Didz's American game blog.

**Didz** · 04-14-2009, 11:12

Having completed my Ottoman Campaign and dabbled in the Maratha Confederacy campaign for a while I decide to start a new game, but couldn't decide which faction to play. To be honest the European Nations all seemed a bit samey, and I knew the history too well.

I toyed with the idea of another Eastern faction but figured it would probably pose much the same challenge as the Ottoman campaign. So, in the end I opted for the 'United States' Campaign, which is unlocked once you have completed the 'Road to Independance'. I figured it would pose some unique challenges as this nation is basically starting from scratch with some pretty infriendly, if not hostile, nations blocking its path to growth.

I've been playing several turns, and so far its not been as much of a challenge as I expected, although I am aware that I only have a limited time to achieve all my goals. I spent all my initial income on revenue earning investment in the most loyal states, and happiness buildings in the least loyal. I also paid to make peace with 'The Barbary Pirates', they did not want much money and it seemed a shrewd investment at the time.

Turn 2, and I realised that I was making the same mistake as I had in my Ottoman Campaign and forgetting foriegn trade. This had left me short of trading income later in the Ottoman game as I could not secure any trade sources in the big trade zones. I kicked myself for wasting a turn already, but immediately set about building East Indiamen at every trade port and American Frigates at Yorktown for escort duty.

I've been churning out as many Indiamen as possible every turn since and sending off to secure trade.

Had great fun naming them all....the first off the slips just had to be called 'Enterprise' (corny I know but it made sense). It was followed by 'Endeavour', 'Industrious', 'Alacrity', 'Commerce', 'Free Trade', 'Adventurous', 'Independant' and 'Yankee'...anyway you get the drift.

I managed to secure two trade slots in the Ivory Coast (40 Tusks from 2 ships), three in Madagascar (60 Tusks from 3 Ships), and I am currently heading for the East Indies. At the same time I am establishing trading relations with as many other nations as possible, in some cases actually bribing them to do a deal.

I have eleven trading partners at the moment (France, Cherokee, Spain, United Provinces, Sweden, Russia, Iroquois, Maratha Confederacy, Austria, Ottoman Empire and Prussia). A few of these trade routes are blocked by European wars, but so far nobody has directly interfered with my trade specifically, although the Royal Navy is hovering about menacingly off the American Coast.

Trade Income is currently about 7,500 and Tax about 8,000 giveing me a disposable income of about 10,000 per turn at the moment. Of course this could all change in an instant if hostilities break out and so I am currently building a fleet of the large 24pdr American Frigates to protect my trade fleets, and I have just begun to build a few defensive forts along the Canadian border.

Final outcome of the race for international trade.

America managed to secure 6 trading posts.

Straits of Madagascar (3 x Trading Posts, 4 x Indiamen, 75 x Ivory Tusks per turn)
Ivory Coast (2 x Trading Posts, 2 x Indiamen, 40 x Ivory Tusks per turn)
Coast of Brazil (1 x Trading Post, 5 x Indiamen, 75 x Sugar Loaves per turn)

We were unsuccessful in securing any trade in the East Indies. However, the plan now is to maintain at least one frigate in each trade zone to protect our trade interests and also to watch for any opportunites that may arise to expand them. For example, one trading post in the Indies is held by Russia who may have trouble keeping it if Sweden or some pirates turn up.

In the meantime the intention is to expand our existing trade post utilitization to a standard of 5 ships per post, as recommended.

1792: Damnation to the French

Diplomatic relations with the French have taken a downturn recently. France are currently at war with Britain, Austria and Savoy, plus they have also managed to stir up the Iroquios enough to get them on the warpath. Their trade routes have been severed and their navy driven from the sea. As such they are a liberty as an ally, and more to the point they are desperate for money.

In a gesture of mutual benefit Congress has offered the French 15,000 for its possessions in Lower Louisiana, an offer which was turned down flat. The same offer was then repeated for Upper Louisiana which was in danger of being overrun anyway, and again for the Windward Isles which have no garrison and a port already in British hands. None of these offers would be considered by the French despite their dire situation.

Faced with such intransigence Congress had little choice but to cancel their alliance with France and terminate their pointless trading and military access treaties. A Continental Army is being raised and if the French remain intransigent then America will move to relieve France of its possessions in the America's before they fall into British hands.

1792: Spain declares war of Britain

On a more positive note Spain has declared war on Britain. At present our traders are reporting that the Spanish Navy has the upper hand, driving off the British commerce raiders and blockading outlying British ports. Whether this trend will continue is unlikely but as both Britain and Spain occupy territory which is needed to win the campaign I consider the war to be a win:win event for the American's.

1793: Iroquios accept the hand of friendship

The Iroquios nation responded positively to approaches on behalf of the Unites States, and whilst they will not formally allow American troops to pass through their lands Congress has agree that such permission must be implied if we are to aid them in their war against France. The Continental Army is preparing to march and secure Upper Louisiana.

In the meantime, Spain seems to be doing remarkably well in freeing the sea lanes of the British. It is just a shame that the British did not have any Trade Ports in their possession.

1794: Greene's Army marches.

General Nathan Greene has marched from Philedelphia with a Continental Army of 7,800 foot, 1,200 Dragoons and 25 guns bound for Fort Pontchartrain in Michigan Territory. There was a slight delay as last minute bargaining took place with the Iroqoius but eventually they agreed to allow the army to cross their land in return for payment of 1,000 gold per session.

1795: Greene makes slow progress

Dragging 25 heavy guns through the wilderness is no easy task and Greene's main army makes slow progress finally reaching Fort Pontchartrain in the winter of 1795. An advanced guard commanded by General Gallatin and consisting of a regiment of mounted dragoons and a detachment of long riflemen made much better time managing to keep pace with an Iroquios warband of about 6,000 braves guided by the scout Peter Jervis. However, there was no sign of the French, although a small British force was spotted camped in the area.

Trade development along the Ivory Coast was now maxed with 2 x Trading Ports supporting 10 x East Indiamen and producing 144 x Ivory Tusks per turn.

1796: Where are the French?

It soon became apparent to Greene that something was not quite right. The absence of French troops in their outlying forts could be explained by their decision to concentrate for a decisive battle, the lack of movement on the roads was understandable if they were expecting an attack. But when Peter Jarvis reported that Fort de Chartres (The Regional Capital) had been razed and was in Iroquios hands Greene knew he had been had, and he was furious.

It appears that the savages led by their chief Buckongahelas had preempted Greene's every move and whilst happily leading him by the nose through the wilderness, in return for gold and gifts, had actually already seized the territory for themselves. When Greene confronted Buckingahelas about this he mergely shrugged 'You wanted them gone, they are gone. Now the lands is ours.' Infuriated, by the savages smug attitude Greene at first tried to reason with the Buckongahelas, explaining how important it was that his chief owned the land, and offering over 8,000 in gold for it. However, the Iroguios were unwilling to part with it, and when Greene threatened them with the anger of the United States the natives just found the idea that this slow lumbering army of men thought they could even catch an Iroquios warrior let alone defeat one in battle amusing.

So, with only two options a) ignominious retreat, or b) marching onward to Lower Louisiana, Greene opted to continue onward.

1796 Summer: Confrontation on the Mississippi

If Greene had thought that his problems with Buckonghelas were over then he was sadly mistaken. Peter Jervis was first to report that the Iroquois chief and his warriors had beaten the American advance guard to the Mississippi River and were camped at the only local crossing point. A few days later Gallatin arrived with his Advance Guard and confirmed Jervis report.

It seems that. at best, the natives were determined to beat Greene's army to New Orleans, and at worse they were planning to prevent it crossing the Mississippi River at all and force it retrace its steps all the way back to Pennsylvania. To add to the tension the time that Greene had said he needed before he would be off Iroquios land was about to expire, as Greene had not expected to have to march through the entire of Louisiana before he was out of their territory. What would happen when the time expired was anybodies guess but Greene was determined he was not about to be turned back from his goal.

In fact, Greene found he had no choice, the Iroquios flatly refused to discuss an extension of the time he was allowed to travel through their lands (in fact the diplomatic menu won't even allow you to ask) and so Greene found that he either had to declare war on the Iroquios or be forced back to Pennsylvania. So, it must be war. The problem being that the Iroquios were not only allied to America, but also to the British and it was just the excuse the British were waiting for to re-open hostilities. America's only hope now is that France and Spain can keep the British fleet busy enough that it does not interfere with American trade.

The American Navy was put on a war footing and isolated patrols were recalled to Virginia to concentrate the fleet. Meanwhile, in Maine, on the border with the British held territories the militia were deployed to the border forts and the Continential Army commanded by General Scarisbrook was mobilised and marched to Falmouth.

The Opening Shots

The first shots of the war were fired on the Mississippi at Fort de Chartres. Henry Gallatin's Advance Guard demanded that Buckonghelas order his warriors to step aside and allow his men passage to the river and the Chief flatly refused to move. When the Continental Dragoons began to push their way through the natives, things became more aggressive and eventually Gallantin ordered his men to fall back and regroup.

However, far from ending the confrontation the sudden rearward movement of the dragoons merely agitated the Iroquios warriors still further and they began to pursue the retreating dragoons chasing them out of the settlement and across the open grassland beyond. Gallatin was able to restore order and brought his men to a halt ordering the scouts to fire into the pursuing natives. The long riflemen did so and then made themselves scarce slipping off into the nearest cover. The losses inflicted by the scouts merely made the Iroquios more hostile and they now surged forward. Gallatin ordered the Dragoons to charge and the horsemen ploughed into the warriors hacking right and left. Gallatin himself joined in the fray, but the sheer weight of numbers swamped the cavalrymen and eventually Gallatin was cut down along with most of his cavalry. Only 80 men from the 2nd Dragoons escaped to rejoin the scouts.

Buckonghelas' Warband lost 2,680 warriors out of the 8,025 that were involved. Galatin's force of 1,620 lost 1,210 men.

The battle itself had lasted several hours and had drawn most of Buckonghelas' braves miles away from their camp at the river. Many of them now spent even longer chasing down the loose horses of the fallen Dragoons which were worth far more to them than anything the corpses of the American soldiers might have on them. Therefore, in his defeat Gallatin actually achieved his goal and got Buckonghelas to move his warriors away from the river.

When Greene arrived at Fort de Chartres the next morning, there was no sign of Buckonghelas or his men, and only a much small warband under Passaconay consisting mainly of young warriors and the old and sick were guarding the camp. Greene wasted no time, despite the snow storm that had begun in the night and now engulfed both armies, he deployed his men and began to advance on the settlement.

Passaconay, attempted to send some of his best horsemen around the right flank of Greene's army to attack them from behind, but a sharp eyed scout saw the movement through the blizzard and a gave a warning that enabled the artillery to be unlimbered and a bombardment of shrapnell shells quickly scattered the enemy warriors.

Greene then began to advance again and this time Passaconay sent his full force of warriors at the American's. The Continental Infantry merely halted and met them with a whithering hail of musketry which stopped most of them in their tracks. Only only small warparty managed to reach the American lines and after a brief skirmish they too decided to make themselves scarce.

Passaconay, himself with a few suriviving braves made a last defiant stand just beyond the settlement. In fact, he had laid a careful ambush hiding a fresh warband of 600 hundred warriors in the long grass just in front of his position. Greene had detached two regiments of infantry to deal with the minor chieftain and as the 3rd and 11th Regiment came within range, the Iroquios warriors suddenly rose up out of the grass and charged at them. The two regiments calmly halted and meet the rush with concentrated musketry causing the warriors to vere away and try to attack them from the flank. The 3rd was forced to change face to meet the new threat whilst the 11th kept the warriors at bay with a few well aimed volleys. Unable to avoid the enemy fire and with almost half their warriors dead the warparty tried to move even farther to right to outflank the 3rd again. However, this time they came within range of the American artillery and began to suffer further casualties shells exploding amongst them. Caught between a rock and a hard place the surviving Iroquios made one last desperate charge at the 3rd, managed to reach them and strike a few blows and then fled.

The 3rd and 11th gathered their wits and reformed. Then advanced once more on Passaconays position. The chief was out of options and merely watched them come. A couple of volley's from the American's ended his life and killed most of his surviving retinue the rest fled effectively bringing the battle to a close. Although the killing wasn't over for the American's entered the camp and killed everyone they could catch.

Heroic Victory for Greene.

Greene Force lost 115 men out of a force of 8,070. Although almost half of those were lost from friendly fire and stray shrapnell, the indian's only managed to kill 60 men.

Passaconay lost 2,475 warriors and the American's slaughtered a further 1,630 women and children in the camp after the battle.

Britain declares war.

When news of 'The Fort Chartres Massacre' reached the British they immediately declared war despite all their other military commitments and so things are about to get interesting.

**Didz** · 04-15-2009, 05:13

1795 (Winter) The Trade War Begins

With Upper Louisanna under General Greene's control and Maine being fortified against a possible British invasion from Canada. The American Navy prepared for the inevitable attempts by the British to destroy American trade.

The opening shots were not long in coming.

The Plymouth is lost

The first shots in the naval war were fired off the coast of French Guyana where the 48 gun frigate USS Plymouth was on commerce patrol guarding the trade lanes with Brazil. A British squadron commanded by Commodore Baynes and consisting of four frigates (Jamaica 4th, Drake 5th, and the 6th rates Dryad and Jersey) and and a Brig (Dreadnought) chased the Plymouth off station southward and eventually after a long chase forced it to strike.

[I have a real issue with the way ETW handles naval engagements like this. Typically, as in this case the Plymouth had no desire to fight the British Squadron, it was obviously outgunned and decided to make a run for it. So, the frigates unit on the campaign map moves away in a random direction (that in itself is annoying, I consider that I should be allowed to dictate which way one of my units moves to evade a fight), but then the AI unit simply closes the gap and initiates a second action (in the same turn) and this time you cannot evade. So, you are forced to load the battle screen and take personal charge of your outnumbered unit, or basically press 'Auto-Resolve' and loose it. Rather than 'Auto-Resolve' I prefer to fight the action and basically 'get the heck out of dodge' at the earliest opportunity. In the case of the Plymouth this was not that difficult as placing the frigate downwind on the rear edge of the deployment area and running under full-sail meant that it easily reached the edge of the battle area before the British could catch it, even with the t'gallant advantage. What was annoying was that having done this successfully twice, I actually ran out of campaign map. My ship unit literally ran into the brown area to the south of Brazil and when it successfully evaded the British for the 3rd time in a row the programme reported it as having survived and then arbitarily sunk the unit on the campaign map. NOT VERY HAPPY, about that CA, not very happy at all. I would have preferred either a) a extended stern chase where I could have tried to use my superior seamanship and gunnery to disable my pursuers and escape (e.g. the map moves with the battle rather than having a defined border). or b) that I be given the chance to control my direction of escape so that I don't end up blocked in by the map and eliminated by the program rather than the enemy. On a secondary and even more annoying note, if you are unlucky to have reinforcements join the battle, by still aren't powerfull enough to win, then you can move your main force out of combat and it might survive, but the reinforcement unit is ALWAYS eliminated automatically by the programme. VERY ANNOYING]

The most important lesson learned from this action was that British frigates are a lot faster than the American. It appears that superior British seamanship and ship design allow them to deploy more sail than the American frigates meaning that we cannot outrun them in a stern chase.

A serious problem that must be rectified quickly.

Elsewhere the Indiaman 'Raven' was chased by HMS Good Hope (3rd Rate) and HMS Phoebe (Rocket Ship) but managed to escape.

Politic's and necessity

In Philadelphia controversy and accusations flew in all directions. There were accusations of mal-adminstration against Hugo Broome and his Army Department over the botched Louisiana expedition. There were also accusations against the Naval Secretary Tobin Dimbleby over the apparent shortcomings of the navies frigates following the loss of the Plymouth. These eventually resulted in Dimbleby's resignation and replacement by Ptis Bryant. However, demands for the resignation of Nathan Greene following news of the massacres of innocents at Fort de Chartres were ignored as was the frantic lobbying by merchants demanding action be taken to protect their ships following the attack on the 'Raven'.

The Navy wanted revenge, Admiral John Paul Jones arguing that that with three newly built 3rd Rates (America, Franklin and Chippewa) plus six American frigates the US navy was more than a match for any of the squadrons reported to be in the area and that the navy should put to sea and destroy the first British fleet it could find, in order to restore confidence in its abilities. Others cautioned against a plan which would simply escalate the conflict and may actually lead to distaster if the British combined their forces in the Caribean.

In the end a sort of logic prevailed, President Holbourne pointed out that despite the best efforts of the British US trade had not been curtailed and no trade ships had yet been lost, he also pointed out that whilst the situation in Louisiana was far from perfect and had not gone as planned the territory was indeed in American hands, and this had been achieved without declaring war on France. As far as he was concerned the only issue was the potential consequence of a protracted war with the British. Already the British had 16,000 men massed along the Lawrence River threatening Maine, and whilst the situation at sea was currently being contained by the Spanish the US could not assume that the Royal Navy would not eventually prevail, and no matter how courageous, three 74's would not survive long against the full weight of the Royal Navy.

In the Presidents view, no matter what the short term embarrassment and cost might be, America must placate the British and put an end to hostilities. If only until the Iroquios were brought to heel and the troops in Louisiana released to defend Maine. However, he was determined that America should not appear weak and so he instructed his diplomat's to demand compensation for the acts of aggression perpetrated by the Royal Navy against the ships of the republic and specifically for the loss of the Plymouth. Amazingly, the British readily agreed, paying the US 1,000 in compensation and accepting a peace treaty.

Everyone gave a sigh of relief. Hopefully the peace would last long enough for the American Navy to make up its deficiencies and for the native unrest to be quelled.

[BTW: I hope you guys don't mind me doing this sort of stuff on the forum. I like to keep a little written record of some of my games as I find it enhances my enjoyment, and I thought I'd do it online so other people could comment and compare expereinces. However, its not really a discussion thread so if you'd rather I didn't do it I'll understand and just record it in Word or something.]

**Tsavong** · 04-15-2009, 23:58

I quite enjoyed reading this, sounds like its a fun campaign.

**Didz** · 04-16-2009, 01:11

1796 Winter: Upper Louisiana Pacified

As the winter set in news reached General Greene that Buckongehlas and his warband had settled in the area around Fort Crevecoeur and looked like they were planning to winter there. Greene wasted no time in getting his army on the march and eliminating a small foraging party en-route he arrived at Fort Crevecoeur to find the place apparently deserted apart from Buckongehlas and a small group of trusted warriors.

However, his scouts warned him that this was an old indian trick, and in fact the entire of Buckongehlas' army was hidden on the plain waiting to pounce as soon as Greene took the bait and moved to attack the chief.

Not wishing to be ambushed Greene formed his army up into a large defensive square for all round protection with his 25 howitzers deploy in the centre to provide all round support.

He then ordered his frontiersmen to scout for the hidden enemy.

What followed was a prolonged and nerve racking game of cat and mouse as the frontiersmen carefully crept across the open plain probing at each potential hiding place. When an hidden party of Iroquios was found the howitzers pounded the area with case shot until the warriors nerve broke and they either charged the main defensive position or fled.

Buckongehlas himself was killed by a shell towards the end of the battle.

Greene lost 1,495 men out of a force of 7,545, whilst the Iroquios lost 5,275 warriors out of 5,345.

**Didz** · 04-16-2009, 11:13

Originally Posted by Zerg

I quite enjoyed reading this, sounds like its a fun campaign.

Oh! great...glad someone else is enjoying this thread. So, far its been quite an interesting campaign. The challenge as far as I can see is to keep the trade flowing as long as possible.

I've managed to max all the Trade Routes I ninja'd in the opening stage of the game so at the moment I have:

Ivory Coast: 2 x Trade Ports, 10 x Indiamen, 144 x Ivory Tusks per turn.
Madagascar: 3 x Trade Ports, 15 x Indiamen, 240 x Ivory Tusks per turn.
Brazil: 1 x Trade Port, 5 x Indiamen, 76 x Suger Loaves per turn.

This is contributing towards a total trade income of 23,459 per turn, so as I see it its vital that I keep the goods flowing. The unexpected war with the Iroquios and the show of strength by the British was a bit of a shock. I actually thought it might be the beginning of the end, if the US is starved of trade then it will quickly go bankrupt and that would have been the end of my campaign.

As it happens, I was lucky, the Spanish Navy is actually doing quite well, if not in the Caribean then certainly in the trade zones and so the British did very little damage to my trade activity at all. They also seem to be fighting a war of several fronts at the minute and so were only too willing to sign a peace treaty when it was offered, and 1,000 compensation more than paid for the replacement of the USS Plymouth.

Fighting the indian's is a real pain. They all seem to have stealth ability so you are literally looking at an empty battlefield, and assuming they work the same way as frontiersmen they can move stealthed to hence my use of the square in the last battle, I was not sure from which direction they would suddenly appear.

**HahnHolio** · 04-16-2009, 11:39

very nicely written!
my US campaign went terribly wrong, when on turn 2 the british declared war and i had nothing to face their fleet ... i started over, being bankrupt on turn 4 was too much ^^

**Didz** · 04-16-2009, 14:16

Originally Posted by HahnHolio

very nicely written!
my US campaign went terribly wrong, when on turn 2 the british declared war and i had nothing to face their fleet ... i started over, being bankrupt on turn 4 was too much ^^

Oh! well that confirms my own fears about war with the British. Just out of interest did you try to negotiate a peace deal with them before you restarted?

The main issue the British seem to have with the US is my game is over the state of Maine. Every game turn they demand I hand it over to them and offer me various technologies instead, and every turn I tell them to stuff it. In the meantime they are massing several armies on the Delaware and I've seen fit to build a line for forts along the Canadian border with strong militia garrissons, but I suspect they would only act as a speed bump if the redcoats decided to attack.

Fingers Crossed!

**Didz** · 04-16-2009, 15:09

1798: Indian Wars

It probably occured to the American adminstration that the death their Warchief Buckongehlas might have persuaded the Iroquios to accept peace. However, if it did nothing was mentioned, instead preparations were made to escalate the war against the savages.

The fact of the matter was that the Iroquios occupied land rich in resources that the fledgeling nation needed, and now that it was clear that the British were not going to come to their rescue it made much more sense to extend hostilities until all the Iroquios lands were in American possession.

To that end the veteran soldier General 'Jack' Cowell was appointed 'Indian Fighter General' and ordered to form a specialist fighting force to deal with the Iroquios threat. He immediately built a fort (Fort Hoo) on the border between Pennyslvania and the indian Alogonquin Territory and began to put together a special army of indian fighters.

Cowell had studied the indian's tactic's faced by Greene and concluded that he needed a difference type of army to deal with the indian's effectively. Greene's Continental Army had of course been designed to fight the French and had struggled against the Iroquios. The Continental musket had a shorter range than the bow, and the formal training of the Continental infantry merely made them easy targets when faced by savages sneaking through the undergrowth.

Cowell decided that his army would be composed mainly of dragoons, supported by skilled indian fighters capable of meeting the indian's on equal terms and supported by both howitzers (which had shown themselves to be useful against massed warriors) and some of the new fangled horse guns which Cowell thought might prove useful if cannister was employed.

These troops began mustering at Fort Hoo in 1997, and a few cavalry raids into Alogonquin territory had already produced minor successes, now he was keen to make a major push into indian territory and try out his special indian fighting army.

1798 Winter

Braddocks Brigade abandons Fort Crevecoeur
News of the approach of a large Iroquios warparty of 4,425 braves under Chief Obbatinewat forced Braddocks Brigade to abandon Fort Crevecoeur and escape to the north. The Iroquios did not prusue but instead descended on the protestant mission at Shikaakwa and razed it to the ground.

General Greene immdeiately mustered his own army at Fort de Chartres and is marching on Shikaakwa to engage the savages.

The Battle of Shikaakwa

The Battle of Shikaakwa was very much a repeat performance of the battle against Buckonghelas two years earlier. Obbatinewat had rather more mounted warriors than Buckonghelas and Greene had more scouts, but apart from that the battle ran along exactly the same lines. Greene stated afterwards that fighting the indian's was more like conducting a quail shoot than a battle, 'first you have to flush the savages out of the grass and then you just blast away at them with you guns.'. Of course it wasn't quite that simple, for a start quail don't shoot back, and the frontiersmen give the job of beaters in this analogy did not see it in quite the same light.

Greene drew his army up in an almost identical square formation as he had used at Fort Crevecoeur and as before he sent his scouts out into the pen plain to hunt down and 'flush out' the indian's. The frontiersmen crept out across the plain using as much cover as they could find and heading in the general direction of a small wood approximately half-way between Greene's main army and the positions where they could see the thousand or so indian horsemen Obbatinewat has with him.

All was going quite well until the frontiersmen came across a large clearing believed to be the location of a former indian village. Rather than go around the open ground, the scouts decided to risk crossing the open ground, and were immediately spotted by a sharp eyed indian lookout.

A great whoop filled the air and the entire mass of indian cavalry kicked their horses forward and bore down on the hapless scouts. Not having any doubts about the potential consequences if they were caught in the open, the scouts took to thier heels and ran as fast as thier legs could carry them for the safety of the square, which suddenly seemed an aweful long way away.

Greene seeing the indian cavalry on the move immediately ordered his first line regiments to form square, and his artillery opened fire as soon as the indian's came within range. The slaughter amongst the cavalry was terrible but they kept coming and managed to catch the rear of the fleeing frontiersmen just before they reach safety cutting down 75 men. The rest threw themselves into the square of the 8th Continental Infantry Regiment closely followed by the indian horsemen.

[The square of the 3rd Continental Infantry seemingly swamped with mounted indians. The 8th can be seen in the background.]

All along the Continental line crazed indian horsemen smashed their way into the Continental squares, and some of them looks like they would certainly break. But the Continental line held and the 1,000 or so indian warriors either died or fled the field.

After this initial assault a lull settled over the battlefield and Greene was forced to send his scouts once more out onto the plain looking for trouble. Once more they headed for the small wood and this time reached it without being seen. Creeping through the tree's they emerged on the far side to find they were in range of the indian chief and his bodyguards. They fired a volley and saw several indian's fall from the saddle. However, as the shots rang out over 1,200 indian braves rose up out of the grass a few hundred yards away where they had been hiding and rushed at them.

[Time to get the heck out of dodge, boys.]

Once more the scouts took to their heels and ran for safety. This time easily evading the pursuing indians and managing to lead them into the artillery and musketry of the American square. Blasted by shell and musketry volleys the indian braves stood no chance.

With the enemy now severely weakened Greene decided to move his main army forward so as to give his scouts more support and enable them to range further towards the Indian Chiefs position.

[The 3rd Continental leads the advance.]

With the square now redeployed on the approximate location of the old indian village the scouts were sent out once more to flush some indians. Heading once again for the small wood they now referred to as 'dead injun wood'. Once again they entered the wood and managed to get a fews shots off at the Indian chief. This time about 600 braves with muskets rose from the grass and headed towards them. But the scouts quickly ducked back amongst the tree's and the indians seemed relunctant to follow them, instead going back to ground to avoid the shell fire directed at them.

[Greens's scouts reload under cover of 'dead injun wood' before picking of a few more of the chief's braves in the distance.]
The scouts were therefore able to reload their muskets in the wood and creep forward to shoot a few more of the Chief's bodyguard. Once more the idnians rose form the grass forcing them to withdraw but once again they didn't chase them into 'dead injun wood'.

This act was repeated several more times and on each occassion a few more indian's from the Chief warparty died. In the end the chief himself was hit and his bodyguard feld the field. The next time the scouts moved forward the deliberately didn't flee back into the wood but fired into the musket armed warriors. At last the began to advance on the scouts trying to close the range and the scouts commenced to 'fire and retire' drawing the indians forward through 'dead injun wood' and into range of Greene's infantry.

A brief and one sided firefight ensured between the surviving indians and the American sharpshooters and artillery before the surviving indians fled.

[Greene's Army on the move in final stages of the battle.]

The scouts could find no more indian's on this side of the battlefield and so Greene order his square to leave the area of the old indian village and move to the other end of the field. Here they discovered a further 1,000 or more indian braves skulking behind a hill and bombarded them with artillery until they fled.

The battle ended just as dusk fell. Out of a force of 7,675 men Greene had lost 590 killed or wounded. Obbatinewat lost 4,355 braves out of 4,425.

Detroit Taken
Meanwhile to the north amazing news reaches the American's that the 1st Dragoon Regiment (245 men) has managed to capture the settlement at Detroit and in doing so secured Michigan Territory for the Unites States. The regiment was opposed by 1,200 Iroquios warriors but in a seriesof daring charges managed to put them all to flight and slaughter them to a man for the loss of just 45 troopers.

**Rufus** · 04-16-2009, 18:15

Nice AAR. I just finished RTI Episode 3. I'm looking forward to starting Episode 4, although I may wait to start any new campaign until the promised gameplay patch comes out.

I was wondering if George Washington ever becomes president in Episode 4. I know he starts as "Secretary of State," and the guy they have as president actually was president in 1783 under the Articles of Confederation. But presumably, hopefully, Washington would get elected at some point. They should have an in-game event announcing the ratification of the Constitution, followed by Washington's election as president.

I know the game is just supposed to have a reasonably accurate starting point, and from there anything goes. But it would kill immersion for me if Washington is never President of the United States. It's bad enough that in Episode 3, General Howe's British army goes to Maine instead of New York after evacuating Boston, the American troops say "for Crown and Country," and you sometimes get forts with names like "Fort Prince of Wales." Not only that, but Attorney General John Adams taking a mistress? Not bloody likely, if you've read or watched John Adams!

**Didz** · 04-16-2009, 18:40

I'm pretty sure Washington's dead already in my game. I'll have to check.

**Didz** · 04-17-2009, 02:06

1799 Summer: What the hell are the French doing?

For several months now reports have been filtering in of a French army commanded by General Franck Delancy marching northwards through Cherokee Territory. It slow and tortuious progress has been monitored periodically to see if it posed any threat. There were various theories about what its goals might be, including the possibility that it might make a raid into Georgia, or swing west and try to retake Upper Louisiana. There was even possibility that it might be planning to try and seize one of the Cherokee's territories.

What was not expected was what actually happened.

For in the summer of 1799, Delancy's French troops reached the northern border of Cherokee territory and marched boldly north onto Iroquios land. Whether the French were lost, or were betrayed by the Iroquios remains a mystery, but whatever the reason they were immediately set upon by a large Iroquios Warband and routed retreating rapidly south in disorder.

This event was a source of speculation in itself, but far more interesting was the fact the the large Iroquis warband which had marched south to meet and defeat them had been the same forced that up till then had been blocking the path from Fort Hoo to the Iroquios main settlement at Niagra.

Suddenly, thanks to the French, the road was clear for General 'Jack' Cowell and his army of indian fighters to make a direct and decisive march and seize the entire territory.

1799 Winter: The Battle of Niagra

After a rapid but uneventful march Cowell's army arrived at the main Iroquios settlement of Naigra. Most of the warriors had left weeks before and were chasing the French further south and the settlement was now defended by Chief Menawa and 3,390 men and 6 rather old cannon. Cowell had 5,385 men (including 2,445 horse, 2,400 Foot and 36 guns.)

The battle opened with Cowell moving his army forward to deploy on a low ridge overlooking the indian settlement. He deployed his the seven regiments of dragoons on the left of his army supported by two batteries of horse artillery, whilst his three regiments of militia deployed in the centre protecting the four batteries of howitzers delpoyed to their rear, The two detachments of scouts were sent forward and deployed their anti-cavalry stakes halfway down the slope of the ridge to prevent he indian lancers charging the militia line directly. Whilst the armies right flank was guarded by a single regiment of militia cavalry.

The Iroquios were content to watch the deployment of Cowells army and wait for it to come within range of their guns, which were deployed in redoubt tom the south of the settlement. As soon as these guns opened fire two parties of lancers emerged from the settlement and made their way rapidly towards the left and right flanks of Cowell's line.

[The 12th and 14th Dragoons dealing with the Iroquios lancers.]

On the left Cowell ordered the 12th and 14th Dragoons to intercept the incoming lancers which they did most successfully, cutting most of them down and drive the rest off in panic.

[The 29th Provincial Cavalry charge the Iroquios Lancers.]

On the right the Iroquios Lancers came under fire from the long rifles of the scouts and had to make a wide detour to avoid their fire. When they finally regrouped and approached the American right flank they were met by a charge from the 29th Provincial Cavalry. Although, not being sure of the militiamens fighting ability Cowell also moved one of the militia infantry regiments to screen the right flank of his gun line and ordered two regiments of dragoon to move to the right in support. As it happens his concerns were unfounded and the 29th succeeded in routing the lancers just as the dragoons arrive to assist.

[The Iroquios guns are silenced]

In the centre little had changed the Iroquios were managing to inflict a few casualties on the dragoons with their guns, whilst the howitzers and horse artillery on the ridge pounded away at the redoubt until the last gun was silenced.

[Cowells forward scouts fire and retire before the indian attack]

As soon as their guns were silenced the remaining indian's in the settlement surged forward and up the slope fo the ridge towards the American centre. The two detachments of scouts defending the picket line fired and then retired behind the militia infantry. Most of them never reached the militia. Blasted by shell fire and shredded by cannister from the horse artillery and musketry from the militia most broke and fled.

One determined group tried to charge the Horse Artillery positions and was in turn charged by the 13th Dragoons.

[The charge of the 13th Dragoons]

And a small group armed with muskets caused problems for the right flank of the militia until the scouts with their long rifles were brought forward to deal with them.

Cowell lost 720 men out of a force of 5,385, the indian force of 3,390 was wiped out, and America secured the territory.

**Didz** · 04-17-2009, 11:13

1800 Summer: Disaster in Algonquin Territory

Having seized Algonquin Territory in a 'coupe de main' due the the closing months of 1799, Cowell set about trying to prepare his army for the expected counter attack by the Iroquios.

It was not to be long in coming.

2nd Battle of Niagra

From the north a large warparty of 4,875 braves led by Chief Washinguhsahba descended on Cowell's Army.

Cowell drew his army up on a low ridge overlooking the settlement.

[Cowells army deployed on the hieghts overlooking Niagra.]

The centre of the line was held by the three regiments of provincial militia, screened by the scouts and supported by the howtizers deployed to their rear.

Each flank was secured by a battery of horse artillery (the one in the foreground was deployed on the top of a high bluff which prevented it being attacked from the front) and a brigade of dragoons.

Washinguhsahba begun the engagement by dispatch one warparty of lancers to attack Cowell's right flank. The lancers were bombarded with shell as they advanced then sniped at by the scouts, who were now safe behind their line of stakes, and finally charged by the 15th and 17th Dragoons.

[The 15th and 17th charge the Iroquios lancers.]
Nevertheless they put up a brave fight and kept the dragoons busy for most of the early phase of the battle.

Having forced Cowell to commit half of his cavalry on the right, Washinguhsahba now launched an all out assault on the American centre. The open ground between the ridge and settlement suddenly fills with Iroquios warriors and the American artillery plays upon them fiercely.

[Washinguhsahba's assault begins on Cowell's centre.]

The 1st Continental Horse Artillery begin to suffer heavy casualties from long range bow fire and the 8th and 13th Dragoons are ordered to advance a drive the enemy off.

[The charge of the 8th and 13th Dragoons]

Still the Iroquios continue to pick off the American gunners and so the 14th Dragoons are order to move to support them, but before they can assist the American gunners finally panic and abandon their guns leaving the 29th Provincial Militia Regiment to their left unsupported and exposed.

With the cannister fire of the 1st Horse Artillery silenced the Iroquios warriors let out a whoop and charge the centre of the Amercan line. The 25th Provincial Militia holding its centre are swamped with frenzied indian braves.

[The 29th under heavy pressure.]

On the right the 17th and 15th Dragoons finally finish dealing with with the indian lancers and charge down the slope into the indian bowmen supporting the attack on the centre. At the same time Cowell orders the 12th and 9th Dragoons guarding the armies left flank to advance and attack the enemy from the other flank.

The American militia in the centre panic and break and the 6th Provincial Cavalry which have been held in reserve are ordered to charge to stabilise the centre. All of Cowells cavalry have now been committed to the fight and the slopes of the ridge are full of struggling cavalrymen and warriors.

Only the 25th Militia hold their ground and some of the men even charge down the slope of the ridge in pursuit of their former attackers. With the centre of the line stabilised by the charge of the 6rh Provincial Cavalry and the stubborn defence of the 25th Militia, the 34th Militia rallies and returns to the line.

The india's begin to melt away and try to escape but are hunted down ruthlessly by the remaining cavalrymen.

It had been a bloody and chaotic battle. Made worse by the poor fire control of the American artillery which quite happily shelled and rained death on both friend and foe in the swirling melee that took place in on the plain below the ridge.

[This is a really annoying shortcoming in the fire at will routine, which never used to be a problem in earlier games. It basically, means you are resticted in what you can do becuase you can't rely on your troops having any intelligence. The other issue I noted in this battle is that artillery in particular suffer badly from 'target fixation'. In other words they will continue to fire at a pointless target even in some cases when it is out of range and ignore a much more dangerous unit standing right in front of them.]

Cowell was not impressed with their behaviour, nor that of the militia who had proven incapable of handling the shock of close combat against the natives.

American losses were heavy, 2,795 men our of 4,665 (59%). Washinguhsahba had lost almost his entire force only 20 braves managing to escape.

However, Worse was about to befall Cowell and his men.

Cowell's Last Stand

No sooner had Cowell's army dealt with Washinguhsahba's warband than another 5,330 braves appeared from the south under Chief Hiakatoo. There was no way that Cowell could possibly fight such a force with such a weakened army, but he was not allowed to retire. Therefore, he deployed his men and decided he would try and conduct a fighting withdrawal. That was the last anybody heard of General Jack Cowel or his army. [This is another annoying aspect of the game. For some inexplicable reason under certain conditions you are not allowed to evade an attack, even though its obvious that you should be able to. Not only that but even if you decide the fight the battle and successfully extricate you army from the fight, the progamme arbitarily elminates your army anyway, even though it clearly escaped. This is the land equivalent of the naval problem I came across with the USS Plymouth, and I'm not happy trying to write [AAR's] and promote a game that basically behaves illogically. Hopefully, someone in CA will take note and resolve this in a future patch.]

The President pays the price.
The massacre of Cowell's Army could not have come at a worse time for the government, just before an election.

They managed to retain power, though many of their current ministers lost their seats and President Holbourne who had done wonders for the international standing of the United States was replaced by the lack lustre Hadwin Stapleton (Skill 3+0). The rest of the cabinet were:

Vice President - Clive Clapperton (Skill 3+0) another dollard,
Treasury Secretary - Aaron Abbot (Skill 2) an idiot who could barely count let alone manage the nations finances.
Justice - Kenneth Bestow (Skill 4+) a passable justice minister.
Secretary of State - Timothy Boscawen (Skill 4+2 Army Research) quite a usefull appointment.
Secretary of the Navy - Augustus Goodfellow (Skill 5+4 Naval Research) a really nice appointment that would boost the Navy.

Abbot was immediately kicked out of office and replaced by Zahariah Croucher (Skill 6/+3% Tax/+6% Trade/+6% Town Wealth) a really fortunate appointment. But, the Vice President must also go as soon as possible.

**Didz** · 04-17-2009, 15:42

1800 Winter: Revenge isn't sweet, its Greene.

Even before the massacre of Cowell's Army, General Nathan Greene had been marching as fast as he could towards Algonquin Territory. The fact, is he didn't want Cowell stealing all the glory and was determined to get his fair share.

Cowell had made some scathing comments about Greene's caution when fighting the natives, and whilst Greene would never have wished upon Cowell the disaster that befell his so-called 'Indian Fighting Army', he certainly felt vindicated that his Army and tactic's has secured him a string of victories whilst Cowell's new fangled idea's had cost him his life.

Greene arrived at Cuyohoga in the late summer of 1800, just in time to hear of the massacre at Niagra, and he marched immediately to avenge Cowell's death, razing the indian settlements at Fort Preque and Allegany en-route.

He arrived at the Niagra settlement to find that Hiakatoo and his warband of 4,810 braves had settled down for the winter and reconstructed their wooden longhouses on the site of the original settlement.

He wasted no time in forming his army into the tried and trusted square formation he had used in all his previous indian battles. His men knew the drill and most were veterans of at least two indian fights. As soon as they were in position his artillery began bombarding the indian village and its surrounding woodland with shell. Much of the firing was blind but the indians were so closely packed that most shells hit something.

Enraged and tormented by the bombardment several war parties tried to charge the American positions but a combination of shell and accurate musketry drove them back with heavy loss. Finally, the entire of Hiakatoo's warband charged the American square. The slaughter amongst them was terrible, but once again Greene was amazed at the resilience of the Iroquios warriors, and it seemed that once they started 'whooping' their battle cry's nothing would stop them except a bullet.

The 3rd and 4th Continentals on the front left of the square bore the brunt of the assault and fierce hand to hand fighting ensued as the indians tried to break through into the squares centre and get at Greene and the gunnners. However, unlike the militia of Cowell's army the men of the 3rd and 4th were highly expereinced and disciplined veterans. They fought the indian's to a stand-still and then drove them off, finally cutting the last of them down with musketry.

After this the battle was merely a hunt of the fugitives and the bombardment into obliteration of any last signs of resistance.

Greene lost 1,080 men out of an army of 6,825. Hiakatoo's warband of 4,810 was wiped out.

1801 Summer: The State of the Navy.

Naval Secretary Goodfellow is pleased to report to congress that the current programme of ship building is almost complete and that the final 3rd Rate should be ready for commissioning by the end of the year. The navy will then have a fleet of 14 x third rate ships of the line ready to protect American interests at sea and should be more than sufficient to deal with any immediate threat to American commerce.

It is not the intention to commission further ships of the line at this time. Though, funds permitting congress may wish to consider increasing the number of frigates available. At present the Navy has a total of 9 x 24pdr Frigates, 1 x Carronade Frigate, 1 x 5th Rate, 1 x 6th Rate and 1 x sloop. It should be noted that the USS Plymouth, which was lost to the British has never been replaced.

The current number of frigates is more than ample to cope with peace time trade protection, but would be badly overstretched if the nation was put on a war footing.

On a specifc note reports from traders in Madagascar confirm that the British are making repeated attempts to wrest control of the sea lanes in that region from the Spanish, whilst the USS Yorktown patrolling the East Indies has reported seeing a British Squadron in the area. Given the war with both the British and Spanish is inevitable we will need suffiecient force in every trade zone to protect our commerce, and that may need a force of twenty frigates to achieve.

In the meantime, research is progressing well, however, all attempts to acquire additional knowledge from friendly nations have been unsucessfull. It will therefore be several years yet before American ships will be able to match the performance of their British counter-parts. The only avenue which has not been explored is espionage, mainly because the risks are unlikely to be justified by the rewards and because the assignment of gentlemen to that activity would actually distract them from their research and so could be counter-productive.

**Didz** · 04-17-2009, 15:56

Originally Posted by Rufus

Nice AAR. I just finished RTI Episode 3. I'm looking forward to starting Episode 4, although I may wait to start any new campaign until the promised gameplay patch comes out.

I've just had a look at your AAR...awesome, I really love it. I really loved the maps and the merging of actual photo's and orignal paintings with the ETW screenshots. Strangely it was never my intention that this would be an AAR, I was actually intent on it being just to be a blog where I kept notes of my campaign progress, but its sort of become an AAR by accident because it I find it more fun to write it that way.
[Is there any rule about the images btw. Are we expected to use the 'spoiler' thing to save space or something?]

**Rufus** · 04-17-2009, 22:43

Originally Posted by Didz

I've just had a look at your AAR...awesome, I really love it. I really loved the maps and the merging of actual photo's and orignal paintings with the ETW screenshots. Strangely it was never my intention that this would be an AAR, I was actually intendong it just to be a blog where I kept notes on my campaign progress, but its sort of become an AAR by accident because it I find it more fun to write it that way.
[Is there any rule about the images btw. Are we expected to use the 'spoiler' thing to save space or something?]

Thanks!

I don't know of any rule about using the spoiler tags; it just seems common practice when you have a lot of graphics. Makes it easy to scroll through, I guess.

**Didz** · 04-19-2009, 02:03

1801 Winter: Greene Marches North

Having secured Algonquin Territory Greene marched north into the Iroquios homeland, heading for their final large settlement at Cayuga. The march was slow due to the weather and the lack of proper roads and Greene's men were only halfway to their objective when they were attacked by a large Iroquios Warband commanded by Joseph Brandt.

Brandt was a Mohawk Indian in the pay of the British and had trained his men in the use of firearms as well as the traditional indian skills. He was also well aware of the Greene's reputation and his value to the future plans of the Unites States. Whether Greene had heard of Brandt is less certain by he would never forget him after the battle which followed.

The battle with Brandt's Warband

Greene drew his army up in the same square formation which had secured him victory in every indian encounter to date.

Brante's warriors were drawn up amongst the tree's along an undulating ridge overlooking the American positions. The majority were drawn up overlooking the American left flank. The Indians also had eight cannon deployed on the ridge and these began to lob shot into the left flank of Greene's square to weaken it as the braves began to advance.

[Iroquios warparties advance on the American left.]

It was clear that Brandt planned to try and break the left corner of the American square as the main weight of his forced and his artillery were directed to that point. As the Indian attack closed on the American left the 2nd and 3rd Continental Infantry are forced to form square by a well timed cavalry attack on their flank by some indian lancers, substantially reducing the firepower they can bring to bear on the advancing warriors to their front.

[The 2nd and 3rd are forced into square by indian lancers.]

The 5th Continental Infantry to their right are charged by 1,000 braves and fierce hand to hand fighting erupts along the entire left of Greenes lines. However, the real threat was not the attack by the axe weilding warriors on the 2nd, 3rd and 5th Regiments, these braves were really just masking the advance of another 800 warriors armed with bows and muskets who now emerged from behind them and deploying opposite the American centre began to rain down a deadly and accurate mass of missile on General Greene and his personal staff.

[Iroquios bowmen attempt to kill General Greene.]

Suddenly, and probably for the first time in his career, Greene found himself in personal danger. His staff, men he had worked with for years were dying all around him and he panicked and and fled the field. Only 15 men out of his staff of 225 escaped.

[Greene and his fourteen remaining staff fly the field.]

Assuming the loss of their leader would panic the rest of the American army Brandt now charged into the already struggling 2nd and 3rd Regiments expecting them to break and run. But both regiments firmly stood their ground and he was forced to pull back and regroup.

He then charged to 5th to their right which was also still fighting hand to hand but they too stood their ground and refused to break.

[Joseph Brandt leads a charge against the 5th Continentals, but they stand their ground.]

The indian attack was now running out of steam. The warriors who had been fighting hand-to-hand with the 2nd and 5th Continental Infantry now broke and fled allowing the Americans to reform and begin firing rank by rank into the bowmen and musketmen opposite them.

The Iroquios bowmen began to waver under the close range volleys of American musketry, and Brandt his careful plans now is disarrray withrew into the shelter of a small wood close the the American left flank to consider what if any options he now had.

[A frustrated Brandt pulls back to poner his next move.]

He made yet another charge out of the wood towards the now terribly thin line of the 2nd Infantry, but they seemed to stand like 'Ramrods' and refused move simply firing shot after shot into the indian's in front of then.

Brandt once pulled back towards the wood. But as he withdrew a shell from one of the American howitzers landed right beside him and killed him instantly.

[Brandt killed by a howitzer shell.]

With their Chief dead what little fight was left in the Indian's faded and they began to disperse and make their way to safety. Of the original 6,015 warriors 4,525 were dead or wounded on the field. Whilst Greene had lost 3,025 men out of his army of 6,870.

It had been a bloody victory but the discipline of the American Continental Infantry had won through in the end particularly that of the 2nd Regiment who had borne the brunt of the fighting and two cavalry charges but stood firm throughout.

In honour of their performance in this action the three Continental Infantry Regiments who had borne the brunt of the attack were allowed to choose a nickname to be emblasoned on their battle flags. The 2nd choose (Ramrods), the 3rd (The Old Guard) and the 5th (Bobcats).

1802 Summer: The aftermath of the battle.

The battle with Joseph Brandt's warband had been a shocking experience for Nathan Greene. It was the closest he had come to defeat at the hands of the Iroquious and the closest he had ever come to death. The losses sufferred by his army had been huge compared to those of his previous battles against the indian's, and he was deeped humbled by the fact that his men had fought on whilst his courage had failed. He felt as though he had cheated fate, and that by rights he should had stayed and died with his men.

More to the point his army was a spent force and his confidence in being able to take on another Iroquios warband severely shaken.

To this end he allowed General Gilpin and his newly formed replacement for Cowell's 'Indian Fightin Army' to take the initiative for the final assault on the Iroquios homeland. Gilpin was a career soldier who had been raised and bought up in the woods so he was familiar with the ways of the Indian. However, he had never faced them in battle before and he was a little to keen to make a name for himself by capturing the final Iroquios territory.

Throwing caution to the winds he threw forward his dragoons and pushed his army forward to engage the Iroquios before the end of the summer. It was almost a disaster.

Instead of a controlled battle which favoured the firepower of the American's the final battle for the Cayuga settlement was a meeting engagement where the American units found themselves trying to delpoy whilst under attack by Iroquios warparties.

The dragoons were unable to stem the tide on incoming natives and were forced to fall back only to find that there was no battle line to their rear becuase the leanding units of Gilpin's army happened to be his artillery.

For a few desperate moments Gilpin's horse artillery and howitzers were forced to stand alone against the oncoming natives. The situation was chaotic, cannister and shell flew in all directions as gunners tried to meet all the incoming threats.

At last the first of Gilpins infantry rushed forward. Two regiments managed to form a battle battle line of sorts to screen the bulk of the artillery from direct assault. Gilpins scouts appeared and managed to extend the line to the left providing much needed support against the indian bowmen, and finally the American rear guard appeared to add its dragoons to the fight. Gilpin himself arrived and begun to direct the action using well timed charges by his dragoons to drive off the Indian bowmen. Greene and his surviving staff appeared though took no active part in the battle.

After a brief but bloody and chaotic battle Gilpin's men gained the upper hand and the last Iroquios settlement fell into American hands. The surviving Iroquios were rounded up and herded into an internment camp whilst America considered its next move.

[The fact is that with time rapidly running out I'm beginning to realise that I not likely to win this campaign. I only have 3/7 Victory Regions in my possession and only own 12/22 Regions. Not that victory is really that important, the campaign has been fun, but if I want to try and go for it then I need to increase the pace much more. Even then I have doubts, I just left it too late to start my expansion. Also one of my victory regions (New France) is in the possession of major Great Britain, and another Texas has only just been liberated from Spanish control. So, its going to be a bit tricky I think.]

**Didz** · 04-19-2009, 22:30

1802 Winter: The Path to Victory

It was time to review the state of the nation and consider what initiatives must be taken in the remaining time available to stand a chance of victory.

Victory Regions

America still only occupies three out of the seven victory regions it needs. Those outstanding are Floirda, New France, Texas and New Mexico.

Florida - Florida is in the possession of the Cherokee Nation. They have a large number of warriors but unlike the Iroquios they have no allies and they are already at war with both Spain and the Pueblo Nation. Repeated offers have been made to the Cherokee for the purchase of Florida, but all have been rejected. In truth it is probably in America's best interests to cease it by force anyway, as that will justify the seizure of their other region also, which whilst not a victory region is needed to meet the overall target of regions held.

New France - New France is in the possession of Britain. They must have at least 25,000 troops guarding it and their navy is still a threat despite the predations of the Spanish. However, the only ally they have is the Maratha Confederacy, and they are at war with Spain, Westphalia, The Barbary States and Savoy. Nevertheless, War with Britain could damage American trade and so every diplomatic step is being taken to persuade Britain to part with New France voluntarily. So, far they remain intransigent, but war with Britain can be delayed for a few more years and the situation might change in that time. If nothing else the Treasury will need to reserve considerable funds as a contingency against the loss of our trade routes before war is declared.

Texas - Until recently Texas was in the possession of Spain, but fortunately for America the Pueblo Nations have recently kicked the Spanish out and so far they have managed to retain possession. The Pueblo Nations have no allies and are at war with both Spain and the Cherokee, Not much else is know of them but it seems that if necessary taking Texas by force could be viable.

New Mexico - New Mexico is Spanish, which is a major problem for the American's. Spain is currently the dominant naval power off the Africa coast and war with Spain will almost certianly destroy American trade, unless we can challenge their fleet and wrest control of the sea. On a more positive note they are only allied to the Italian States and they are at war with Britain, France, Austria, Wurtemburg, The Barbary States, The Cherokee and the Pueblo Nations. In other words they are badly over stretched both militarily and at sea. However, as with Britain it would be preferable if they could be persuaded to sell New Mexico and avoid the need for hostilities, but so far every approach has been rejected.

Non-Victory Regions

Assuming that American can manage to secure all four of the outstanding Victory Regions in the next eight years then that would give her 16/22 of the total regions needed for victory. The additional Cherokee Region would make that 17/22, and if France cannot be persuaded to sell Lower Louisiana then war with France would secure it bringing the total to 18/22.

Four more regions would be needed for victory.

War with France might make it feasible to seize their other colonies in the america's namely The Windward Isles and French Guyana. However, this would be reliant upon the American Fleet having control of the Caribbean and the ships to transport an invasion force.

Likewise, if the war with Britain is successful the she has a number of provnices in North America and Canada which could satisfy the quota for victory. The most accessible being Acadia and Upper Canada.

Spain also has several possessions in the America's which could be acquired either through force or diplomacy. The main difficulty is the limited time.

1803 Summer

Preparations are begun for the final push to victory.

Greene's Army is ordered to return to Fort de Chartres and then assuming that France has not agreed to part with Lower Lousiana he has order to seize the province by force.

General Gilpin's Army has been ordered to march to Geogia and from their to march into Florida and subjurgate the Cherokee.

Admiral John Paul Jones has died peacefully without seeing his fleet go into action Admiral Julian Pitt has assumed command of the main battle fleet in his place.

1803 Winter

Barnabe Dautry a suspected agent of France has murdered Cornelius Thurston, a protestant misisonary sent to convert the population of Louisana to the true faith.

**Didz** · 04-20-2009, 11:29

Summer 1804

Diplomatic efforts to acquire the new territories needed by America continue. The US Treasury offers 18,000 gold to any nation willing to part with one of these territories. However, not even the destitute Cherokee are willing to sell their land, and so preparation for the use of military force continues.

General Greene's army continues to march South through Upper Louisiana passing through Fort de Chartres and heading for Little Rock. He is joined by Clifford Townsends Louisiana state militia army which will provide support and garrison troops during the invasion.

In the East Gilpin's Army has passed through Charlestown and is en-route for Savannah. John Sulivan's Georgian State Militia army will support his attack on the Cherokee Nation when the time comes.

The navy is also preparing for war.

Commodore Barry with four frigates has sailed from Lewes bound for the Ivory Coast where he will link up with the USS Ranger to protect America's trading interests in the region.

Commodore Stark with a similar squadron has been dispatched to join the USS Independence off the coast of Brazil.

The keels of a further three frigates have been laid in the Yorktown naval yard and these together with either the USS Philadelphia (47) or Maryland (47) will form a third squadron for deployment to Madagascar.

Meanwhile, Admiral Pitt with the main battle fleet of twelve 3rd rates has sailed from Yorktown bound for the Windward Isles.

The Army is also on full alert and military depots are recruiting and training men for the Continental army as rapidly as funds and resources will allow.

**Didz** · 04-20-2009, 13:05

1804 Winter:

War with France
In the West, as General Greene’s Army approaches the Arkansas River and the bridge at the French settlement of "La Petite Roche", a final demand is made to French. ‘Either sell us Lower Louisiana for 18,000 gold, or we shall march in and take it.’ The French remained stubbornly unwilling to part with the territory and so America is now at war with France.

Greene’s army immediately crosses the Arkansas River and marches into "La Petite Roche" Little Rock closely followed by Townshends militia. The main force then marches on capturing the tobacco plantations at Pine Bluff, whilst detachments are left to hold the Little Rock and secure the Meremec farmlands to the west.

At sea, the USS Ranger (32 guns) receives reports that a French ship is seizing American merchant men off the Ivory Coast. Captain Montgomery immediately sails to investigate discovering that the French vessel is actually a French Privateer called ‘Actif’ commanded by Bastien Colville. As the 'Ranger' approaches the 'Actif' makes no attempt to escape.

[USS 'Ranger'(32 guns) bears down on the French Privateer and commerce raider 'Actif' off the Ivory Coast]

The ‘Ranger’ began the fight to windward of the ‘Actif’ and so had the initiative, and closed the range rapidly running down on the French ship until their bowspits were almost crossing before swinging his ship to port and firing a full broadside into her at close range. The ‘Actif’ replied and turned to starboard attempting to cross the Rangers stern, but Montgomery kept the ‘Ranger’ turning to port and fired his port broadside into her as she passed.

[The opening shots of the war with France. 'Ranger' fires her first broadside into the 'Actif' at close range.]

The two ships then began to manouvre around each other, the Frenchman constantly attempting the fire into the Rangers stern, whilst Montgomery carefully timed his turns so that his stern was never exposed when the French privateer had its guns loaded. He surrendered the weather guage to the French effectively preventing them from breaking off the action and escaping downwind without sailing directly past him. Every attempt by Colville to increase the distance between the ‘Actif’ and the ‘Ranger’ merely resulted in the French ship receiving a broadside in its stern.

Nevertheless, the French fought desperately and their ship was an indiaman, strong if not very well armed. It was some time before their hull eventually became so damaged that they could not continue the fight and were forced to strike. Unfortunately, the 'Actif' was so badly damaged that it could not be saved and eventually sank.

The Ranger lost 2 guns and 3 men during the fight.

Barbados seized.

Admiral Pitt’s main battle fleet arrived at Barbados and finding the port unguarded quickly landed seamen and marines to seize the port and destroy its facilities. Pitt also reports that as far as he can tell the Windward Islands are completely undefended and he calls for the dispatch of troops to take permanent possession of them for the Unites States.

First US Marine Corps formed.

Two battalions of infantry and a battery of howitzers were immediately designated for service as marines and these troops under their newly appointed leader General Marcus Carteret marched from Philadelphia to New York where they boarded a hastily commission fleet of six East Indiamen contracted to carry them to Barbados.

The fleet sailed as soon as they were aboard and rendezvousing with the frigates ‘Philadelphia’ and ‘Maryland’ they then sailed to join Pitt’s fleet in Barbados.

The Cherokee Indian War.

Meanwhile in the east, last minute demands that the Cherokee nation must sell the United States their territory in Florida for 16,000 gold were treated with scorn by the Indians and so war was declared. Gilpin’s army supported by Sulivan’s Georgia State Militia crossed the St. Mary’s River into Cherokee territory and marched on the main Indian settlement at St. Augustine.

The two armies marched south intending to cross the St. Johns River at Cowford but found their path blocked by a massive Cherokee Warband of 11,760 braves under Chief Kanuksusy. Gilpin only had 6,870 men but Sulivan’s militia were marching to his aid with a further 8,595.

Gilpin immediately, drew his army up on the high ground to the west of the settlement of Cowford (probably around the farmstead at Herlong). The top of the hill was intersected by walled enclosures and Gilpin hoped that these would disrupt the movement of the Cherokee lancers. The army’s 20 howitzers formed the centre of the position ranged in a chevron formation to facilitate all round fire support whilst minimising the need to redeploy.

The infantry were then deployed in a two deep arc to protect the guns from attack and the flanks were protected by a screen of wooden stakes and traps laid by the army’s scouts and back-up up by the armies dragoon regiments. The 6 horse artillery guns were placed at the centre of the infantry position where they could fire canister into any Indians attempting a direct assault on the line.

[Gilpins Army deployed and awaiting the Cherokee's attack.]

With everything ready Gilpin sat back and waiting for the Indians to attack.