Geese, and chickens and sheep, on my!

  Continuing my theme of brightening the table top I have added more live stock to my farms.  I was inspired at Cold Wars by a Sharp Practice game by 95th Division which had many unusual items scattered about the table. George and I talked about it all the way back to the Boston area.

  Why geese?  Why not!  They get in the way of things.  They make a great swaking noise and look fun being scattered by cavalry.  While most of my birds are domestic, I have included two Canadian geese.  After all it is the Niagara campaign.

  You need sheep, and a shepard.  These are based on sheep at Old Sturbridge village.  Janine and I took our yorkee Fritz for a walk there last fall.  While he was fascinated by all the animals (and they him) he was particularly interested in the sheep.  So I added them to my farm.  The Shepard is from Hovels and his loyal dog sits by.  Look closely by the sheep and a rodent is scurrying away.

  The lady feeding chickens I saw on Der Alter Fritz's blog .  Reminded me of our farm program at Minute Man National Historical Park. We had period cows which we used to keep the grass down in the fields.  At the Hartwell Tavern we had period  chickens.  The figure reminded me of a couple of my seasonal staff.

  Lastly, we have the family cat.  Note he is hard at work keeping the local rodents away from the house!

  These were great fun to paint and will look good in the table.  Based on a suggestion here I will be putting on a game with small cavalry units chasing each other about and collecting "forage" to bring back to the army.  local militia horse will try to protect the locals.  The invading horse getg points running off live stock and damaging the farms of local malcontents.

 Figures were from either Hovel's or Warbases.  Great service and very reasonable priced.

Where are my followers?

  Not sure what has happened here.  I went onto my blog this morning and all my followers had disappeared!! Where there once had been a listing of kind souls who followed this humble blog were now a blank space of nothng. A black hole. Nothing!

  I am all alone. Please note picture of Mark pondering this mystery.

  So, if anyone can explain what has happened, and why I would be very grateful.  I have sent a message to blogger. It is a mystery to me.....

U.S. Regulars 1813

  Just finished a regiment of regulars for my War of 1812 Army.  These are from Brigade games and very nice figures they are.  They fit into my collection which is 90% Knuckleduster miniatures.  Similar pose, and slim figure.  The sculpting and details are very good.

 Since they are slightly different i wanted to make them visually different also.  I have my 1814 army;  so I painted these in the late 1813 uniform.  This has red collar and cuffs.  Not a major difference, but a difference still.

  The regimental colors are on order and have not yet arrived.  These will be from Flags of War.  Painting the figures I used my new Rapier paints.  These were recommended to me and I am extremely happy with them.  Nice flat finnish.  A great variety of shades and colors.  Highly recommended!

Fusiliers de Morliere part 2

  Corrected my error in not ordering enough figures.  Now I have finished the entire regiment and a splendid unit of light troops they are.  Very dashing and ready to cause trouble for the foes of France.

More French Artillery

Another gun and crew added.  Great looking figures and an amazing amount of detail on the cannon barrel.  With this gun and crew i now have a two gun battery for my small force.

Figures are of course from the outstanding line of miniatures from Crann Tara.

Getting started in the War of 1812

The War of 1812 is a fascinating period and provides great opportunity for miniature war gamers.  The armies are perfect for table top battles.  They are colorful and offer a wide variety of Uniforms and troop types.  In addition due to the recent anniversary there is a abundance of materials out there.  I just (nearly finnished) my Niagara 1814 project and am branching out adding more colorful regiments.  If you are interested in gaming this conflict here is a short guide to help get you started.

Uniform guides:
When staring the period I found these guides to be very helpful.  They are moderately priced and avalible from On Military Matters.  They provide the basic material you need for organization and uniforms.

Barbuto, Richard & Manley, Stephen WAR OF 1812:V1-Uniform Guide of the U.S. Forces

Barbuto, Richard & Manley, Stephen WAR OF 1812:V2-Uniform Guide of the King's Forces

If you get into the period and want more these two books are the definitive uniform bibles.  Outstanding!

Chartrand, Rene A MOST WARLIKE APPEARANCE: Uniforms, Flags and Equipment of the United States in the War of 1812

Chartrand, Rene A SCARLET COAT: Uniforms, Flags and Equipment of the British Forces in the War of 1812

Books:
 Berton, Pierre.  Flames Across the Border: 1813-1814
Volume 2 in his general history of he war.  A very evan handed popular history. He has a great number of characters he follows throughout the war.  If your looking for a military history this is not it.  But it grabs your attention and holds your interest.  One of the two books that got me interested in this strange conflict.

Eshelman,  Ralph E.  In Full Glory Reflected: Discovering the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake .
More of a coffee table book.  But the illustrations by Gerry Embelton are outstanding.  Great for inspiration.

Feltoe, Richard.  Redcoated Ploughboys: The Volunteer Battalion of Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada, 1813–1815
Great regimental history of one of my all time favourite regiments.  

Feltoe, Richard.  A Crucible of Fire: The Battle of Lundy's Lane, July 25, 1814 (Upper Canada Preserved - War of 1812)

Feltoe, Richard.  Upper Canada Preserved — War of 1812 6-Book Bundle: six book series
A six volume set of the War in Canada from start to finnish.  Outstanding!

Graves, Donald E.  Field of Glory: The Battle of Crysler's Farm, 1813

Graves, Donald E.  Red Coats & Grey Jackets: The Battle of Chippawa, 5 July 1814

Graves, Donald E.  Where Right and Glory Lead! The Battle of Lundy's Lane, 1814
Again, a great fan of the author.  Great military history studies of these battles but a top notch historian.  

Lord, Walter.  The Dawn's Early Light.
The other book that got me interested in the ad or 1812.  Covers the Bladensburg/Baltimore campaigne.  Again more of a popular history.  I am a huge Walter Lord fan, and enjoyed this very much.

Malcomson, Richard.  A Very Brilliant Affair: The Battle of Queenstown Heights, 1812
Brilliant history of this battle.


Miniatures:
Before starting your collection I would recommend picking a year.  This is because American regular uniforms differed greatly from early war to mid war to late war.  While I might mix mid and late war I would not recommend mixing early war.  The British and Canadian units had some differences by year but not as much.

Early war  US uniforms

Mid war

Late war

I would highly recommend these two figures lines.  The majority of my collection is from Knuckleduster miniatures.  They are very reasonably priced and cover the entire war in all its uniform variations.  all pictures on this article are Knuckleduster miniatures.  The  Brigade Miniatures fit in very nicely with Knuckleduster.  They are very well sculpted and detailed.  As of now they have figures for  1814.  In addition Old Glory miniatures has a fine of figures for the conflict with some specialty figures no one else has (including President Madison).

http://www.knuckleduster.com/shop/
(Look under free down loads.  Forrest provides great unit guides on how to build your regiments)
http://brigadegames.3dcartstores.com/War-of-1812_c_450.html


Blogs:
 These blogs have inspired me and provided great assistance in starting my own collection.

Lots of very good uniform information here:
https://www.thelordz.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13757

Rod has been my mentor and guru for all things War of 1812:
http://warof1812war-gaming.blogspot.com

Chuck Smith's blog filled with wonderful infirmation:
http://warof1812wargaming.blogspot.com

Rules:
I will not give out any suggestion on rules.   Each table top gamer has his or her idea of what makes a good rule set and what they like to play . For me, I have settled on my Mr Madison Mets Fife and Drum.  These are the rules for Rev War found  on the Fife and Drum miniatures site.  I have made a few twists and turns to them.  They provide a fun, fast and old school type game which I dearly enjoy.  My Advice is find a set of rules which mirror your tastes and use them.

Good luck, and happy gaming!

Militia in hunting shirts and round hats

   One can always use another militia unit.  No matter the time period.  Especially if they have round (top) hats!

  These figures are from Brigade games miniatures.  I picked them up at Cold Wars.  I had heard very good things about the range and was eager to see if they fit in with my Knuckleduster miniatures.  They do!  Similar style and look correct together on the table top.

  These figures will be a generic militia unit.  The round hats and hunting shirts fit in for the  Niagara or Upper Canada,  the Chesapeake bay area and New Orleans.

  The black flag with the death's head belonged to a New York militia regiment.  The other flag was similar to one I saw in Lossing's field book diverge War of 1812.  I think two flags look way better in a infantry regiment.

  Very happy with these fine fellows.  I will be working on a Brigade games miniature regiment of American Regulars in mid war uniform soon.