militia to assault Charlotte, North Carolina, hopefully catching the loyalist militia there.
-Hillsboro and Camden garrisons stay in place and await developments.

West:
No results to report. I send Clark down the Ohio River to Big Sandy. In March I’ll have him cross the mountains and help look for those tory militia in the Carolinas.




Feb. 1776 - the British break out of Boston.

post in jpeg format, this 256 colors screen don't look that pretty [;)]

As for the ranks, I think it has also been done for command points  purpose, 2 stars leaders having 4 CP to provide.

Pocus - they are jpeg, but matrix has a limit of 200k for images. Hence the low resolution. I think the images look OK, although the faces do look bad. Anyone who wants to see what the game looks like in real life should go to www.ageod.com. I don't pretend to show that.

March 1776

Canada

Situation and Orders: Arnold made his escape to Montreal where Sullivan takes command of his army. No sign of enemy activity. Arnold is ordered to Hartford to meet up with Lincoln’s army and provide the militia bonus. Sullivan is to keep Arnold’s old army in garrison in Montreal where it will absorb replacements and be available in case the British expose themselves when they advance from Quebec. Morgan to head to New York City from where he is expected to be deployed further south (I need good leaders in the south and a charismatic leader wouldn’t hurt either).

New England

Situation: Howe made two attacks on Washington. The first was a decent victory for the rebels – four British regular companies killed for the cost of only one hit. The second attack doesn’t go as well – Washington take 16 hits and loses two companies of regulars, inflicting nine hits in return. Washington withdraws to Cambridge, where he is joined by Paterson. Knox fails to join Washington and ends up back in Norwich, Connecticut. A British leader occupies Worcester and their dragoon battalion form Worcester takes New Bedford. Putnam is in Derry, New Hampshire. The 3rd New Jersey militia is in Hartford.

Orders:
-Knox’s regular and supply to join with Lincoln in Hartford to form a small cover force for New York. (2 regulars, 2 militia, 1 supply)
-Putnam to bring his militia and the siege artillery into the fort in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he will be joined by Greene and four militia battalions from Cambridge. Greene will be able to take Boston if the main Royal army moves too far away. Ethan Allen moves his mountaineers from Concord to Portsmouth, which is forest so he can set an ambush for the British in April.
-Washington to take the remainder of the continental army to Brattleboro where it can recover from it’s losses, absorb replacements, and keep an eye on Howe. Brattleboro is forest, so it’s bad terrain for the British regulars. Knox to leave his troops and join Washington so that his artillerist trait can be used by the Continental army.

Middle Colonies

Situation: Not much happened in February. There isn’t much else that can be sent to New England.

Orders:
-Lincoln ordered from Ridgefield to Hartford
-The supply unit that failed to reach Albany is sent to join Washington in Brattleboro.
-Stark takes his mountaineers to join Washington in Brattleboro, which is also forest and favorable terrain for irregulars.
-John Paul Jones uses the new Continental navy to try to drop the 1st Pennsylvania militia into Newport Rhode Island. If successful this will further delay Howe’s movement west. If unsuccessful I can take the militia elsewhere – likely Norfolk.
-Schuyler without his militia unit is sent from Ticonderoga to lead the 2nd Massachusetts militia in Trois Rivieres, which is the first rebel force that the British are likely to attack in Canada. He has a decent defensive rating which might slow them a bit.

Mid-South

Situation and orders: My Virginia army takes Portsmouth, but it looks like another British unit has shown up in Norfolk. Lee didn’t quite meet up with the army, so he’s ordered to catch up with the two militia immediately, and they are ordered to march on Norfolk with an offensive posture. I expect them to besiege the British in Norfolk.

Deep South

Situation:
One of the missing loyalist militia shows up to take Wilmington, North Carolina. I expect Cornwallis to land there next month. Two of the other militia, under Brown are besieging Savannah. I don’t expect they will have much success as they have no supplies. The last tory militia is garrisoning Augusta. Dunmore and the two loyalist militia from Virginia start a siege of my single militia unit in Hillsboro. Moultrie assaulted Charlotte and destroyed the Tory militia there. He loses no companies, but the 1st South Carolina militia is badly hurt.

Orders:
-Moultrie is ordered to leave the damaged battalion as a garrison in Charlotte and to return to Camden to pick up the other militia unit that I have available. From Camden he can move to reinforce Charleston if needed, to Augusta and then Savannah if needed, or back to North Carolina to take on Dunmore. It all depends on what the British are up to.
-Hillsboro garrison to hold on and hope for the best. Dunmore is a bad general and will take winter damage this turn, so I might survive.
-Gates is ordered to Charlotte to take command of the recuperating militia there.
I need my July levies soon. I am weak in the Deep South and have no chance of facing Cornwallis.

West
Clarke gets stuck in a late winter in the Ohio Valley. He is ordered to Sycamore Flats in Tennessee to recuperate.

I raised replacements in February, so that I now have 19 companies of replacement regulars and 24 companies of replacement militia. I’m going to need them – Washington is beat up, and Arnold’s army is also in bad shape. Sullivan in Montreal can receive replacements immediately. Washington could do so in Cambridge, but is uncomfortably close to Howe in Boston.


March 1776: A somewhat battered continental army faces a scary looking British army across the Charles River.

April 1776

Canada:
In Montreal Sullivan’s army absorbed 2 replacement companies - one regular and one militia. It’s still winter and no sign of British activity. Sullivan to stay in Montreal for now and absorb more replacements.

New England
Situation:
In Cambridge, Massachusetts Washington absorbed 4 replacement companies - a light company, 2 regular companies and a company of marines. Washington then escaped to Brattleboro, but ran into two battalions of British regulars under General Grant. A battle ensued in Westminster Massachusetts. Sadly it was indecisive - Grant took 3 hearts, Washington took 2.

The British from Boston have dispersed. Howe with two regulars took Newport so John Paul Jones couldn’t land the Pennsylvania militia. Clinton and the dragoons are in Providence. Grant retreated to Worcester after losing the battle. Pigott with two regulars is in Springfield, and Arnold (who had no troops under command) had to flee from him to New Haven. Two uncommanded regulars are besieging Lincoln, who has two battalions of continentals and three of militia in Hartford. The main Royal army, such as it is, consists of three regulars, two light infantry, one militia and one artillery in Boston. This force has no commander. I received a supply unit in Hartford as a reinforcement, it is now besieged with Lincoln.

With winter still in effect, and without a leader there is no way the Boston force can cross the Connecticut river this month. This makes the Royal forces that are west of that river very vulnerable to my main army – only the battered Grant, and Clinton’s dragoons can show up.

Orders:
-Allen failed to activate. I think this is why I can’t order him to ambush. He is given an evasive posture ordered to wait in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Greene with one regular, four militia and the siege artillery stays in garrison in Portsmouth waiting for the British to move on.
-Lincoln is given an offensive posture and ordered to remain in the Hartford area after fighting the British besieging him. With two regulars and three militia he should be able to beat the two regulars who are besieging him without a leader. He is ordered to sortie if/when a relief column arrives.

The Continental Army to be split up.
-The dragoons, which are very badly battered (strength of 8 in 3 squadrons), are ordered to Albany to recuperate away from any expected enemy action.
-Another army is improvised under Knox, Stark and Patterson. The six worst damaged battalions are assigned to it along with Stark’s rangers. This army contains four regulars, two militia and one ranger unit. Stark is needed to keep the command in scope, and Knox is a very good general. The army is ordered to stay in Brattleboro in an evasive posture and recuperate. Arnold is ordered to proceed via Peekskill from New Haven to Brattleboro to take over command of this army. Ultimately this army will cover either Albany or Norwich.
-The remainder of the army, five regulars, three militia, and an artillery unit remains under Washington, with Ward and Glover in support. This army is given an offensive posture and ordered to march through Springfield to Hartford, dispersing any British troops met en route. They will join with Lincoln to cover New York.

Middle Colonies
Situation and Orders: Not much to report. I am reinforced by Herkimer and a supply unit in Albany and by a supply unit in New York City. Herkimer is ordered to Brattleboro to free up the more useful leaders tied up leading that force (Knox and Stark). The supply is ordered to Philadephia to be used as a reserve or sent further south where I have only two supply trains. Morgan is ordered to Alexandria.

Mid-South:
Situation: Lee’s army of two milita units is besieging a unit of Royal Marines in Norfolk and has excellent supply. Dunmore left the siege of Hillsboro with one militia and is approaching Portsmouth, Virginia. Robert Howe with a supply arrived as a reinforcement north of Charlottesville.
Orders:
-Lee to continue to prosecute the siege of Norfolk (offensive posture). I won’t risk an assault with Dunmore so close. I should be able to beat Dunmore if he tries to lift the siege.
-Jones and the navy to try to slip the 1st Pennsylvania into Yorktown. Howe and his supply to join them there. Eventually I want to unite these troops with Lee to destroy Dunmore and the marines in Norfolk.


Deep South:
Situation: The British made breaches in both Hillsboro and Savannah. The messages say that they inflicted hits on both garrisons but the Hillsboro battalion seems to be just fine. It’s besieged by one leaderless militia unit. Dunmore has taken the other towards Norfolk and Lee’s army. The Savannah garrison was weak to start with, and has been damaged by the siege. I expect Brown to take the city.
The Tories that took Wilmington in February have moved on to New Bern, North Carolina. The enemy militia unit that was in Augusta, Georgia is gone.
Orders:
-Moultrie to force march both the militia units and the supply from Camden to Augusta and to assault anyone found there. It should be too far for Brown to defend.
-Gates to take the (somewhat) recovered South Carolina militia and march to lift the siege of Hillsboro. 1st North Carolina militia to sortie in support.

West:
Clark took some winter damage and will take some more this month. He’s still en route to Sycamore Flats where he will need to rest for a few months.





Wahsington strikes at the isolated British detachments along the Connecticut river.

May 1776

Canada

Situation: Sullivan’s army absorbed two more companies of replacements, one regular, and one militia. The 3rd New York defeats an Indian tribe at St John, with no losses on either side. No enemy activity observed.

Orders: Sullivan’s army boards bateaux and is ordered to Oswego. I might need these forces in New York colony. Militia garrisons remain in place.

New England
Situation:
Lincoln beat the two regulars besieging him, taking one heart and taking two. The British retreat to Norwich, Connecticut. Pigott then arrives with his two regulars and delivers a drubbing to Lincoln. The British take six hearts but inflict ten, wiping out ten of twelve militia companies. Lincoln fails to escape from Pigott and is engaged again in Hartford. He does inflict one heart on the British and kills two British companies, but he loses his last two militia companies and six companies of regulars. A single company of regulars is all that is left of Lincoln’s army when it limps into New Haven. Pigott marches on to Westchester, New York, and so Washington’s bold move south strikes thin air.

The 38th foot attacks Portsmouth New Hampshire. Allen manages to retreat to Newburyport before combat, but loses half his force. However the British then assault Greene with their single battalion and take two hearts for their work while leaving Greene unhurt.

All of the other British forces in Boston except one light infantry battalion join Grant in Worcester. Clinton and the British dragoons take New London. Howe has only one battalion in Newport, presumably he sent one to join Grant in Worcester. The retreating British force in Norwich, Connecticut meets another regular, but still has no leader.

I failed to accomplish my goals in April, but I have damaged Grant’s two battalions, Pigott’s two battalions and the two battalions that were outside Hartford. And my only losses that cannot be made good are Lincoln’s three militia and one regular. Attrition is my friend. For May I want to get my troops to areas where they can recuperate, and to wipe out Pigott’s battalions – Washington is now between Pigott and the main Royal army. I’m looking forward to my July levies.

Orders:
-Washington given offensive posture and ordered to attack and pursue Pigott.
-Arnold to withdraw from Brattleboro to Albany, leaving Stark behind with his mountaineers to set an ambush. From Albany part of his command can easily be sent to reinforce Washington around New York City.
-Allen ordered from Newburyport to Concord with an evasive posture.
-Greene to defend Portsmouth New Hampshire – he could easily beat the regulars outside the fort, but Grant might be heading his way.
-Lincoln to take his one regular to Peekskill under an evasive posture.

Middle Colonies
Not much happened in April and the only orders for May is to move the supply train from Philadelphia to Annapolis.

South Central

Situation: Lee forced a breach and 20 hits on the marines in Norfolk. Howe unites with the 1st Pennsylvania in Yorktown.

Orders:
-Lee to assault Norfolk
-Howe and Morgan to join Lee in Norfolk
-Jones to take the navy to Alexandria

Deep South
Situation:
Moultrie failed to force march, so he did not reach Augusta. The breach in Savannah was repaired. R. Howe bombarded the Savannah garrison inflicting 17 hits, but taking 20.

Gates with eight militia companies beat Dunmore with four, inflicting two hearts and only taking one. The siege of Hillsboro is lifted. Brown has been reinforced with another loyalist militia, so there are now three besieging Savannah. It’s unclear how much supply they have, but I’m amazed Savannah hasn’t fallen yet. I expect it to fall in May.

The loyalist militia returned from New Bern to Wilmington, North Carolina. No sign of Cornwallis, and I have no idea where Dunmore and the two Virginia militia have disappeared to (Warrenton North Carolina?).

Orders:
-Gates with two militia ordered to Charlotte, North Carolina where he will be well placed to head in various directions. He is ordered to take Salisbury, North Carolina on the way.
-Moultrie ordered to take Augusta, and then move to besiege Ninety Six. He is not strong enough to tackle Brown, who will most likely have taken Savannah by the time he arrives anyway. Ninety Six is only occupied by it’s fixed garrison and is the only town the loyalists hold in South Carolina.
-Bateaux in Savannah head upriver to near Augusta

West: Clark reaches Sycamore Flats where he will wait for a month or so to recover from winter damage.





May 1776: Arnold teaches a British battalion not to wander around without any support.

June 1776
Canada:
Situation and Orders: Carleton with one regular and two militia is besieging Fort St John. As Trois Rivieres was not the first to be attacked I move Schuyler and his militia from there to Montreal. Champlain bateaux sent north in case I can evacuate St John.

New England
Situation:
Stark in Brattleboro failed to set an ambush (despite an 82% chance) and then skirmished with four British companies with no losses on either side. He then withdrew to Springfield where he got one heart on Clinton’s dragoons and forced them to retreat to Norwich, Connecticut. The four British companies from Brattleboro moved on to Albany where they were wiped out by Arnold at no loss to himself.
Allen escaped to Concord and the British withdrew from their siege of Portsmouth. Grant’s army is in Middleton, Connecticut, and Leslie has arrived in Boston with a terrifyingly big army (19 regulars, 1 irregular, and three artillery battalions).
Orders:
-Stark ordered to flee to Fort Stanwix.
-Allen to rest his troops in Concord
-Greene to continue to hold Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but he detaches Putnam with one regular and one militia to march on Falmouth Massachusetts/Maine. If Leslie does come after Greene those two battalions aren’t going to make a difference, but they will be able to continue resistance a little longer.

Middle Colonies
Washington’s army absorbed one replacement company, Lincoln’s absorbed a second. Pigott fled from Ridgefield to Morristown, New Jersey and Washington is still in pursuit in Stony Point New Jersey. Lincoln reached Peekskill and Sullivan arrived at Oswego.
I face a tough decision here. Washington is very close to catching Pigott and his two weak battalions, but Grant can reach New York, and possibly Albany. I figure I need to get Pigott.
Orders:
-Lincoln to cross the Hudson to West Point.
-Washington to detach his artillery so he can move faster, and to pursue Pigott with an assault posture. He should reach Morristown in four days. The artillery is ordered to join Lincoln in West Point.
-Knox to take two regulars, one militia and the continental dragoons from Albany to join Lincoln in West Point.
-Sullivan ordered to bring his two regulars and one militia to Albany. I expect he will not make it past Fort Dayton.
-Arnold to defend outside Albany with two regulars and two militia. They should recuperate and absorb replacements.

Mid South:
Lee’s siege accomplished nothing, and his first assault was beaten off with each side losing one company. When the last British company attempted to escape Lee killed it at the cost of one militia company. I have killed the batttalion of marinces, at the cost of the 1st Virginia militia being nearly wiped out. Still it can absorb replacements. Howe and Morgan have joined Lee in Norfolk. Out in the Virginia frontier, the loyalist Dunmore’s Ethiopians battalion are besieging Fort Chiswell.
-Morgan to take the 1st Delaware and 1st Pennsylvania and a supply and to advance through Warrenton North Carolina to Tar.
-Howe with the 1st Virginia to hold Norfolk.
-C. Lee to join the supply in Richmond.

Deep South:
Two fleets bombarded the Savannah garrison. It took 38 hits, but delivered 42 hits. Cornwallis with six regulars and an artillery are now besieging the town. Brown and his three militia are in Colleton and appear to be on the way to Camden.
Moultrie took Augusta and is besieging Ninety Six.
Unknown enemy forces (probably Dunmore’s Ethiopians) took Guilford, and then evaded Gates. The enemy 1st North Carolina, the unit that was in Wilmington, took Cross Creek, North Carolina and is in garrison.
Marion appears with his partisans in Point Ferry in the South Carolina swamps.
Orders:
-Moultrie to assault Ninety Six (to eliminate the fixed garrison and force the British to leave a garrison there when they capture it), and then proceed to Charleston. He probably won’t catch Brown, but I can hope.
-Gates to march through Cross Creek to Wilmington with an assault posture. Hopefully he will catch the loyalists in Cross Creek and destroy them.
-Marion to Packolet where he will set up an ambush to catch armies moving between Augusta and Camden.

West:
Situation and Orders: Nothing much going on. Clark is nearly at full strength and is ordered to attack the loyalist besieging Fort Chiswell. With the war nearing Pennsylvania I’d rather have the 8th Pennsylvania at home rather than in Pittsburgh, so it is ordered to Pekod, Maryland on the Potomac.


June 1776: The British begin to move into New York colony.

Pretty busy so I'm splitting this turn into two posts.

July 1776, situation

Canada:
Carlton has disappeared. I suspect he’s on his way to Ticonderoga. Burgoyne has arrived in Quebec with 9 regulars and an artillery.

New England:
Five Anglo-German regulars under von Wutgenau take Newburyport. Presumably Portsmouth NH is next. Leslie with 13 regulars, one light infantry and 3 artillery has moved to Norwich Connecticut. Howe and five regulars are in Hartford, so Newport is empty. The Loyal New Englanders are holding New Haven.
My levies are good, but not great, 4th and 6th Continentals along with the 2nd New Hampshire militia in Norwich.
Royal levies are the loyal New Englanders in Boston.

Middle Colonies:
Arnold’s army in Albany adds one replacement company. Washington catches Pigott in Morristown New Jersey and wipes out both of his battalions, taking only one heart.
Grant with four regulars, two of them understrength, one light infantry and an artillery is besieging New York City's fixed garrison. A British regular is spotted in Osceola, just north of Fort Stanwix.
Levies are a bit disappointing, given that I control all the strategic cities. 1st New Jersey militia in Trenton, and 13th,14th, and 15th Continentals and 2nd Pennsylvania militia in Philadelphia.

South Central:
1st Virginia in Norfolk absorbs a replacement company. Rogers’ strike at Fort Chiswell finds no enemy there.
Levies are excellent – I have all the strategic cities in the area. 1st Maryland militia in Annapolis, 2nd Virginia militia in Richmond, 3rd Virginia militia and 23rd continental in Petersburg, 21st, 22nd and 24rd continental in Alexandria, and the 6 (regular) infantry in Wilmington.

Deep South:
More bombardment of Savannah, the fixed garrison take 21 hits and inflict 19. For some reason Cornwallis’ overwhelming force doesn’t assault but moves north. Jones with three regulars and an artillery take Augusta and march towards Fort Ninety Six. Cornwallis himself with two regulars and a militia and with Brown in tow reach Charleston and besiege it. A lone regular is in Packolet on it’s way to Camden.

Moultrie needs two assaults to take Ninety Six and his army is badly cut up. He makes it to Charleston, but Cornwallis is already there. Moultrie managed to retreat before the battle.

Gates ran into some enemy troops in Uharee SC, but no combat occurred. This was probably a militia unit or two. The enemy force seems to have gone on to take Ramsey’s Mill and disappear. After this encounter Gates ran into the 1st North Carolina militia in Cross Creek, but it escaped with a single hit and withdrew to Waganau. Gates is besieged by Lord Dunmore and one militia unit. The Ethiopians are still unaccounted for.

Levies are excellent, 32nd continental, 2nd and 3rd Georgia militia in Savannah, 2nd South Carolina, 3rd South Carolina and 7 (regular) infantry in Camden, and 3rd North Carolina and 31st continental in Hillsboro. Sumter and his partisans also appear in Point Ferry.

British Levies (as far as I know) are a dragoon in Augusta, and a dragoon under Watson outside Charleston.


The British move out from Savannah. Moultrie is badly beat up and trying to escape to Savannah.

July 1776 plans and orders

I’m reasonably pleased with my progress so far. I’ve met my territorial goals for the July levies – I have all of the strategic cities in the Middle Colonies and the South Central. I control four of six in the Deep South (Britain controls one) and one of five in New England (Britain controls two). So far I’ve permanently eliminated four British battalions and my losses have been limited. Washington’s continental army is intact and I had a very good levy. My goals for January are to keep some presence in New England, to keep a reasonable presence in the Middle Colonies, to maintain complete control of the South Central, and to start to eliminate all British forces in the Deep South. Other than that I need to keep the continental army alive and keep the January disband to a minimum.

Right now I have 14 units in the Deep South that need leadership, and generals who can lead a total of 12 units if I use both partisan leaders with the regular army. In the South Central I have 9 units that need leadership, and generals who can lead 8 units (including Rogers who should be leading irregulars). In the Middle States I have 23 units that need leadership and command capacity of 32. Of course most of the leadership is with Washington (command capacity of 18 units, currently leading 8). In New England I have 9 units and a command capacity of 8 if I use Allen to command regulars. Finally in Canada I have 3 units and leadership of 2. What this shows is that I need more leaders in the South, and the Deep South in particular.

The biggest strategic decision I face is where to send the levies from the South Central - to reinforce Washington in the main front, or to the Deep South where I might be able to have a numerical advantage. I don’t see how even an extra four units will matter in the North, where I already have a lot of troops and the British have a huge number with more to come. But in the Deep South the extra four units could make a huge difference.


Orders:
Canada:
-3rd New York militia ordered onto the Champlain fleet. This unit will be sent to Ticonderoga in case Carlton shows up there.
-2nd Massachusetts ordered from Trois Rivieres to St John. If both Montreal and St John are holding out by the time the snow sets in I can unite the two remaining militia in either city before the disbandment.
-Supply ordered from Montreal to Fort St. John
-Schuyler ordered to leave his troops in Canada and head to Norwich to lead the levies there.

New England:
-Putnam with two battalions ordered to Concord. He can’t go back to Portsmouth while the large enemy force in Newburyport may attack. From Concord Putnam can either return to Portsmouth, reinforce the army I’m gathering in Norwich, or independently head to Springfield or Boston.
-Greene to continue to defend Portsmouth, New Hampshire
-Allen to take his rangers to Norwich and join the force there, which takes an evasive posture.

Middle Colonies:
-Arnold takes one regular, two militia and a supply and is ordered from Albany to Skenesboro, from where he will most likely head to Norwich, but can also attack Carlton if he shows up in Ticonderoga.
-2nd Massachusetts continentals to garrison Albany
-Sullivan (2 regulars, 1 militia) ordered from Fort Dayton to Albany. One supply train from West Point (survivor of Lincoln’s debacle in Hartford) to join Sullivan in Albany.
-Stark to leave his mountaineers in evasive posture outside Fort Stanwix, and to join Sullivan in Albany.
-Herkimer and Paterson detached from Arnold and ordered from Albany to Winchester, Virginia
-Lincoln’s army to recuperate in West Point. Unfortunately they cannot absorb replacements here (level 1 city).
-Washington and the continental army in Morristown to join Lincoln in West Point
-Ward detached from Washington and sent to join the levies moving on Princeton.
-Three regulars and one militia fom Philadelphia and one regular from Wilmington, Delaware ordered to Princeton
-1st New Jersey ordered from Trenton to West Point

South Central:
-8th Pennsylvania ordered from western Maryland to Philadelphia
-1st Maryland militia ordered from Annapolis to Philadelphia
-Three continentals ordered from Alexandria to Halifax, Virginia. Charles Lee to join them there.
-2nd Virginia militia to march from Richmond to Warrenton North Carolina. 3rd Virginia militia from Petersburg to join it there.
-23rd Continental to march from Petersburg to Norfolk to work on increasing Norfolk’s allegiance to my cause. 1st Virginia to continue to absorb replacement companies in Norfolk.
-Supply train from Richmond to join Morgan in Warrenton who is to march on Hillsboro. Howe to join Morgan so he can command 4 battalions.
-Rogers to head south along the foothills of the Blue Ridge to Crown Ford looking for Tories.

Deep South:
-Gates in Cross Creek to take an offensive posture and hopefully crush Dunmore who is besieging him. From there he is ordered to Camden to meet up with the levies there.
-Levies in Hillsboro to await Morgan
-Levies in Camden to take a defensive posture in case the single British regular next door attacks. While Cornwallis or Jones could arrive in Camden, Gates ought to be able to get there first.
-Sumter’s partisans are to go through the swamps from Point Ferry to New Bern, North Carolina. Sumter himself is ordered to Savannah to lead the levies there.
-Marion with his partisans in an offensive posture to set an ambush for the single British regular that is in Packolet with him. He’s a great general, but this is a great opportunity for an ambush so I think that it’s worth keeping him away from real armies for a month.
-Moultrie takes his battered force away from Charleston through the swamps towards Savannah.
-Savannah levies await leadership


Ownership in July 1776. So far so good!

August 1776

Still a lot going on. I’m going to continue to separate results and plans into two posts.

Canada
Trois Rivieres is vacant and still mine. No sign of Burgoyne or Carlton.

New England
Most of Leslie’s army (ten regulars and three artillery under von Knyphausen) are in the town of Norwich, New Hampshire. Schuyler and Allen are still in the area, but avoided contact.
Two British regulars are north of General Greene in Kenebunk. Unclear if they’re headed for Falmouth or Concord, but either way they’re vulnerable.
Boston is held by a single light infantry unit, but Donop with five regulars and an artillery is in Worcester and Howe with four regulars and a militia is in Westminster, Massachusetts, so I’ll have to be careful with Greene.
A single British regular takes Pittsfield, Massachusetts, but Springfield, Hartford and Newport are ungarrisoned.

Middle States
Grant, with four regulars, one light infantry and one artillery, made a breach in New York and inflicted 15 hits. He then assaulted and took the city with no hits. He holds New York at the end of the month.
Clinton and the British dragoons take Peekskill and a single British regular in Tajacook is directly south of Skenesboro and Arnold’s army.
The 1st New Jersey militia ran into the First Grenadiers in Stony Point New Jersey, but managed to avoid battle and join Washington in West Point. The Grenadiers move on to Morristown New Jersey.
The single enemy militia unit, the loyal New Englanders, is besieging Ward with four regulars and a militia in Princeton.
St Clair with a supply joins Sullivan in Albany

South Central
1st Virginia absorbed another replacement company. By mistake I sent the 2nd Virginia to Norfolk instead of Warrenton.
The Catawba warband is outside Lynchburg Virginia. I don’t think I care.

Deep South
Parker’s fleet bombarded Charleston inflicting 27 hits. Return fire inflicted 58 hits. Cornwallis then fought a battle against the garrison and Moultrie’s force. I take two hearts and inflict none, but Moultrie escapes and the garrison is unhurt. For some reason the British fail to assault Charleston and I still hold it at the end of the month.
The enemy sends McLeod’s Highlanders, a North Carolina provincial, to Georgetown, South Carolina, which they take. By the end of the month Charleston is under siege by Jones with three regulars and an artillery. No sign of where Cornwallis has gone, but a force of two British regulars and two militia has taken Ninety Six. They appear to have no leader, but it’s hard to see where else Cornwallis could have gone to, or where this force could have come from.
Augusta appears to be empty.

Dunmore avoided a battle with Gates in Cross Creek, but Gates catches up with him in Little Peedee and inflicts one heart on him taking none in return. Gates makes it to Camden where he absorbs the levies and is attacked by a single milita battalion. He killed all four companies taking no damage himmself. Dunmore is located in Wilmington North Carolina, with no troops. I have no idea where the two enemy Viriginia militia units might be.
Marion succeeded in ambushing the British regular unit and inflicted one hit for no losses of his own. However Tarleton (who must have arrived undetected near Charleston in July) came through Pakolet and was also attacked by Marion. No ambush this time, and Marion wins a Pyrrhic victory losing 3 companies to Tarleton’s one company and getting himself killed in the bargain. That’s a minor disaster. Tarleton and the loyalist Georgia Volunteers end up in Charlotte North Carolina.



August 1776, the British are on the march in the Deep South.

August 1776

Orders:

Canada: Garrisons to hold in place. 3rd New York militia to join 4th New York militia in Ticonderoga by bateaux.

New England:

I face a couple of tricky decisions here.
-Schuyler with four battalions is in the same area as the main enemy army. Obviously he needs to flee, but the question is where to go. A solid possibility is east to Skenesboro and Ticonderoga and join with Arnold. The united army could then cover Ticonderoga/Albany, and Sullivan’s four battalions could be sent south from Albany to join Washington. I think this is the safer choice, but it makes it that much easier for Britain to keep me out of New England. Instead I order Schuyler to cross the White Mountains and march on Concord. Howe could easily get to Concord from Westminster, but I think it’s unlikely. Concord is forest, so Warner’s rangers stay with Schuyler.
-My second difficult decision is what to do about the two British regulars just north of Portsmouth New Hampshire. With winter not too far away now seems like a decent time to take a chance. Greene takes his three militia and is ordered to Falmouth then to Concord and back towards Portsmouth. Hopefully he’ll engage the unled regulars. Putnam with a regular and a miltia is ordered back to Portsmouth to strengthen the garrison that Greene has left behind. What I’m trying to do here is to gather a force of 3 regulars and five militia under Greene. Britain will need to detach large forces to contain that army.

Middle States:

I have (re) assembled an army of eight regulars, five militia, one dragoon and one artillery under Washington in West Point. Grant has four regulars, a light infantry unit and an artillery. The nearest British troops are 5 areas away from New York. Washington has a wonderful opportunity to really hurt Grant’s army, and to take New York.
-Washington ordered across the Hudson to Peekskill (where Clinton and the enemy dragoons are) and then ordered to intercept Grant’s army.
-On a smaller scale Arnold has a regular and two militias against the single regular to his south. He is ordered to intercept it. The worst that can happen is that he can pursue to Brattleboro and run into Von Knyphausen. Most likely he’ll get a fight and be able to escape in September.
-Sullivan's orders also pose a problem. Howe can easily reach Albany, and Von Knyphausen might be able to do so. Sullivan can’t handle either. Rather than pull him back to Dayton I decide to put him in garrison in Albany with the expectation that the British won’t assault this month. If they besiege Albany Sullivan will flee on the bateaux.
-Stark ordered to join Arnold so that his army will have adequate command.
-Stark’s mountaineers to continue to recuperate outside Fort Stanwix.
-Lincoln detached from Washington and sent to take command of the 8th Pennsylvania militia which is still just short of Philadelphia. That unit is ordered to join the 1st Maryland in Philadelphia. This force will take out either the British militia or the British regular currently in New Jersey should they try to sneak into Philadelphia. If Grant somehow escapes Washington he could cause trouble here.
-Ward with four regulars and a militia to attack the militia besieging him in Princeton, and then to head to Morristown by way of Maidenhead (to avoid Grantin New York) and besiege the British regular should it remain in that city.

South Central:

-2nd Virginia militia ordered from Norfolk to Warrenton where I had intended to send it in July. Herkimer and Patterson to join it there.
-Lee with three regulars to march through Hillsboro to Guilford and take that apparently empty town from the British. 3rd Virginia militia in Warrenton, North Carolina to join him there.
-JP Jones to take the navy from Alexandria to Norfolk. I’m thinking that I might be able to sneak the 1st Virginia militia (which will be fully recovered from the assault on Norfolk after this turn) into Savannah in September.

Deep South

I also have a difficult decision here. Gates, with one regular and four militia is in Camden, within a months march of (presumably) Cornwallis in Ninety Six, Jones outside Charleston, and Tarleton in Charlotte. He’d be quite lucky to beat either of the first two. An obvious choice would be for him to rendezvous with Morgan in Charlotte, hoping to catch Tarleton. But I’d rather leave Morgan in command of his tidy army.
-Gates, with one regular and three militia ordered to Georgetown with a defensive posture. Ideally he’ll catch the loyalist militia in that area. If not he will be well positioned to reinforce Charleston if the British abandon their siege, to force them to garrison it if they do take it, or to take Wilmington and kill the militia in that region if needed.
-1st South Carolina militia left to garrison Camden.
-Morgan with four militia battalions is ordered to Charlotte and ordered to assault Salisbury and Charlotte if any resistance is encountered. One of his two supply wagons ordered to wait for Lee and join his army.
-Sumter’s partisans are ordered to march from New Bern to Guilford along the forest to reconnoiter Southern North Carolina.
-Clark ordered to continue south in the foothills and to go around Ninety Six to Cherokee Ford from where he can provide intelligence on Augusta.
-Moultrie’s troops to march through the swamps towards Savannah, avoiding Granville which is next to Augusta.
-Sumter to lead one regular and two militia from Savannah to Abercorn, the next area north and forested. Moultrie to leave his troops and join Sumter there.

(I think these moves make it quite clear that, as the rebels, I prefer to operate on exterior lines. Interior lines always mean that you might be trapped!)




I'm hoping to have Washington catch and beat Grant, and Ward beat both British units in New Jersey.

September 1776
Also a very busy month. Situation:

Canada:
3rd New York militia joins the garrison in Ticonderoga. Burgoyne has bypassed Trois Rivieres and is besieging Montreal. I don’t see how he can make a serious attempt on Ticonderoga before the winter sets in.

New England:
Von Knyphausen made contact with Schuyler before Schuyler could leave Norwich, New Hampshire, and inflicted four hearts, taking one in return. Schuyler retreated across the Connecticut river. There he ran into Howe’s army of four regulars and a militia. He was routed, losing 6 companies of regulars and one of militia while inflicting only two hearts of damage on the enemy. He retreated into the mountains of Cowass to the north. Howe and Percy now command a total of 11 regulars, 1 light infantry, 1 militia and two artillery in Norwich and across the river in Winchester. I never expected the bulk of the British army to be sent this far north. Other than these armies the only troops in New England are an apparently leaderless army of three regulars and an artillery nin Brattleboro New Hampshire, and a single regular in Pittsfield Massachusetts.

I forgot to have Greene leave the siege artillery behind, but he still manages to intercept the two enemy regulars in Kenebunk. He beats them, taking three hearts and dealing out five on the first day, and wiping out both enemy battalions at a cost of two hearts on the second day. Putnam enters Portsmouth New Hampshire. Eastern New England is wide open for Putnam and/or Greene.

Middle States:

In Tajacook Arnold met up with the British regular battalion and defeated it, inflicting three hearts and taking only two in the first day, and wiping out the battalion in the second day.
However, at then end of the month Donop arrived in Tajacook. Arnold achieved a victory against him too, but he lost his regular battalion and three of eight militia battalions in doing so. It’s not all bad news as he wiped out one of Donop’s battalions, and killed two out of four companies of the other one. Still his army is reduced to cadres.

Sullivan’s army in Albany absorbed one replacement company, and is in a good position. Donop’s remnants (the very weak 17th foot) are across the Hudson in Hoseck. Von Trumbach leads a force of two regulars in Saratoga to the north. The only dangerous army nearby is the three regulars and one artillery in Brattleboro that appears to have no leader.

Ward broke out of the siege of Princeton and wiped out the loyalist New England Volunteers with minimal losses. He took Morristown, but found it empty.

Washington crossed the Hudson to Peekskill and ran into the enemy First Grenadiers under General Smith, who had been in Morristown. Smith wins the battle and gets away, inflicting one hit on the Continental Army. This one is hard for my pride.

I had expected Grant to defend New York, but instead he marched through Princeton to Philadelphia, where he attacked Lincoln. Lincoln took two hearts and inflicted one before withdrawing across the Delaware to Trenton. Grant continued on to take Reading Pennsylvania. Clinton and the enemy dragoons from Peekskill evaded my armies in New Jersey, crossed the Delaware and captured Easton, Lancaster and Sunbury Pennsylvania. Parker’s fleet bombarded Philadelphia. I took ten hits, but inflicted 67.

Besides Grant’s and Clinton’s forces the only other enemy troops anywhere near the New Jersey front are Pigott and the 5th foot who are garrisoning New York City.

South Central:
1st Virginia milita in Norfolk added it’s fourth company. Two British regulars and a supply unit landed in Portsmouth Virginia, where they intercepted the 2nd Virginia militia which was on it’s way to Warrenton. I take one heart of damage while the enemy took none. The militia retreat back to Norfolk. This enemy force would appear to be reinforcements from the Caribbean brought on the transport from that region.
Unidentified enemy forces (probably Dunmore’s Ethiopians) took Halifax, Virginia.

Deep South:
The British made a breach in Charleston and inflicted 20 hits, wiping out the garrison. Cornwallis, who turns out to have been outside the walls of Charleston all along, then assaulted and captured the naval guns. I still have no intelligence of Cornwallis’ whereabouts, although common sense says he’s still in Charleston. Gates failed to intercept McLoead’s Highlanders who rejoined the British army in Charleston.

Lee encountered an Indian warband in Hillsboro, most likely the Catawba, and wiped it out. He took Salisbury but met no other opposition.
Morgan’s strike at Charlotte hit thin air, but he took the strategic town. Behind him, Dunmore with the Georgia Volunteers is outside Salisbury North Carolina.

Unidentified British forces took Cross Creek, North Carolina. I assume these are Tories although I don’t know how the enemy could have collected 3 battalions.
Tarleton wiped out the colonists in Thickety Fort and stayed there. He is joined by Haldimand, and a total of one regular, three dragoons and one ranger battalion are in Thickety. Haldimand must have arrived from Florida without my knowing about it and clearly his army was the one in Ninety Six that I thought was led by Cornwallis.

Two provincials are garrisoning Augusta. Fort Ninety Six is empty.


Sullivan has the opportunity to take out some small enemy forces near Albany. Arnold's force is in bad shape.

September 1776
Orders:
As winter is coming it’s time to start thinking about how I’ll handle the disband. The key issues for disband are;
-Militia units in garrison in strategic cities in their home states will not disband. This is ideal and I’ll try to get militia into garrisons in their home states. We’ll see how well I can do.
-All units under the command of a charismatic leader are less likely to disband. My charismatic leaders are Washington, Greene, Arnold, Allen and Morgan. Currently Greene is in eastern New England, Arnold is in upstate New York, Washington is in the New York / New Jersey area and Morgan is in Charlotte, North Carolina. Allen is the only one who is ‘free’, so he’ll be moved.

Other than that I’m going to keep forcing the British to play whack-a-mole, and taking advantage of any opportunity to hurt them.

Canada: The supply unit from St. John is sent to Ticonderoga. No point losing it, and I’m sure that St John will fall before the winter sets in.

New England:
I have a free shot at eastern New England.
-Putnam to leave the 1st Pennsylvania infantry in Portsmouth New Hampshire and to take the 1st Connecticut militia to capture Cambridge, Boston, Providence and Newport. The Rhode Island militia are with Arnold, so no chance of getting them into Newport.
-Greene to bring his army to Portsmouth New Hampshire so it can recuperate.
-Schuyler to take the battered 1st New Hampshire militia to Falmouth Massachusetts/Maine to recuperate and then join Greene.
-Warner’s rangers, who are even more battered are ordered to Fort Western where they will most likely winter.
-Allen with no troops to join Sullivan near Albany.

Middle States:
I have a tough call here. Washington can clearly beat Grant badly if he can catch up to him. Given that Grant is now in Pennsylvania he could easily be wiped out in pursuit. However, Washington is three areas behind Grant, and he could keep running to Pittsburgh (where winter will make it hard for me to chase) or to Virginia. I don’t think I can have the Continental Army abandon the main center of the war, so Washington is heading east. Hopefully he’ll catch Pigott and his battalion of regulars in New York.
Orders:
-Lincoln to bring his two militia units from Trenton to Princeton. He will gather an army there that can chase Grant around and retake whatever Grant takes. Hopefully he won’t fight Grant. It is possible that Grant will take Philadelphia in which case I’ll have to revise my plans.
-Washington to detach one supply, the 2nd continental (With only two companies since Lincoln’s mauling in Hartford) and the 1st New Jersey militia and send them to join Lincoln in Princeton.
-Washington to go back from Newark to New York and on to Ridgefield under an assault posture. From there he will be able to head up the Hudson valley to fight in Albany, or on into New England if the opportunity presents itself. His militia units are from Connecticut (3) and New York (1) and it would be nice to get them into garrisons before the disband.
-Ward to detach the 1st Pennsylvania milita and 6 infantry and send the two battalions to join Lincoln in Princeton. Ward to take the remaining 3 regulars in his army to join Washington.
-Sullivan (3 regulars, 1 militia) to cross the Hudson from Albany to try to finish off the 17th foot. He is then to return to Albany and go into garrison. He can still use the bateaux to escape if necessary. If the Germans head to Stanwix Sullivan will follow in October and hope to catch them.
-Arnold to flee to Ticonderoga under an evasive posture. The 1st Rhode Island has only one company left and it is nearly wiped out, so it would be better to get Arnold to a bigger city so that he can absorb replacements. But as of right now Ticonderoga is the only vaguely safe place to go.
-Stark’s mountain boys to stay outside Stanwix and continue to recover.

South Central:
For now I’ll wait to see where the British force wants to go. I’ll try to get them next turn.
-Paterson to join the three battalions in Norfolk
-Lee to bring the 21st continental, the 3rd Virginia and a supply from North Carolina back to Virginia and to take Halifax under an offensive posture.
-Jones takes an offensive posture and heads into the Chesapeake hoping to catch the transport that dropped the British army in Portsmouth.

Deep South
It’s very unclear what the two large British armies, in Thickety and Charleston are planning. I’m going to try to accomplish something while waiting to see what they do. -Garrison in Camden (1st South Carolina) to stay in place.
-The two continentals who had been with Lee to return to Hillsboro where Herkimer will join them.
-Sumter’s partisans to head back along the wooded southern tier of North Carolina to try to find out what’s going on in Cross Creek.
-Morgan to pursue Dunmore in an assault posture. Hopefully he’ll kill Dunmore and be joined by Herkimer next month.
-Rogers’ rangers to head through the forests around Haldimand in Thickety to Cherokee Ford between Ninety Six and Augusta.
-Sumter with two militia and one regular to advance to Augusta and besiege it. Moultrie to join him.
-Moultrie’s battered militia from Charleston to finally go into garrison in Savannah. One is Georgia militia so won’t disband.
-Gates to take Wilmington. The goal here is simply to avoid a fight with Cornwallis, grab some easy victory points, and to try to distract the AI.



Morgan is ordered to ignore the enemy concentration in Thickety Fort.

October 1776

Situation

Canada: The British made breach in Montreal and inflicted 20 hits. Burgoyne is still besieging the city with a regular, a light infantry, and an irregular. A single German regular is besieging St John, and the rest of Burgoyne’s army (six regulars and a supply) are just south of St John, presumably heading to Ticonderoga. Howe with a single German regular is in Lamoille northeast of Lake Champlain. I still hold Trois Rivieres.

New England:
Putnam takes all the expected cities and ends up in Newport. Hamilton appears in Boston with a single British regular – presumably he was landed from a fleet. A single German regular is in Springfield, and Von Donop and the apparently battered 4th Grenadiers garrison Hartford. There are no other British troops in New England.

Norwich is now empty – I may try to slip Warner’s mountain boys in there before the January levies

Middle States:
Von Trumbach’s two regulars took Fort Edward and then besieged Ticonderoga, where he was joined by an artillery unit. He assaulted the fort with 5 regular companies two light companies and four artillery batteries against 12 militia companies under Arnold. Seems like that’s what I wanted, but he kills five militia companies on the first day and injures both Arnold and Stark. I should have ordered Arnold’s army to merge with the Ticonderoga garrison – now I’ll be hard pressed to get a general inside the fort. A second assault on Ticonderoga caused no hits on either side, although apparently Trumbach won that battle.

Leslie with two regulars and a militia are besieging Skenesboro where Arnold and the supply from St John’s are in garrison.

Sullivan in Hoseck ran into a battalion of infantry and a battalion of artillery (presumably from Brattleboro). Each side took two hearts of damage and Sullivan won. He made it back to Albany, but Von Knyphausen with 5 regulars, two light infantry battalions and two artillery are across the river in Hoseck.

Pigott unaccountably had 2 battalions when Washington met him. Washington inflicts 3 hearts, killing three companies of regulars, while taking two hearts. New York falls, but Washington failed to pursue into Westchester. Pigott with one badly weakened regular is in Ridgefield.

Ward failed to reach Washington in New York, and the enemy 64th foot (from Pittsfield?) took Peekskill and ended the month in West Point.

Lincoln has gathered his decent sized army in Princeton and Grant has returned to besiege Philadelphia. Clinton with the enemy dragoons is besieging Wilkes-Barre.

Middle South:
The British regulars in Portsmouth took Petersburg and marched on to besiege Norfolk. Dunmore’s Ethiopians show up and go into garrison in Petersburg.
JP Jones failed to intercept anyone. Lee encountered no enemy forces, but did take Halifax, Virginia.

Deep South:

Herkimer’s force united in Hillsboro and a British regular (from Cross Creek?) met it there. Herkimer takes one heart and inflicts two. The regular retreats towards Warrenton, the Virginia border and Lee's army.

Dunmore managed to retreat before battle to Crown Ford to the west of Salisbury and Morgan’s army holds Salisbury.

Gates is besieging Wilmington, in which are the 57th foot and Cornwallis’ army of two units. This is clearly the force that was in Cross Creek. I suspect Cornwallis himself isn’t there, but Gates has locked up at least two enemy battalions, so that could be useful.

Brown with a battalion of Royal Marines is besieging Camden. Four British units are in Fort Ninety Six – presumably this is Tarleton and Watson from Thickety.

There is a track of plundered areas from Thickety to Charleston, and Haldimand’s army is in Charleston. Charleston has the main British force in the south, with apparently four regulars, one militia, one irregular and one artillery.

Moultrie is besieging two units that are presumed to be loyalist militia in Augusta.



The British are messing with my control of Virginia.

October 1776

Orders:
Canada: Garrisons to hold out as long as possible.

New England:
Once more I have a tough call to make. Greene in Portsmouth has a regular and three partly beat up militia, two of which are from Massachusetts. It would be great to get them into a garrison in Boston so they won’t disband, but Hamilton and his regular battalion could actually cause a bit of trouble. This time I decide to play it safe.
-Greene to rest his army in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. If things are favorable I’ll make an attempt on Boston in November.
-Schuyler’s militia and Warner’s ranger to recuperate in modern Maine. Schuyler detached from his troops and ordered to join Greene in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
-Putnam to leave the 1st Connecticut in garrison in Newport and to proceed along the coast to join Washington.

Middle States:
I have a couple of tough calls here. In the north I have to decide whether to try to hold on to Ticonderoga or not. Von Trumbach’s army isn’t really strong enough to take the fort, and I’m pretty sure I could last until winter made it impossible for them to continue. However, if either Leslie or the large force heading south from La Motte reach Ticonderoga an assault will almost certainly succeed. Another consideration is that the besieged army is made up of New York militia who are liable to disband if they leave Ticonderoga, but will stay if left in the garrison.
Ultimately I order one militia unit and the supply by boat to the north end of Lake Champlain. From there I’ll have lots of choices of where to land – ideally I’d like to slip into Norwich by the January levy. The other militia is left behind to delay the enemy, and if for some reason they don’t press their advantage to ensure that I keep the fort.

Sullivan cannot face Von Knyphausen. He is ordered to Fort Stanwix where he is to add Stark’s irregulars to his force. Von Knyphausen has the British siege artillery, so he shouldn’t be able to make it to Stanwix this month. If he does it is forested and Sullivan should be able to give him a bloody nose. Sullivan’s militia is from New York and will go into garrison in Stanwix next month.

I move some generals who have no troops around
-Arnold is ordered from Skenesboro to join Sullivan in Stanwix. He will command that force and hopefully keep the three regulars from disbanding.
-Stark is ordered from Stanwix to Reading Pennslvania, where he will provide more command for Lincoln’s army.
-Allen is moved by bateaux to New York City from where I plan to send him to command Lincoln’s army in Pennsylvania during the disband.

The next tough decision is around the New York area. The single regular in West Point is very vulnerable, and Ward with three regulars is right next door. Pigott with his badly hurt regular in Ridgefield clearly needs to be attacked. However, Washington has three Connecticut militia with him, and only two regulars garrison Hartford. Von Knyphausen can easily reach Hartford and Ridgefield and can likely reach West Point. As I see it I can limit myself to Ridgefield and West Point, which will keep the Continental Army available to intervene in Philadelphia, or I can push the war into New England by attacking Ridgefield and Hartford. I’m not willing to split up the army to allow attacks on both West Point and Hartford.

I decide to gamble this time – even if this fails it will most likely give Greene good options in November.
-Washington to detach the 5th New York militia and the 3rd continental (which has suffered 3 hits) as a garrison for New York. He is then ordered to march through Ridgefield to Hartford in an assault posture.
-Ward ordered to join Washington with his three continentals

Lincoln’s troops need to recuperate a little, and he is still short on command. Even if this weren’t the case, with two regulars and four militia I suspect he wouldn’t beat Grant with two regulars a light infantry and an artillery. I leave Grant to continue the siege of Philadelphia, and order Lincoln to Reading Pennsylvania. Next turn I can decide whether to send Lincoln to Philadelphia or Wyoming for the disband (he has two Pennsylvania militia battalions)

South Central:
Paterson’s army in Norfolk, with a regular and two militia is a little stronger than the unled British regular’s besieging it (power 121 vs 78). But they’ve made no progress on the siege and I think time is on my side, so he holds out and waits for Major General Lee.

Lee is ordered to advance from Halifax to Warrenton, where he will hopefully engage the beat up regular that is present in that town. From there he will head to Portsmouth to (hopefully) capture that town. The Ethiopians are ignored for now.

Deep South
-Gates ordered to continue the siege of Wilmington with an offensive posture. I want to know more about what units are in the city before deciding whether to assault, and Gates will still have two turns to get his army to Camden (for the 2 South Carolina militia) or Hillsboro (for the one North Carolina militia) before the disband. I’m also waiting to see where the British forces in Charleston are going to go.
-Sumter’s partisans to join Gates’ army. They’ll give him a little more punch if he has to fight in the swamps around Wilmington
-Herkimer ordered to Charlotte with an offensive posture. This will leave Hillsboro exposed to the regular currently in Warrenton, or to Dunmore’s militia, but I can recover if the British do take Hillsboro.
-Morgan ordered to Camden in an offensive posture, to beat Brown and the marines. I’m pretty sure that the mud will make the forces from Ninety Six and Charleston fall just short of reaching Camden this month.
-Moultrie to withdraw to Savannah. He is exposed to the army in Ninety Six. Hopefully he’ll draw some British troops to pursue.
-Rogers to pass through Thickety and Ramseur’s Mill to determine where the Ninety Six army might head this month.




For some reason almost all of the Royal army is in the vicinity of Lake Champlain.

November 1776

Situation

Canada:
Britain inflicted 5 hits in the siege of St. John. Smith assaulted the fort with eight regular companies, two companies of light infantry, and two irregulars. My militia took three hearts and lost three of four companies, but inflicted three hearts and wiped out a loyalist ranger battalion. A second assault, led by Howe with 12 regular battalions and 2 light battalions, wiped out the last company and took the fort. The enemy left Smith and two regulars in St John’s.

Britain inflicted 10 hits in the siege of Montreal, but the siege continues with Howe and 3 regulars outside the walls, and winter weather now in place. A British regular finally took Trois Rivieres.

New England:
Not much happened. 2nd New Hampshire militia in Falmouth absorbed a replacement company. Washington took Hartford. Norwich is still empty, but the British have a lone regular in Brattleboro, a regular and an artillery in Westminster, a regular in New London and a regular in New Haven. The army in Boston has increased to three regulars and two leaders, too much for Greene in Portsmouth to comfortably handle, but not a problem for Washington with his nine regulars, one militia, one dragoon, and one artillery.

Middle States:
Britain breached the walls of Ticonderoga and inflicted 20 hits in the siege. Von Trumbach then assaulted, but my militia battalion made good show inflicting one heart of damage. Von Trumbach and two regulars were left in Ticonderoga, and a militia and artillery are one area further north in Winooski.

Von Riedesel with six regulars and an artillery is in Fort Edward, presumably on his way to Albany. Butler with a single regiment garrisons Skenesboro. My bateaux from Ticonderoga did not make it out of South Lake Champlain, so the militia can only be landed in an area that has a hostile army. North Lake Champlain is already frozen, and the rest will undoubtedly freeze next month.

Leslie captured my supply in Skenesboro and ended the month in Albany. Percy with one regular, one light infantry, and one artillery have reached Peekskill.

Pigott managed to retreat before combat in Ridgefield, but Washington caught up with him in Woodbury Connecticut and wiped out his battalion. Washington took Hartford.

Grant made a breach in Philadelphia and inflicted 15 hits, killing one of the militia companies. He then assaulted and wiped out the garrison at no cost to himself and went into garrison. Winter weather is in effect in Philadelphia. Ultimately, I think that Washington will have to return to drive Grant out of Philadelphia, I’m just not sure when.

Lincoln absorbed a regular replacement company and reached Reading. He now has enough command for his army, and all of his battalions are at full strength.

Clinton with two dragoon squadrons took Wilkes-Barre and is still there.

South Central:
The British lifted the siege of Norfolk and moved west to Portsmouth and then southwest to Nandesmond across the North Carolina border. Here they met and beat Lee who managed to retreat after three hours. Lee inflicted two hearts, but took four, and the 3rd Virginia militia was wiped out. The British continued westward, presumably towards Hillsboro, but they have been hurt.
Paterson’s garrison in Norfolk is intact, and the enemy Ethiopians are in garrison in Petersburg.

Deep South:
Gates made a breach in Wilmington and inflicted 35 hits. The only enemy force anywhere near Wilmington is Brown and his marines, who left Camden and took Georgetown, South Carolina. Intelligence claims that the besieged force is Cornwallis’ army of three units, so likely two regulars.

In Camden Morgan with sixteen militia companies, two light infantry companies and two regular companies ran into Tarleton with five dragoon squadrons and two light infantry companies. Morgan was defeated, inflicting three hearts and taking four, but he killed two dragoon companies and one light infantry company. That killed one of Tarleton’s battalions, and he withdrew to Packolet. Wiping out loyalist units is nice, but nothing like as important as getting the regulars.

Watson’s dragoons are spotted outside the walls of Savannah, but no other enemy activity is observed. Intelligence says Haldimand’s army remains in Charleston, and there are still two unidentified units in Augusta (presumably militia). Dunmore and the Georgians have disappeared, and a mid-sized army that was in Charleston has disappeared. My best guess is that it’s been taken by ship somewhere else, but I really have no idea.



New England is weakly held, and Greene and Washington threaten it.

November 1776
Orders:
Goals are to prepare for the December disband while trying to keep enough cities for a good levy in January.
Canada: Montreal garrison to hold on.

New England:
I had thoughts of having Washington crush the British force in Boston, but the mud has set in and he won’t be able to get there this month. So rather than raise New England I choose to try to hold New York City.
-Washington to detach two Connecticut militia to garrison Hartford, and to take the rest of his army to Ridgefiled in an offensive posture.
-Putnam detached from Washington’s army and sent to command the garrison in New York City
-2nd New Hampshire militia and Warner’s rangers to march on Portsmouth so as to be able to take advantage of Greene’s charisma.
-Greene with two units to take Newburyport and then return to Portsmouth.

Middle States:
-Sullivan detached from his army and sent to join Lincoln in Pennsylvania.
-Arnold to leave a New York militia to garrison Fort Stanwix and to take his army to Fort Oswego. From there he will counterattack down the Mohawk if Von Riesedel heads south, or flee to Pennsylvania if he heads Arnold’s way.
-The 4th New York militia is on bateaux in Lake Champlain and has a supply in tow. In ab evasive posture it is to try to slip past Butler in Skenesboro and into the Green Mountains.
-Allen to leave New York garrison and head to Wyoming
-Lincoln, in assault posture to retake Lancaster and Sunbury and end the month in Wyoming. With any luck he’ll meet and destroy Clinton and his dragoons. I’ve decided to keep him in play for 1777 – Lincoln is simply not capable of fighting Grant right now. Philadelphia will have to wait for Washington or the January levies.

South Central:
-Lee in an evasive posture to proceed to Norfolk.
-Paterson to take the 23rd continental and the 1st Viriginia and proceed to Petersburg and assault it.
Hopefully these moves will kill the Ethiopians, and if the two enemy regulars return to Virginia I’ll have both Norfolk and Petersburg covered.

Deep South:
-Morgan to leave the 1st South Carolina as a garrison in Camden and to return to Charlotte and incorporate Herkimer’s army.
-Clark to take Ramseur’s Mill and then head back across the mountains to Sycamore Flats for the winter
-Gates to assault Wilmington, then head to Cross Creek and on towards Hillsboro. The choice here was between getting one of his South Carolina militia into Camden or his North Carolina militia into Hillsboro. A move to Camden is liable to run into Tarleton or a stronger army. The move to Hillsboro is liable to run into the two regulars that Lee weakened in Virginia. I go with the safer course. Hopefully the garrison of Wilmington will not hold many surprises.
-Sumter’s partisans to detach from Gates (I don’t want to use them in an assault) and to head through the woods to join Herkimer in Charlotte.
-Moultrie to take one regular and three militia in an offensive posture up the road to Savannah for two areas, and then to return to Savannah. Hopefully he’ll catch Watson’s brigade and crush it.




I'm surprised in North Carolina.