A New Project at the Cardboard Caserne: the 1777 Campaign

Continental infantryman by Don Troiani

My friends know there is nothing more beloved at the Cardboard Caserne than a New Project. Projects are wonderful things, because they involve planning and organizing and researching and more planning and often buying new books, games, figures, or other project-related materials.

Too often, though, my projects, greeted with wild enthusiam at the beginning, end up being pursued with all the vigour of Col. Blimp after his after-dinner brandy and cigar. So I've enlisted Mr Invisible on this endeavour, certain that his rectitude, clean living, and terrier-like determination will carry us through to actually Getting Things Done.

I've been very impressed with the work of carojon at JJ's Wargames on his Peninsular War scenarios and background. For several years now he has been chronicling his development and testing of a series of scenarios, set in the Spanish Peninsula of the Napoleonic Wars, for use with the Carnage & Glory wargame rules. He has described the battles of Rolica, Vimeiro, Corruna, Oporto, and Talavera. Along the way he's built new wargames units to fill out his orders of battle, showcasing many of them with unit histories, photographs, and other illustrations. It's been a stellar display of research, painting, and scenario design.

Brunswick jaeger by Don Troiani

And imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? So Mr Invisible and I are embarking on Project 1777, an effort to recreate the battles of Sir William Howe's Philadelphia Campaign of 1777 during the American Revolution. It offers lots of scope for battles large and small, including as it does the largest battle of the Revolution after Long Island (Brandywine) as well as several smaller engagements. We'll start with Howe's attempts to draw the American army out of it's cantonments in the Watchung Mountains and then follow his progress south, maybe covering Brandywine in several segments, as we try to build up our forces for that mighty clash of over 30,000 men.

First up: the battle of Bound Brook, a "what if" assuming that Cornwallis' attack on Lincoln's outpost force was not quite as much a surprise as it was historically. Washington had a spy network in New York that might have learned of the attack, or at least observed its departure from the British camps: what if he had sent Greene marching to Lincoln's support sooner?

The inaugural post will have a brief review of where the war stood in the spring of 1777, describe the historic engagement (a rather ignominious affair for the Americans), and our adaptation of events. Future posts will describe some of the forces involved, how we design the scenario, and our attempts to play-test it.