1812 Diversions

The War of 1812 is luring me with a siren call.  I'm back to painting Perry plastic Napoleonics as the 49th Foot (the Green Tigers) and working out which combination of US army uniforms to go with for the opposition.  Meanwhile, I've been raiding 3 libraries for 1812 material (mine, the Regina Public and the University of Regina).  Best pickings to date at the UofR since they teach Canadian history and I get extended borrowing privileges as a faculty member.

Recommended reading so far

Skype's Creek Pt2

Photos taken over Skype showing the battle progressing, while Ross' cat gets bored and wanders off.  One company of the 4th Infantry landed close to the battery and managed to get in among the gunners before they could get more than 1 shot off.  Meanwhile a US Naval landing party took the stone house and destroyed the company of defenders as they ran off.

On the left flank the 19th US landed up river of the bridge.  One company took the redoubt (in the second attempt) while the second took a defensive position to block the expected reaction.  BY the time this shot was taken, redcoats are advancing down the road while Indians in the centre and cleverly taking advantage of cover provided by the Cat's tail!

Over on the right the 4th US has one company in the battery (about to be seen off by Canadian militia) and a second in the stone house.  The naval landing party is looting bodies, drinking run and celebrating their adventures in the enclosure.  Meanwhile the 17th US and 5th New York are in the process of landing.

Having lost their cover the Indians advance to fire at close range on the US Infantry working at dismantling the bridge.  The redcoats are getting close to our left and a few die hard grenadiers can be seen in the woods on the shore.

The US left flank collapses as the 19th US is done in by a charge from the red coats.  The NY militia is advancing to reinforce the flank but will be late.

Action at Skype's Creek pt 1

A better shot of the battlefield prior to the American landing in support of their oppressed brethren in Upper Canada.  Two companies of regulars plus one landing party of sailors were allocated to land on the beach in front of the stone house, while two more companies of regulars ware to land upstream (to the left) of the bridge.  Defenders included a company of Kings foot in the stone house, a half company in a redoubt by the bridge and a siege gun in the battery.  reinforcements could be expected to arrive from he north (along the road to the right of the house) and south (along the road to the bridge) with Indians rumoured be in the woods.  I had two more companies of regulars plus three of militia on the home shores ready to cross when the battery was silenced.

Frenchman's Creek - Recon

I received the following sketch of the Canadian shore of the Niagara River in the area of Frenchman's Creek.  The road follows the shore from Chippewa, Queenston and Ft George (to the north off the bottom of the picture) over the creek at the bridge (just visible) and then to Fort Erie to the south.  The river flows towards the camera angle from south to north.

 My orders are to burn the bridge over the creek and capture the redoubt.  We'll see how this plays out.

Mother's Day Mea Cupla

I don't know about the rest of the planet, but it's mother's day here in North America.  Now I know that most of the people who will read this aren't mothers, but I suspect that most have mothers and many are married with kids of some age.  Therefore do your manly bit and enjoy the day giving your mum or spouse the royal treatment.   Or at least don't do what I did!

My daughter plays in youth orchestra that uses Bingo fund raising to pay for some costs (the parents out there are rolling their eyes knowingly).  Back in the winter, our bingo coordinator asked if I could run the bingo on May 13th so that he could spend his anniversary with his wife.  At the time May was a long way off, and it was way too early to even know what our calendar would look like in  May.  But, it was after the end of term and I could afford to be groggy on a Monday morning - so I said "sure".  Fast forward to the first of May and we flip the calendar page over and write down the commitments for the month - and hey look dad has us working late night bingo on Mother's day!

Just to be clear, the orchestra bingo's are almost always Sunday nights and almost always the late night program.  So yes we start coating bingo cards at 7:30, start selling them at 9:30 and the last card will be played around 12:30 or 1am.  So you ask who in their right mind plays bingo at 1 am on a Sunday night and on Mother's day of all day.  Well I let you know tomorrow, but my guess is that I'll know most of them by sight (from past bingo nights) and that many of them will bring their mums.

Meanwhile, I'll be out in the dog house wit jsmilesr !

Bloggers in Print

I got my electronic copy of Battle Games yesterday, and found a very well written article on figure painting.  I found myself alternating between thoughts of "hey this guy does what I do" and "dang those figures and bottle cap thingies look familiar".  When I got to the bottom of the article I found out why everything looked so familiar - the author and painter was Stokes from http://grandduchyofstollen.blogspot.ca/.

Well done Stokes, lots of good advice.  I follow some of the same rules - a white base coat, thinned down acrylics and washes.  I employ the two feet rule - if needs to look good from 2 feet away.  Things have been silent from the Duchy of late, I suspect it's end of term crunch for him but I'm looking forward to more.

Attention Spans - I Should Get Me One of Those

Ok I know I've been hopping about like a hamster that's been nibbling chocolate covered espresso beans, but this time there's a better reason than most....


Following up on my 1812 game last week, I've been contact with an urgent request (his words not mine) for plastic figure suppliers to refight 1812 battles.  So I did my research and sent him a list of alternatives (in 3 scales of course).  But it got me thinking (and I'm sure you know where that trail of thought led).....


Ok I have some Perry Napoleonics painted and unpainted, and one could do pretty much any infantry unit in uniforms with the contents of a Perry box of brit infantry.  Victrix does Brit artillery which will do for Yanks as well (once I borrow SYW cannons for them to crew) and I figure that I can convert the Perry french dragoons into both sides light dragoons (with the Xacto for the Yanks and with a Victrix French shako for the Brits).  And hey the frontiersmen and Indians transfer over from FIW, and Victrix makes heads in round hats for marines and US militia, and...


Ok somebody hit me now!