Colonial Campaigns Club (CCC)

Having played a lot of the Talonsoft Civil War Games, and only a few of the American Revolution series, is it sacrilege to say that I dislike the company level treatment of the latter very much? In fact I really hate it. I don't seem to mind that scale at all for the much smaller "War of 1812" games. The company scale seems right for these battles which were much smaller than some of the large Revolutionary War Battles. ie: Lundy's Lane compared to say Brandywine.
I just felt that the company scale seemed all wrong. The regiments never seemed to move as regiments. Just a bunch of companies that tended to stay together.
I'm probably alone in this, but for the large battles that covered a huge physical area (Brandywine, Saratoga, Monmouth come to mind) the scale was just too fine. 5 and 10 minute turns for an entire days battle. Sorry, I thought the Civil War Scale at 20 minutes per turn and regimental units far better.
I may try the French and Indian War disk even though that it is company level for the same reasons that I could accept this scale for 1812. Any comments? Does anyone else wish that the scale chosen had been 20 minute turns and Battalion sized units.?

Sir,
You are not the first to say this. Jeff Vitious over at Wargamer.com has said much the same thing. To me though, it is something of a mix. In some ways I agree, and in some I disagree.

There is no doubt that we do things with companies that would NEVER happen. Unless you choose to use self discipline, people don't form up at proper frontages, they have bent lines, they get battalions mixed and all of that. True.

The larger battles also tend to get rather oversized. Agreed, Brandywine is a rather overwhelming battle, as well as others. True.

However, the advantage of this scale is that it allows the smaller battles of the war. At the scale you would prefer, battles like Cowpens, Hubbardton, Bennington and the like would be totally unplayable, and battles like Bunker Hill, Guilford Court House and the like would be rather uninteresting duels of just a few battalions per side. At a 1 unit=battalion, we'd be down really to Brandywine, Monmouth, Saratoga and Germantown, and maybe 1-2 hypotheticals. So, in that way I would disagree with you.

In the end, while I agree with your concerns, 1776 may just be my favorite game of all of them John has done. (this, or Jutland).

One thing, is that a REALLY enterprising scenario designer could actually make the game exactly what you want. The oob and pdf files are easily enough modded, and there is no reason you couldn't convert say Brandywine to a Battalion level battle with 15 minute turns. The only real difficulty is the map, but there are a few map designers out there. (hmm..... well I have to deal with present projects before I head off to that)

Check Rich Hamilton's SDC site and you will find a large scale Brandywine that handles bns with fewer counters so they can act together better.

For a few of the larger 1776 battles, it would certainly be useful (especially for players with limited time!) to have alternative versions using either the Eckmuhl or Corinth game engine, but for many - if not most - scenarios, the current engine seems fine.

Cpt Rich White
28th North Glos Rgt
Right Wing, British Army 1776

Richard,
I'm not sure I even see the need to change engines. Obviously the maps would need to change to get scale right, but otherwise, I would think the engine as it sits would still be workable. You'd just have to adapt something along the line of Eckmuhl's pdt values for weapons.