Rescue the Riflemen! (a War of 1812 Game)

It was my privilege to play a War of 1812 game of Sharp Practice with my friend David this last weekend. We have been looking for a good ruleset for a large scale black powder era skirmish game to run some War of 1812, Peninsula War, and AWI games, so far this has been the most fun.

There's a first time for everything

I have been building various models since I was about 7 years old. During this time, I have had many hobby-related accidents. I can safely claim to have impaled myself on virtually every sharp implement commonly used in model building, as well as a few of the more obscure ones (I once got my hand caught in miniature barbed wire I was twisting...).

That being said, last night I managed a feat I had so far only strived toward in vain: I have now officially glued my fingers together.

After a half hour in Loni's nail polish remover, I am ready to press on with the armies!

Trial & Error

Though I was, for the time being, content to play games on it with the panels attached via some C-clamps under hanging over the edge of the host table, I had come to a standstill on my portable game table. With the four sections complete, the project awaits assembly so that it can finally have a unified playing surface.

Then I ran into the fact that I am not nearly as good a carpenter as I had hoped.

A Pleasant Surprise

I came home the other day to a very pleasant surprise. When I opened my front door, a large red envelope fell at my feet, from a friend from my naval reenactments. Inside were several boxes of of esci Napoleonic wars British soldier figures, from Royal Artillery to Hussars.

It was a very thoughtful surprise, and I look forward to trying my hand at these fine sculpts.

1st US Infantry Division, 1812 part II

Today I'd like to show the whole of the American army from 1812 that I've painted so far, including some figures I haven't photographed yet. The officer leads his men from horseback while the NCOs keep the troops in line.

Since I've been working on my friend David's American army  in small batches, I have not even seen all of them together myself yet. He has kindly assembled the men and taken some shots for me. I am liking how the bases rank up for a good unified look. When I get to the riflemen, they'll have a variation on this basing technique with a little more undergrowth and rocks to give an impression of skirmishing over rough ground.

It is a lot of fun to see the whole regiment arrayed out like this, and I can't wait to face it on the tabletop!