The Same But Different

Its been well over a decade now since I was introduced to miniatures on a grid and I still haven't figured out whether the advantages of a grid outweigh the disadvantages or not. I am leaning towards the unhappy conclusion that "it depends".

Anyhow, as I was starting to clear the table I found myself pondering the benefits of reorganizing various armies with 3 stand units into 2 stands. All it would take was to move the colours and possible paint a another dozen or so figures for each army to turn the excess stands into full units. Rather unusually, before I did any excessive damage, I decided to replay the scenario without using the grid and using my troops as currently organized and based. I also changed the setting, partly to make it obviously not the same game, partly to give my recently refurbished "Not Quite The War of 1812" collection, another outing.

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Somewhere in Atlantica in the early 19thC, the armies of Faraway and Oberhilse are at it again.

OHW Scenario 9. Double Delay. 

The Greys were given the task of holding the ford, by themselves.

Mauled in a firefight with the Brooklyn Fencibles, supported by militia light infantry, the Greys were forced to fallback before they were wiped out.

On the right, Gen. Turner decided to wear down the village defenders with skirmisher and artillery fire until the his left wing came up at which time he would send in the Royal Fusiliers. In the distance. the Oberhilse forces were slowly retiring from the field.

Across! The Fencibles pushed forward to drive off the Greys while the cavalry and light infantry rushed forward to block the enemy's retreat. 

The Greys were being particularly stubborn, leading the Fencibles to match them, shot for shot, forgetting their real mission.
As the Dragoons advanced on the gun, they spotted the enemy cavalry disappearing down the road, with the rifles falling back as well. The Captain order his dragoons to veer left and ride down the riflemen. The ground suddenly turned soft and uneven and while the Dragoons were closing the distance, they just couldn't quite catch up with the enemy riflemen. (Bloody movement dice!!)

As the sun set, the Queen's infantry continued to pour fire into the village but, inspired by General Wavey, they rallied again and again and held out till nightfall.
With a sudden misgiving. General Turner consulted his orders. He had felt so confident at midday that his Dragoons would over run the riflemen, limiting the enemy's withdrawal to two units and that he would be able to seize the town and get his cavalry and chasseurs off the table, that he had not focused on either plan and thus achieved neither. 

OK, that worked. The grid has a place but its not worth reorganizing my armies to fit.