The grenadiers guarding the headquarters of Lt. General Sir Gilbert stood as uniformed statues, the only visible sign of life being the steam of their exhaled breath in the chilly March night air. Inside the main field tent, Sir Gilbert reviewed his battle plan with his division and brigade commanders. The mood was positive, but not light-hearted, for these men had faced the Rebels in battle before. And while they had been uniformly successful, their men had been bloodied, and their leaders had been impressed with the resiliency of the provincial troops.
A mile across the field, within the confines of the American position, there was no such review. Lt. General Elliot, commanding the Continentals and combined militia, had put his troops into position the day before. As his small army was outnumbered in every category - men, guns, and in particular, the mounted arm - rudimentary breastworks had been constructed all along the ridge. The General walked by himself, alone in his thoughts on the battle to be fought on the morrow, on the members of the Continental Congress - so safe and so far away from this field - who had urged the General to stand in the face of the British advance; and, last but certainly not least, on his wife of 11 years and their three children.
BACKGROUND
The idea for this American Revolutionary War wargame was born out of the rental of Mel Gibson's period epic The Patriot (my second viewing, the first having been in the theater). Other resources that helped to advance the idea from mind to paper and then to gaming table included the following: Saratoga: The Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War, by Richard M. Ketchum; Mr. Nick Dorrell's article, "Fire and Furia Francese", published in Wargames Illustrated, Number 119; "We Now Have Other Business Than Reconnoitering: The Battle Of White Plains, New York - 28 October 1776", by Robert Haworth, appearing in MWAN Number 106; and, David Bickley's piece in Wargames Illustrated, Number 115, "The Fighting over Chadd's Ford during the Battle of Brandywine, 11 September 1777".
Borrowing a page from Mr. Dorrell, the Fire & Fury ACW Rules were modified and adapted to the last quarter of the 18th century. Borrowing against the alliteration of the title of these well written rules, I named my "home-grown" version Triumph & Tricorne.
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© Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum
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