Avalon Hill's 1776 is steadily gaining the well-deserved reputation as a wargamer's wargame. It possesses the fluid playability and abstract clarity of a good strategic simulation as well as a taste for tactical realism that has been long associated with miniatures. There is enough variety to be found in the optional rules to make each sitting with the game a new experience. All in all, 1776 is the best recreation of the American Revolution to appear on the market.

These remarks are equally as true about the four short scenarios provided with 1776 as about the various versions of the mammoth campaign game. Each scenario can stand by, itself as a complete, enjoyable game. The scenarios are probably more familiar to most gamers since they take no more than a few hours to play. The campaign game, on the other hand, should come with pep pills and three quarts of coffee as standard equipment. In my opinion, the last two scenarios, which are played on the south section of the mapboard, are the most interesting and demanding of the four. Scenario 3, "Greene's Southern Campaign-1 1780," and Scenario 4, "Virginia-Yorktown Campaign-1781," represent the ill-fated forays of Lord Charles Cornwallis that led directly to England's defeat in the Revolution. Despite that stigma, Cornwallis was the most aggressive of Great Britain's top four generals in the War of Independence. He demanded more of himself and his soldiers than his peers ever did, but for all his strenuous efforts, all that the noble Earl achieved were some meaningless, tactical victories.

Cornwallis was outfoxed and outmaneuvered by Major General Nathanael Greene time and time again in the Carolinas. The same thing happened when the luckless Briton locked horns with the Marquis de LaFayette in Virginia. As a ballad of the time has it, the Continentals led Cornwallis a "country dance" with much "retrograde and advance," until he was cornered by Washington and the French at Yorktown. There he was forced to capitulate, marking the end of all effective British efforts to subdue the infant United States.

Although Lord Cornwallis ultimately failed in his attempt to conquer the South, he came very close to his object any number of times, as his adversaries freely admitted. Only a few minor mistakes and amazingly bad luck stood between the good Earl and a smashing triumph.

The purpose of this article is to provide some notes behind successful strategies for Cornwallis' campaigns as recreated in 1776. Although we shall examine the options open to both the British and American players, it is hoped that this commentary will be of use to a gaming table reincarnation of the noble Earl.

Note: For the sake of brevity, this article shall ignore the great mass of optional rules available with 1776 and their possible effects on the scenarios.

In Pursuit of Greene and Lafayette Some Strategic Notes on AH's 1776

Overview
Scenario 3: Greene's Southern Campaign 1780
Scenario 4: Virginia-Yorktown Campaign 1781