Sunday, September 9, 2012

Preparing for the Gathering Storm



Spruce beer! Two bits! Officers of the Brooklyn Garrison refresh themselves. 

Its been a busy few days at Base Camp but most of my 1812 British, all of the Rebels and some of the Americans and 1837 troops are back on washers. I even invested $10 in another 2 lbs of washers which is about 200. Enough to finish the rest of the 1837, Oberhilse and American troops. I also re-tested an 8 man proto-movement stand  and it will still hold the troops at very steep angles (see a test of a 4 man stand 2 years ago).


There was a moment when I wavered and almost fell back on a larger establishment but after a break, common sense returned and I carried on. The new establishment for line infantry will be 2 officers including an ensign with a colour, a sergeant, 4 grenadiers and 9 privates. That's  a little light in privates  but as often as possible the unit will have 14 bayonets which is all that will matter. There will also be a drummer who won't count for combat or morale.

Once I had my fill of basing, I turned my mind to a scenario. I had been thinking of rebels trying to hold off government forces while they prepare a bridge for demolition but that felt too much like the last game, another delaying action. I decided to go for an attempt by rebels to seize a local militia armory including a 6-pounder canon. adlibbing, I put.together a village at a crossroads then surrounded it with fields and woods.  This was going to be a tough nut for the rebels, especially since reinforcements would include Dragoons which they would have little defence against if caught in the open. Best to keep government forces to a minumum, Here's what I ended up with:


REBELS:

On table, East Road

General Isaac Black
1 x 8 militia light infantry
1 x 16 militia infantry 1/2 pike, 1/2 musket

Arriving on a score of 1d6 <= the turn number, dice for arrival 1-4 South, 5,6 North.

Col. Pulanski
1 x 16 militia infantry with muskets
2 x 8 militia light infantry with muskets
1 x 8 veteran irregular light infantry with musket

GOVERNMENT FORCES. 

In Belmont.

Col. R MacEachern, Engineer and OC Brooklyn Defence.
1 Company Sappers (1 x 4 sappers with musket)
1 Company Ordinence Corps (1x4 infantry with musket)
1 Battalion York Rangers (1 x 8 Lt Inf with muskets. split into 2 detachments)
3 Barricades. The Armoury counts as a fortified building and contains muskets, powder and at least one 6 pounder cannon barrel and carriage..

Arriving on the south-west road on a score of 2d6 <= turn number.

Col. Flowerdew
Princess Charlotte Dragoons (1x8 Elite Cavalry)

Brigadier Topper.
Royal Veterans (1 x 16 Infantry w muskets)



Battle Report tomorrow.

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A big thank you to the officially anonymous person who arranged the gift  of the Sash & Saber Sutleress pictured above and the yet to be painted eccentric officers. Much appreciated. 

6 comments:

  1. Looking good! I'll look forward to the battle report.

    I've been thinking about basing lately myself, and decided to stick with mounting on washers and using movement trays with magnets for the time being. I like the idea and look of multiple figures based on a single stand, but I don't like the usual methods of keeping track of hits with rosters or casualty caps or the like. Easier to continue with what I've been doing, rather than start a massive rebasing project when I don't have a good reason to.

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    1. Yeah, I've done the rebasing, twice now. The washers work great for this kind of game and the movement trays should work for battles with a table full of troops. Once I make 'em that is. I was getting seduced by the idea of a stand as a unit but my subconscious was still trying to play this sort of game.

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  2. Looks great, and very much the type of encounter I would have imagined MacDuff being ideal for.

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    1. Thanks Steve, very much the sort of game that my washer mounted 54's might have fought 10 years ago.

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  3. I too look forward to the battle report and delightful illustrations.


    -- Jeff

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    1. I finished the game off this morning and the artists are touching up the illustrations as we speak.

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