New War of 1812 figures, Terrain Cards, and a New Board

    I have done little wargaming in the past month. I did play a couple of games that I didn't even bother to photograph. I did, however, buy a rather large lot of 15mm War of 1812 figures. I resisted buying them for a week. However, there were several Frontier figures and a large collection of Minifigs 2nd generation American infantry that matches my Minifigs militia.

     I also have been working on yet another board. My chessboard squares are too small for both  15mm figures and terrain pieces. My board with 2" squares is larger than I want; it is too big for dragging around the house while trying to set up a game on a small table.  I decided to try 1 1/2" squares. It seems to fit what I'm looking for; my units and terrain pieces fits in a square. It also gave me a chance to try some new terrain cards I downloaded from another blog, Steven's Balagan. They are a series of small squares which can be picked to set up a battlefield. There are  instructions on the use of them.  I mounted them on cereal box cardboard and have another useful tool for wargaming. I drew 4 of the cards to set up a board.  The board reminds me of a Neil Thomas One Hour Wargame map.

2nd generation Minifigs War of 1812 American Infantry

2nd generation militia compared to the new infantry.

New Frontier figures. French militia, 2 artillerymen (sailors?), 2 US artillerymen, artillery officer, Mounted officer, Mohawk warrior.

New 1 1/2" square board, with three hills.

Sheet of Steven Balagan's terrain cards.

The first layout using Steven Balagan's cards.

Minifigs 5mm "Miniminifigs" Ancients

      I have done very little in regards to wargaming this last month. However, there was a lot of Minifigs 5mm block ancients on Ebay a couple of weeks ago.

      I was interested in the 5mm blocks from the first time I read of them.  Jon Meech sent me some photos of is figures, and eventually I managed to get several samples from him. As I already had been using Irregular 2mm blocks, I put the idea for trying to find the Minifigs out of my mind. Any search for them before came up empty.

     Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, somehow I came across this lot. This is the first time I've came across a lot of these figures for sale. After resisting for a day, I finally purchased them. It was advertised as Ancients with some Napoleonic Cavalry. The infantry have shields; however, I can't tell the difference between the cavalry.

   I don't have any immediate plans for them or how to use them. Perhaps they will be painted generically to be used for any age period. For now they will end up in a "future projects" drawer.

The collection of Minifigs 5mm blocks.

The infantry figures of the lot.

The cavalry figures, along with several chariots.

New Book and a "Holy Moly!" Moment

    Before going on vacation I saw on another blog a book" Armies of the War of 1812" by Gabriele Esposito, with uniform illustrations by Olivier Millet. I've seen the illustrations on Mr. Millet's blog; unfortunately it is in French. Finding this book was money well spent. Besides having all of Mr Millet's uniform illustrations, Mr. Esposito has translated it to English. I dare say it might be the best uniform book I own.  Unlike other books that shows a select number of uniforms, this book has examples of most of the major units, along with the different states and Canadian Provinces militia uniforms. It might be a little pricy, but I think it is money well spent.

  I have had little interest in wargaming recently. My personal life right now leaves little time for it; although next month one of the more time consuming matters will no longer be an issue.  Still, what free time I have has been watching tv or being on the computer. I decided to try going back to painting (pictures, not toy soldiers) for a break from my stagnant wargame projects. I have 2 small plastic tool boxes that I use  when I take toy soldiers on vacation for painting. I decided to use one for my new painting supplies. As I was going through one I took out a clear plastic container. When brought into the light, "HOLY Moly!" I realized they were  2nd generation War of 1812 militia that I didn't remember owning, including several militia officer figures I've been searching for. They were 15 militiamen and 4 militia officers. While I might not have any immediate plans for them, it is good to know that I have these new reinforcements.

The new book. If you want to see some of the uniform plates, Google "Olivier Millet, War of 1812".

The newly discovered Minifigs militia.

In Celebration of the 4th of July

      The War of 1812 was a war that shouldn't have been fought. The fact that the United States came out of it as well as they did (the war changed nothing), it was fortunate. The one great thing that came out of it was the poem that would become our national anthem.

     The last month I have been rereading books on the War of 1812.  I've also been thinking of how I could wargame the war. I have now decided instead of trying to find out of production figures for the project which would in all probability take years to collect, to use Miniature Figurines War of 1812 figures. They are handsome, well proportioned figures.

     It dawned on me that it is possible that I might have some second generation Minifigs War of 1812 militia that I purchased over 20 years ago. The old 2nd generation figures that I own have thin rectangular bases; the new 3rd generation figures have thicker bases that have a more geometric shape.  The old militia figures did have officers, which now I can't find. I foresee a long search though thousands of figures.

I've started some outside painting of Minifigs War of 1812 militia to see if  this is the direction  to proceed with.

3rd generation Minifigs militia with what I think might be a 2nd generation militiaman.

On the left is a 3rd generation figure base; right is what I believe is a 2nd generation figure. I have bought newer Minifigs with the rectangular bases; possibly 2nd generation figures that were good enough not to need to be resculpted?

3 Generations of Minifigs

     In my last post I mentioned that I was looking for 2nd generation Minifigs War of 1812 Americans.  I was in a rush to get the posting done, so I didn't post any photos of the different between the 3 generations of Minifigs. Below are photographs of an ACW figure from each "generation, to show the progression of detailing of Minifigs.

A 1st generation Zouave; a 2nd generation Marine; and a 3rd generation Marine. Needless to say, the quality of successive generations is easy to see. However, I'm looking for the "Old School" look.

The other side of the figures. Hopefully someone will realize that they have some 2nd generation War of 1812 figures.

IN SEARCH OF: Minifigs 15mm 2nd Generation War of 1812 Americans

      With my current project being the War of 1812, I still haven't committed myself to one line of figures. While the Scruby's are painting up nicely, I'm still thinking of different figures.

     When I started wargaming, I wanted to do the War of 1812 using the Minifigs that I had, which were 1st generation  figures. During my search, I went online and asked if Minifigs did 1st generation War of 1812 Americans. I was told that they didn't do War of 1812 figures.

     Yesterday while searching for Minifigs, I came across a PDF of a Minifigs catalog, which had 2nd generation 15mm figures. It is well illustrated with photos of the different lines. Under Napoleonics, they had War of 1812 figures. Unfortunately, they had no photographs of the line. If anyone has some of these figures that they could photograph and send copies of the photographs to me I would appreciate it.

  For now I think I have enough 1st generation British infantry to make several regiments of Americans.

The good thing about British Napoleonic infantry is American infantry wore similar Uniforms.

Wargaming the War of 1812

    Before I had access to the internet, for several years my main interest was the American War of 1812. Recently I read a biography of the American general, Jacob Brown. He was commander of the American army that invaded the Canadian side of the Niagara area in 1814. He was the most successful American general during the war, but is largely  forgotten today. Reading of the 1814 campaign has renewed my interest in the war.

    Right now my big decision is which figures will be used.

Some of the figures I'm thinking of using; 15mm Minifigs 1st generation British Napoleonics(for both sides), 15mm Heritage Napoleonics, 20mm Frying Pan and Blanket Amalgamated War of 1812 figures, and 40mm Homecast Prince August and Zinnbrigade figures.

Some of the figures I started painting for inspiration.

Two other options are using Old Glory 10mm or Historfigs N gauge Scrubys. These are some Old Glory Napoleonics that were painted for a different War of 1812 project that I was working on.

Old Glory British infantry painted as Americans for the above mentioned project.

A Zinnbride figure converted for use as a early American infantryman. I got the idea for this figure from Ross Macfarland's Battle of the Month blog. In one of his War of 1812 games, I saw such a converted figure and liked the pose.

Two Zinnbrigade conversions. The  painted Zinnbrigade figure was converted to a march attack  figure. The musket is simply a piece of garden wire. Besides deciding on figures, I'm thinking of different rules from the usual Battle Cry or C&C rules. My wife and I are going camping next week. I plan to bring several War of 1812 books to reread for inspiration. Hopefully at the end of the vacation I'll have a better idea of where this project is going.

Wargame with Newly Based Napoleonics

 Last week I got in a quick wargame  with my newly based Minifigs Napoleonic. I used One Hour Wargame scenario #1 and OHW armies for the game.

This game was mainly to see how the new regiments would look on the new 2" grid board I made.  Thank goodness I got this game in, as I have already moved onto a new project!

I was hoping to at least get one cavalry unit on the board, but stuck with the armies rolled for.

I am happy with the results. Eventually this project will get done!

Working Out New Minifigs Regiments

   Working on my 1st generation Minifigs  Napoleonics has got me excited again for wargaming again, a feeling that has been in short supply for many months.  In 2016 I had started basing some of the Minifigs into 18 man regiments, with 5 infantry stands and 1 command stand. If  I have 3- 18 man regiments, I could convert them into Battle Cry regiments by removing 2 stands. I could then form 5- 4 stand regiments  by using 2 extra command stands.

    I decided to start painting the extra command stands, along with another regiment of British infantry. Besides the command stands, a few of the command stands I now have are short musicians, so I found musician figures to paint up to complete those stands.

    While walking the dog, I was working out my regiments. One problem was the fact that there is 1 Highland regiment. I didn't really want to overdo special units such as Highlanders. Then I thought of coming up with a "cadre" of a second Highland regiment. This cadre will consist of a command stand and 1 infantry stand. I've also started marking the bottom of the stands. Of course, right now I'm only numbering them with numbers, not after actual regiments.

    However, this latest flight of fancy has distracted me from my wagon project. I have decided to finish the command stands and musicians, put aside the infantry for now, and turn my attention to cavalry and artillery.

The newest regiments being formed.

I think the original Minifigs strips were a great idea. It is easy to paint the figures on the strip. What's more, the number tag at the end of the bases is a great handle. Too bad they didn't continue using this method; however, I'm sure they realized they could save a lot of metal by doing individual figures.

Closeup of the British regiment being formed.

4 "New" 1st Generation 15mm Minifigs Regiments

     With the completion of the cigar box wargame, I started work on my wagons. I began with four 1st generation Minifigs RHA cassions. As the size of the wagon bases are over 1" in length, I realized they won't work well on the small squares I use. 2" squares will work, but to have individually based figures might not look right. I brought out several different lines of figures to think the problem through. Among the figures was a large lot of 1st generation Minifigs Napoleonics that I got in a purchase of Peter Laing Victorian Parade figures. It is worth noting that I have posted before of making 18 figures regiments for my Napoleonic games. It turns out whoever had these figures must have planned the same, as there were enough figures to make 18 man regiments.  As the figures were already painted, all there was for me to do were to base them. When finished I have 1 regular British regiment, 1 Highland regiment, 1 British light Infantry  regiment, and 1 French Regiment. The French plumes are even painted different colors; obviously the original owner planned to base 3 figures to a base.

The original lot of mixed Peter Laing Victorian parade figures and 1st generation Minifigs Napoleonics.

The Minifigs before sorting and basing.

The regiments based. the 4 cassions can be seen in the background.

A New Peter Laing Figure

    I won a lot of Peter Laing Boers on Ebay a couple of weeks ago. While looking at the photos, the Boer rifleman standing firing seemed to be wearing a frock coat.  When I received to order, the figures were not Boer riflemen, but what I believe Peter Laing F322; Rifleman hunting shirt, firing. While I would have liked the Boers, I must admit that receiving figures that are new to me more than makes up for any disappointment.

   As mentioned last time, I wanted to start rebasing my AWI Minifigs. I have got the washers off the painted figures (had a few close calls where I almost damaged the figures). I remounted the figures on 3/8"X 3/8" plastic squares.

    After several posting on Man of Tin and Wargame Miscellany about Heroscape, I pulled some of my Heroscape pieces to have a quick AWI wargame using my new C&C Tricorne dice. It was (Loosely) based on Bunker Hill. I  have been thinking of whither to use Heroscape or grids for my wargames. I came up with the simple solution; whatever I feel like using at the time. Problem solved!

Peter Laing F322: Rifleman hunting shirt, firing

The British army assaulting the rebels on Bunker Hill

The British light infantry tries to turn both flanks.

The British start suffering heavy losses.

The British grenadiers near the top of the picture manages to get into the rebel defenses. At the bottom of the picture, one unit of militia retreats and the Regulars have another breach in the line.

The British get the initiative roll and push another unit into an undefended part of the fortifications. Had the rebels won the roll, they were going to slide their line to defend against that very move.

The British have the rebels on the run, save two units that are nearly surrounded,  and the rebel leader.

In the real battle, once the militia broke, they fled the field of battle. However, this is my little world, so they rallied and charged forward. The rebel leader joins the isolated unit to  motivate them.

This is my "elite" unit of militia. I painted them wearing uniform clothing, after an old brochure I have from Old Sturbridge Village with a militiaman toasting on the front. Many years ago I painted some Esci Napoleonics as 1812 militia, using this same uniform. For this game I treated them as a Provincial unit.

The rebels force a couple of British units back.

The British wipes out the militiamen with the commander. What's more, they  direct deadly fire that all but destroys what's left of the rebel army.

The British grenadiers close in on the rebel leader. In the real battle one of the American leaders, Joseph Warren,  was killed as the rebel line fell. There is a famous painting showing a grenadier attempting to bayonet Joseph Warren. In the painting, a British officer is holding the barrel of the grenadier's musket, stopping him from bayoneting the already mortally wounded Warren.