Dean and I began our second play of Washington’s War last night, this time using a very good Vassal module. We ran into one problem when we forgot to synchronize our game, so we had to restart the first turn after playing a card or two, but we didn’t have any notable technical difficulties afterwards.
I am playing the British. The game begins at that great moment when Washington and Greene are parked outside of Boston staring Howe in the eye, just how McCullough’s 1776 begins. In our first game I decided to copy history and sailed Howe away. But this time I decided to fight my way out, swatting Greene away from Rhode Island and then turning to face Washington. Dean decided to whisk Washington away to New York, and Taxachusetts was mine.
In the next year I decided to pressure the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. I landed Cornwallis in Monmouth with a large army. After a few rounds went by, Dean noticed that Monmouth is not a port. Don’t let the fact that half of the Monmouth space is hanging out in the ocean, he is correct, Monmouth is not a port. We undid a few cards and then I landed Cornwallis in Baltimore. Washington moved down to cover the Congress.
Now we played a positioning game. I moved Cornwallis into Wilmington to have a good position to attack in the next turn. Dean covered the rest of the adjacent spaces in American influence to protect his flanks. Greene and Arnold began running around NY and NH, keeping Howe unbalanced.
In 1777 I launched a major campaign, with Cornwallis attacking Philadelphia with a minor victory, enough to disperse the Congress for a turn. Howe and Clinton, who had just arrived from Canada, attempted to outmaneuver Greene in New Hampshire with little effect. As winter began, Washington attacked Cornwallis and drove him back to Wilmington.
We saved the game at that point. If nothing changes, the game will end in two rounds (1779), but there is a good chance that we’ll draw a card that will change that.
We did make one serious flub I thought of after the game. We forgot to reshuffle the deck with the Declaration of Independence card included in turn 2.
I am really enjoying the game, and I hope we resume on Sunday evening.
Here is a portion of the map as we left it last night. Almost all the action is taking place from Delaware to New Hampshire. I have nothing down south at all.
