Our simulation came to a close last Friday. The British threw their defending forces piecemeal at the advancing Continental army, and in the bloodbath that followed, they learned a valuable lesson in concentrating their forces. Towards the end, Cornwallis (played by Gillian, the girl on the left) negotiated a deal with Armstrong (played by Arjun, the smug-looking guy in the middle) to a standoff along the Wissahickon, infuriating both commanders. Colin, on the right, was our Washington, and he was threatening to take Arjun to the woodshed. Below is the shot of the battered PA militia peacefully facing off the Highlanders as the daylight waned.
Above is a shot of the British center. Try as they might, the British/Hessian commanders could not gain a local advantage anywhere on the board. Even the Continentals whose advances were erratic all tended to show up on the line at the same time, burying the hapless Brits in firepower. The s,hot below shows a British brigade finally being able to deploy into a coherent firing line, but by that point in the battle, the Yanks held the Chew House, using it as an anchor for their own firing line which was long enough to envelop the British reinforcements.
If Washington had won the Battle of Germantown, it would have been a huge symbolic victory. I'm not sure it would have led to the loss of Philadelphia by the British, or made the Continental Army's ordeal at Valley Forge that winter any less severe, but coupled with the defeat at Saratoga less than a week later, it certainly would have been a major hit to British morale in the colonies and on the home front. Perhaps the war would have ended sooner than it did.
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