Description
This Kriegsspiel Scenario Kit allows you to fight the historical battle of Brandywine from the American Revolution. It is designed for use with the Prussian Army, Reisswitz Kriegsspiel rules –not included, but you CAN also play this with Pub Battles rules, with the Battalion Scale adaptation -included.
Battle: Washington prepares to defend a river crossing. The British cross up stream and hit the Colonials with a surprise flank attack.
Players: 1-3 British players, 1-4 Colonial players and 1 Umpire.
Components List
- Umpire’s Guide for running the battle.
- Detailed OB to record losses.
- Initial Operation Orders.
- Debriefing Questions -great for AAR discussion or classroom assignments.
- Map: 24″ x 48″ (huge) Scale: 8,000:1
- Pub Battles Rules with Battalion Scale adaptation.
- Optional Hardwood Kriegsspiel blocks with custom stickers. Get the No Block Version and save by reusing Standard Kriegsspiel Blocks for all of your battles.
Some Assembly Required
It Does NOT include rules. You can get the official Kriegsspiel rule set from Too Fat Lardies.
Does NOT include dice or measuring device.
Operation Orders
Tom Dempsey (verified owner) –
“Kriegsspiel Scenario (KS): Brandywine” is presented by Pub Battles as a scenario for playing the Battle of Brandywine using Kriegsspiel rules (downloadable for free from the Toofatlardies website). In reality, KS: Brandywine is a stand-alone game (when ordered with the Scenario, blocks, and map), and an entirely new entry in the Pub Battles family. A battalion/regiment-level game of the Brandywine battle, it can be played as a Kriegsspiel game, but can also be played as a new Pub Battles variant using regular Pub Battles rules with some minor modifications, which are carefully explained in the accompanying Pub Battles rules supplement. This review addresses play with Pub Battles rules.
Bottom line: this is one of the more interesting and enjoyable games in the Pub Battles series, and is the best game of the Brandywine battle that I have played. The map and the detailed order of battle, complemented by the accompanying scenario and Pub Battles rules supplement, make it a great game and a valuable tool for studying the battle. Despite being two levels lower than the original Pub Battles Brandywine game, going from division level to battalion level (British) and regimental level (Americans), the game retains Pub Battles’ elegant simplicity and fast play. It takes a little more time to play than Pub Battles Brandywine, but the additional detail is well worth it.
Start with the 1:8,000 map, an enlarged version of the 1:16,000 map in the original game. The original map was crowded and difficult to read, and frequently hard to play with, using the large wooden block division units. At 1:8,000, the map is absolutely gorgeous. The key terrain features are easy to identify and perfectly suited to the battalion/regiment scale. Many of the more obscure aspects of the battle, which are difficult to understand with the smaller scale map, become much clearer at this scale.
The real surprise for veteran American Revolution gamers is found in the unit counters. Orders of battle are notoriously problematic for this war, with American units in particular varying dramatically in size and effectiveness. Detailed research is required to really understand the forces on both sides, and the differences between the American units and their British counterparts are frequently difficult to quantify.
The good news is that Pub Battles has done all the heavy lifting here, carefully examining each unit, merging the smaller American units with their larger counterparts, and breaking up the few very large British battalions into sub-elements. The result is an order of battle that presents roughly equivalent battalion-level blocks for both sides, without sacrificing historical accuracy. While a few of the smaller American regiments are missing due to this amalgamation, in practice these smaller units had to form with larger counterparts on the battlefield in order to fight effectively anyway.
Complementing the units are the “Loss Rosters” – a feature of the Kriegsspiel System – which identify each unit and the command that it belongs to. This provides an easy-to-use unit and command organization tool. By returning destroyed units to their “slots” on the unit roster during play, I could immediately and easily see losses by command, and determine which commands were combat ineffective (units can no longer rally from “spent”) due to 50%+ losses.
Finally, there is the “Battalion Pub Battles” rules supplement. This supplement provides some simple adjustments for the Pub Battles rules set (I use Version 2.0, which you can obtain for free from Command Post Games) to use with the battalion level. The biggest adjustment concerns use of road movement, which no longer requires one third movement to enter or leave road column. This makes it much easier to maneuver units quickly across the game area and greatly simplifies play.
I heartily recommend this game to any gamer who is interested in the Brandywine battle. Going from a division to a battalion scale really transforms the game, in ways that make it simultaneously more historically accurate and more playable. A tip on the map: it is a paper map, easily damaged or stained. I recommend that you have it laminated to protect it. You will also need to fabricate the circular wooden “command chits” to determine order of activation for the major commands.
Also, I recommend that you add three skirmisher blocks to the American order of battle, using them to block the Brandywine crossings at Jones’ Ford, Wistar’s Ford, and Bullington Ford. These blocks represent two small American regiments (Hazen’s Canadien and Hall’s 1st Delaware) that posted forces to guard the three crossing points.
Gull2112 –
Thanks, now I gotta get this!