Prepping for today's 247th Anniversary 1776 Battle of Brooklyn AKA: Long Island game

 I've been remiss in blogging here, which bums me out, largely due blogger having once again revised their system and semi-locking me out of administering my blogs.  I've been very busy without the time to focus on finding the solution or a workaround, but in the meantime I have been kinda busy on the hobby front, which is why I'm putting in the effort to post this late tonight, before tomorrow's above-mentioned 247th Anniversary refight game of the August 27th 1776 Battle of Brooklyn, AKA: Long Island, taking place at the Knights of Columbus hall on N. Anaheim Blvd. in Anaheim, California.

Despite being the largest battle of the American Revolution, fought over a large area and by very large armies within the context of the war, it is relatively little known.   I grew up in the neighborhood where some of the most dramatic action of the day took place and have always wanted to recreate it as a tabletop game, but though I've always been interested in it, AWI has never been a central focus of my own collecting, terrain building or gaming.  However, about a year ago when a good friend of mine down in Orange County (who develops lots of historical scenarios & GMs lots of games using his home-brew rules called FIRE AND MANEUVER) decided to raise armies for a refight of Bunker Hill, I put a bug in his ear about Brooklyn.  After a while that turned into a scenario and then a first version of the game which we played back in May.  Along the way I asked my younger daughter who was at school in NYC to visit the actual Old Stone House (which is generally regarded as an accurate recreation built after the original burned down towards the end of the 19th Century) and take some pics of the the building and the diorama on display inside, which she did and which I will be eternally grateful for!  After our first attempt proved that the scenario (despite being unbalanced in favor of the British) could deliver an enjoyable game for both sides, the GM & myself convinced another good friend of ours to build a mini version of the Old Stone House my daughter had collected valuable intel on -- where a handful of American troops made repeated assaults on the British occupants which helped prevent the larger British army from being able to surround, cut off and potentially capture or destroy most of the American army.  That first game also led to me making terrain pieces for Gowanus Bay, Gowanus Creek, the surrounding salt marsh, a waterwheel for nearby Gouwer's Mill (AKA: Freeke's Mill) and building the bridge across Gowanus creek, which at the actual battle some other Americans burned to delay their British pursuers.  I made these new water features to match the set of river and canal boards I had previously made for the same GM friend years ago for his Arnhem and Eindhoven games, which we repurposed to serve as New York Bay and the East River in the game we'll be playing on the 247th Anniversary of the battle.

Earlier today -- the day before the anniversary -- the GM and the other three of us who built terrain for this project got together to set up the table and stage the forces.  Perhaps the most interesting & original feature is a contemporary illustration of the Manhattan Skyline c.1760-1790, which we placed atop a separate narrow table across an "aisle" space from the Western edge/shore of the Brooklyn/Long Island table, with the "aisle" standing in for the East River.  In fact the battle can be seen as an American version of Dunkirk, with George Washington and his Continental Army succeeding in retreating from the tactical or even operational defeat while managing to pull off something of a strategic victory by enabling the vast majority of their forces to safely cross the river to Manhattan and live to fight another day.

The process of researching the battle -- and specifically its terrain -- was a time-consuming but enjoyable one and I hope to write more about it here at some point.  But right now I need to get some sleep so I can be ready for the game tomorrow, so I will leave it at that and add some pics for you to hopefully enjoy...

TO BE CONTINUED......