On Saturday I decided to sign up for another game to replace the naval game I missed. Since this year is the anniversary of the War of 1812, I decided to go with a re-enactment of the
Battle of Queenston heights using the
Rockets Red Glare rules. We played in teams generally by committee until enough reinforcements arrived that we could each take a command. I stood on the wrong side of the table and was assigned to the American side.
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| Board setup |
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If you see some similarity between this setup and the Dr. Who game posted earlier, it
is because they were run by the same person and I believe on the same
terrain using the same troops. The objective is to control the town and the gun emplacement on the high ground.
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| The invasion goes in |
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The Americans have superior numbers but have to land them in waves under the muzzle of a rather nasty gun in the redoubt on the first elevation. Our beach area was roughly from the base of the high ground elevation to the movement stick in the village. There was a gun on the hill and a rifle and a musket unit in the village. We decided that the gun was the biggest problem so went for that first.
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| The Assault goes in! |
The first wave consisted of a unit of regulars and a unit of Militia. We landed our regulars first and while we were able to shoot up the gun a fair bit, we were pushed back. The militia then went in and retreated in short order. While the regulars stood and took it and were chewed up for their efforts, the militia ran away preserving most of their strength.
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| Let's try the town instead. |
We had been under harassing fire from Sharpe's younger brother and the Militia were proving decidedly ineffectual against the gun. We switched targets to the town. Above you can see the remnants of our regulars resting on the landing beach as the reasonably intact militia tries to clear the buildings.
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| Reinforcements for all! |
This shot is from much later in the game. Both sides have received reinforcements including an American unit right next to the gun emplacement as part of a special deployment roll. Of course they took one look into that big black muzzle and hightailed into the wheat field upper left. Here they were able to occupy British reinforcements for the rest of the game. We have more troops in the town and are close to clearing it out.
At the whistle, we were a couple of turns short of the scenario limit but had got all our troops landed including a cannon. the town was cleared but not occupied but the British still held the high ground with fresh troops. So not exactly a success for the American side but better than the historical outcome.
The rules were not the ones the GM wanted to use initially and none of us was familiar with them. After reading them again there were many things we were doing wrong but since that was happening on both sides, it cancelled out. An enjoyable recreation of a famous Canadian battle.
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1 comment:
Thanks for the great write-up and pictures. One minor correction the Doctor Who game used 28mm figures and buildings while the RRG game used 15mm miniatures, but other than that the terrain was very similar.
The American's might have had more success attacking the guns at the redan if the force sent up to attack it from the rear had been regulars not militia. Historically it was US regulars who captured the redan by climbing up the cliffs from behind it. The British player probably could have been a little bolder and engaged the Americans in melee as it would have been to their advantage in view of the disparity in morale values. Other than that I thought both sided did a good job.
Yes I made a few errors with the rules as often happens the first time you use them, but I think they have potential and I will try them again, learning from the errors of the first game. The rules themselves could use some diagrams and a bit more explanation of certain terms. I am glad the players enjoyed the game and will consider running an 1813 battle next year, perhaps Crysler’s Farm.
Your friendly neighbourhood GM,
Brian.
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