Welcome to part five of Picking My Battles, a continuing series of articles on selecting, planning and executing a wargames project. These articles started as a way to talk through the different battles I was considering, but will now follow my process in planning the scenario and armies I will need.

A map of the battle from The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812 by Benson J. Lossing.

I actually made up my mind on which battle I wanted to model months ago. In the meantime I’ve been focusing on a WWII project that will be officially complete later tonight. I’ve already started assembling a box of  Victrix British Peninsular Center Company figures. I’m enjoying the process with a few reservations, which I will discuss in a later post of this series.

After reading through my source material and considering the advice of others I’ve decided to pick Lundy’s Lane as the battle I will model my forces on. In the end the deciding factor was the size, having multiple brigades per side, and the relatively even strength between British and Americans.

My biggest concern was that the battle wouldn’t be representative of the period due to the large amount of night fighting. Ranges will drop significantly and rules will be needed to represent both sides being unable to see their opponents. Instead of making this a problem I’m seeing it as an opportunity to create some interesting variants. I will be able to play the battle as it occurred and also ask “what if?” For example, what if the battle took place in full daylight? Would the Americans have been able to take the British guns, prompting Drummond to launch rushed counter-attacks that wasted his forces and lost him the battle?

I have only a rough idea of what I am doing at this stage. I haven’t decided which rules I will use for the game, or thought very hard about the terrain I will need to build. So far I am building the 89th Foot as a start to the project. I am also planning to use it in a collaboration game of LaSalle at the club, so I’ll get some use out of the miniatures right away.

I do have some goals that I should outline as a reminder while I build my plan.

1. Recreate the Battle of Lundy’s Lane in 1:10 scale.
2. Build each unit as a mini-diorama.
3. Complete my first unit by the end of September 2010.

Welcome to part three of Picking My Battles. This series is about the different battles of the War of 1812 which I am considering as the basis for a participation game. In each part I give a very brief description of the battle, the pros and cons of modelling it as a wargame, and finally some thoughts on how to actually model the scenario.

Chippawa was in some ways only a preview to Lundy’s Lane. The most important outcome of the battle was informing the British of the professionalism of the American army. How different Lundy’s Lane may have been if the British assumed the American army was as undisciplined and poorly lead as the previous year? As close fought and bloody as Lundy’s Lane already was would over-confident British commanders commit a disasterous blunder thinking they were fighting militia and might-as-well-be-militia? I’ll leave a description of Lundy’s Lane for the next post in the series.

In July 1814 the Americans are once again mounting an invasion of Canada. This year they are so significantly better trained and better lead that they will defeat the British defenders in open combat, though they don’t know this yet. The invaders, the American Left Division under Major General Jacob Brown, quickly taking Fort Erie from a tiny British garrison force the Americans begin moving north up the Niagara with the intention of meeting Commodore Isaac Chauncey and the US Fleet on Lake Ontario.

Winfield Scott leading the 1st Brigade. Image is a US Federal Government work and considered public domain.

Meanwhile, Major General Phineas Riall in command of the British Right Division moves south along the Niagara to lift what he assumes is an American siege of Fort Erie. Little does he know he is about the face almost the entire American Left Division. Along the way he gathers the various battalions of his division which had been spread thin to cover the entire Canadian peninsula. He makes contact with the Left Division but hasn’t built enough strength to challenge them. To buy time Riall makes a fighting withdraw, skirmishing with the Americans, destroying bridges and otherwise delaying the Americans.

At Chippawa Riall has reached the most defensible terrain to be found between the American force and Fort George and Lake Ontario. The question is, should he make a stand and defend the river, or attack the Americans. Assuming that he faced only a small force, since the majority of the American division would be still besieging Fort Erie, and contemptuous of the American’s ability to match his regulars Riall chooses to attack.

The battle is essentially a class between regulars, although some of the Americans wore grey coatees instead of their customary blue. This caused the Riall to mistake them for regulars and after seeing them maneuver steadily under fire famously exclaims “Those are regulars, by God!”1 The numerically superior Americans extend their line and turn the British flank, forcing them the withdraw back across the Chippawa.

Like many battles of the War of 1812 the Battle of Chippawa doesn’t appear to amount to anything. The British destroyed the bridge over the Chippawa again and prepared to harass the American as they attempted to repair it. This didn’t last long as false reports of an American crossing upsteam lead to a general British withdraw that ended only in Fort George. The Americans advanced to Queenston and waited for Chauncey’s squadron to appear. When they didn’t the Americans pulled back, the British sallied forth to do what damage they could and the Battle of Lundy’s Lane was the result.

Pros:

Regulars vs. Regulars. No player would have to be saddled with either poor troops or poor commanders.

The terrain is open and with room enough to maneuver.

Although some of the Americans wore grey coats this was a different in cloth but not cut, so a paint-conversion would work fine to represent them.

Although I am getting my information from a book which focuses on Lundy’s Lane, there is a book dedicated to the Battle of Chippawa by the same author I could use.

Simple, straight forward and battles wouldn’t be hard to represent in a wargame.

Cons:

The battle is a little too straight forward and small. The British and Americans were evenly matched man for man, but the Americans simply outnumbered their opponents. The Americans made proper use of their numbers and won the engagement.

No 49th or 89th, two British units that feature in a number of different battles of the war.

How I Would Do It:

This battle is straight forward and won’t take much thought to assemble. This is perhaps why I’m not as interested in choosing this battle as the one to focus my 1812 project on. Paint the forces in either 1:5 or 1:10 figure-scale, build some terrain and roll some dice. Which means it probably doesn’t need to be the focus of my 1812 project. I could credibly fight the battle with portions of the figures I would have to paint for Lundy’s Lane. Better to model Lundy’s Lane.

A quick one this time. It’s such a small, uncomplicated engagement that I almost started giving a blow-by-blow before reminding myself that the battle overview is supposed to be brief. Next time we go big and complex with the Battle of Lundy’s Lane. While Crysler’s Farm is daunting from the number of conversions required, Lundy’s Lane took place primarily at night, requiring special rules.

Tyler

Here is the second post in my Picking My Battles series. In Picking My Battles I am looking at four battles from the War of 1812 and choosing one to model my armies, terrain and initial scenario against.

November 11th is not just the Commonwealth’s Remembrance Day and the day in 1918 when the German’s signed the Armistice and ended WWI. Over 100 years earlier British regulars and Canadian militia fought a larger force of Americans invaders along the banks of the St. Lawrence River, defeating them and effectively ending the American campaign of 1813.

Unlike Queenston Heights I’ve only just started studying this battle and cannot easily remember the timeline, units or rough numbers involved, so if I make any errors in my synopsis I apologize. Of all the major battles of 1812 this one is the closest to home, being an hour southwest between Long Sault and Morrisburg. The battlefield was tragically lost during an expansion of the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 50s though a memorial stands near the flooded battlefield.

At the most basic level the battle was a straightforward set-piece affair. The Americans had been travelling along the river with the intention of attacking Montreal. A force of British and Canadians shadowed and harassed them. The day before the battle the British had made contact with the American rearguard. The Americans had all the advantages but chose to retire from the area known as Crysler’s Farm, leaving the British on an open, defensible piece of real-estate.

Central section of “Climax of the Action at Crysler’s Farm,” mural by Adam Sherriff Scott at the Battle of Crysler’s Farm Visitor Center, Crysler Park. Copyright unknown.

The next morning the American commander, sick and unable to leave his ship, ordered one of his brigade commanders that “should the enemy harrass the read, turn and beat him back.” This was intended as an order to form a rear-guard, but Brigadier General John Boyd, didn’t interpret the order as such. He’d been receiving contradictory orders from two incapacitated officers all morning. Instead Boyd moved his command to attack an enemy of well-drilled and lead British Regulars in an open field chosen by the British commander, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Morrison, for it’s defensive features.

The battle was a hard fought engagement between two forces across an open field. Generally the better training and leadership of the British dominated the battle, though there were a couple of occasions where the result was in doubt. Eventually the Americans retired, leaving the field to the victorious British.

What was accomplished by this battle isn’t exactly clear. The American invasion was so ill-fated that it could be argued that without Morrison’s harassment of the American force Major General James Wilkinson would still have called off the invasion. Undoubtedly the inability to drive off their British shadow weakened the American resolve to continue. Having to hold off Morrison while investing Montreal would have been extremely difficult if not impossible. The battle is one of the largest open-field affairs to this point in the war and clearly demonstrates the superiority of the British army in such a battle at this stage of the war.

Pros:

An open field battle in which the British clearly defeat the Americans. As a Canadian who is unabashedly biased what isn’t there to like about this battle. It’s also one of the closest to my home in Ottawa. If I meet my ambitious goals I would have no doubt that there are some people in the area that would dearly love to play this scenario.

Although an open-field battle between line infantry there was some interesting maneuvers and back-and-forth between the two sides.

The plowed fields and woods would be easy enough to model. The thought of creating gullies and ravines is something I relish.

Cons:

One of the British battalions wore their great coats due to inclement weather. It would bother me if I didn’t model this in my scenario, however my planned suppliers of miniatures do not provide British line infantry in greatcoats, or if they do, not in numbers I could use. The alternative is to convert the entire unit, extra work for an already ambitious wargames project.

I would have to paint nearly three times as many American troops as British for this scenario. Since the Americans are being painted as opponents to “my” British troops this doesn’t make me particularly excited.

How I Would Do It:

Although by 1813 the Americans still lagged behind the British both in training and quality of leadership the American forces so outnumbered the British at Crysler’s Farm the ending is not inevitable. While I’d still rather have all players controlling competent forces this would not prevent me from playing this scenario.

The biggest stumbling block is the 49th Foot and their practical grey greatcoats. I haven’t decided on figure ratios but 1:5 or 1:10 seems likely. This means 30-60 miniatures requiring conversion. Adding a greatcoat isn’t the worst conversion ever and would give me excuse to remove the packs that wouldn’t have been worn into battle, it would significantly add to the time required for the project. Another option is to convert some of Victrix Limited’s 54mm Napoleonics to greatcoats and display them whenever I’m trying to stress historical accuracy. This would say – this is what the troops would have been wearing, even though the miniatures aren’t available in 28mm scale. I don’t know if that would quiet my conscience on this.

Otherwise the battle is straightforward while including some interesting terrain and giving the opportunity for both sides to maneuver their units instead of simply slugging it out, like portions of Queenston Heights. By the way, I’ve answered my 6mm-28mm question: 6mm will be a later project.

Next time, Battle of Chippawa.

Tyler

I’m doing something I should have done a long time ago. I’m getting my hands on every book on the battles of the War of 1812 I can and reading, reading, reading. This is helping me to both pick a battle to recreate and understand how the war was fought in greater detail. I just finished Field of Glory: The Battle of Crysler’s Farm, 1813 and am almost through Where Right and Glory Lead: The Battle of Lundy’s Lane, 1814. They are both by Donald E. Graves, a well known expert on the War of 1812. I find his books to be well written and although I still bog down under the flurry of names as normal for a historical work I find them very readable.

Originally, after reading an Osprey book on the war I had found A Very Brilliant Affair: The Battle of Queenston Heights, 1812 in Chapters. This is published by the same imprint, Robin Brass Studio. They’ve published a nice collection of book on 1812 and other periods of Canadian history, some of which I’ve only discovered when googling their website.

Having read the semi-fictional 1812 as a child I was originally taken by Queenston Heights as the battle that appeared in 1812 and included Isaac Brock. I had originally only known him from 1812 but when I read more of the early history I came to respect this “Canadian” hero. The problem is that Queenston Heights is not the easiest to translate into a wargame. I haven’t abandoned it, but since so recently reading of other battles I’ve decided to release it as the battle I am definitely going to recreate and turn it loose into the mix for consideration.

There are four battles that I have books for: Queenston Heights, Crysler’s Farm, Chippawa and Lundy’s Lane. Chippawa is covered in Where Right and Glory Lead but there is also another book available for it. There are other small actions which I may write scenarios for, but I really want to focus on one battle to form the OOB I will collect, terrain I will build and rules I will troubleshoot. While I am happy to simply paint and play some Back of Beyond British, I want to be able to run a War of 1812 participation game and have it be educational and fun. Funducational.

Originally I was going to write some blurbs on the four battles, but as just the bit on Queenston Heights took a couple of hours, I will break them apart over a number of days.

Tyler