After Action Report; AWI (John Bull rules) 24 Jan 2016

Ian arranged this game using his 15mm AWI figures with the John Bull/Patriots rules (by Perfect Captain - http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/jbull.html). We played the scenario “Commitee Meeting Adjourned” where the British/Loyalist forces launched a surprise raid on a village where Rebel leaders were meeting (in a non-disclosed building) with the aim of capturing them. The American/Rebel forces in the vicinity would count as surprised for the first couple of turns. We diced and I took the British forces and secretly noted which table edge I would enter from. Ian then deployed his American forces.

Fortuitously on the first turn I was able to bring on a unit of British Regulars and volley against Ian’s ‘surprised’ Continental Line, his best troops. My shooting dice were ‘hot’ throughout the game and I routed the Rebels. I then pushed on into the first and second houses of the village (bottom of above photo). On my left flank I again met with success and drove back another Rebel unit. Soon I had taken 3 houses and was advancing on the central church, where I suspected the Rebel leaders were meeting. On the other flank the Rebels recovered from their surprise and established a firing line facing my Tory unit and British Lights, but the firing from both sides in this sector was ineffectual.

Although my dice rolling for shooting was very good, I found my use of the bayonet was poor and I repeatedly failed to rout the Rebels in combat by rolling low. This was annoying but had little impact because I quickly captured the Rebel leaders and marched them back to the British baseline. At this point Ian capitulated; his forces were seriously depleted and had no chance of preventing a British victory.

A good game but unfortunately for Ian the rout of his Continentals at the start really put the Rebels on the back-foot and they never recovered. The rules work well and use the same mechanisms as found in the Russian Civil War rules (Red Actions), which I have used many times and like a lot. The graphics are not quite as good and there are some AWI-specific unit characteristics, which you would expect. The flow of the game was smooth and the alternate unit activation is the prime decision mechanism for a player.