British Order of Battle Commander: Sir John Johnson, 50 Victory Points, 20% Assist Unit Morale Grade Number of Stands Skirmish Royal Greens D 4 no Tory Rangers D 4 yes 1st Indians F 3 yes 2nd Indians F 3 yes 3rd Indians F 3 yes 4th Indians F 3 yes Brigade Morale for Royal Greens and Tory Rangers: 4 Brigade Morale for Indians: see rules American Order of Battle Commander: Brigadier Gen. Nicholas Herkimer, 70 Victory Points, 30% Assist Unit Morale Grade Number of Stands Skirmish Cox's Militia F 8 yes Klock's Militia F 8 yes Bellinger's Militia F 8 yes Visscher's Militia F 8 yes Ox Carts F 3 no Brigade Morale: 9 FIGHTING THE BATTLE Oriskany is a hard battle to play in miniature. It's too small to fight with rules that duplicate the classic line battalion fire and volley tactics of the 18th Century. And it's too large to realistically fight with most skirmish rules sets for the 18th Century. The American forces numbered around 800 while the British brought about 500 troops to the field. Therefore, Oriskany is usually ignored when creating American Revolution scenarios. And when it is played, one usually needs lots of rules modifications to make battalion rules work in what became a skirmish battle or to make skirmish rules handle an encounter which had significant battalion elements in it's creation and fighting. Furthermore, unless one sets up the battle with lots of "what ifs" in mind (the Americans were aware of the British ambush and didn't walk into it blindly, for example), the game at the battalion level isn't overly fun for the British to play. Generally, everything is setup, the British simply fire away and see if the Americans can extricate themselves from the ambush. At the skirmish level, this specific situation could be fun for both sides (how many times have we seen French and Indian War "ambush" scenarios using skirmish rules at Cold Wars or Historicon?). Nonetheless, the numbers involved can potentially overwhelm the players in terms of figures to manage and rule changes needed to handle the numbers. Despite the potential problems on both sides, I felt Oriskany was doable as a solo game using Patriots and Loyalists. Yes, it entails a number of scenario specific rules to enable the British side to more or less act on its own (it's actions and reactions driven mainly by dice and common sense of the solo player). But it also allows the player to try and manage an ambush scenario from the side of a brigade commander who finds himself in a virtually untenable situation. My goal is to enhance the appreciation for what Nicholas Herkimer did that hot day in 1777, given the circumstances he faced and the troops at his disposal. Setup the troops as shown on the map. The Americans are all in column along the road. When you place the terrain, you need to make it such that the American troops on the trailing edge of the column can't see the two lead regiments who start the battle on the far side of Battle Creek. The battle starts with the British side rolling for actions and to see if each of the Indian units fire or charge. Then the American (solo) player can move his troops as per Patriots and Loyahsts(PAL). This battle usually does not take long to complete. Generally, either the militia bolt early (usually the result of flanking melees) or the Indians choke on their brigade morale rolls early into the battle and the remaining two Tory Regular units yield to overwhelming American numbers. Possible play balance changes would be to reduce the number of stands in each American militia battalion or increasing/decreasing the chance of the Indians leaving en masse. Those of you familiar with the Oriskany will note a "natural" element has been left out of the following order of battle as well as a "tactical" element that did not really impact on the actual fighting. RULES FOR SOLO PLAY The American is the active player in this scenario. The Solo Rules will cover British actions during the game. The solo player need only to roll dice for British actions and then fire, move, rally, and melee the troops accordingly. 1. Use PAL Optional Rule 21.3 for firing in, into, or out of wood. 2. The stream, Battle Brook, can only be crossed at the wood bridge. 3. The woods are considered "B", Very Rough terrain. 4. The slope on either side of the stream is really part of the over, ravine. It has no effect on movement (the stream at the bottom the ravine should cause enough problems) but troops uphill of enemy while in melee contact get an additional 15% when calculating it's Melee Level in section 18.5 of PAL. 5. The militia and Indians can skirmish as can the one Tory Rang unit. However, neither the Tory Rangers nor the Royal Greens will voluntarily move to contact an American militia unit. If charge these two units will melee accordingly. 6. Use PAL Rule 20.7 for the Indians with the following addition a. Indians must always be in skirmish formation unless dictated I other circumstances such as being forced to rally from a fail, morale check, or becoming involved in a melee. Once the cirumstance no longer applies, the Indian units must then attempt to move back into skirmish formation and must continue to try until it succeeds or is forced into another formation by circumstances. F example, an Indian unit fails it's morale test. It would fall back per the rules and be placed in rally formation. During the next turn it rolls three actions and then tries to roll a 45 or less to see if it can be placed back in skirmish formation. If it fails and during the American portion of the turn, it is fired upon, and fails it's more check, it would then fall back and remain in rally formation. b. At the start of the British portion of each turn, each Indian unit not in rally formation must roll a special morale check as outlined in PAL Rule 20.7.2. If the roll is successful, the Indian unit MUST charge the nearest American militia unit if it has sufficient action to reach the unit. Indians pay NO actions to change from skirmish into line formation in order to make this contact move. Indian units who make this roll can move to support a fellow unit if said unit already in contact with an American militia unit. If it has insufficient actions to reach any American unit, the Indian unit will move as close as possible, not stopping to fire. If the Indian unit fails in special morale check, nothing adverse happens, therefore, the unit will fire if any target is in range; if no target is in range (or and move the Indian unit close enough and in such a way as it can fi on an American militia unit in a subsequent turn. c. If an Indian unit is supporting another unit in melee and the Lead unit (PAL Rule 18.2) rolls half it's melee value or less during the Post Melee Actions Step (PAL Rule 18.6), the supporting Indian unit MUST pursue (as if it were a cavalry unit although it first moves like infantry) if the opposing unit falls back. If an Indian unit is fighting in a melee unsupported and rolls half it's melee value in the Post Melee Actions Step will also pursue an opponent that falls back. d. Any Indian unit which has fallen back and is in rally formation, must first attempt to rally into skirmish formation. In subsequent turns, it must then move toward the nearest American militia unit. Once it is within 12" (7 in 15mm) of any militia unit, it again must take a special morale rule at the start of each turn to see if it will move to contact, move as close as possible, or move to a position and fire. e. Brigade morale for the Indian units is handled separately from the Royal Greens and Tory Rangers. Instead, for each permament marker received by an Indian unit, there is a 10% cumulative chance that ALL Indian units will retire from the battlefield (taken off the board immediately). Johnson cannot expend VP to keep the Indians in the battle. 7. If the Royal Greens or Tory Rangers fail a morale check and fall back, the must attempt to rally until successful. They must then be moved in such a way until they can fire on the nearest American militia unit. The Greens or Rangers will stop moving when the get inside the second range band. If the American units move farther away, the Greens and Rangers must again be moved in such a way as to get them inside the second range band. Obviously they will fire upon the Americans whenever possible. 8. Any American militia unit failing a morale test will fall back along the road UNLESS it's path is blocked by another militia unit or the ox carts. If it's path is blocked, the unit must take another morale check. If it passes, it stays in place and in rally formation; if it fails, it stays in place and in rally formation but takes an additional permament marker. 9. All units (except the ox carts) are considered to have a melee weapon so do not half any melee values if fighting to front. 10. The ox carts have no intrinsic value in the game other than to get in the way of American militia movement. Treat them as limbered artillery for movement, interpenetration, etc. They CANNOT move anywhere except along the road. The Battle ends when one side has no more units on the table. More Oriskany Battle of Oriskany: Introduction Battle of Oriskany: Order of Battle and Rules Battle of Oriskany: Historical Outcome ED NOTE: Scott is the author of the rules Patriots & Loyalists which are available from Wargames. Box 278, Rte 40 East, Triadelphia, WV 26059 Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #77 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com