The Benedict Arnold Society played their Christmas wargame by refighting the AWI battle of Trenton on Friday evening, December 20, 1985. Corbett & cronies: David is dejected Hessian seated facing us; Kurivial with finger in waterglass of ripple wine; Davidson cleaning teeth. The actual battle was fought the morning of December 26, 1776 so it was close enough to the actual anniversary for us. The choice of sides was left to the dice and the author received the Hessian garrison command and had to "fight" Rob Davidson (Washington), Pat Kurivial (Nathaniel Greene), and Carmen Izzo (Sullivan), Using our modified CLS rules for this period made this game much more managable, sensible, and playable than it had been in previous attempts when we used to employ MINUTEMAN rules. Using the 1:25 ratio for houses worked perfectly and was certainly less confusing and agrument provoking. The contest for the town was a merry one done in the spirit of the season among players who faced one another over countless ping-pong table battlefields. My Hessians gave a splendid account of themselves and in the fierce defense of the town buildings, managed to kill American Generals Stirling and even Washington, the Commander in Chief, in vicious bayonet melees. The death of Washington caused the entire Continental army to check it's morale and much to our Hessian chagrin, every Yankee unit passed. Unfortunately, the preponderance of American artillery and the deadly vollies of Stephen's Virginia Continentals soon left no Hessian unit above 50% combat effectiveness and by the conclusion of the eighth turn, the Americans had control of Trenton and the battle won with 147 points over my Hessian total of 94 victory points. We packed troops away, wished each other a Merry Christmas and returned to our homes through the swirling snow with visions of tactical battle plans dancing in our heads. CLS NOTE: Pat Kurivial recently took part in a Napoleonic game with Tony Guido and learned that in the later edition of CLS, an attached commander to a unit not only improves it's die roll for C.E. checks, but also improves the die roll by one for morale checks. We intend to pencil this into our rules and use it for future games as it also makes sense! Battle of Trenton Scenario For CLS: River & Stream impassable. Turns=8; Weather= snow; Orchard=as III woods; Houses--wooden, three 12 point houses each capable of holding 12 figures. Stone Barracks holds 25 figures but only 12 may fire out. The stone barracks can not be destroyed by artillery fire but casualties can be inflicted. HESSIAN SET-ON: Regts. Knyphausen and von Lossberg must begin game in buildings. Regt. von Rail was the duty regt. and may be anywhere within 12" of Queen St. north of the creek. This also applies to the artillery, jaegers, & cavalry. HESSIAN VICTORY CONDITIONS: Most points by end of game. Hessians receive 1 point for every American killed/captured, 1 point for every Hessian figure remaining on board at end of turn 8, 5 points for artillery (excluding gunners) not captured by Americans, 1/2 point for each figure exited off board, and 5 points for every turn Trenton remains in Hessian control. To "HOLD" Trenton, Hessians must control/occupy at least one building model and have at least one infantry regiment of 50% strength or above, within 12" of Queen St north of Assunpink Creek. AMERICAN SET-ON: Enter battlefield as follows: Greene on either of the NE roads, Mercer west between River Rd. and Pennington Rd, Stirling north between Pennington Rd. and Beakes Lane and Sullivan west of River Rd (entry points & arrival of units may be adjusted as game designer sees fit). Washington should be attached to Stirling's command for historical purposes but let game designer reign supreme. AMERICAN VICTORY CONDITIONS: Highest number of points wins. 2 points each Hessian figure casually killed/captured, 10 points for Hessian artillery bty (exclusive of crewmen) captured, 25 points for capturing Trenton. To capture Trenton, Americans must allow no Hessian infantry unit of 50% strength or more to occupy any building model or be within 12" of Queen St. north of Assunpink Creek. HESSIAN ORDER OF BATTLE: Col. Rall CIC (optional), Lt. Col. Scheffer: Jaegers (2 figs), 16th Light Dragoons (1 fig), 3lb bty w/4 fig crew. Grenadier Regt von Rail (Grenadiers w/20 figs), Fusilier Regt Knyphausen (line w/20 figs), Fusilier Regt von Lossberg (line w/20 figs). AMERICAN ORDER OF BATTLE: Gen. Geo. Washington, CIC: Gen Greene: Stephan's VA. Continentals (24 figs), Fermoy's German Regt (8 figs), PA regt (8 figs), Philadelphia Light Horse (1 fig), one 3lb bty w/4 fig crew. Gen. Mercer: CT Regt. (8 figs), Maryland Regt (8 figs), Mass Regt (8 figs). Gen. Stirling: 2nd VA Continentals (8 figs bayonet armed), Haslet's Delaware Regt (8 figs bayonet armed), Hand's Rifles (8 figs-rifles), one 6lb bty w/4 fig crew. Gen. Sullivan: St. Clair's New Hampshire (8 figs), Glover's Mass Continentals (8 figs-bayonet armed), Sargent's CT & NY Regt (8 figs), one 3lb bty w/4 fig crew. All American units are considered non-bayonet armed including rifles which have no bayonets except for those identified as having bayonets. All artillery is Knox Continental Artillery. Hand's Rifles are crack Continentals. NOTES Hessians forced to rout who are not then captured (cut off) or killed, count as exited for Hessian victory conditions and do not count for American V.C. The single figure cavalry units may not charge, but may attack and melee. They also may not dismount as there are not enough figures to act as horse holders (one for three). Back to MWAN # 23 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1986 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com