by Bill Simoni, 26 April 2026
Monmouth asks the player if they can control their troops better than General Charles Lee or if they will repeat the disgraceful and sloppy rout of 28 June 1778. Can Washington rally the troops and eke out a draw against General Sir Henry Clinton? Monmouth was the 5th game in the BoAR series, first published in 2007 and reprinted in the second BoAR Tri-Pack in 2025.
Despite lobbying to be in command for this battle, General Lee had very little intelligence about the troops in his command, the geography of the area, or the disposition of the enemy. His brigadiers were not given adequate orders beyond reacting to the situation as it unfolded. These Command & Control issues are modeled in the game as random brigades suffering from possible handicaps from turn 2 until Washington takes command from Lee.
The game defaults to the full campaign (14 turns), but has three smaller scenarios depicting slices of the action; each of those ranges from 4 to 6 turns. The first four turns of the full campaign should be quick to play, however, since they are primarily concerned with brining the Patriot forces to bear against Clinton’s rearguard.
click images to enlarge
Playing the Full Campaign
This AAR covers an opposed play via Vassal over several weeks. I was representing the Patriots while R.R. handled the British. As mentioned above, the first four turns are primarily about bringing Lee’s Advanced Corps onto the field and meeting the British rearguard, which positioned itself in a line just outside of Monmouth Courthouse. Luckily for the Patriots, there were no command and control issues on turns 2 and 3, but Grayson’s brigade was a little sluggish (-1 MP) on turn 4, which was when rear scouts were encountered.
Turn 5 saw the British reacting to the Patriots before the rearguard was fully engaged. Meanwhile Grayson decided to countermarch his forces as quickly as possible away from Monmouth, likely due to confusing information received from Lee.
As Washington made his way onto the field, chaos still reigned for various brigades that either stayed put or barely moved. Despite this, I was way too aggressive trying to gain control of Monmouth Courthouse and inflict casualties before the main British force arrived and organized. Despite capturing a couple units, the price was too high; the British captured three units of their own and killed Lafayette with a lucky shot.
I failed to retreat the units to make a cohesive defense and went on a lark to threaten the British supply lines to the east. This resulted in more casualties I couldn’t afford.
We played a couple more turns (not pictured), but the damage to the Patriots had already been done. Even more units were rendered combat ineffective. Real life precluded us from playing the game out to finality, but the British were clearly the victors; all that was left was determining how severe the victory would be.
In the end, I rivaled General Lee in shameful conduct in the battle and willingly accept the court martial proceedings that will certainly be called.
Conclusion
In addition to the command and control issues, this game also models the extreme heat (negative drm for morale checks and the possibility of skipped turns) and the heroism of Molly Pitcher. She never made an appearance in my game, as I didn’t have an artillery unit that needed rallied, but her inclusion is a nice nod to history without a game-breaking effect.
I obviously fell into my frequent trap of being too aggressive, so I want to get another shot in the near future to fix my mistakes.
Monmouth is quite suitable to players new to the series, like my opponent in this game. The game-specific rules are both minimal and simple to remember and implement. I would let a less experienced player have the British.
Next up: Pensacola
You can chat about this game in the Age of Gunpowder section of our discussion forums
Battles of the American Revolution Series
Mentioned in Dispatches Episode ~ Series Intro ~ Saratoga ~ Brandywine ~ Guilford Courthouse ~ Eutaw Springs ~ Savannah ~ Monmouth ~ Pensacola ~ Germantown
Camden Event Podcast Episode
Saratoga Digital ~ First Impressions ~ Gaming vs The AI
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