Artillery duel on the Brandywine!

 As can be seen from this setup, this game started fairly standard, but then Washington's chit was drawn first and my opponent, Wade, being ever the aggressor, fired his artillery at Prescott's Brigade and eliminated it! He followed that success with a dash across the Brandywine bringing the battle to me.

Conventional wisdom says this is a bad move for the colonials because they are less able to react to a flanking move. Wanting to see how a British attack might fair with both commands battling across the Brandywine, I elected to bring on Cornwallis right behind Knyphausen with the hope that I might destroy him in the center and be done with all his shenanigans.

At the end of turn one you can see that Washington is in a precarious position.

Washington quickly retreats back across the river and attempts to hold the line at the water's edge. Howe's counterattack is a bit costly. Colonial artillery spend the Grenadiers and then the Pennsylvania militia eliminates them, though they too are wiped out.

Looking to make the sacrifice of the Grenadiers not be in vain, Abercromby storms the Brandywine. Nash is able to pin him on the edge of the stream while the First Minnesota makes a flank attack! But even though the odds were in their favor, they are mown down like so much wheat.

Cornwallis' attack stalls with a skillful delaying action by Nash while Knypshausen's artillery drives Sullivan from the river's edge. On the British extreme left the Highlanders cross the river while Bland's Cavalry fall back. At this point much of the battle may seem to be strangely held up, why aren't the British pressing ahead more aggressively? The chit draws, man. The chit draws; and the command rolls.

Just before dark, Knyphausen's artillery eliminates one more unit and the games ends with a one point British edge, which under the latest revision is a draw.

Parting thoughts:
If Cornwallis had not flanked and had attacked completely across the Brandywine as Washington had assumed, then the battle could have begun much earlier. Both commands could have been on the Brandywine to start the battle.
Howe was using local guides and informants much more effectively than Washington.
Knyphausen's job was to "demonstrate" and fix the colonial army to the Brandywine.

Given those three premises, I offer this alternative method for setup.
Setup begins with a British Plan:
If Howe elects to forgo the flank move, then the battle starts three turns earlier. The colonial player sets up first and then the British player sets up BOTH of his commands. Set the turn die to four count down to one and then back up to five, thus giving three extra turns.
If Howe elects to flank, then the British on-board command sets up first, followed by the colonial commands. Play proceeds as normal.

Understanding the chit pull mechanic

Understanding the chit pull and turn order mechanic is the key to understanding and gaining the edge in Pub Battles: Brandywine. Generally, you want to move last because that allows you more control over your combat engagements.

In Pub Battles: Brandywine, when a unit’s command is activated, it may move, even if an enemy unit has moved into contact. This means if you are defending you can move out of contact, and if you are attacking it means you can move into contact without the opponent running away or reinforcing the position. Of course, especially early in the game, a command may want to go first if it is trying to reach important ground or react to events of the previous turn. Washington reacting to the British’s flanking maneuver is a primary example.

Pub Battles: Brandywine focuses on command and one of the ways it simulates this is the HQ’s ability to affect the all-important turn order. For example, if Corwallis' chit is drawn first he may wish to wait until the command he is facing (Sullivan) has moved so he can choose exactly where he wants to attack. Let’s say he makes his roll and his chit is put back in the cup, his HQ is turned over signifying he has used his action this turn. The next draw is Knypshausen and he is fine moving first since he is just biding his time threatening Greene (forcing him to guard the Fords and not fly to Sullivan’s aid) and only fires his artillery. The next draw is Sullivan and the colonial player does not want to move first so he has Greene roll and he makes his roll. Sullivan’s chit is put back in the cup and Greene moves. Cornwallis' chit is drawn next and Cornwallis still does not want to move first so this time Howe rolls for Cornwallis, he fails the roll and Howe must move. He moves but is ever mindful of his attacks as Sullivan will move after him and can just pull back or reinforce any advantageous attacks.

Why do the rules allow a unit to just walk away from an enemy attack? Remember, the rules are simulating a command advantage. This may mean the enemy has been hoodwinked and either has been out maneuvered or perhaps had been uncertain as to the enemy’s disposition. In any event, at the end of the hour and a half they had failed to come to grips with their foe. Things had fallen out such that the units ended up in the positions shown on the map. They may never have even been close, or perhaps the unit had deployed a very effective screen of skirmishers. Even though in game terms a command may move last, what it may be simulating is that command moving first before the enemy can react! Pub Battles: Brandywine dispenses with the pages and pages of rules that would be required to show what really happened (and can never capture all nuances), and focuses on what these multitudes of happenchance result in, which is all the commanders need to know, or care about, at the time.

Variant Playtest

Let me make perfectly clear right away, that PB: Brandywine is excellent right out of the box. That being said, those of us working on Pub Battles development are always open to trying new ideas. The one great caveat is always, "Does this make the game more fun, or does it just slow it down with endless minutia?" This is because coming up with rules is easy. Coming up with elegant and intuitive rules that make for a more satisfying gaming experience is much trickier.

The practical reason I am looking at variants is because the Pub Battles concept is an ongoing process. Many games and battles are under development. I am using Brandywine as a testing vehicle for ideas and design concepts for games that are under current and future development.

The underlying philosophy for Pub Battles is designing for effect over specific simulation. That is why one shouldn't read to much into the specific moves that are made as the chits are drawn. The test is whether or not at the end of the turn if the final positions of the various units and results of any combats are a close approximation of what would have likely been the result of all the maneuvers and combats. In this case, I believe Pub Battles does a better job than many more complex and "detailed" simulations. Remember that the primary goal in a Pub Battles game is to capture the feel of command.

Now that I have disclaimed myself, here are the variant rules I am testing in this post:

Command variant

Setup: The British set up their command first.

1)  A unit that starts its turn in contact with an enemy piece can only move by declaring a voluntary retreat. Flip the unit to its spent side if not already spent. 

2) A side can only roll for one HQ per chit pull.  A player could roll for an HQ and its CinC if applicable. 

3)  Ending with 0 points is a Colonial win and a British lead of 1 point is considered a draw.

4) Cavalry is not required to be within command range to contact an enemy unit.

5) A command may react after any move by flipping its command block and moving any one of its blocks within 1/3 move again on a roll of 4 or less, or automatically if adjacent, before the next chit draw. Exception, a command may not react to its own move.

To summarize; A command may be flipped once per turn, either to alter the turn order or to react.

Setup:

The British have had Knyphausen set up with a more aggressive stance upstream, to give the impression of a historical flank. Rather than fortify for that, the Colonial player decides to keep the option of hitting hard across Pyle's and Chadd's fords.

Turn 1 ends with Howe and co. flanking from the downstream direction. As always, turn order is hotly contested on turn 1. Knyphausen was drawn first and elected to return to the cup, making his roll. Before he was added to the cup another draw was made and this time Greene was drawn. Green did not want to go first and made his roll, so Knypshn went into the cup before another draw was made and then Greene's chit was added to the cup. At this point, both commands had rolled so whoever was drawn next would be moving first. As it turns out, that was Cornwallis. I had forgotten about the only one roll per side per draw, but I failed the roll so it turned out as it should have.

 After all commands had moved, I remembered the react rule and Howe reacted and sent in the Grenadiers to hit Greene, coordinating with an attack by Knyphausen across Chadd's ford. The colonials could not retreat since they were hit front and back, they lost two blocks and Green's command became ineffective.

Wow, end of turn one and the colonials already have one command ineffective!

On turn two the chit draw saw the first three HQs trying to jump ahead and move first. Again, I forgot to limit the rolls to one per side. The final order was CKGSW. This was critical on the Colonial right because it allowed Sterling to rally on his activation, and then after Washington's activation, Sullivan was able to react by committing Sterling to retaking Wistar's ford (Knyphausens artillery had driven Sterling away, which was why he was spent in the first place.

This combat was quite dramatic. The lead British block was the dragoons who decided to voluntarily retreat. This allowed the British infantry to step forward, only to be eliminated by Stirling, though Sterling was spent and fell back with the effort.

However well the colonials were faring upstream, down at Chadd's ford they were suffering an ignoble catastrophe. Cornwallis got to move first and completely overwhelmed Wayne's division. This meant by the end of turn 2 Sterling's command was completely annihilated! Designer's note: I decided to remove Greene's chit and counter as it had no purpose left, but could be used to alter turn order for very "gamey" purposes!

                     At the end of turn 2 things are looking pretty hopeless for the colonials.

Turn 3 saw no combat as the Colonials fell back and rebuilt their lines and the British solidified their hold on what they had gained.

At this point I called the game. The British had one road that the colonials couldn't take back and a three point lead in casualties. 7 points British and 1 point Colonial. Had this been real history, Washington would have retreated with a good chunk of his army intact and the British would have captured a road to Philadelphia, but the complete loss of Greene's Wing would have been a disaster. Greene would be a footnote in history and Sullivan would be heralded as Washington's greatest asset at Brandywine.

Playtest observations:
Allowing a unit to react after it has already moved is too powerful. It certainly sealed Greene's fate in this game. It seems to obviate the chit draw mechanic.

Both times I should have been limiting my turn alter rolls, I forgot. That tells me it may not be a good rule as it is not easy to remember. Then again, if I hadn't been playing solitaire and keeping notes for this post, maybe I would have remembered...

The chit draws were a fun component of this particular game. The ability to retreat from an enemy unit that is in contact was never used. I never wanted to pay the price of becoming spent automatically. If a unit doesn't become spent, then there is little advantage to altering the turn order.

This game decided nothing in favor of the variant conclusively, but it was fun and not obviously broken. I am attributing the quick Colonial demise partially to the variant. In the final analysis, this particular variant leaves me underwhelmed and will not be tried again unless I am given a compelling reason to try it again.

Stay tuned, I have another variant to try!

Replay 7

                                Retired guy takes on a 20 something. What could go wrong!

 Well, here at the  end of turn 1 we get to see. Notice in the picture above the militia holding the Colonial left. In the picture below you see what happens when Cornwallis' entire column comes raining down on a bunch of farmers and tradesmen. You also get to see Wayne's division fly to the opposite side of the board in a vain attempt to staunch the crimson tide. This is what happens when you overcommit to one flank. I was trying to psych my opponent into trying to attack from the Northwest, and he just didn't buy it. Note also, in the beginning of turn two, that Cornwallis got to move first and pinched the Virginians at Pyle's ford. Even though Sullivan's troops moved after Cornwallis they couldn't extricate themselves from between two enemy units. They would have needed at least a half unit width to pull that off. So it is possible to move first and trap your opponent between your units so that he can not escape.

 The other Brigade of Virginians does get out of the jaws of death and the colonists are able to form a line on their left.

 However, before turn three is even over the colonial player realizes that he will not be able to recover Nottingham Road on his left, and has already lost two units to the British Zilch, giving the Brits a Major Victory and then some!

Sometimes this game can be very unforgiving. I can blame some of it on chit pulls and some of it on bad dice, but I made two very bad mistakes. The first was in  investing too much in the defense of the upstream approach, and the second was in not getting the Virginians off of Pyle's ford when I had the chance. Wade is a good player who does not allow his opponent to make a mistake without paying for it.

Kriegspiel 1

This is my first post of a "Kriegspiel Style" Replay. I was sitting at The Source, MFLGS, and the two players were miles away, in Stillwater I think. The Colonial player was using IMing on FB, and the British player was using gmail. After receiving his first turn orders, neither he nor I received any gmail messages until they all appeared the next morning! Next time I do a remote game it is going to be all on FB IMing. Otherwise, we could all meet at a local public house, sit apart, and I could pick up orders and deliver reports. That would actually be preferable because it would be more structured. This way left the C in C's barraging me with orders all night long, and it really doesn't work this way.

The way it did work is like this:

They send me their orders for their subordinate commanders.

I read the orders and try to interpret their intention just like the real commanders would have had to do.

I move and fight a turn.

I compose their commander's reports and return them to the players. In the reports I tell them what they see and hear, in addition to what they glean from their reports. If they move adjacent to a sub-commander, they will see what he sees and can give orders directly.


Since the first couple of turns were messed up because of my lost contact with the British player, I'm beginning this on turn 3.

 Around 6:30 in the evening Greene finds the Hessians across Jones' ford ready to attack. Mad Anthony Wayne sweeps them from the river's edge. Meanwhile, at Chadd's ford Fraser's broadsword wielding Highlanders destroy the Pennsylvania militia, but are themselves spent by the effort and retreat.

 By eight 0'clock Wayne's somewhat spent Division crosses back over Jone's ford to help with the colonial left and the rest of Greene's troops form a rearguard. There is heavy skirmishing above Chadds ford, but the British don't risk any units in a serious assault.

And so combat ends and the Battle of the Brandywine is over. The British gain a moderate victory having sustained no serious losses while costing the rebels two units. Bland's dragoons swing around the British right flank and contest Nottingham Road denying the British a major victory. Historically, had the battle ended like this, Washington would have been happy that his army contested the British and managed to live to fight another day.

In the future, I hope to have the pictures preceded by the commanders orders and followed by the sub-commander's reports. But I wanted to get this battle up so the players could get their first glimpse of how the battle actually looked, versus what they thought it looked like. This is where Pub Battles: Brandywine played Kriegspiel style is so different. It is less a contest of tactical skill, and more a study of command and control.

Replay 6

For this replay I wondered if Howe went wide on the NE side if he could overwhelm the colonials no matter what. I keep trying to break this game (by finding the perfect strategy), so let's see how I do.

So there is my initial setup. As you can see, Washington got a heads up. I have replaced Sullivan's Marylanders with my own personalized piece "S Strand - Minnesota". A lot of people don't realize that the first Minnesota of Gettysburg fame made its first appearance at Brandywine!

Also, you will note another little game aid that I made. It is a half width block for easily determining if half your piece is occupying terrain or not, or for quickly and accurately determining where the  middle of your unit is. You'll discover I like making bits and such for my games.

Back to the game, you will see the first turn combats. Cornwallis has entered on the NE side as predicted and since the rebels were Bogarting all the roads he had to enter in line. as per Greene's plan, the British couldn't close with Wayne's Brigade along the Brandywine, but he did make contact with two brigades. The upper one is a Cav on Cav encounter. Washington was hoping to make Cornwallis move first, but when the dust cleared and everyone had rolled to alter the turn sequence, Cornwallis moved last.

And the combat resulted in a couple of retreats. Greene is not trying to hold any ground at this time, he's just falling back. The intent is to have his line reformed by the time Howe gets organized for an attack.

                                               So, on to turn 2 (3:30 in the afternoon)

When all is said and done, Greene has rebuilt his line. Here it is late afternoon and the British seem stuck, this could be gravy depending on the gods of war (dice).

Knyphausen's Highlanders have taken Jones' Ford! Cornwallis has blasted a hole in Greene's beautiful line, this could be the beginning of the end for the rebels.

Knyphausen's cav and the Highlanders push into the Colonial center trapping Greene's Brigade. Sullivan's Division under Stirling crosses the Brandywine, but skirmishing from the opposite shore by the Hessians proves to be too much and they can't quite close on 'em.

Wheedon's Virginians fall back from Fraser's Scots and their two hand swords. Bland repulses Howe's cav attack. Still no units lost by either side!

It's 6:30 and there's not much light left. Weedon's Virginians find themselves in a target rich environment and Prescott's men charge across Brinton's ford to storm the Underhill farm. Meanwhile the colonials finally come to grips with the darn Hessians across Pyle's Ford whilst Strand's first Minnesota fixes bayonets and gets ready to charge across Chadd's Ford and into the history books.

And in a bloody turn we see the Virginians turned into a vaporous blue mist, Prescott's men and their North Carolinian adversaries battle to the last man and Lord Stirling brings down those Hessians. So far the battle is a draw, 2 blocks each and no roads controlled by the British. We'll have to see if the British can swing a victory before the moon rises.

                                                  Prescott v. Nash and the dice of death.

The last gasps of battle before night falls and shuts the book on the day's events. Even the hobbits can't succeed as they emerge from the woods into a hail of musketry. Elsewhere the British just can't find their way in the diminishing light and smokey battlefield. There is a last clash as the First Minnesota dashes across Chadd's ford and locks horns with the Hessians!

Exposing the combatants by name.

Finality, the numbers don't lie.

                All that blood and honor, all to draw. The last action so hot the map is ablaze!

That also demonstrates that a sweep wide is no guaranty of victory. I'll have to try it again with a more authentic colonial set up and see how they British fare.

Parchment Rulebook

As a playtester I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of the game. Unfortunately, the rulebook I got is not the final version, a few kind of important changes were made. This meant I no longer had an up to date rulebook. I did have a pdf of the latest version of the rules, so with that and some parchment paper and my handy printer, I printed out a copy of the rulebook and did a quick and simple binding. Below in pictures with comments I show you what I did. This first picture is what the finished rulebook looks like.

What makes PB: Brandywine so darn replayable

Since Brandywine is a simple fast playing wargame with a small number of units, how is it so endlessly re-playable? Is it? If so, why? Well, let me tell you IMHO what makes this game so great.

First off, all other things aside, it plays quickly for a wargame. I played a game last night and took pictures and kept notes to blog about it, and I finished in under 30 minutes! Admit it, no one wants to spend 4+ hours LOSING a game. If you lose, for whatever reason, double down and go for best of three! With Pub Battles; Brandywine you will have the time.

Secondly, this is a wargame that you will spend more time playing than looking up rules. This is a game that after the first 2 or 3 games you will rarely, if ever, look at the rules again. This is not because it is so Yahtzee simple, it is because the rules are intuitive. There really aren't any gamey ways to rules-win this thing.

But the real secret to this game's never ending fascination and re-playability is the positive synergy that the admixture of turn order and rules of engagement coalesce into, creating an ever changing kaleidoscope of opportunities and twists of fate. Here is the critical mechanic to understand, you can move even if an enemy unit moved adjacent to you! There are no locking zones-of-control. This means that if your command is not picked to move earlier than your opponent, or if  you are able to delay your command's movement, you can choose which battles to fight (or if you are trying to capture some critical real estate, you can try to move before your opponent).

Of course, at first blush this seems too good to be true. A unit just walking away from combat at its convenience. Well, that's not really what is happening in a Pub Battles game. Rather than thinking of it in a linear "I move/They move" sense, it is important to think of it in the relational terms of "those units started in those positions in those conditions and after an hour and a half they were in these positons in these conditions."

Pub Battles accepts that there is no way, no detail of simulation, that can cover all the eventualities of combat. For every rule that simulates a certain event or condition, there are countless similar events and conditions that can't be simulated because the rulebooks and the players that must read them can only cover and retain so much. Better to design for effect. If two units meet in combat they will fight until one or the other retreats in disorder or is eliminated, sometimes both retreat in disorder simulating combat to exhaustion without anybody getting the upper hand. As a General at the command post, that is all the information you need and are given.

The end result is a quick and fun game that is endlessly re-playable.

Replay 5

This game opened with two musings. First, how fast could I play a game? Second, how different will this game be if I start with the same setup I've used before and have Cornwallis perform the same flanking maneuver (Replay 1)? As it turns out, quite a bit different!

 So here we are with Knypshausen demonstrating across the river. Washington has the Pennsylvania Militia to the SE hoping they won't be needed, and Bland's Cavalry watching for a flanking maneuver from upstream on the colonial right. Note that however major the threat may be from any quarter, Washington will have to keep troops along the river or the Brandywine will be lost. This allows the British to hold down a number of Colonial units with no actual threat to their own units.

And Cornwallis enters on the NE side of the Brandywine. Sullivan scrambles to throw up some sort of defense while still holding Wistan's ford. Note that the British, staying in line, move only 1/3 of a full move due to the terrain. All they need to do is capture Street Road without suffering more losses than the rebels and they will have a major victory.

 At the end of turn 2 Fraser's Highlanders have scattered Nash's North Carolinians and Henry Knox has scrambled over the hill to save the American cannon, although they too have had a rough go and are a bit disorganized. Crossing a river, a river defended with artillery backed infantry, is no easy feat!

 At the end of turn 3 we see what happens when the rebels get out maneuvered and drawn into combat. They stay alive by falling back, giving ground, and keeping their battered units in the field. The problem is that they have had to give up too much ground and now they are spent, can't retreat without surrendering the road, and the redcoats are in their rear! Note how 4 British units are tying up 6 rebel units from entering the critical battle to the North.

With one turn left the rebels still hold Street Road and with only one unit lost the British are only barely eeking out a minor victory. If they can hold on and give better than they get, unlikely but still possible, they could actually win this thing, or at least stave off a drubbing...

But no! Everything falls apart for them in the last turn. They get outmaneuvered and end up fighting at a disadvantage at every point all along their line AND the beleaguered and spent troops collapse before the invincible British assaults. They lose 5 brigades and all their commands have become ineffective in one turn of fighting and the only troops the British sacrifice are Stirn's Hessians. They do hold Street Road, but the British finish with a 6-1 Major Victory!

I played this game in under 30 minutes, which could have been under 20 if I didn't stop to take pictures and jot down notes. This is wargaming at its best! This would allow a best of three match in one evening with time to spare.

Replay #4

I hadn't really planned on blogging about this particular game, but by turn 4 the Americans seemed to have it pretty sewn up and there had been no casualties in terms of lost units, just heavy, if desultory, skirmishing. I found this interesting, so I decided to follow it the rest of the way through. I'm glad I did because the battle got real interesting at that moment...

Only two turns left and the British have not made any serious headway. Even Street Road seems pretty secure with Greene's fresh command ready to defend it. Note the Gettysburg-esque fishhook!


That was the beginning of turn four. At the end of turn four we get quite another picture.

The British stop pussy footing around and decide to take Street Road. Mathews strikes hard and two of Greene's Brigades go "POOF!" in a fine pink mist. Fraser's Highlanders take out another Brigade and Greene's Command is suddenly exhausted. Tarleton charges the advancing militia and after engaging for sometime both fall back entirely spent.
After almost a full day of tense but uneventful feint and counter-feint the timbre of the contest changes dramatically and in a short time the battle seems to be determined as was so often the case in The American War of Independence.


But wait, Washington isn't ready to concede the day. There is a little light left and with it he decides to commit all in a desperate last gamble. The Americans come alive and everybody surges forth to drive the British from Philadelphia!

But yeah, No. That doesn't happen. Henry Knox's Artillery is captured by Cornwallis and all the American attacks are blunted by the stout British. Note that historically, this probably would never have happened as Washington was more concerned with saving his army once the British had crossed the Brandywine, but this is just a game and the what-ifs are half the fun! British win 4-0.

My Pub Battles Compass

First off, for all those who know, this is not a compass, it is a divider. A compass is used for drawing circles. A divider is used for navigating and measuring for drafting purposes, but if I just said Divider in the title, many would have no idea. So, there it is.

I have decided to put up a quick post about the divider I use for Pub Battles. This divider originally had needle sharp pointers which held it firmly in place, but also left marks in my map which I wanted to avoid. Upon examination I found that those sharp needles could be removed by loosening the nuts and I replaced them with push pins that have the rounded plastic ends. Before tightening I made sure to allow enough of the pins to stick out that the rest of the compass did not interfere with the blocks when measuring.

The other reason I wanted the round ends is so that I could pack it in the tube with the rest of the game components and it wouldn't be damaging anything with the pointy ends. Now if you noted the scale, this divider is rather small. It is around 4". Expanded to the maximum degree it will just measure 1/3 of an infantry move. That is fine for me. Almost every distance I need in PB: Brandywine is measurable with that increment. When I move my cav block I'll use a stick. For everything else, there's this divider. Note also that this divider uses the screw adjustment. The plus side is that it doesn't move in or out unless I turn the screw. The down side is it's a little more effort to change the measurements, but since I only use it for one increment, that is fine.