War of 1812 Wargame

    With my new board and terrain cards, I decided to try them both out. I had tried out some ideas for skirmish games earlier, and originally were going to try another skirmish game. After setting the game up, I decided to play more along the line of a regular game.

The drawing I made from the terrain cards, which was used for this game. 

Both armies after one move. I wasn't going to record this battle, the plan was to take a couple of pictures  showing the new board.

The Americans had captured the hill; the British managed to storm and take the hill. 

The British have driven back the entire American line. For this game I used my C&C Napoleonic dice , which I converted to C&C, Tricorne. C&C,T dice have two retreat flags, and only one infantry on it. I was playing using BattleCry movement and ranges, ignoring the crossed sabres.  For this game all units were treated as normal infantry (even the Indians).

On this roll the American riflemen rolled three "retreats", driving the British "Over the hills and far away"!

The Americans drove the British back all along the line.

One American unit retakes the hill.

The British drive up the hill...

...and once again captures it.

Another British unit comes up to reinforce the hill.

The American general joins one of the militia units. These two militia units were painted based on an actual unit; the Michigan Legionary Corps, which consisted of one company of riflemen, one company of light infantry, one company of cavalry and one company of artillery. I started painting these in the summer, with the idea of making my own Legionary Corps.

Both the American rifles and infantry in front of the British on the hill attacks that unit. With no place to retreat...

....the Americans eliminate that unit.

Meanwhile the militia punches through the British center.

The British concentrate on seizing the hill.

Once again the British drive the Americans off the hill.

The riflemen counterattack up the hill again (won the initiative roll).

The Americans eliminate the British unit that was supporting the unit on the hill.

At this point the British have lost half their units, and the unit holding the hill is in danger of being cut off. The British  general calls for a retreat.

  This game turned out to be more fun than expected. The War of 1812 was basically an infantry war. I am thinking of using Command & Colors Tricorne units, such as elite infantry, light infantry, Provincial infantry, and militia. It would be easy enough to pick a different class of infantry for Indians, uniformed militia, regular militia, and so forth. I am also thinking of making army lists like the one in  Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames, where you would roll for the army makeup. The list would probably be larger, as there are more classification of unit. It might take 8D, 10D, or possible 12D rolls to decide on the army make up.                                              

I have also started rebasing the units that are mounted on washers, switching them to square bases, like the ones the riflemen are on. It makes the figures more stable, and I can write unit IDs in the bottom if I choose.

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.

Dark Ages No Brain Wargame

         Personal business hasn't left me much time for gaming. By the time I have some spare time, it's almost time for bed and I don't even have the energy to do any reading. Tonight I went down to try to get something done.  I decided to use my new mobile board. Last post someone asked if I intended to use terrain with this game. For this game I put three hills on the board. Both sides rolled to determine which side of the board they would deploy on. For this game I used my 6mm Irregular Miniatures Dark Ages armies.

     The blue army deployed on the side of the board closest to the hills. They decided to seize the hills, with their Huscarls holding the center hill.  The green army deployed their army with most of their units ready to attack the blue's right flank.

The green army inclines to their left flank.

The blue army starts shifting their army to face the green army.

Two green units attack the blue unit holding the right hill.

A blue unit comes from behind to hit the flank of one green unit...

...and manages to eliminate two stands and force the rest to retreat.

The green huscarls push forward to attack the blue huscarls.

The blue huscarls lose one stand, and two others retreat.

The green attack on the left is putting strain on the blue's right flank. The green huscarls have broken the blue huscarls and push forward.

The blue army pulls one unit back onto the center hill. The blue huscarls counterattack against the green huscarl. another blue unit attacks the green huscarls flank.

Half of the green huscarls are driven back; the green king falls back with them.

The green army presses forward.

One green unit attacks the blue unit that attacked the green huscarls flank. They  lose two stands.

The green army finally takes the left hill.

For this game I used a rule I saw on another blog recently, where two dice are rolled; the highest dice is used for movement points. Unfortunately, blue rolled two "ones", and moved two stands off the hill in support of the huscarls.

The green army consolidates their line.

The green left crushes the blue's right flank.

The situation facing the blue king.

The blue king decides to save what's left of his army.

   

Mobile No Brain Wargame

  After thinking about my wargaming recently, I believe part of the problem is working in a dank cellar with no natural light. Also, time is limited and most of my free time is in the evening. By then, it's time to spend with my wife. I started thinking of using the Cigar Box Wargame and tray table to have games. However, one concern is my dog, who sometimes chooses to sit in my lap at night. One possible idea is a tray with sides so if the table is rattled,  the playing pieces hopefully would not scatter across the floor.

  I decided to use a tray that I use to work on figures. When gridded off with 1 inch squares, the board came out to 9x 13; coincidentally, Command & Colors boards have 9x13 hex boards. This has me thinking of using scenarios from C&C games.

   I also figure that I can set up games in the bedroom under the window looking out our back yard where there is good natural light.  Today I had some spare time to get a game in with the new board. I decided to use No Brain Wargames with my 6mm Irregular Miniatures. It was good getting a game in and and was a quick setup, which is what I'm looking for.

The tray set up for battle. Two Irregular Dark Ages armies in action.

The table set up under the window.

The Blue army  pushes back the Green army.

The Green Huscarls break through the Blue's center.

A Blue unit swings behind the Green Huscarls...

....and the Blue forces crush the Huscarl between them and eliminates them.

The Green army reconsolidates their line.

The Blue army turns the Greens right flank.

The Green army realizes to try to continue the battle would only end in it's destruction, and wisely retreats.

The entire game ready to move.