AWI using Neil Thomas' Napoleonic Wargaming

So, I tried DBA-HX for the AWI and both DBA and HOTT as the basis for AWI variants, and I was never really quite satisfied. I had some fun games, to be sure, but something just did not quite click.

I recently bought the new Peter Pig Washington's Army and I can already tell you it is not striking a chord with me. I don't know why, maybe because the units just do not look right (four figure bases in two ranks). I'll keep reading them - I hear they have some good ideas I may want to pinch - but they do not seem to match what I consider the ideal, which is to say how it is written in With Zeal and With Bayonets Only.

I finished reading Neal Thomas' Napoleonic Wargaming and I rather like it. I still have not played a game with it, but I intend to. To start, I am simply going to use four singly-based infantry figures to represent each unit. I'll have to adjust the distances, of course, but as it will all be proportional, it should give me a feel for how the rules work. If I like the way it plays, I'll probably start basing units - or building movement trays - for the system. I have plenty of 40mm by 20mm bases to use.

The only thing I have to figure out is how to get the period flavor in, like Mr. Thomas does with his special rules. I also have to develop army lists. In the beginning I will simply use an all-infantry force - always possible in the AWI - so I don't have to deal with how to represent cavalry right off of the bat.

The areas that I want to model are:

• With Zeal and With Bayonets Only: The tendency for the British to advance rapidly to close range (50 yards), deliver one volley and then charge.
• Open Order versus Closed Order: The British and American loose formations, which allowed for rapid movement over broken ground and changing formation, versus the slower, plodding movement of the French and Germans.
• American Scramble: The tendency for the Patriots to retire from bayonet charges. Of course, these retiring movements can sometimes turn into routs...

Still mulling over how to do it. I will probably play one game using the Napoleonic Wargaming rules generically, in order to get a feel, before adding the flavor.