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It might have ended the war five years sooner.
The loss of a British army at Saratoga in 1777 was the predicate to French intervention, universally agreed to be the turning point of the American Revolution. Now, one year later, what if a second British army had been forced to surrender?

The Rhode Island campaign is significant because it was the first attempt by the French to cooperate with their new American allies. The size of the combined armies approached 16,000 men or more than double the forces available in the British garrison at Newport.

Each side also had a wide array of artillery from light field guns to 24-pound naval guns brought ashore by the British for the defence of the town. Total ordnance in the field exceeded 112 pieces, a staggering sum for the period.

We will never know what might have been because circumstances conspired to prevent the grand assault by the Allies from occurring. There was, of course, a Battle of Rhode Island as history has recorded. It was a running fight in its opening stages, as a British pursuit sought to overrun a withdrawing American rear guard. It ended up a stalemate late in the day, as both sides glowered at each-other over a no-mans-land. There were heroics that day, but history has relegated the Battle of Rhode Island to a footnote because what occurred involved only portions of the forces and only after the Americans had decided to lift the siege of Newport and withdraw to the safety of the mainland.

Although the great "what if" must remain elusive, players now have the chance to model the likelihood of an outcome because Volume 9 in the Great Battles of the American Revolution series offers two games; the historical Battle of Rhode Island and the great assault by the entire Franco-American force against the well-entrenched British defenders of Newport.

Game Contents

• One 2-sided mounted mapboard (Rhode Island and Newport battles)
• One bonus two-sided mapsheet
• One full-size counter sheet
• One half-size counter sheet
• Exclusive and series rule booklets
• Two player aid cards
• 16 Tactics cards
• 52 Opportunity cards (British and American)
• Two 10-sided dice

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