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.

Based for trees

  Always looking to add trees to my collection of terrain.  When you game American Revolution and War of 1812 you need plenty of woods to provide cover for you rifle men and indians, and for period atmosphere.  Most of my trees are individual based.

  At Cold Wars this year I got some extra trees free when I bought some river sections.  Since they needed to be based I used some pre cut GW based I had lying around unused.  I think they look good this way.  I may create some addition bases like these to use to break up line of sight in games.  I am going to add some woodland type animals to some for color.  But more of that in another posting.

Gabions

  A most useful item.  These gabions came pre painted and ready to use.  Picked them up at Cold Wars.  I will have to think up some scenarios to use in future games.

7th New York Hussars 1814

  The War of 1812 was not known for its cavalry actions.  One can always find an exception to the rule but for the most part cavalry played a very minor role.  But that has not stopped any miniature war gamer from fielding these colorful regiments.  And something about cavalry on the table top means glorious charges no matter the historical realities.

  Adding to my American army I already have two mounted regiments. One of American regular Dragoon and a militia regiment in hunting shirts and too hats.   But I just had to add these fine fellows.  As militia they most likely paid for their own uniforms.  And from the looks of These fellows they must have been from the upper crust of society.  Not content with plain uniforms they modeled theirs on the European hussars that graced so many Napoleonic battlefields.

  I can find little information about them so I cannot tell if their actions in the field resembled their uniforms.  Perhaps they got no further from the Niagara frontier then their own town greens.  perhaps most of their actions of dating were with the local ladies.  But I am sure on my table They will be involved in many heroic actions.

  Figured are from the Old Glory line of miniatures.

Hemingway in Havana

  Back in March Janine booked a short four night cruise out of Miami to Havana Cuba for us.  Well we are just back in the USA.  The trip was exciting and wonderful but exhausting.

  Havana is like stepping back into the 1950's.  If you like classic cars this would be like going to heaven.  The cars are beautiful and the owners very proud of them.  Interestingly the engine are usually entirely rebuild, many of them with canabalized Russian engines.  You can hire the car and driver for a three or four hour tour of the city.  Due to the heat (and yes it is very hot) I perfered the air conditioned tour bus.

  A visit to Havana would not be complete without a evening at the famous Tropicana night club.  Again entering the venue is like stepping back in time.  When you enter  ladies are given a rose, and the gentlemen a cigar.  You also get a bottle of Havana rum and a can of cola to enjoy with the show.  A very large and very talented band provided an amazing variety of music throughout the night.  The dancers and their costumes were incredible and would put to shame a Las Vegas show.

  Being a fan of Hemingway visiting his home was a must see. We booked a tour for our second day there which included not only visiting his home but two of his favorite bars.

  The home is meticulously maintained.  It truly looks like you could see Hemingway striding about with a drink in hand or standing in his writing room composing at his typewriter.  The swimming pool is empty which is sad.  But next to the pool is his fishing boat the Pilar.  In town at the El Floridita  there is a bronze statue of him at the bar.  And yes they make a great dacari.  At the La Bodeguita Del Medio you get a mojito. Cheers!