John Bull - Battle of Queenston Heights 1812

The Battle of Queenston Heights - General Brock is mortally wounded.

STOP U.S. Aggression!!! 
Canada for the Canadians (& the British...)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Queenston_Heights

Here we go then, our first attempt using the 'John Bull' Rules.  Each element is classed as a platoon about 20-50 men.  A group of these make up a  Company, led by a Captain.  A number of Companies make up the force, which in turn is led by an overall leader.  Each element in a Company must be the same & each Captain is represented by a counter.  Turn wise, a die is rolled to see who goes first, moving/firing one Company of choice, then the other player goes.  Continue till all Companies have moved.

Each Captain has a morale value & may have a special characteristic, which has it's effect on the play.  Each Company has all it's stats. printed on a game card, Move/Fire Value/Melee/Morale, so game play is speeded up. Simples!!

Using the Queenston Heights Scenario from Scenarios for The War of 1812, we had a basic game.  It went very well, the game played much quicker than I expected.  For the US forces we went with 4 equal sized Companies.  For the Brits, we had 3 Companies & a Light Field Gun.  All officers were drawn by random.

The US Army - along with Company Cards & Officers

The British & Canadians

The Battle

The British won the initial die roll & opted to move the Light Infantry forward, opening them out into 'Loose' order.  An initial pot shot at the enemy was poor.

The US forces have a go with equally pathetic results.  However the Canadian Troops step forward & 'Wayhey' BLAST away the Yanks.  This results in the loss of a Platoon, and a Morale roll.  This is failed & the Yanks leg it. 

The US Militia moves forward & takes a shot at the Brits, who respond in kind, no result.

That cancels the British units move & the other US Militia moves forward

A new round, the US wins initiative.  The British Company looses the firefight, forcing them to retire one move.  The Canadian Unit changes facing & 'WayHey' another mega die roll sends another US Company packing.

Another failed Morale roll & there off!

Oh dear, the US forces are in trouble....

RUN, FORREST RUN!!!!

One unit off table & another two in full retreat, the Brits take the day...

A nice enjoyable game, the first round was spent leafing through the rulebook, but we soon got the hang of it. We'll need a bigger game board for the next one, in an effort to get some movement before contact.  

Amy enjoyed playing with the 28mm figures as well.  Next time we'll have a go at The Battle of the Raisen River!

War of 1812 - USA Forces 2

Here's some more pix of our USA 1812 forces.  The first lot are a motley bunch of Militia, they have a 'rustic', just put together look to them.  The vast majority of these came from the odds n sods, what's left over box at game show 'bring n buy' stands. A few extra Milliput hats, a tidy up paint job, some miracle varnish dip painted on & re-basing.  They have a stars n stripes (from Battleflag), plus a strange black & white jolly roger/stars n stripes flag.  The flag belonged to a Militia unit that was held in reserve, the name of which escapes me for now.  However this bunch will definitely be crossing the Canadian border....

Forward Men!

There's a few ACW Confederates in there too... 

Plus a couple of Perry Plastic French Dragoons.. with dandy beaver skin hats on now.

Love that funky Militia Jolly Roger

The final few, we have some woodsman that will make up a Militia Rifles unit.  Plus a Del Prado French 12 Pdr with some converted Del Prado French Artillerymen.

Sniping away...

Boom

Add caption

War of 1812 - USA Forces 1

Here's some pix of the USA forces we've put together.  Both Armies are nearing completion, there's some mounted Kentuckian Volunteers we're putting together.  A few extra bits & some milliput top hats, then they will be done.  Plus a few extra paint jobs on some old & battered Napoleonic figures, then the Americans should be there.  I've now read through the rules, they seem fine.  The rules utilise some coloured counters, these are printed off & laminated.  Should be able to have a game the next time I get time off.  What I forgot to mention is that we've based them on 28mm DBN bases, that way we can always use them in a DBN game later.

The first set to represent the US 16th Infantry Regiment. This motley crew began life as some Brunswickers, a new paint job & some dandy hat decorations then there they are.  The US regiments seemed to go through a variety of uniforms, excellent for wargamers as you can't go wrong!  These fella's wore black.  

It was shocking to discover that the US Regiments didn't have a stars & stripes, but a national colour and a 'naff' regimental colour.  Some sources show it as buff some yellow.  We used the buff one, which we created ourselves.  The national colours for US flags from Battle Flag http://www.battle-flag.com/    

Dismounted US Dragoons, plastic Perry French Dragoons painted in nice blue US colours.  

US Artillery, found these British Artillerymen in a bits' n bob box at a game show.  Cost 2 quid, a few conversions, a touch up paint job later....

Another US Regiment, this time in the snazzy blue coat.

DBA 15-19K Pirates vs Spanish

Happy New Year & all that malarkey....bah humbug.  Work, most definitely took it's toll on MrF last year only a measly 16 posts for the DBA 15K website.  Well this year it will be different!!!  Though it may not be DBA we'll be playing.  I've had a look at a few other rule sets & at last found one that appears to be Ok.  We've already started collecting new minis, this time in 28mm, so stay tuned.

SO first up Captain Henry Morgan's Raid on Panama 1671.  Pirates vs Spaniards.  This was inspired by Steve Balagan's battle http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/dbx/dbr/scenarios/panama.htm

Well done to Steve, another cracking website... check it out.

The fine & dandy Captain Henry Morgan

The Battle of Panama 1671

Links to the attack on Panama....

http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/historyofthecaribbean/a/Captain-Morgan-And-The-Sack-Of-Panama.htm

http://www.historynet.com/henry-morgan-the-pirate-who-invaded-panama-in-1671.htm

Spanish Army

1x General, 4x 3Knight, 4x 4Pike, 4x 4Shot, 1x Artillery, 5x 2Psiloi (Indians), 

2x Warband(African Slaves), 2x Cattle(Warband), 1x 4Bow (Indians)

Pirate Army

1x General, 1x 4Blades, 6x 4Shot, 2x 4Musket, 8x 3Warband

(4 Warband would be kept off table for a sneaky flank attack..)

As usual a few rounds to come to grips...

The Pirate lads AAaaaarrrr.. take the initiative & attack.

Scratch one artillery

Spanish turn & in go the Stampeding Cattle!!!

Ole! The attack of the Spanish Knights

Those sneaky Indians are trying to out flank the Pirate lads AAArrrrr!

Pirate shooting takes down the Spanish!

The Stampeding Cattle are PANTS & shot to bits...

End of turn 6 positions

The Pirate sneak attack, more Pirate Lads AAaaarr!!

Pirate firepower sends em packing...

The Spanish Line steadies....

The Pirate Lads AAarrr!! hack down the Spanish Pike.

It's not looking good for ze Spanish!

AAAaaaaaarrr!!!

and more AAAaaaaaaarrrr!!!

Nice view of the battle

The Pirate Lads AAarrr! press home their attacks

But the Spanish Knights manage to cut down some unlucky lads

But the Pirate Lads AAAaaaarrr! can't be denied!!! Victory

Panama is SACKED!!!

Amy took the Pirate Lads AAaarr!! for that one & went straight for the jugular.  My Spanish Army was poorly lead & it showed...  Never mind, at least we've started 2011!