Some 25mm American Revolution photos

Hessian infantry overruns an American artillery battery defending the stone bridge over Assunpink Creek. (Click on each photograph to enlarge it.)

Charge! readers and Erie, Pennsylvania, wargamers Eric Kessler and Stephen Huckaby sent me some very nice photos of a 25mm AWI game using a scenario for the Second Battle of Trenton (also known as the Battle of the Assunpink Creek, which took place on January 2, 1777). I believe they used Brother Against Brother as the rules.

Trenton, a once peaceful colonial New Jersey town, is rattled a second time in the American Revolution by the discordant sounds of warfare as combatants maneuver for advantage. American advance forces significantly delayed Lord Cornwallis’s forces before slipping across the creek to prepared defensive positions.

On December 30, 1776, George Washington had massed his American forces on higher ground south of Trenton along Assunpink Creek to await the expected British counterattack, which came on January 2. Washington positioned advance troops in town and along the Trenton Road to delay the oncoming enemy forces.

The Brits and Hessians fight their way through Trenton. Townspeople have either fled or are cowering in their cellars for safety as King George’s troops fix bayonets and prepare for the next attack.

An American commander cheers on his men as they defend against the determined assaults of Charles Cornwallis’s British and Hessian forces.

Eric and Stephen have put together a visually appealing miniature wargaming representation of the battlefield of Trenton and the town itself. Note Assunpink Creek in the foreground.

In the actual battle of Second Trenton, the American defensive line along the heights on the south side of the creeek held fast against several British and Hessian charges over the stone bridge, as well as an attempt to ford the creek near its mouth. Cornwallis suffered heavy casualties unsuccessfully trying to dislodge the Americans.

Darkness finally ended the fighting. Lord Cornwallis, showing his disdain for Washington, remarked to his officers, “Rest for now. We”ll bag the fox in the morning.” He wouldn’t, as the next day would see a strategic victory by Washington at the Battle of Princeton.

For more information on the historical events, follow this link.