Battle of St. David July 1814: part 1

   The battle of St. David is a fictional encounter in the Niagara during the War of 1812 . It is the summer of 1814 and the American General Brown is marching his army towards Queenstown to rendezvous with the American fleet.  Their goal is to sail to Kingston, join the American division under General Izard there and capture the enemy naval yard and destroy all ships there.  This blow may cripple the British Navy in the great lakes. British General Drummond, determined to stop him moves his army into a position by the village of St. David.  Here he will attempt to stop the American advance.

  The armies for this battle will be based on those who fought at Lundy's Lane.  Being the largest battle fought during this campaign it provides a wide variety of regiments and three good sized  historical commands per side.  As with many things in the miniature war game world I have substituted some regiments who were in the area for those who were there.  This is because I have a number of favorite regiments who I wish to see on the table.  In addition I have increased the size of some regiments to provide a better table top game.

View of the Battlefield from the British/Canadian position.

View of the Battlefield from the American position.

   The battle ground will be based on the typical countryside of the Niagara.  Farmers fields,  woods, a small stream on part of the village.  There is a slight ridge on the edge of the table the Americans must capture to continue their advance.  Numerous fences should provide the British/Canadian forces good defensive positions to try and hold the Americans.

The village of St. David.

   Victory conditions are the American army must capture the ridge so they can exit off the table towards Queenstown.  They have untill the end of game night (7:00 to 11:00 pm).  The  British/Canadian army will try to prevent this.  If either side is reduced to less then 60% of strength they will withdraw off the table towards their base.

  Order of Battle

American Army
General Brown Commanding

Unattached:
US Artillery battery
New York Militia Dragoons (6)

1st Brigade: General Scott
9th US Infantry regiment (24)
11th US Infantry regiment  (24)
22nd US Infantry regiment  (24)
25th US Infantry regiment  (24)
 Towsend's battery  US Artillery

2nd Brigade:  General Ripley
1st US Infantry regiment  (24)
21st US Infantry regiment  (24)
23rd US Infantry regiment (24)
Ritchie's battery US Artillery  (24)

3rd Brigade: General Porter
Pennsylvania Volunteers  (24)
New York Volunteers (24)
Canadian Volunteers  (24)

British/Canadian Army
General Drummond commanding

1st Brigade: Lt.Col. Scott
1st Regiment of Foot  (24)
8th Regiment of Foot (24)
Flank Companies  (12)
Royal Artillery

2nd (Light) Brigade: Lt.Cil. Pearson
 Glengary light Infantry (GLI) (24)
Incorporated Militia Upper Canada (IMUC) (24)
1st Militia Brigade (24)
Norton's Indian detachment (6)
Royal Artillery

3rd Brigade:  Lt.Col. Morrison
41st Regiment of Foot (24)
49th Regiment of Foot (24)
Flank Companies (12)

Unattached:
19th Light Dragoons  (6)
Royal Marine Rocket battery

Grist Mill

  The Grist Mill is a beautiful building which will liven up any table top.  It reminds me of the one at Old Sturbridge Village which I have visited many times.  It could also make a interesting objective in a game as a source of supplies to help a army, or to prevent another side from using it.

 It is also the most difficult building I have yet put together from Impudent Mortal.  This has to do with the wheel first, and the various doors, door says and window sills.  Lots of small parts which could get lost or forgotten about.   But it is worth it for the finished Grist Mill is beautiful.

My suggestion is to study the instructions and pictures of the finished mill first. Lay out all the pieces and arrange them by instruction page.   This will assist you in figuring out where things go and if you are missing  anything.  Then carefully put the pieces together without glue to see how they fit.  Only then start to glue them.

  In the end the Grist Mill is a lot of work, but it provides a wonderful centrepiece to your table top and a unusual item not often seen.  Highly recommended as Hal would say!

Cabin with front porch

Now that I am getting the hang of this I tried a slightly more complicated kit.  I would recommend reading the instructions and just placing the pieces together before gluing.  Good thing I did this first!  Saved myself a lot of aggravation.  But what I got from it is a very nice addition to my growing list of houses for the table top.  Next I plan on tackling one of the bigger buildings.  The Grist Mill!

Stone house

  Another kit from Impudent Mortals.  As it looked simple I put this together next.  It was pretty simple.  Especially with the free instructions provided at the site.  Again, a cost of paint brings the house to life.

Covered Bridge

To learn about how to put these MDF kits together I started with the covered bridge.  I am not so sure how authentic it is for the time period I game in.   But it looks nice and reminds me of the one at Old Sturbridge Village here in Massachusetts.  Since they do a large Rev War weekend each year I could do a table top battle of the mock tactical they put on!

Instructions for the kit are available through Impudent Mortal site as a free down load.  It was very helpful.  The owner of the site who I bought these from at Cold Wars warned me about using a super glue since you cannot correct errors you make.  I used Annie's tacky glue from Michael's which worked excellent.  A sharpe hobby knife is recommended in case you need to trim parts.

The bridge went together in minutes! Very easy.  Next I sprayed it black and painted it with craft paints.  I have to say that painting it really improves the kit and brings it to life.

 Done, and a fine looking addition to my table top it us!  More to follow. BTW, river is from Battlefield Terrain Concepts.

Impudent Mortals MDF buildings

 Among the items I bought at Cold Wars this year were a number of MDF buildings. Most  of these were by a new (to me) company called Impudent Mortal (https://www.impudentmortal.com).  They make a wide variety of interesting items. These include paint racks and buildings.  The buildings include a number of North American 25mm type structures which fit in nicely for my Rev War and 1812 table tops.  The prices are very reasonable and they also bundle buildings in evan more reasonably priced packages.  I bought the bundle which included a really nice Georgian House (I want to get a couple more of these).   Perfect for my time periods. The company has on line instructions available directly to down load to assist in assembling the buildings.

  I am having great fun with these. They go together very well and paint up nicely.  I think they will give my table top a lift. And provide some structures to fight about in future games.  Perhaps the nefarious Canadian Volunteer will want to wreak havoc on a small village in a future game?  Stay tuned to see!

A visit with Scott Leach and his miniatures.

I visited with my friend Scott Leach recently.  Scott has been a mentor over the years in all things miniatures.  He has taught me more about painting and miniatures then I could remember.  And inspired me in all my miniature projects.

During our recent visit Scott was kind enough to show me some of his new 54mms figures.  Many of these are conversions from existing figures.  His latest work included figures from the court of Napoleon III, French Vivandiere's and Cantinere's, two Civil War regiments and a Santa for Christmas.

 Many visitors to my blog may have seen or visited Scott's blog here:
https://ilikethethingsilike.blogspot.com