The Battle of Green Spring

 

The Battle of Green Spring (aka The Battle of Green Spring Plantation, The Battle of Green Spring Farm, or “The Affair Near James Island”) was the largest field battle fought in Virginia during the American Revolution with over 10,000 combatants on the field or in proximity to it. In addition to being noteworthy for its scope, this battle was Lord Cornwallis’s final victory in North America and served as the immediate precursor to the Siege of Yorktown. According to British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and others, the outcome at Green Spring directly influenced the forces available to the protagonists at Yorktown, and as such, Green Spring played a direct role in Yorktown’s eventual outcome.

British Lieutenant General, the Earl Cornwallis displayed tactical finesse while luring American Major General, the Marquis de Lafayette, whom he pejoratively referred to as “that boy,” into a trap. While Cornwallis was subtle, American Brigadier General “Mad” Anthony Wayne was bold, displaying the kind of dash and élan for which his name had by now became synonymous, staving-off disaster for the Americans with a desperate Bayonet charge.


For all these reasons, the Battle of Green Spring deserves more than the footnotes it typically receives in most histories. Volume XI in GMT’s Battles of the American Revolution series sheds light on this important action and allows the hobbyist and historian the opportunity to fully appreciate its significance.

The game includes three scenarios:

• The standard game lasts 8-turns. The British begin in their historical deployments while only that portion of the American army committed by Lafayette approaches and deploys. Depending on card-play, this scenario may be extended one turn into night.
• There is a short historical scenario lasting 4 turns and involving just those units that actually engaged in the late afternoon and twilight hours of July 6, 1781. Players familiar with the series will find this scenario reminiscent of the Freeman's Farm scenario in Saratoga or the Chatterton Hill scenario in The Battle of White Plains for its nail-biting tension where both sides can ill-afford losses and victory can turn on a half-victory point on the last half-turn of the scenario.
• A 13-turn campaign game gives players access to the full array of both armies as they approach the battlefield in a meeting engagement. Cornwallis and the British are in-route from Williamsburg to Jamestown Ferry, as they were historically. During the actual campaign, General Lafayette shadowed the British at a distance and therefore was only able to commit piecemeal forces at Green Spring. In the campaign game, however, Lafayette assumes a bolder strategy by pursuing the British more closely, ready to fully commit his army in a bid to defeat Cornwallis.

Special rules include opportunity cards, Wayne's charge, British skirmishers, British decoy artillery, and British sortie restrictions. Three replacement counters for previous games in the series are included: one each for Rhode Island, Brandywine, and Guilford Courthouse. Also included is a new marker to identify a hex receiving diversion. Enough diversion markers are provided to back-fill the counter mix for each of the previous twelve battles in the BoAR series.

Game scale: 1 hour per turn
Map scale: 200 yards per hex
Units: Infantry Regiments, Battalions, and Companies, Cavalry Troops, and Artillery Batteries. Each Strength Point equals approximately 100 men or 2 guns
Players: 2
Time: 1.5 to 4 Hours (depending on scenario)
Age: 14+

Components:

• One Mounted Map Board
• One Full-size Countersheet
• 26 Opportunity Cards
• 16 Tactics Cards
• Two Player Aid Cards
• One Battles of the American Revolution Series Rulebook
• One The Battle of Green Spring Exclusive Rulebook
• Two 10-sided dice

Game Designer: Mark Miklos
Game Developer: Rob McCracken