Blowing up a Bridge in Musket &Tomahawks

Pioneers at work

Setting:

1777, British forces have captured Philadelphia the capital of the Continental Congress. To prevent further suffering the governor of the state has ordered its military to stand down.  Meanwhile captain “Dashing” Dan Simpson of the continental army has been ordered to secure the bridge of Madison county so it can be destroyed to prevent the British from pursuing the continental army.   At the bridge is militia units from Dade and madison counties preparing its destruction,  so far they are unaware of Philadelphia’s capitulation and are still loyal to the continentals cause 

Terrain:

The river is impassable except at the bridge.The fields woods and roads are treated as normal.  The engineers treat the bridge as hard cover and do not block movement on the bridge assume they are under the bridge preparing explosives. The Dade county units have created some improvised barricades which count as light cover.

Deployment:

The Madison county engineers start at the bridge. Dade county units must be deployed within 6” of the bridge. The rest of the American force arrives from point A.

The British Lieutenant and light infantry start any point of the battlefield but must be at least 24” from the bridge. The rest of the British force enters from either point B or C

British in a dash to the bridge

Forces:

American force

Bridge defenders

Dade county provincials (1 unit of 16 drilled provincial infantry) 

Dade county artillery (1 light cannon with six provincial crew crew) 

Madison county engineers ((1 unit of 6 civilians) 

Main body

Captain-Continental  “Dashing” Dan Simpson (mounted regular officer) 

Lieutenant-Continental  “Lance” Jones  (irregular officer) 

2 units of 12 continentals (regular infantry) 

2 units of 6 continentals riflemen (irregular infantry with rifles) 

British force 

Vanguard 

Lieutenant  (irregular officer)

2 units of 12 light infantry (irregular infantry) 

Main force

Captain  (mounted regular regular officer) 

2 units of 12 regulars (regular infantry)

2 units of 12 tories ( provincial infantry)

Loyalists on the march

Special rules:

Dubious Allies

• Each time the red force pulls an event card they can test to see if word of the surrender has reached the county units. Each Red event triggers a test and only one county can be affected in one event eg red force event card can test for either Dade or Madison county units.
• Roll a D6 on a 6 the county units received word of the surrender and stand down. The county units are removed from the table. Add one to the second and subsequent tests  eg on the second test the units stands down on a 5,6 on the thirds it will stand down on the 4,5,6.
• Each county is treated separately for testing.
• If Blue force pull an event card treat it as normal.

Blow the Bridge

• The Madison county militia are preparing to blow up the bridge. Secretly Roll 4D6 to determine when the bridge is ready to blow.  Each time the madison county engineers are activated an on the bridge add one to the preparation counter. When the counter equals the secret roll the Bridge is ready for demolition.
• Continental officers can give up their “forward men” card to encourage the engineers if one of them is within 6” of the engineers and add one to the preparation counter.
• When the bridge is ready to blow roll a D6. On a 2 or better the bridge is destroyed and the British withdraw. On a 1 the bridge is damaged but intact the Americans need to buy time for more explosives to complete the destruction.  
• If the bridge only damaged in the explosion or the engineers are destroyed before they can complete the demolition the American need to buy time for a second attempt. They must force the British to withdraw by breaking the force.

Victory conditions:

The Americans win if they destroy the bridge, break the attacking force or their are no British unis of the bridge after turn eight..

The British win is they capture the bridge intact. or break the defenders

Design note:The unreliable allies and the blow the bridge concept was adapted from an article by Richard Clark in the Too Fat Lardies christmas special 2017.