The road to Charlottesville: Hollywood Cemetery

Friday was a travel day as we drove from Baltimore to Charlottesville in the Virginia hills. We decided to stop in Richmond, where I-64 parts from I-95 and heads west to Charlottesville. Despite wandering a bit through the city, we did make it to Hollywood Cemetery. This beautiful, well-kept burial ground contains the graves of 18,000 Confederate war dead. There is a special section set aside for the dead of Gettysburg. Resting with them is General Richard Garnett, killed with many of his men at Pickett's Charge.

From there it was on to Charlottesville and the rehearsal for my niece's wedding. I'm reading a poem during the ceremony, so had to be there. It was about 95 degrees with about the same percentage of humidity. Hotter today, with chance of thunderstorms for the outdoor wedding. Can't wait, right. Actually couldn't bear to miss the festivities.

USS Constellation

Yesterday Lorri and I wandered down to the Baltimore waterfront. Lorri had a rendezvous with a local nail salon and I was determined to check out the USS Constellation in the Baltimore Historic Ships exhibit.

There are four ships to tour: the Constellation, WW II era submarine Torsk, lightship Chesapeake, and a Coast Guard cutter. I chose admission to two ships, the Constellation and the Torsk. The cost was 14 bucks. The single vessel cost was $11, So the second ship was a three dollar throw in

The Torsk was no big deal. I've toured other subs and this was no different. Nice tour of the main deck, but nothing special.

The Constellation was entirely different. Completed in 1854, the sloop was the last all sail vessel completed for the US Navy. Reconstructed many years ago, it is simply the finest floating museum I've ever visited. Constellation is one of those rare vessels that invite a top to bottom inspection of each deck, from the spar deck to the ship's hold. The gun deck is lined with 8-inch Dahlgren smooth bores. The armament missing from the historical complement are four 32-pdrs and a couple of light Parrott swivels on the spar deck.

The Constellation is beautifully restore with loads of useful signage. The captain's cabin and dining room are fully accessible. The other officers' cabins are also restored and open with an explanation of their duties. All naval restorations should be so beautiful and well turned out to the public. If you find yourself in Baltimore with time on your hands, the Constellation is definitely worth your time.

Percussion lock on an eight inch Dahlgren smoothbore.

Starboard battery of eight inch Dahlgrens.  The ship lacks a pair of 32 pdr for each battery.

One eye-level look at the Constelllation.  Simply beautiful inside and out.  The ship had its summer awning spread against the 92 degree heat.

The Road to North Point

The Battle of North Point was fought between Maryland militia defending Baltimore in 1814. It was critical because the energetic British commander, Robert Ross, was killed in the action and the subsequent siege and assault on the city proceeded slowly and carefully. This allowed the city to gather its strength and deter a prolonged effort to capture this important Chesapeake naval base

Before I left home I saw (or thought I saw) the North Point battlefield was preserved and I was determined to see it. I left Bladensburg at about 1:30 and headed for North Point east across the bay from Baltimore. The route to the park was clear and except for a minor incident involving a bridge toll and non-payment thereof (eep) I made it safely to the park by 2:45.

North Point is beautiful. Semi-rural, wooded and green as much of Maryland seems to be, it is quiet and lovely and it reminds me a great deal of Washington's Long Beach peninsula. I paid my admission and drove on to the visitor's center. In speaking to the park staff I learned the actual battlefield wasn't in the park. Rather it was located over in Dundalk, near a place laughingly referred to as Burger Junction because of the location of MacDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's on three of the four street corners.

Burger Junction was easy to find but locating the battlefield took most of an extra hour. Though the field is owned by Maryland State Parks, it has only two small markers and really nothing about this important action. Nine acres of the field in this developed semi-urban community is all that exists of the battle of North Point.

Hope fully, given Maryland's important role in the War of 1812, and the arrival of its bicentennial, the state will invest in some interpretive signage. A map of the dispositions. Perhaps even some unit markers if those spots are known would be helpful. Honestly, I'm skeptical this is the location of the action, but it's hard to know after two centuries. It does however demonstrate the difficulty of protecting historical sites in the midst of development and urbanization.

O' Maryland, My Maryland (actually, you should have let the Brits takeBaltimore)

Today was my big day of driving around to War of 1812 sites. Unfortunately I only made two-Bladensburg and North Point. I'm posting from my iPhone, so I'm not sure about pics but I'll do my best.

I blew out of Baltimore this morning at about 10:30 and successfully navigated my way south toward D.C. Not an easy feat given the aggressive drivers near our nation's capital. Lots of highway should make it easy to find things, but it doesn't. I finally broke down and used information from websites and the GPS feature on my phone to locate the village of Bladensburg on Maryland Hwy 1.

Bladensburg is located on both sides of the Anacostia River. It seems pretty unprosperous by any standard I'm used to. The Maryland Historical Association/Society received a grant to begin studying the battlefield, which includes the state highway bridge over the river and a lot of privately owned businesses.

There are two valuable sites to see in Bladensburg. First is the Waterfront Park on the river. From here you can look across the Anacostia along the British line of advance. The other site is the Fort Lincoln Funeral Home/Cemetery-strange place for awar memorial. Yet, at the top of the hill behind the largest structure on the grounds is a marker showing the position of Joshua Barney's flotilla men and a memorial to the handful of Marines that accompanied him.

North Point post tomorrow

Fort Lincoln Cemetery is located on the site of Fort Lincoln, an actual Civil War fort in the outer defenses of Washington D.C.  In the distance is Lowndes Hill which was more easily defended than the Bladensburg crossing

View upriver to the (Maryland) Highway 1 bridge.  Likely crossing point for the British, and proposed archaeological site.for Maryland Historical Society

Marker for the small band of Marines that fought alongside Barney's bluejackets.

Barney's view from the American third line, down the hill toward the Anacostia crossing

 

 

 

Plaque dedicated to Barney in the Fort Lincoln Cemetery

British view of their line of advance across the Anacostia River.  Taken from the Bladensburg waterfront park.

The Chesapeake calls

My lovely niece Katie is getting married to her Dan next weekend, and Lorri and I are heading to the wedding.  The only downside is that the wedding is in Virginia.  The last couple days we've been trying to get the house in order which is always a bit like preparing for a moon landing. Our friend  Allison will be here to take care of the pets while we're gone, and we don't want to appear quite as messy as we actually are.

In any case, our itinerary has us flying in to Baltimore tomorrow, and spending a few days there.  I've never been to Baltimore.  I think Wednesday is my day to have the rental car to myself and an entire day to see stuff. I hope to make the most of it.  I'd like to get to the Bladensburg battlefield right outside the District. Drive to North Point State Park and wander the battlefield there.  That's about ten miles from our hotel near the inner harbor.  If there is time left, I'd really like to see the naval academy at Annapolis.

It's all pretty timely with my projects.  I hope to take lots of pictures.  I do own the mobile blogger ap for my iPhone, but I'm not really hopeful of being able to make it work properly.  I'll try, but this entry may be it for a while.  We'll return home on July 6th.

Poitiers: Les Crapauds

That's not a very fair title.  Of course, I am English speaking.  Oh well.  For all those French speakers out there, I apologize.

Poitiers map showing the consecutive advances of the French divisions, allowing their numerical superiority to be squandered.

Unfortunately the French in 1356 were not blessed with dynamic leadership on the battlefield at Poitiers.  King Jean II responded to Prince Edward's chevauchee through Poitou by calling for the arriere ban, summoning his nobles and local militia to him.  Though he dismissed a great many of the more poorly equipped dross, he cornered Anglo/Gascon force near the important town of Poitiers. He proceeded to throw his army away in a series of uncoordinated attacks that tested English resolve, but ultimately wrecked his army, led to his capture and the economic and political humiliation of his country.

Green estimates the strength of the French at Poitiers as follows:

8,000 knights and men at arms
2,000 crossbowmen
5-6000 light infantry.  These could be a collection of the rather nice OG militia, halberdiers, pavisiers with spears.  They lack arms, armor and most of all motivation.

The French were divided into several divisions including a mounted contingent.  As you can see the French seriously outnumber the English, according to Green, some 15-16,000 against one that maxes out at 8,000.  Historically the size of the French army was estimated as much larger, perhaps as many as 30,000.  As Anne Curry (in Agincourt: A New History) has suggested, however, this is likely apocryphal-English mythmaking.  Armies this large were simply too large to maintain in the field, and many of the troops, local levies, simply more trouble than they were worth.  

Scottish knight William Douglas rides to his doom with the Marshals of France.

For game purposes, I will follow the same rules I laid down for the English.  Knights and men at arms are mounted four to a 50mm X 50mm base.  Light infantry and crossbowmen are three to a base with skirmishy types mounted two to a stand. One stand of infantry represents approximately 100 men.  Cavalry are mounted two to a base and 50 men.

Vanguard-The French vanguard represents the opening cavalry charges by the Marshals and the first infantry assault that closely follows their charge.
Marshal Audrehem: 4-5 stands mounted knights
Marshal Clermont: 4-5 stands mounted knights
Vanguard foot under Constable Brienne:
Knights and men at arms (includes a German contingent under the Duke of Sarrbruck and others)
12-15 stands
Light inantry:  5-8 stands
Crossbowmen: 15 stands

1st Division (Dauphin Charles)
Knights and men at arms: 20 bases (includes at least two bases of Scots led by William Douglas)
Light infantry: 10 bases

2nd Division: Duke of Orleans.  These guys were not happy campers, with at least half the division drifting away before their attack.  This division may never have contacted the English.
Knights and men at arms: 10-20 bases
Light infantry 10-20 bases

3rd Division: King Jean
Knights and men at arms: 30-35 bases.  20 of the bases should be elite
Light infantry: 15-20 bases
Crossbowmen: 5-6 bases

In this fanciful picture, King John is captured by the Black Prince.

As you can see, by simply counting the bases, the French are considerably larger than the English.  The facts of the battle are simply that the French failed to combine their disparate divisions to swamp the English/Gascon defenders.  However, it is clear from all accounts the English took many losses along the way, and were worn down by the constant fighting. The appearance of Jean's massive division was dispiriting when it appeared, advancing on the defeneses. 

Order of Battle for Poitiers: The English

James Audley's banner appears with the Black Prince's battle at Poitiers.

Poitiers is one of the big three battles from the Hundred Years War.  Big three because it was one of the decisive English victories, the other two being Crecy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415.  There are other important English victories, and some big French victories, but we mostly forget them because we speak English and in these battles the French, to put it politely, got their asses kicked-hard, many times.

Of these battles, Poitiers may be the most important, the least remembered, the most unusual, and the most interesting to game. At Crecy and Agincourt, the French behave incredibly stupidly and are annihilated in a storm of arrows.  On horseback at Crecy (so the wounded horses aid the archers in dispatching their riders) and on foot in the mud at Agincourt. At Poitiers the French again behave stupidly, but there aren't so many archers or so many arrows as at the other battles, so it takes on more of a medieval slogging match. There's a mounted charge, an off board flanking movement, the King of France is captured, "humiliations galore" to quote Inigo Montoya. But it didn't have to be that way

Old Glory Welsh spearmen carrying the sometimes lethal Northstar spears. These will be light infantry

Lots more to write about the battle, but there are many better print accounts if you are interested, including some of very recent vintage.  Christian Teutsch's 2010 reinterpretation of the battle

VICTORY AT POITIERS: The Black Prince and the Medieval Art of War is on my birthday list.  However no book can be handier for the wargamer than David Green's The Battle of Poitiers, 1356. This 2002 account provides information about the battle, the composition of forces and the leading characters.  There is even a section on wargaming Poitiers.  A few not terribly useful color plates and some maps, make this a worthwhile purchase. Unfortunately, it's not currently in print, but can be had used for about ten bucks.  One more book that is quite useful if you can lay your hands on a copy is Don Featherstone's guide to gaming the battle, Poitiers, 1356.  Published in 1976, as one of the Knights Battle series, it's also a handy guide to the action, though not as well guided by recent scholarship.  Featherstone included a set of very playable rules I'll hope to adapt over to my game. Is available quite cheap used.

I currently have 12 painted stands of English knights and men at arms.  I only need 18-28 more!!

Poitiers is not a small battle, and the French army is especially large.  I've chosen to recreate the battle in approximately 1:25. 50mm square Infantry bases with 2-4 28mm figures to a stand equal about 100 men. Though there isn't much cavalry at this battle, I'm counting two figures on a 50mm square base as 50 figures.  I'm more interested in counting bases than I am figures.  You'll see the required number of bases is pretty big, so I've decided to use Old Glory figures.  Their Crecy and Poitiers range is quite acceptable.  I acquired quite a few figures a few years ago, but I'll need more.  My target is to have both sides painted for the anniversary in 2016.  To have any hope of finishing this and Bladensburg, however, I've begun painting now. 

According to David Green, the English army is composed of the the following troop types: 

3,000-4,000 knights and men at arms.

2,500-3,000 archers

1,000 light troops

The English order of battle is pretty straightforward.  The English army is divided into three commands: 

The vanguard is commanded by the earls of Warwick and Oxford, and includes the Gascon noble, the Captal de Buch.  According to Green, this command consists of 500 men at arms, 500 light infantry, and 1000+ archers.  For my purposes this will equal out to the following: 

6-8 stands of dismounted knights and men at arms.

5-6 stands of light infantry (these could be Welsh spearmen, Breton bidets or Gascon militia types)

12-15 stands of longbowmen (though the case could be made these could include some Gascon crossbowmen. 

As a note, these should also include three stands of mounted knights that delivered the final crushing flank attack against King Jean's division.  

The center is commanded by the Prince of Wales.  Many of his favorite retainers are included in this division, such as Sir John Chandos, Sir James Audley and Sir Reginald Cobham. This force totals some 2,000+ men at arms.  I plan to build them as: 

20-25 stands of dismounted knights and men at arms.  I'll likely split the stands into several smaller commands. 

The rearguard is commanded by the Duke of Suffolk. His command is similar to the  vanguard. I'll represent them as follows: 

6-8 stands of dismounted knights and men at arms

5-6 stands of light infantry

12-15 stands of longbowmen.  

One further consideration when fighting this battle.  When the action entered it's terminal phase, and King Jean's final battle was wavering and beginning to retreat, there is some suggestion that some of the English knights and men at arms ran to their horses and managed a charge against the French.  I don't know how much of this is true and I'm anxious to read Teutsch's account to see what he suggests. If you wish to include this, there might need to be a an English mounted contingent to replace some of the dismounted knight stands.

Galactic Knights

I have a bunch of stuff I'm trying to finish before I run off to my vacation in Virginia.  We leave on June 26th, which is just around the corner.  So I'm trying to finish up some HYW figures and some Wayne's Legion infantry, but I'm also trying to squeeze in some fun stuff that's taking up space on my painting table.

These are Terran ships from Monday Knight Productions for Galactic Knights.  I haven't actually played these rules, but I own the toys.  They just require paint.  I don't need anymore ships, just the flight bases--about thirty bucks worth. Because I have other items competing for those dollars right now, I probably won't pick them up until August, but I like the way these turned out.

The vessels are from the Terran fleet range.  There is a cruiser in the foreground with a destroyer leaders in the back, and a destroyer following.  There are plenty of vessels in the range on which one can spend a great deal of money, but I've more or less set a ceiling on the size of my fleet. The game looks fun.  Dave picked up some ships we can fight with, and we each picked up a star mat.  The mat is also available through MKP.

Bladensburg: The British

72 hours since my last visit to TMP.  The urge is growing less all the time. 

The British marched to the Bladensburg battlefield under orders from Admiral Cockburn to punish Brother Jonathan.  The British force, commanded by General Robert Ross, was landed on August 19th,  marched up the Patuxent River, accompanied by come of Cockburn's smaller vessels.  He forced the burning of Barney's flotilla of gunboats before turning inland toward Washington and Baltimore.

Robert Ross forces his way into Washington D.C. through the American lines at Bladensburg.

Again, the scale for this battle are 50 men per stand.  We use the Regimental Fire and Fury rules, plus the additional support provided for the War of 1812.

The British order of battle for Bladensburg is as follows:

Commander:  General Robert Ross

1st Brigade (light infantry) Col. William Thornton
Converged Light Infantry battalion           six stands                        veteran light infantry
85th Regt.                                                  twelve stands                   veteran light infantry
Royal Marine light infantry                       four stands                      veteran light infantry

All these troops are capable of fighting in extended (skirmish) order.  Facing the Maryland militia, with three sections of artillery in fairly close proximity requires this brigade to form skirmish order and cross the bridge in skirmish order.

2nd Brigade Col. Arthur Brooke
4th Regt.                                                   eight stands                     veteran line infantry
44th Regt.                                                 eight stands                     veteran line infantry
Royal Marine rocket battery          three-four sections                     veteran rocketeers

This brigade appears at the bridge on turn 3.  The rocket battery was extremely mobile and should be two-action artillery.   The battery had some sixty rocket frames and fired quickly.  If you have a copy of Rocket’s Red Glare, the rules by Canadian Wargamers Group, you might take a look at the rocket template in those rules.

3rd Brigade: Col. Patterson

21st Regt.                                                eight stands                      veteran line infantry 

2nd Battalion Royal Marines                  eight stands                      veteran line infantry 

elements 3rd Battalion Royal Marines    four stands                        veteran line infantry 

Colonial Marines                                     four stands                        trained line infantry

 This group appears at the bridge on turn 6.  

A modern view of the Bladensburg battlefield.

We've played this scenario a couple of times, and both times, nobody was particularly satisfied with the outcome.  The Americans just can't be as bad as their morale and training were, and can't be as poorly led as badly as their political and military leaders made use of them.  However, I'm working on it.  

This summer I'll be painting a unit of the Annapolis militia and the U.S. Marines using Knuckleduster Miniatures.  I'll also finish assembling and paint up the battalion of converged British light infantry using Victrix figures.  Maybe I'll get more than that done in July and August, but I'm not going to stress myself out about it. 

Planning for Bladensburg: American Order of Battle

I've been able to stay away from TMP for 24 hours.

I am actually trying to plan for my summer painting and I've pretty much settled on the two areas I'll be painting.  Once I clear my painting table of  a few extraneous units I'm working on, I'll focus on two projects.  The first is the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814, and the second is the Battle of Poitiers in 1356.

Bladensburg is the battle outside Washington D.C. in 1814.  There is a simple synopsis.  The Americans, with a superiority in numbers opposed the crossing of what is now the Anacostia River by a British force.  The British fired some Congreve rockets at them and the Americans fled.  Though some units in the American third line resisted heroically, they were outnumbered by the advancing British, were overwhelmed and the Brits marched on to Washington. 

Lossing's map shows the deployments of the Americans.

Doug and I have run Bladensburg before, but I've decided to paint all the units actually at the battle.  We will use Regimental Fire and Fury with the War of 1812 modifications.  Each four man stand represents 50 men.  I'm working in 28mm, but there are certainly some fine 15mm War of 1812 ranges from Old Glory and Blue Moon. I'll be using Old Glory and Knuckleduster miniatures for my Americans, and Victrix and Old Glory for the British. The source is Lossing's Field Book of the War of 1812.

American Order of Battle  under command of General Winder

American First Line-Pinkney
Pinkney's Maryland Riflemen           three stands                raw militia
Maryland Militia Artillery                 three sections 6 pdrs. raw militia

Sterret's 5th Maryland eventually broke after its supporting units dissolved.  But it regained its reputation as a fighting militia unit as depicted by Troiani fighting at North Point.

The first line is entrenched, facing the bridge the British will cross over the Anacostia River. Unfortunately the embrasures for the guns are designed for larger guns, and the gunners are forced to scrape out new ones.

American Second Line--Stansbury
Sterret's 5th Maryland Battalion        nine stands                   trained militia
Schurz's Maryland Militia                  seven stands                raw militia
Raglan's Maryland Militia                 seven stands                 raw militia

These troops, together with Pinkney's small corps form the volunteers from Baltimore.  Their original position, supporting Pinkney was changed by James Monroe, Secretary of State.  Monroe sent them up the hill to the rear, to far away to be a support to Pinkney and exposed to fire from the British rocket batteries and musket fire.

American Third Line-General Winder.

Joshua Barney led his mixed force of green regulars, Marines and bluejackets to the battlefield at Bladensburg.  His naval gunners did great execution among the British, but their resistance collapsed when Barney fell wounded.

 

This line begins arriving on turn 1 and includes the following troops:

 

Scott’s Regulars                                              six stands                    raw regulars

Marines                                                           three stands                 veterans

Barney’s Flotillamen                                       six stands                   veterans

Barney’s Naval Artillery                                 two sections                naval guns

The next group begins arriving on Turn 4 and includes the following troops:

Beal’s Annapolis Militia                                 six stands        raw militia

Morrison’s Annapolis Militia                         six stands        raw militia

Wadsworth’s Militia Artillery                         two sections    raw militia artillery

The final groups begins arriving on Turn 7 and includes the following units: 

Three Units of District Militia                        Four stands each         raw militia

The Americans mustered about 6,900 men for the battle.  Of those troops, about 700 or so were regulars.  The rest were militia.  Of the militia, only the 5th Maryland had a reputation for being well drilled, and well trained.  The rest were raw.

Why is Bill Armintrout so ridiculous?

I am a member of TMP.  A non-paying member, though I have been a supporter (i.e., payer) in the past. I like The Miniatures Page.  It's an opportunity to connect with other miniature wargamers outside the Northwest, and share what's going on in our neck of the woods and share ideas or get reactions to what I'm doing.  I'm not a regular poster.  I don't visit every day.  I don't always have something to say.  I have about 2,600 posts in the ten years I've been a member.

Bill Armintrout is the owner and operator of the site, which combines a number of functions, mostly a collection of message boards grouped by subject, but also a site that collects a fair amount of advertising revenue.  Bill shepherded TMP through technology growing pains and established boundaries for posters.  He's occasionally had to be the bouncer, giving rule-breakers the heave ho.  For less egregious offenders, there is the dawghouse, in which an account is temporarily suspended.  For those serial/serious crime lords there is the ban. More or less permanent, or at least until they create a new account.  Bill also provided tools for posters to deal with those they could not agree with-a stifle button to prevent seeing posts from those inspiring instant nausea, and a complaint button for those posts that seem over the line or beyond the rules.

Unfortunately, the last year, there's been a nasty spate of incidents that I believed died out last summer that leave me increasingly uncomfortable on TMP.  As all forums do, there are folks on TMP who post more frequently, and John Carroll (screen name John the OFM) is one of those.  I usually find him to be fun and a fount of knowledge, but others find him less so.  As the most prolific poster on the site, a number of polls were run targeting him for ridicule.  I expressed my unhappiness about this last summer and sent a personal message to Bill expressing my discontent.  Bill's response was that he felt this was a freedom of expression matter, that those who offered these polls (a poll is posted when Bill approves) should have the right to ridicule John on TMP.  I explained that in this day and age this constitutes harassment and bullying and should not be tolerated.  Bill thought I was ridiculously thin-skinned and probably didn't belong on such a forum.

This week, some nine months after the storm blew over, with valued members of the community leaving for greener pastures, John being temporarily banned and a morass of bad feelings, a new poll appeared this week on TMP.  "Should John the OFM be banned from TMP?"  The poster suggesting the poll was roundly criticized.  It turns out the poster offered the poll in August 2011.  Bill approved the poll and posted it this week, June 8th.  Really?  After all the angst from last summer?

And for what reason?   Bill believes the community should have the right to vote on banning members.  Doesn't say that such a right exists or should be encouraged in the FAQ's.  Yet there is a rule against personal attacks or calling someone a troll.  I find it interesting that Bill defends this as some vague form of democracy, and should be protected as a freedom of expression, when the reason for attacking the OFM had something to do with John generously using his own freedom to post on TMP, which some others did not like.  So it is okay to protect the views of posters (though as a personal attack they violate the rules,) as  freedom of speech, while they seek to deny that same freedom to other? 

Look, there are rules or there aren't rules.  We're all safe or not safe.  On the one hand, Bill establishes rules that encourage respect and civility.  He's used his official role of  TMPgod to enforce those rules to temporarily and permanently suspend the privileges of those who break them.  But in this case he not only allows the rule breaking to go on, he give it his official imprimatur. I think it's incredibly unfair and arbitrary.  While I enjoy TMP and its denizens and its features, I think I'm done.

Mindless painting

I have a couple different units-er, perhaps groupings of figures would be more accurate-on my painting table.  I'm presently actively painting some Hundred Years War French.  They are just your basic Old Glory French from their Crecy/Poitiers range.  Unfortunately, unlike my good friend Dean Motoyama, I am unable to paint 90 figures in a week, let alone 90 in a day.  Not only that, I'm on deadline, the last of the year, so I'm just picking at what I can.  They may be done this weekend, or maybe not.

The other unit on my table is mounted Kentucky militia from the Old Glory Wayne's Legion range.  These Kentuckians were an important part of Wayne's army and performed the valuable mission of drawing fire away from the advancing Legion at Fallen Timbers.  Any frontier army from the late 18th or early 19th century would have mounted militia.  I have a couple of bags of these figures and I'd like to have them done by the end of the summer.

The figures I'd really like to move on to are my Victrix Napoleonics.  It's time to get serious about my War of 1812 project.  The deal with my colleagues, Mark Waddington and Doug Hamm, was that I'd be responsible for the units at Bladensburg.  The British have two small brigades there.  I have a lot of the American militia units, but need more.  It's a tough call because I'll have to justify building dozens more stands for what amounts to a one off engagement, unless I do something hypothetical around the siege of Baltimore.  Further complicating things are the new figures constantly added to the War of 1812 range by Knuckleduster.  They seem really nice, and they've recently added U.S. Marines and Joshua Barney's bluejackets are coming. I have some ersatz Marines as well as 24 sailors, but the miniatures aren't great.  In any case, I still have something on the order of 200+ Brits to paint before I have to get serious about a decision.