Introduction: "The British are coming!" The game commences with a British Force of unknown strength entering the table via road "C". Fired with patriotism, and confident that help will arrive from your neighbours, you decide to take the British head on. Whilst the force at Norwich is only small (barely 450 men), you know that companies of Minutemen will answer the call as soon as the church bells peel. Further to this, a message arrived from your cousin at Hull some two nights ago in which it was stated that the Hull militia would be marching to join you within the next few days. Should these boys arrive, then you may be able to give the English a bloody nose. Large supplies of shot and powder are held within the arsenal at Norwich. Its loss would be a setback for the cause of liberty within this region. Note: If the arsenal comes under artillery fire it may explode - so be warned!!! Victory Conditions: Your main objective is to prevent the British from either capturing or destroying the arsenal. You receive 20 victory points for doing this. Otherwise victory points are awarded per standard rules, with the following additional unit types being added; Minuteman (musket armed) 3pts Minuteman (rifle armed) 5pts Order of Battle: Colonel Bradley Norwich Militia: Raw Line Infantry (350 men) Hughes Rifle Co.: Rifle-armed Warriors (100 men) Minutemen Special Rules: The following special rules apply to Minutemen: 1) They may not charge an enemy element. 2) They may not voluntarily move into close musket range of a British element unless they end their move in cover or unless the British element is a skirmisher. 3) If a non-skirmishing British element moves within close musket range of a Minuteman element, and the Minuteman element is not in cover, then the Minuteman element must at the first opportunity either move out of close musket range, or into cover, at the American players choice. 4) If charged by any British element, the Minuteman automatically evades. At the end of the Evade move the American player rolls a D6. On a roll of 5 or 6 remove the Minuteman element from the table as the boys have kept running and have returned to their ploughs. If the Minuteman element cannot evade then it always fights at the disadvantage. At the completion of the first round of hand to hand a Minuteman element surrenders if it is unable to break off. Note. Surrendering Minutemen count for victory purposes. 5) A Minuteman element is automatically removed from the table at the completion of the enemy fire phase in which it suffers a shooting casualty. However, only figures removed as shooting casualties count as losses for victory point purposes. 6) Minutemen elements all move as independent units. 7) A Minuteman element is never in command control. American Reinforcements All American reinforcements are placed on the table by the umpire at the start of each American reaction phase. They can move and shoot as per the standard rules during the turn in which they arrive, however, the American player is not to be made aware of their arrival in advance. One of the challenges that the American player faces is the uncertainty governing the arrival of his reinforcements. American Reinforcements Unit Type Strength Location Turn of Arrival Minuteman (R) 50 Herr's Tavern 2 Minuteman (M) 50 Sweets Farm 2 Minuteman (R) 50 Locke's Farm 3 Minuteman (M) 50 Herr's Tavern 3 Minuteman (M) 50 Nord's Farm 3 Minuteman (R) 50 Road B 4 Minuteman (M) 50 Road D 4 Minuteman (M) 50 Norwich 4 Minuteman (M) 50 Owens's Farm 5 Minutemen (M) 50 Road F 5 Minuteman (R) 50 Road D 5 Minuteman (M) 50 Road B 6 Minuteman (R) 50 Road A 6 Minuteman (M) 100 Road E 7 Minuteman (M) 50 Road D 8 Militia Battalion 400 Road A 8 Minuteman (R) 50 Road E 9 Militia Battalion 350 Road D 9 Minuteman (M) 50 Road B 10 Minuteman (M) 50 Road D 11 Note. The above Militia Battalions are all subordinate to Colonel Bradley. From turn 14, the American player starts rolling for the arrival of the Hull Militia. On a roll of 6 the following units arrive via road E. Colonel Hughes 1st Hull Militia 400 men Raw Line 2nd Hull Militia 400 men Raw line Pike's Rifle Co. 100 men Warrior Troop Militia Cavalry 50 men Warrior Militia Artillery (Lt Gun) 15 men Raw More Lexington AWI Lexington: Introduction AWI Lexington: American Player Notes AWI Lexington: British Player Notes AWI Lexington: Referee Summary More American War of Independence AWI Hessians: Historical Background AWI Hessians: Hessian Recruitment and Performance AWI Hessians: German Troops in America, by Unit AWI Hessians: Wargamer Introduction AWI Hessians: Miniatures The French Army in the AWI The French Army Organization and Uniforms Back to Table of Contents -- Kriegspieler #5 To Kriegspieler List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Kriegspieler Publications. 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