War of 1812 Wargaming Blog: February 2015

Saturday, 21 February 2015

British Rocket Sections in the War of 1812

Rockets being used in the War of 1812 were made famous by the American National Anthem. Rockets were very inaccurate but made a loud noise as they fired. They were also very visible as they came towards you and had a high rate of fire. This made them have a powerful psychological effect on enemy troops.

There were several types of launchers; There seems to have been three types. Presumably a rocket section may have had all three types.

1. The Ladder Stand; This was for the heaviest type of rockets. 24 pounders and up.

2. The enclosed tube type; The diagram below says they are 12 pounders.

3. The open trough type; this is possibly the lightest version of rocket launcher. Maybe 6 and 9 pound rockets.

Diagrams show the lightest rockets being much more mobile. Each artillery man was mounted and had rockets with him, while others carried the launchers.

There were two Marine Rocket Sections in Canada in Montreal in late 1813. They were attached to the two Marine battalions. One section was in the Niagara in 1814, and one or two sections participated in the invasion of the US. They were present at Bladensburg and New Orkeans. In the Niagara they were at Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie. Another section fought at Lacolle Mills, South of Montreal.

A section of Royal Horse Artillery Rockets also fought at New Orleans. All of the above figures and plates are the RHA.

The Marine Rockets fought in a blue tailess jacket with red facings. They had blue wedge hats trimmed with red, though I have one plate showing them with a Belgic shako as well. Officers fought in Marine Uniforms.

Royal Marine Uniforms. The rocket uniforms are bottom left.

Marine Rocket Battery in 20 mm (Blue Moon Miniatures).

A reenactor in portraying Royal Marine artillery.

Thursday, 19 February 2015

British and Canadian Cavalry War of 1812

19th Light Dragoons 1814 -1815

Here are my 19th Light Dragoons. Two squadrons were in the Niagara from 1813 onwards, and another squadron was in Montreal, the 4th and 5th squadrons came to Montreal in November of 1814. They were at most battles in 1814 in Canada and also Plattsburgh. Reenactors portray their 1813 uniform; they only fought at Black Rock in this uniform. Though it's possible that because they were heading to the Niagara, far from anything, that they only ever had the above uniform. These are Perry British Light Dragoons. Everything else in my army are in 1813 uniforms; I chose to use the 1814 uniform with these guys because they did not fight much until 1814; plus it's conjecture that they ever had the earlier uniform in Canada.

Canadian Light Dragoons

Small numbers of these were present at most battles in Canada. These are Perry Lee's Legion AWI figures with the collars trimmed. These would represent most troops in Upper and Lower Canada, although Fraser's troop (from Crysler's Farm) had a top hat with a bearskin crest. Knuckleduster makes Canadian Light Dragoons in the above version but also Fraser's Troop.

Monday, 16 February 2015

British and Canadian Artillery War of 1812

British Royal Marines Rocket Section; 1813 to 1815

These are Perry Carlist War figures with a green stuffed wedge hat. The Royal Marine Artillery fought in fatigues as shown. The officer in the marine uniform is from Brigade Games. The officers retained their Marine Uniforms. Warlord Games makes a Royal Horse Artillery Ladder stand which could be converted into Marine Rockets. Old Glory sells a pack with both ladder stands and the open trough type; though again this is RHA version.

There were two sections of Royal Marine Rockets attached to the 2 Marine Battalions. A section of guns was 2 field pieces. So presumably a section of rockets should be represented by two models as well. British Napoleonic Rocket chutes were of several types; the one shown (this looks similar to one of the Napolenic Types), the heavier ladder type (made by Warlord Games) and an open trough type. At Fort Erie they have two of the heavier ladder stands on display. I am assuming that a rocket section may have had all three types of launchers.

British Foot Artillery

These are the 24 Pounders from Chippawa and Lundy's Lane. They are Old a Glory British 18 Pounders with Victrix figures.

Canadian Incorporated Artillery

This gun on the left was to represent the Canadian gun at Crysler's Farm. Victrix figures with Perry heads.

Canadian Troops War of 1812

Canadian Voltigeurs; 1812 to 1815

These are Old Glory figures. They are nice but small. Knuckleduster and Brigade Gamesalso make these guys.

French Select Embodied Militia; 1812 to 1813

These are Knuckleduster miniatures. These were Provincial regulars. Many Upper Canadian militia would have looked like this up until 1815 as well. On the right North Star miniatures, on the right Okd Glory. The standard bearers in the unit are metal Perry figures. The Perry metal matches perfectly with Knucklduster.

French Sedentary Militia in cold Weather Clothing; 1812 to 1815

Here are North Star miniatures. They match perfectly with plastic Perry and Brigade Games. I have more of these for Induans and Voyageurs. Fantastic figures. Just buy the French wilderness force and you are good for French sedentary militia, voyageurs and Mohawks. Most of these could also be used to represent Mohawks as well.

American Line Infantry War of 1812

9th and 13th Infantry 1812 to 1813

These infantry represent most units in 1812, and many up to the end of 1813. Troops in the field would have either had white pants or blue with a white stripe. I made these out of Perry miniatures by making a card stock shako plate, a thread Shako cord and a green stuffed shako cord knot as well as a green stuffed backpack. All of my command groups are made from Perry Dutch, Belgian or Nassau with some Light Dragoon conversions.

23rd US Infantry 1813

These guys are made out of Victrix British with some Perry arms. All of my regulars' flags are from war flag.

Victrix and Perry Comparisons

Victrix at left, Perry plastic at right. The parts are interchangeable. I use a lot of extra Perry British arms to replace the brittle Victrix ones, but both are nice.

16th American Infantry 1813 to 1815

These are Perry conversions with Victrix heads. This unit requested, and were approved to have black jackets. They were one of the better American regiments. I have included my Old Glory US Riflesfor a size comparison.

Back view showing my back pack conversions.

I made my backpacks out of green stuff, they all have war flag decals on them.

21st and 25th American Infantry; 1813

Here are my Brigade Games American infantry with Perry command. The drummer on the furthest right is a Perry Belgian Drummer. They match perfectly with Perryfor size, though they are made with more more bendy metal. These Brigade games American line represents 1814 to 1815 only, but these guys are also good to make some units in late 1813. They have a smaller shako plate than mist units in 1813, but some units in 1813 did have smaller shako plates.

A rear view of the Brigade Games guys.

Main American Command; 1812 to 1815

Here is my general command stand. Made from Perry Dutch / Belgian Command.

1st American Rifles

Here are my Old Glory Rifles. Good for 1812 to 1815. Knuckleduster and Brigade Games also make these guys. The Old Glory ones are nice but very small. If I could redo it I would get one of the other types.

Sunday, 15 February 2015

War of 1812 American Cavalry and Artillery

American Light Dragoons

Here is the 2nd Light Dragoons, this uniform is good to represent 1812 to 1815. My American Light Dragoons are made from Perry British Hussars with a very modified French Dragoon head. I also green stuffed the blanket and made the coats longer. They were present at most battles in the War of 1812. Their pants would be either white or blue with a white stripe. American campaign pant for 1812 to 1813 were to be blue, but colour shortages meant many units had their summer pants.

This is the correct plume for American Light Dragoons. All uniform depictions showing a plume on the left side are incorrect and have been based on post war examples. These were a lot of work to convert, Knuckleduster makes these guys; if I was to do it again I would probably just buy KD!

Second and Third Regiment of Foot Artillery

Here is my Anerican artillery, these uniforms can represent 1812 to 1814. Many of them would have had new uniforms by 1814, but many would have retained the uniforms shown here. These are Victrix British artillery men with modified Perry shakos. The cannons are Perry Napoleonic French. This is three 6 pounders and one howitzer. Most American howitzers had bronze or brass barrels, while there other guns were iron.

Heavy Artillery and Light Artillery

The 12 pounders on the left would represent 12 or most 18 pounder American guns. Most of their 18 pounders were actually rebored 12 pounders. The light artillery to the right are made from Perry British artillery men with modified plastic shakos. They have Old Glory French 4 pounders. Most American Light Artillery were equipped with light 6 pounders, but they also had 4 pounders.

American Militia Models

I'm posting images of my figure collection so far; in part to show comparisons of figures but also uniforms.

Here are my Old Glory NY militia; these uniforms would be accurate for 1812 to 1814. Knuckleduster also makes great models that aren't so undersized of these guys. NY volunteers by 1814 would have looked more like regulars. This is a very common American militia uniform. Besides the NY flag, these guys will work for Maryland and Massachusetts too.

Here are my almost complete NY Militia cavalry. I am also making some red Dragoons later. On the left are the 8th New York Light Dragoons made from AWI Perry 16th Light Dragoons. On the right are the 3rd NY Hussars Made from Perry Napoleonic British Hussars. Both these units were part of Izard's division in 1814. NY Dragoons and Light Dragoons were present at a lot of battles. You can see the difference is size here between Perry plastics and metal. On the left are metal figures, on the right plastic. I have put the bases two high fir the metal figures.

Here are my almost complete NY Rifles made from Old Glory Kentucky Riflemen.

Here are the 5th Maryland Militia Volunteers. These guys fought at North Point and Bladensburg. The figures are Old Glory; they are 25 mm so I have put them on 2 bases to make them taller. These guys, like the two units above them are waiting to be based.