The Naval War of 1812

A couple of titles from my library supporting the naval side of the war of 1812. There is plenty of material available - even Alfred Mahan and Theodore Roosevelt wrote on the subject - so I will not be short of inspiration or ideas for scenarios.

I always enjoy the research part of a project and this invariably means some additions to the library. I have a small list of other titles I want to get but it is fairly modest and is in keeping with my usual half a dozen or so target. I rather fancy adding something covering the warships on the Great Lakes and know of a couple of titles to look out for that covers this.

Given the scale of the naval actions during the war of 1812 it would seem to be an ideal candidate for the Warlord Games Black Seas treatment with its 1:700th scale models - they even produce a U.S.S. Constitution - and for sure this is an option I am considering. However, I am seriously looking at 1:2400th as the models would be easier to paint and would have the advantage of fitting on the sea map board that comes with Honour and Glory, the Worthington Games board game covering the war of 1812.

There is an ulterior motive with this particular idea as I am also keen to take a look at the operations against the Barbary corsairs that the US featured in. Tumbling Dice produce some suitable models for the Barbary forces and again, the these will be modest in size.

For now though, research is the key and so I will need to get some serious reading in before making any decisions.

Preparing for the Inaugural Game

The opening positions as seen from the Union start line. The small town of New Rayleigh and the centre of the Confederate position.

I finally got around to setting up the inaugural game using my 30mm Spencer Smith ACW collection and to say I was delighted would probably be something of an understatement! The actual battle report will feature in a later post, simply because I want to go full on purple prose for the write up - you have been warned...

The view from the Confederate lines showing the extent of their defensive position.

This post will go over some of the organisation of the game and why have done what I have done to bring it to the table. To begin with the rules I am using are something of a hastily cobbled together conversion of the tactical rules found in Worthington Games Honour and Glory. Now it would seem a little odd using a set of rules for the war of 1812 For an ACW game but there is a couple of reasons for this. To begin with I rather like them - they are similar to the usual Command and Colours system - as they have a couple of little tweaks that appeal to me (more of which in a later post). Secondly, they are very similar to the ACW rules that  Worthington have available online and that accompany their new game on the subject. Obviously both of these sets are designed with hexes in mind but I have made the necessary adjustments for a square grid. I will be using the Portable Wargame in due course - indeed, they are my preferred set - but this was an itch that needed scratching!

I mentioned that I wanted to organise some theatre specific scenery so in its absence I had to make do with what I had to hand. Out came the Town in a Bag buildings, my very crude but functional hills and roads etc. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it all looked within the confines of using a 3ft by 2ft playing area. 

The scenario was a straightforward attacker/defender game with a small Confederate force tasked with holding the town of New Rayleigh against a probing attack organised by the Union. The Rebels are outnumbered but this is offset by the Gentleman of the South being in prepared positions. 

The forces are comprised of the following:

USA

7 x 4 infantry

1 x 3 cavalry

1 x 2 artillery

1 x 2 Command

35 strength points and exhaustion level 12

CSA

4 x 4 infantry

1 x 3 cavalry

1 x 2 artillery

1 x 2 Command

23 strength points and exhaustion level 8

I toyed with the idea of replacing one of the Union infantry units with another cavalry unit and increasing the artillery strength point to 3 but I stuck with my initial choice - mainly because by the time it occurred to me the game was set up!

So there you have it - the forces are deployed, the plans have been made and all that remains is the fight itself.

I hope you will enjoy reading about it as much as I did fighting it!

For Honour and Glory

From Worthington Games (as it was) their game of the war of 1812 including the naval side.

A number of years ago I owned a copy of the above game produced by Worthington Publications (as they are now known). It was two games in one as there was both a land and a naval game contained therein. The land rules are best described as Command and Colours without the command cards, instead one used a set number of action points that could be adjusted as the result of a dice roll. There were no figures and units were represented with a single wooden tile with a label depicting the unit. There is a sequence of numbers around the edges with the idea being that a unit took losses the edge facing the enemy was rotated to the new combat value. The original, pre-Plastic Soldier Company version of Hold the Line (covering the American War of Independence and the French and Indian War used a similar method  which is reminiscent of the technique employed By Columbia Games except the tiles are always shown face up – no fog of war here then!

The naval game is very simple and, one suspects that in the interests of economy, contains only two small metal ships and the appropriate tiles. The rules use a system of tiles with directional arrows to determine movement but the arrows themselves are printed on the land game tiles. This is not easy on the eye but an alternative would not be difficult to cobble together. The actions the game covers are as follows:

Land Battles

Queenston Heights
Craney Island
Battle of the Thames
Chrysler's Farm
Chippawa
Lundy's Lane
Bladensburg
North Point
Jackson's Night Attack
New Orleans

Naval Battles

Battle of Lake Erie
Battle of Lake Champlain
USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere
USS Wasp vs HMS Frolic
USS United States vs HMS Macedonian
USS Constitution vs HMS Java
USS Chesapeake vs HMS Shannon
USS Argus vs HMS Pelican
USS Essex vs HMS Phoebe and HMS Cherub
Capture of the USS President
USS Constitution vs HMS Cyane and HMS Levant

I owned this game for a couple of years and played it solo a few times although I did not do anything with the naval side at the time. Near as I can recall it ended up being disposed of during the great American Wars cull of my collection. Fast forward to the present day and I am delighted to say that I have managed to track down another copy which is currently on its way to me. This time I do not intend parting with it quite so readily!

In common with my Battle Cry ACW setup I have a hankering to do the same with another of the American wars - French and Indian, War of Independence or 1812 - but at this stage am undecided as to which. Certainly the naval dimension of 1812 is an interesting topic for low level naval actions and the land side has a lot of positives - small forces, colourful armies and easily transferable to the table top.

Something else to ponder.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 51

The man cave did not look quite as bad as the above - no bicycles or wheelbarrows were in evidence although the latter would have been useful moving Eric's collection around!

Another week and another round of sorting, planning and making decisions as well as some practical chores. The sorting (and practical chores) refers to the man cave as this was at one point doing a fair impersonation of Steptoe's Yard (see above)! The remnants of Eric's unpainted late 17th and 18th century and WW2 collection have been condensed down to four crates meaning that at long last I am able to actually see the floor. the numerous piles of figures that covered my table have all been accounted for and at long last I am able to move about freely without fear of stepping on something. I have even managed to set up one of my square grid playing boards (12 x 8 squares each of 3") so that I can undertake the first game using my 30mm ACW collection. SWMBO was mightily impressed when I mentioned that next weekend would see the dusting, polishing and hoovering of the man cave as well as cleaning the two Velux windows in the roof. It is long overdue!

I mentioned that I had reorganised my as yet unpainted WW1 1:2400th collection acquired for my Indian ocean project. I must confess that I really like the scale for naval games and Tumbling Dice produce some lovely models for a variety of periods. I am leaning towards using their models for the naval element of my planned ACW adventures. If truth be told they would also be a better option for the age of sail especially considering the rules I am likely to use. Which kind of leaves me with a minor dilemma - what do I do in respect of Black Seas? Have I made a mistake with this?

As usual with me there is no simple answer to this. The game itself looks fine but there is a part of me that is screaming "Seduced by the shiny side, you were!" Make no mistake the models are lovely but I am finding that all I am doing is viewing the whole thing through the lens of other rules sets and my own ideas. I shall put this to one side have a serious think. Should I decide not to proceed with it then I have no doubt that I would be readily able to dispose of the same. If I am honest I am struggling to see exactly when I would be able to get around to assembling, painting and rigging the models, much as I would like to. One to ponder methinks.

Aside from the Black Seas conundrum I have settled on the war of 1812 as being the 'Napoleonic' option I want to explore in more detail. It has much to commend it. The forces are small and recognisably Napoleonic looking with some easily paint converted options for uniforms in evidence. There is an interesting naval dimension that is low key in respect of the number of ships involved  making it ideal for solo actions. I can also make use of the terrain I shall be assembling for the ACW. Just how I am going to organise forces for this will be a post for another day as at the moment I am busy just reading up on the period.

Another task I successfully undertook was the sorting out and cataloguing of the assorted Tumbling Dice 1:600th scale figures I have been quietly squirrelling away. I have yet to do anything with them but I am certainly NOT going to be getting rid of them. In fact viewing the collection has reminded me that I need to acquire some additional bits and pieces to make the armies a little more nation specific. You may recall that my plan was to produce three forces - one in grey, one in brown and one in olive green or similar. the rationale behind this is that by adding nation specific pieces I could model a variety of armies. This is the plan long term so in the meantime I shall continue adding bits and pieces as and when the mood takes me.

ACW Naval Deja Vu

Overkill but in a good way....

Hmm. I suppose it is my own fault in a way. Whilst going through one of my many reorganisations a couple of years ago I offloaded a while pile of ACW naval books to the redoubtable Mr Fox. This was during one my ACW 'off' moments - and was one I have grown to regret! Anyway, to cut a long story short a short while ago I acquired a copy of the book Ships of the Civil War 1861 to 1865 by Kevin Dougherty and published by Amber Books. The title duly arrived but had a few dents in the cover (you can see in the picture) so I took the matter up with the seller (it was an eBay transaction) and they very generously opted to let me keep the book and to refund me in full rather than me having to return the same. Naturally I was rather pleased with this outcome but as an aside why oh why do some booksellers only send out books in heavy duty plastic envelopes rather than using card to protect the corners? I know there is a cost implication but surely wrapping books properly is safer than relying on the tender mercies of the postal system?

I digress. The book features over a hundred types from both combatants with an illustration on one side and the text on the other. It is not hugely detailed nor as good as the other title in the picture above but it is still an excellent primer. The other book in the picture is very highly regarded in terms of coverage and technical detail and was one of the books that headed out from my collection during one of my ACW 'culls'. Despite a couple of near misses I was finally able to track a copy down (again) for a pretty good price - using the refunded proceeds from the other book - and so was set fair for the naval side of my ACW project. Then I made the discovery that was by turns both amusing and embarrassing.

The illustrations in the 'Ships' title are the same as in the 'Warships' title by Tony Gibbons. In other words Amber have used the same artwork but added different text - presumably this was added by Kevin Dougherty. To be honest the 'Warships' title is definitely superior in terms of coverage but the 'Ships' title would certainly be adequate for what I am planning. Taking a couple of positives from the experience I now have two books effectively for the price of one.

The hat wearing Confederate cavalryman on the left and as fez wearing Turk on the right.

As well the above I also spent some time working on a couple of Spencer Smith conversions which you can see above. I am not entirely satisfied with this effort as the fez has come up a little on the small side although as a proof of concept it works well enough. The trickier conversions will be the fez wearing gun crew as well as the various command types as I will need to build up a kepi into a fez.

It looks like I will be reaching for the green stuff  soon!

WW1 in the Indian Ocean

H.M.S. Swiftsure in her tropical plumage. I have always liked this class of battleship despite being rather non-standard for the Royal Navy as they were originally ordered by Chile to offset a pair of Argentinian armoured cruisers. Fascinating to speculate how they would have fared against the German Scharnhorst class.

The weekend did not go exactly as I planned but it was productive in any event. For a variety of reasons the inaugural game using my 30mm ACW collection did not take place - I probably could have fitted it in but had I done so it would have been a rush and I really wanted to spend some time on it. I have a scenario in mind and need to cobble together some terrain pieces but nothing major. My plan now is to run this over next weekend all being well.

As part of what I was able to get done I had a sort out of my 1:2400th scale Tumbling Dice ‘Age of Battleships’ British and German forces. You may recall that I had amassed these with a view to tackling something set early in WW1 in the Indian Ocean that tied in East Africa, the Arabian peninsula and the legendary island of Madasahatta. The basic rational behind my idea was that the German East Asian squadron sailed West rather than East and that the Turks had naval assets in and around the Indian Ocean - including the Goeben and the Breslau (supported by the Blucher) that had somehow managed to evade the Royal Navy and in an audacious move had used the Suez Canal to escape.

The above basic idea led me to acquiring a couple of fleets from Tumbling Dice, supplemented with a Gorben and a Breslau from GHQ. If I needed anything further than Stonewall Miniatures would be the next port of call. these models are really nice but have sat in their bags for some months so I thought it would be high time I sorted them out and listed what there is. I am not planning doing anything with them just yet but at least it means that once they go back into storage I will know what there is. As it happens I am considering adding some French ships to the collection simply because they have some truly odd looking ships!

German

ABG2 (x2) Brandenberg
ABG10 Furst Bismarck
ABG12 (x2) Scharnhorst
ABG 13 Blucher
ABG14 (x2) Bremen
ABG15 (x2) Fraunlob
ABG16 (x2) Emden
ABG17 Prinz Eitel Friedrich
ABG18 (x2) S108 (1901 x3 per pack)
ABG19 (x2) S138 (1906 x3 per pack)

From GHQ are the Goeben and the Breslau

British

ABB5 (x2) Canopus
ABB9 (x2) Swiftsure
ABB12 (x3) Monmouth
ABB13 (x3) Devonshire
ABB14 (x2) Cressy
ABB15 (x2) Drake
ABB16 (x2) Black Prince
ABB17 Warrior
ABB18 (x2) Minotaur
ABB22 (x2) Pelorus
ABB26 (x2) Apollo
ABB29 (x2) Arab (1902 x3 per pack)
ABB30 (x2) River (1904 x3 per pack)
ABB31 (x2) Tribal (1907 x3 per pack)
ABB38 (x3) Bristol
ABB42 (x2) Invincible

Miscellaneous

ABM2 Tramp Steamer
ABM10 Otranto

The forces above feature a large number of cruisers and it can be seen that whilst the Royal Navy has the numbers there is a lot of second class material in evidence for 1914. From a historical perspective I could run Coronel and the Falklands and also the some of the pursuit of the Goeben and Breslau. Since I acquired this lot there have been a few additions to the range that I would be keen to acquire and I certainly need to bolster the merchant contingent.

I have in my mind's eye the plan for how I will realise this project in due course but there is much to be done beforehand. This will be a long term project or rather it will be a long time until I get to it as I have a couple of other things that will come first in the order of priority.

The Weekly Sitrep....Number 50

This is a peach of a book with some quite remarkable looking uniforms on display

The Royal Navy represented by H.M.S. Shannon besting one of the big Yankee frigates, the U.S.S. Chesapeake, despite the Americans not being aware that it was a duel resulting from a written request! 

"As the Chesapeake appears now ready for sea, I request you will do me the favour to meet the Shannon with her, ship to ship, to try the fortune of our respective flags. The Shannon mounts twenty-four guns upon her broadside and one light boat-gun; 18 pounders upon her maindeck, and 32-pounder carronades upon her quarterdeck and forecastle; and is manned with a complement of 300 men and boys, beside thirty seamen, boys, and passengers, who were taken out of recaptured vessels lately. I entreat you, sir, not to imagine that I am urged by mere personal vanity to the wish of meeting the Chesapeake, or that I depend only upon your personal ambition for your acceding to this invitation. We have both noble motives. You will feel it as a compliment if I say that the result of our meeting may be the most grateful service I can render to my country; and I doubt not that you, equally confident of success, will feel convinced that it is only by repeated triumphs in even combats that your little navy can now hope to console your country for the loss of that trade it can no longer protect. Favour me with a speedy reply. We are short of provisions and water, and cannot stay long here."

— Philip Broke, original message edited by James and Chamier 1837

Apologies for the delay in bringing this auspicious edition of the Sitrep to the blog - well it is number 50 in any event!

I have been rather caught up in a veritable smorgasbord of matters ACW, Spencer Smith and the age of sail - not to mention planning terrain and also the first game using the newly completed 30mm collection.

I have finalised what I will be acquiring for the ACW collection and the order will be going in over the weekend to that very nice man at Spencer Smith. I am also tinkering with left over figures from this collection with a view to seeing what they can be turned into with a little work - rather like gamers used to do back in their plastic heyday. You will have seen the very useful looking fez wearing gentleman from a couple of posts ago, well I am messing around with some other figures to see what I can come with as, needless to say, there are some cunning plans in the mix.

Thoughts of terrain for the 30mm collection are now front and centre as virtually all the pieces I own are really designed for use with much smaller figures. I am opting to use 2D/3D stylised buildings so I need to experiment with some ideas. The problem with using larger figures is of course that inevitably the table footprint of any scenery is larger. In many ways what I am planning will be almost 'cartoon' style and so will doubtless offend the purist. I have probably long since been denounced for modelling heresy so I will not worry too much about that!

The Age of Sail was originally going to be a winter project and indeed, it may well still be but I must get some terrain organised for the ACW first of all. In respect of the project I have in mind something that will also give me a good excuse to dabble in some associated land actions. Originally I was thinking about the Adriatic or the Mediterranean but instead I am looking to the war of 1812 against the US of A. The naval side will be quite low level in terms of numbers and is also very well supported in terms of the written word. I would not have to worry about building up great fleets of battleships for the war so the model count can be kept quite low - an important consideration when one considers rigging etc! Inevitably thoughts of the war of 1812 led me to looking at the land side and in truth, whilst it is a war I know very little about (aside from the war at sea and that is also rather limited) it does tick a lot of boxes in respect of the size and variety of forces in use. From what I have seen a number of troops could pass muster from a Napoleonic set up and indeed, paint conversions would cover a multitude of things if the above book I acquired is anything to go by.

There is also a number of figures produced by Spencer Smith that could be used quite readily....

I am now on the hunt for a good account of the war from the land side so if any readers have any recommendations please let me know.