1776 (1974)

1776 is a two-player, turn-based war game played on a hex grid map of the thirteen colonies and Canada. It is primarily concerned with the military aspects of the American Revolutionary War. There is a basic game, various scenarios with advanced rules and a campaign game.

Avalon Hill Complexity Rating - 7

From the Box
The shot heard round the world at Lexington set off more than just another brushfire war in England's scattered dominions. It gave birth to a struggling new nation led by a comparative handful of patriots whose refusal to bow before tyranny set the tone for an American heritage preserved from defeat to this very day. But victory did not come cheap. After showing the British the color of their mettle at Bunker Hill, Washington's little army was plagued by one defeat after another, shunting from one battlefield to the next; always beaten but never destroyed. No power of the period believed that the upstart colonials and their unborn nation had the slightest chance of emerging victorious against the strongest military machine of the era after the dismal summer of 1776. But then came the cruelest winter of the decade when even nature seemed to join forces with the British against the tattered American troops. Undaunted, Washington led his small force in the historic crossing of the Delaware to twice surprise and rout British forces at Trenton and Princeton. Their resolve thus strengthened, the ill-clad Americans retired to Valley Forge to face winter beset by the hunger and deprivation that cost the lives of 2500 patriots. But the coming spring found Clinton facing a revitalized and strengthened rebel army which proceeded to chase him across New Jersey in the Monmouth Campaign. Reassured by news of the French alliance and the great American victory at Saratoga that fall, American troops dug in for what they knew would be a long and bitter battle for independence.

6 Games in One Package - Each a Realistic Simulation of the War for Independence
1776, like all Avalon Hill games, is more than just the standard roll the dice and move game. It is a realistic simulation of the strategic situation faced by British and American alike in that fiery decade when the United States won its independence. Actually, 1776 is six games in one: a Basic Game that gets you quickly and easily into the routine of simulation gaming; an Advanced Game with scenarios that provides additional complexity and realism; and a Campaign Simulation Game that encompasses the entire war and balances successes in one region against failures in another - truly the ultimate in a simulation gaming experience! And if you don't have the time for a complete Campaign Game, there are four scenarios to choose from; each of which poses a challenge for everyone; from the most erudite of military historians to the fellow who just managed to pass American History:

Scenario 1: The Invasion of Canada - 1775 to 1776 - Can YOU do better than the bumbling General Schuyler and Benedict Arnold in the vain American atttempt to make Canada a 14th colony?

Scenario 2: The Saratoga Campaign - 1777 - Can YOU as General Horatio Gates surround and destroy the forces of the British General Burgoyne in this reinactment of the turning point of the Revolution?

Scenario 3: Greene's Southern Campaign - 1780 to 1781 - Can YOU as General Nathaniel Greene lead Cornwallis' tested regulars on a merry chase with your force of rag-tag militia and Guerilla bands without being crushed in a major engagement?

Scenario 4: The Yorktown Campaign - 1781 - Can you duplicate Washington's encirclement and crushing defeat of Cornwallis in the battle that won the Revolution?

Contents: a 16" x 44" four-section, full color mapboard depicting colonial America from Quebec to Georgia; two sets of die-cut troop counters representing over 400 units of Continentals, British Regulars, Rebel and Tory Militia, French Regulars, Indians, and naval units of the British and French fleets; 1 die; 1 Terrain Effects Chart; 2 sets (8 per set) of Tactical Combat Cards used in the innovative, new Sustained Combat system; 1 set of scenario, CRT, and play chart cards organized on an index-card format that puts a summary of all levels of the game at your fingertips; a 32-page Rules & Designers' Notes Manual telling you how to play all 6 game versions plus the inside story on research and development and why the game was designed the way it was.

Rated Tournament Level on Avalon Hill's Simulation-complexity scale.

Expanded by:

• 1776 3rd Edition Rules - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/32579

From "The Avalon Hill General Index and Company History, 1952-1980"

1776 (1974)
Designed by Randall Reed

Just in time for the American Bicentennial, 1776 proved to be a major sales success at the time, and remains an excellent game to this day although its sales have fallen off dramatically as the bicentennial fever subsided. Reed was the first to take Shaw’s flawed matrix CRT for KRIEGSPIEL and turn it into a viable and, more importantly, enjoyable gaming mechanism.

Microbadge

Magazine References:

The GENERAL Index Article List:

• The GENERAL Vol.11,No.2
  • The Question Box - Luftwaffe, France, 1940, 1776, Tactics II
  • 1776 – “Reader Buyer's Guide Submission Form” (Insert)
• The GENERAL Vol.11,No.3
  • Reader Buyer's Guide - 1776
  • The Question Box - 1776
• The GENERAL Vol.11,No.4
  • The Question Box - 1776, PanzerBlitz
• The GENERAL Vol.11,No.5
  • 1776 – “Saratoga” (Strategy) J. Richard Jarvinen
  • The Question Box - Alexander the Great, Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, 1776
• The GENERAL Vol.11,No.6
  • 1776 – “1776 Operations” (Strategy) Jack Greene
• The GENERAL Vol.12,No.1
  • 1776 – “1776 - A Colonial Overview” (Strategy) Rob Beyma
  • 1776 – “Combat in 1776” (Discussion) Roy Easton
• The GENERAL Vol.12,No.4
  • Design Analysis - 1776 Leonard H. Kanterman
• The GENERAL Vol.12,No.5
  • 1776 – “CONTEST NO. 70” (Insert)
  • Design Analysis - 1776 Adam L. Gruen
• The GENERAL Vol.13,No.1
  • 1776 – “Occupation as The Key to Victory” (Strategy) Keith Gross
  • Caesar's Legions/1776 – “Winning with the Underdog...” (Strategy) Joel S. Davis
• The GENERAL Vol.13,No.3
  • 1776 – “Just One More Hex ... Forced March Table Analysis” (Discussion) J. Richard Jarvinen
• The GENERAL Vol.13,No.5
  • 1776 – “Game Theory and 1776” (Strategy) J. Richard Jarvinen
• The GENERAL Vol.14,No.4
  • 1776 – “Patience in 1776” (Strategy) Major Edward Caswell
• The GENERAL Vol.16,No.1
  • 1776 – “The 1776 Thesis” (Strategy) Jonathon Lockwood
• The GENERAL Vol.16,No.2
  • 1776 – “The Incoming Tide - Part II of the 1776 Thesis” (Strategy) Jonathon Lockwood
• The GENERAL Vol.16,No.3
  • 1776 – “American Strategy in the 1776 Campaign, Part III of the 1776 Thesis” (Strategy) John Lockwood
• The GENERAL Vol.17,No.4
  • 1776 – “The Tory and Indian War” (Historical/Variant) Vincent O'Neil
• The GENERAL Vol.19,No.3
  • 1776 – “Lincoln's Southern Campaign” (Variant) Jim Lawler
• The GENERAL Vol.20,No.3
  • 1776 – “Montcalm and Wolfe - The French and Indian War 1759” (Scenario) Fred Sassin
• The GENERAL Vol.25,No.2
  • 1776 – 40 Leader counters for the leader variant rules published in The General 25.4 were included on the subscriber-only bonus sheet for this issue
• The GENERAL Vol.25,No.4
  • 1776 – “Command Pressures: Leaders for 1776” (Variant)
• The GENERAL Vol.25,No.5
  • 1776 – “Redcoat Advance-The British in 1776” (Strategy) Scott Hess

Panzerfaust Article Index:

• Number 63
  • Thumbnail Analysis: 1776
• Number 64
  • 1776 - "Game Review: 1776" (Review), Jack Greene

Panzerfaust and Campaign Article Index:

• Number 71 Jan-Feb 1976
  • 1776 - "The Southern Strategy" (Strategy), Chuck Holland
• Number 73 May-June 1976
  • 1776 - "In Pursuit of Greene and Lafayette" (Strategy), Gregory J. W. Urwin

Campaign Article Index:

• Number 83, January-February 1978
  • 1776 - "Keeping the Colonies Royal" (Strategy), Thomas Dworschak