Drumbeat

Yesterday was the annual Drumbeat gathering held in Seattle each January.  This year it was in a new location, the Lake City Community Center, and a little later in the month which attracted a few more bodies. I really liked the new space and saw lots of friends I don't normally get to see except at Enfilade.

28mm Napoleonics using the Black Powder rules.

Dave Schueler and I hosted our Airwar C21 game.  It was just our second playing of the game, and I gotta say I just liked it more. We didn't have a ton of players, just Dale, Larry and Denny.  I helped run the Taiwanese, and Dave ran the Taiwanese frigate. Four RoC planes and ship vs. six PLAF bombers and six PLAF fighters.  We upgraded the the Chinese J-8's to include radar guided missiles, and that paid off.  One of Denny's RoC Chin Kuo's was shot down outright and one had to be abandoned by its pilot.  Nevertheless, all of the PLAF Fantans were shot down before they reached the frigate.

Larry and Dale plot their attack on the RoC frigate in a game of Airwar C21

A look at the advancing PLAF from my Taiwanese Mirage 2000.  Each of my planes shot down an adversary and excaped unscathed. (There's a first time for everything.)

A pair of Larry's J-8's overflies Denny's burning Chin-Kuo

I think what impressed me most about the game is that there is the potential of considerable maneuver in the missile age.  We were all launching left and right, but they didn't all hit or even lock on.  The ease of play made the game a very good time.  David Manley et al should be congratulated for writing a fun, very playable set of rules.  I've got an idea percolating for a Cuba 1962 scenario.

In the afternoon I ran my Lewis and Clark game.  It was my first game running a Brother against Brother game. I was really inspired to try this by Lawrence Bateman's Northwest Indian War game at Enfilade last year.  I thought it was really great and was perfect for the size of my scenario.

 How did my game go?  Well, it wasn't god awful, but let's just say Lewis and Clark didn't make it to the Pacific.  The Americans had problems with die rolls.  Shooting, moving, you name it, the Americans didn't have much luck moving back to the keelboats, or not far enough ahead of the Spanish.  On the other hand, the Spanish rolled extremely well, shooting, moving, you name it. Hmm, sounds like a pattern.

Spanish troops crossing the Missouri River bank before they attack the Corps of Discovery's boats.

Bruce Meyer, a Brother against Brother veteran had some great suggestions for future scenarios, and I'll have to give them a try.  They were excellent.

Lewis and Clark at Enfilade (at last!!)

Lewis and Clark made its appearance at Enfilade on Saturday night. There were many eager players and I kind of had to sleaze Dave and Doug into the game. But, we do sleazy things for our friends.

When I found out the table we were on, I was thrilled and alternately horrified. It was a perfect ten feet in length, but six feet wide. My felt mat was wide enough, but my river bank was only five feet, so that created a problem. But Mark lent me a hill to cover the hole and put some extra trees on it, so that solved the problem. The terrain went out as planned, but with table an extra foot wider, I was a bit concerned about having things too spread out.

I'm not going to name names, but I really did enjoy the mix of folks who signed up to play the game. They seemed excited. I pre-set all the forces, so when the time came, all the players knew what they were running. Only one of the players had ever played Black Powder Battles, or had experience with any of the Two Hour Wargames systems. Most seemed interested in learning but a couple of the key American players were put off by the rules, and seemed as absent from the table as they were interested in playing the game. With disastrous results.

With the American forces more spread out on a somewhat larger table, it was important that they have a plan. They didn't. Floyd's command left alone with their horse on the northern board edge, were quickly cut off by the Spanish militia horse, took some early carbine fire and tried to fight it out in the woods. They could have abandoned their horse and moved fast, which would have worked because the Spaniards were unable to activate for three turns out of four.

Pryor's command (with Lewis) in the center woods hemmed and hawed about as the Comanches raced past them, effectively isolating Floyd's command, but didn't do much until they reached the river banks. They offered some desultory fire, eventually formed a firing line on the top of the river bank, only to begin taking fire from the Spanish regulars as they approached the American positions.

Clark's command rushed out to confront the Comanches who performed some interesting and mysterious quick move maneuvers. Hoping the Indians were peaceful, Clark held his fire until the Indians treacherously attacked him, and then extracted the maximum possible price before his command was almost entirely slaughtered.

Ordway's squad joined the firefight from the river bank, but in the end the Americans had not played together as a team. The squads fought seperately without an eye toward a withdrawal to the boats. Their cannon were not loaded for final protective fire, and they were dying by half measures. The Spanish played together very well. The Comanche advance was rapid, despite some really terrible activation rolls. The Spanish regulars were at the riverbank with a well planned advance with fire. The Spanish militia, captured the remains of the Floyd's squad, while the lancers prepared to cross the river bank into the American camp. I stopped the game there.

I hope to run the game another time, perhaps with my own rules, but the game was certainly manageable with Black Powder Battles.

Pictures are mostly by Doug Hamm. The top left shows me trying (vainly) to explain the scenario and the rules. The top right shows the Regimento Luisiana. At the bottom right is a great close-up of the Comanches (Doug takes awesome pics.) The bottom left shows Gotterdamerung-the Spanish have massed their troops on the hilltop, pouring fire into the scattered Americans trying to defend their camps. Mr. Lewis and Mr. Clark will have some 'splainin' to do.

Arrest Captain Merryweather Playtest

I took my L and C stuff off to Game Matrix to playtest my Enfilade scenario today. I put together the game on 10' by 5' table, which is the size I'm planning for the convention.

There were two things I hoped to accomplish with the playtest. The first was to determine whether the rules would be playable with a game this size and with some of the modifications I made. We had five guys running twelve units and roughly 120 figures, and it seemed to work okay. I did away with a couple of morale checks and made some other minor modifications. This seemed to work reasonably well. It didn't hurt that my intelligent and helpful friends were doing the playtest.

The other thing I hoped to learn from the playtest was whether my planned set up for the game would work out. I learned the Americans needed to be more spread out for to involve all the players, particularly the Spanish, quickly. It also means the game will turn into smaller, more desperate actions, rather than allowing the Americans to form more deadly mutually supportive actions.














The details. The Comanches opened the battle with a rapid advance toward the river bank. Unfortunately the quickly were caught in a rapid crossfire that became a massacre when the Spanish rolled above their activation numbers two turns in a row. The Indians were unable to move or shoot and simply were shot to pieces by Sgt. Pryor's squad, Ordway's squad and Clark's men who came up from the island to help.

As the remaining Spanish watched their Indian allies flee, they staked out ground in front of the river banks and engaged members of the Corps. In an uneven fight, the Spanish killed a couple members of the Expedition, while they simply took it from the Americans. On the left the Spanish sent their militia cavalry who moved close enough to empty their carbines at the Americans, but not quite close enough to run them down. All told the Spanish suffered fifty percent losses, and the Americans took slight casualties.

A lot of this will be balanced by simply stretching out the American deployment and positioning the Spanish. Life is good.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

Work on the Lewis and Clark game continues. I'm making terrain pieces for the island-something to break up the flat space as well as an encampment for the Corps. The latter can be something to defend for the Corps, and something to capture for the Spanish. Things are winding up for the game prep, but the time is also winding down before the convention.

I still need to make something to represent supplies I can put on the boats and in camp. I have my chokecherry grove to finish. I need to finish painting up the George Drouillard mounted figure. Last but not least I need to type up quicksheets for the rules as we'll use them for the game. Everything needs to be done for the playtest on Saturday.

There always seems to be something new to do. I'm reminded of the line repeated often in the The Agony and the Ecstasy when Pope Julius (Rex Harrison) asks Michaelangelo (Charlton Heston) when the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel will be completed. "When will there be an end." The reply is always "When I am finished." And so it goes with me.

More Lewis and Clark

I had a lot of difficulty conceiving of the table dimensions for this game. I originally saw it as a larger game with the Missouri River running through the middle of the table. To be clear, the Missouri was 300-800 yards wide, so that would require a pretty darn big river. Mark suggested putting the river on one end of the table. It was an idea I liked and that's pretty much what I went with-an 8 X 5 table with the river and island taking up the last three feet of the length.

Last week in my test of the rules, however, I found that things were pretty cramped. We fought with two of L and C's squads (20 figures) and three units of Spaniards (28 figures) and that took up an awful lot of space. I decided to go with a larger table space and a 10 X 5 table. That will spread things out a bit more. Made the changes with Allan, the event coordinator at Enfilade.

More L and C terrain

Today I finished my river bank pieces. They still don't fit together as well as I'd like, but nobody will be able to say I didn't try. Lots of Woodland Scenics products here. Some deadfall logs, clump foliage and bushes, as well as fine leaf foliage and turfy stuff. I also have a picture of the three vessels moored off the island. I made a larger one. I haven't quite decided what to do in the way of an encampment, but I'll try to brainstorm that this week.

Terrain: Phase One

All of the figures are now completed for the Lewis and Clark game. I'm now working on terrain. I've ordered and completed work on some hills for Battlefield Terrain Concepts. they look good and should clutter up line of sight for the game. I'm working on the scenario idea and have also begun modifying the roster sheet for Black Powder Battles so they work a bit better for this game.

My biggest task at this point is to begin making the terrain look a bit better for the river part of the battle. That will take up about a third of the game table. This is the before view. I've got the felt to represent the river, and more felt to represent the island in the river. I think the island is too small, so I think I'll pick up another yard and be more liberal with its size. I probably need to stretch nearly the width of the board (which this represents.)

I've made the river bank from one foot pink insulation board sections. They are in stage one, which is forming and painting. I need to be sure they fit together a bit better than they do, which may involve additional sanding and fitting. I have an additional small piece to add at the far end to make the five feet fit. This is stage two. I'll work on this tonight. Then it's on to stage three, which is additional terraining. The final stage will be to come up with some add-ons for the island.

We're on deadline this week, which will make additional work difficult for this week. I'd like a walk through with the rules in the next week. Dave Demick and I did this last Monday, and I got a chance to play with the mechanics and work through some of the factors for the two armies. I have a full blown play test scheduled for May 16th, so not much margin for error.

The Flotilla of Discovery

Lord, it's been a difficult couple of months. Between journalism conventions, spring break and other activities, it's been hard to get much done, let alone blog about it. Last week it was the national journalism education convention in Phoenix.

When I got home I had to decide whether to finish my last figures-the ten mounted Spanish militia-or do the two boats that will serve as Lewis and Clark's pirogues. I opted for the latter because I needed them for this weekend's game as well as for pictures for an article I was writing.

Here are the pics in all their glory. The boats are from OG/Merrimac Shipyards. They are a real bargain at ten bucks each (or less if an Old Glory Army member.) I gave each vessel a mast (one is broken for the scenario I'm running) Lewis and Clark armed each with a boarding blunderbuss, though these seem to be in pretty short supply, so I simply gave each one the swivel cannon that came with the boats. The prirogues were known as the red pirogue and the black pirogue, so I painted each accordingly.

Back from the Desert: A Lewis and Clark update

The L and C project continues. Why oh why does it seem endless. I took a little vacation from painting as Lorri and I went south to Palm Springs over my break. I had a good time as usual. Palm Springs is a wonderful place. It's restful, the weather is fantastic, and there is always something interesting to see. This year I took the missus to Joshua Tree and we drove up into the San Jacinto Mountains to hang out in the rustic little town of Idyllwild.

We got came home on an entertaining plane ride Friday. We got caught up in one of those occasional desert wind storms that blow in from the coast through the gap between the San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains. We had a hard time even getting off the ground and arrived home at 11:00 p.m., instead of three hours earlier as planned.

I did get some painting time this weekend. I finished the second unit of Soldados de Cuera, as well as the remaining Comanches. All that is left is the unit of mounted Soldados. Okay they don't look terribly soldado-like. I bought a pack of Presidial Lancers from the Old Glory Mexican War line in the wake of the London War Room disaster. They look pretty usable with their round hats and boar spears. I've gotten a nice start with them, but I'm also in the middle of deadline. I'm hoping I might have them finished by Sunday.

Today I received some hills I ordered from Battlefield Terrain Concepts in Virginia. They are very nice resin hills that I want to use to break up the battlefield. They aren't intended to be difficult terrain obstacles, just provide dips in the ground. I also am beginning to work on the river bank, and have picked out the piece of plywood I'll use to form the large island in the river that will hold the Corps of Discovery's encampment.

My hope is to begin messing around with the Black Powder Battles rules next week. It should be fun.

Comanches!!

As promised, I have managed a few acceptable pictures of my Comanches by Conquest Miniatures. They are very nice figures with lots of extras to add on. I ordered some extra weapon packs, though I really could not make the cast lance heads work. I ended up using brass wire which I pounded flat and shaped (a bit) on my anvil.

I have twenty of these, plus a mounted acrobat, which I'll use as two ten figure units and a leader for my Lewis and Clark game.

Things are shaping up figure-wise. I'm down to having eleven mounted figures, plus thirteen dismounted figures to paint. I'm hoping to have all the dismounted figures completed before I leave on vacation on Sunday.

Figures for the Corps of Discovery

Coming up with figures for the Corps of Discovery can be maddening. First there is a perception problem that these guys all wandered around in dirty buckskins so anything goes. Wrongo, Buckwheat. The Corps of Discovery was a military expedition and they were issued uniforms. When it was appropriate, they wore them too-when impressing Indians, at Sgt. Floyd's funeral, on Independence Day and New Years Day 1805, and for inspections you can bet they wore their dress regimentals.

Um, what exactly did those look like? Well kind of like this:
These are Old Glory's Mad Anthony Wayne's Legion skirmishing figures. They wear the round hat with bearskin crest, and blue jacket with red facings. There are couple of differences between the Legion and the Corps. First, there aren't any of those funky red, green, yellow or white unit designations in the Corps. The distinctive colored hat band has been replaced by a black silk band. Also the plume is gone and replaced by a bucktail. The hat also has white tape around the edging. The trousers are white in summer and blue in "winter." I used both just to keep things interesting. I chose to use just ten in uniform. They would have been out of place during a normal day. However, they also serve the purpose of being the guys with smoothbore muskets and bayonets. Much of the party was rifle armed.

There were three squads of infantry in the Corps of Discovery, each commanded by a sergeant. I used the NCO figures, plus the kneeling guys in the skirmishing pack. None of these were particularly fun to paint. There isn't anything special about them.

The figures represent Sgts. Pryor, Gass and Ordway from left to right. Ordway was the only sergeant with regular army experience, and was left in charge if the captains were away from camp.

One of the only civilians in the expedition was a half-French, half Indian named George Drouillard. Drouillard was an incredibly important member of the expedition. He was a very talented woodsman, scout and hunter, and the expedition's best shot. He also knew Native American sign language, which helped him interpret the gestures of many different cultures. Drouillard appeared in many of the Corps' tight spots where he behaved with such bravery that Lewis asked that he receive an extra five dollars per month for his service when the captain made his final report to the War Department. One of the very first mountain men, Drouillard was killed by the Blackfeet in 1810. I've used one of the Foundry Mountain Men figures to represent Drouillard.

In 1803, on his way to Camp DuBois, the winter encampment near St. Louis, he made stops in Kentucky to recruit unmarried men who were good woodsmen and used to physical hardship. The volunteers he found were called the "nine young men from Kentucky." Without exception, they distinguished themselves time and again. Though they were mustered in to the regular army, received army pay and served under army regulations, there wasn't sufficient time to fit them with regular army dress. Both Michael Haynes and the U.S. Army website show them as having their own uniform of a gray roundabout, with blue or white overalls. they wear a round hat without the bearskin crest. They probably carried their own Kentuck rifles, and hence no bayonet. The figures are militia from the War of 1812 range. I've filed down the tall top hats (probably not enough.) The brims have the white tape, and should also have a cockade. the figures should probably have their coattails further shortened.
The figure in the middle wears a linen undress smock

It is likely that most of the men would have worn undress attire or civilian clothing when they were out of the barracks or traveling. The work they did each day was difficult, whether it was hunting, foraging, wading, cutting would, poling or cordelling (pulling the keelboat.) It would have taken a toll on their clothes. By the time the expedition left the Fort Mandan in the winter of 1805, clothes would have begun to wear out. We know that the the weather on the Columbia was so wet it literally rotted the clothing off their backs. On the return trip the Corps would have been dressed in buckskins, saving brass buttons and other articles as trade items for food. The last picture is an example of some of the other figures I've used to represent men of the Corps of Discovery. The figure on the left with a blunderbuss is another Foundry mountain man. The rest are all Front Rank figures from the their American Revolution range. In addition I have minute men from the Old Glory and Foundry AWI ranges, and even a few Canadian militia from the OG French and Indian War range (their caps make great American forage caps, and their smock-like dress looks like summer undress.)

There were 51 men in the Corps of Discovery that made their way upriver to the Mandan villages. Far fewer were in the permanent party that made their way to the Pacific Coast. These are some easily available options for you to use if you think this period may interest you.

Lewis and Clark Resources

Lewis and Clark, like Abraham Lincoln, like the American Civil War and so many other topics in American history have spawned an extensive collection of literature. Some of it may be helpful to those with an interest in the military aspects of the expedition, but much, while fascinating, is not useful. I'd like to offer some suggested reading.

First-always first-are Lewis and Clark's journals. There were several different editions of these journals-first Nicholas Biddle, then Elliott Coues, and lastly Reuben Gold Thwaites. These have all been superseded by those edited by Gary Moulton at the University of Nebraska. Twelve volumes, about 50-60 bucks a pop (except for the Atlas which is volume one at $175.) I know because I own them all. However there's been a recent development. These are all on-line, thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the University of Nebraska Press, among others.

The journals are very searchable by date, so you do kind of need to know what you're looking for. The atlas is also available and very easy to use. (Mine is enormous and I can only look at it on the kitchen table.) The site is also chock full of great illustrations, audio files, you name it. I spend hours there. It is an incredible gift to those interested in the Corps of Discovery.

Another equally wonderful on-line resource is the U.S. Army's site devoted to the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. It covers the Army's activities during the bicentennial (2003-2006.) However it also provides little snapshots about every member of the Corps of Discovery from the captains to the NCO's and enlisted personnel, to the boatment who hired on. There is also a great little section devoted to uniforms and what the men might have worn when they weren't in dress blues. It's another site that is totally worth your time.

I've added both these sites to my list of useful links.

Last, but not least, I'd encourage you to take a look at the historic art of Michael Haynes. He has done a fabulous job of capturing Lewis and Clark on canvas. He has a series of Osprey-like color plates, and then has gone on to illustrate the Corps in its various contexts, whether recruiting at Fort Massac in 1803, breaking a mast on the keelboat, or stuck in the Dismal Niche at the mouth of the Columbia. I've also included this link. You should find it useful to determine what the soldiers wore and the equipment they carried. Haynes also illustrated a wonderful book on the Corps of Discovery called Tailor Made, Trail Worn by Robert J. Moore, Jr. Not a cheapie by any means, but I've gotten a lot of use out of it as I work on this project. It's available from Amazon.

Lewis and Clark progress

I've made some progress this weekend on the Lewis and Clark project. First up are soldiers from the Spanish Louisiana Regiment. These are your basic Spanish infantry in Europe and in North America. Their uniforms had not changed appreciably from the Seven Years War. These are soldiers Lewis would have encountered in St. Louis during his winter at Camp DuBois when he made his way into town. The Spanish passed authority over to the French and then the Americans March 9-10, 1804. While it is unclear whether line fusiliers would have taken part in a pursuit of the Corps of Discovery, I decided to include them. They look nice and regular infantry steadies the militia and Indians. I'm really pleased with how they turned out--perhaps my best painted figures since the early 90's.

The miniatures are from the Spanish range by London War Room. TLWR has an entire range of 18th century Spanish figures that are impressive. All my Spaniards will come from this range. Unfortunately, it seems that The London War Room will soon be gone, which is quite sad. They were always a pleasure to work with.

The next couple of figures are of my scratch-built keelboat. The work on this was done entirely by Mark Waddington, my good friend, and expert model builder. I included articles and a whole series of pictures of the keelboat in December. I will be adding a couple more vessels to Captain Lewis's flotilla in the not too distant future. The keelboat was accompanied by a pair of large dugout canoes called pirogues. I am not going to go the scratchbuilt route with these. I'm going to use two of the longboats from Merrimack Shipyards by Old Glory. These look nice, and will serve the purpose after mounting them with a mast and small swivel cannon.

Last, I've included a picture of my Lewis and Clark figures on top of the sterncastle of the keelboat. Yes indeed, these are real live Lewis and Clark figures that are purpose-built. The figures are based on a Michael Haynes painting of Lewis and Clark on the trail attired in how they might have appeared in their undress uniforms. It is certain that the two officers had many extra sets of clothing, including extra dress coats and cocked hats that they gave away on the trail, exchanging them for food, a canoe, and horses. When the expedition was over, Lewis presented the government with a bill for $135 for a dirk, a pistol and many items of officers uniform exchanged with the Indians on the trail.

The figures are from Old Glory, and there is a great story that goes with it. In 2005 Bruce Meyer our NHMGS treasurer was back at Cold Wars, as he is each year, and he invited Russ Dunaway out to be our guest at Enfilade. When Russ agreed it was quite a coup. We knew he'd tell the world about our little convention. Russ, in his generosity, also wanted to do something special for us, and he asked if there was a figure he model for us with a Northwest theme. Being quickest on the draw, I suggested Lewis and Clark, and so it was agreed. I possess the only known stash of these babies, where they live in my garage. They were gifts we gave to those who pre-registered, hosted games, or volunteered in some other way.


Lewis is in green and Clark is in blue. They were such an interesting team. Lewis was the visionary, the organizer, the naturalist. He was a bit of a dreamer, and a bit short-tempered with those who didn't share his view. Lewis was almost certainly mentally-ill, self evident through his suicide in 1809. However, we can see his mood change in the voyage home when he becomes more combative with the Indians who hover about the expedition on the upper Columbia, stealing tools, even stealing Lewis's Newfoundland dog Seaman. (That's what I really need is a Seaman miniature!!!) William Clark is the younger brother of George Rogers Clark and was Lewis's commanding officer in the army. He is more laid back, a man of judgment and a good balance to his partner's occasional rashness. His talent is on the river as a boatman, and he is the surveyor of the expedition. The maps he made of the upper Missouri and out to the Pacific are known for their incredible accuracy.

The Case for Corps of Discovery, pt. 1

I've moved on to my new project. Yes, you could see it coming. I'm working on my Lewis and Clark project. Yes, I hear your protests, this was a peaceful expedition. However this was luck; luck because both the captains used good enough judgment to avoid a serious incident with the Indians. Luck because the vastness of the Great Plains was too great to allow their Spanish pursuers to find them.

There are four hypothetical conflicts that make the Lewis and Clark expedition a viable subject for miniature wargaming, and here I'll take on the first.

When Thomas Jefferson signed on the dotted line to purchase the Louisiana Territory from France it was the end (sort of) of a long and bitter process to secure New Orleans and control the mouth of the Mississippi River. As more settlers spilled over the Alleghenies into the Kentucky and Ohio territories, and Indian resistance was largely ended with the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, western farmers and traders poured their products down the Ohio to the Mississippi River through the port facilities at New Orleans. At this time Spain controlled East and West Florida, Louisiana, and the prize of New Orleans. Louisiana and its chief port were ceded to Spain as part of the Treaty of Paris which ended the French and Indian War in 1763.

Though the United States importuned Spain repeatedly throughout the early Federal period about ceding these territories to the new nation, the Spanish were adamant in retaining them. Though American agents threatened seizure, Spanish officials saw the future: America was an expansionist power in North America and rolling over to their demands would lead to only more demands and further expansion. Spain negotiated trade regulations with the U.S., but New Orleans and Louisiana would remain Spanish.

When Napoleon seized power as First Consul in 1800, one of the first things he did was to cast an eye toward the New World, particularly the lost French empire of Louisiana. He wangled a deal with the Spanish in which he traded the Italian territory of Etruria to the Duke of Parma for Louisiana. This was approved by the Spanish king's adviser, Manuel Godoy, on the condition that Louisiana not be transferred or sold except to Spain. Napoleon's minister, the wily Talleyrand, obligingly said yes, and Spain agreed to take possession in 1803.

However Napoleon's plans to begin a new empire in the Western Hemisphere were wrecked amid the the yellow fever that killed 50,000 French troops fighting the slave insurrection on Haiti. With events heating up in Europe, the First Consul had less interest in sending military force to Louisiana.


Jefferson's emissaries persisted in their efforts to acquire New Orleans at a heated intensity as the Spanish withdrew the "right of deposit" from Americans trading through that port. Word on the frontier was that westerners would form a militia to take the city themselves. American regular forces began to mass at key points along the Mississippi, and Spanish troops began fortifying places such as Natchez and Chickasaw Bluffs.

In the summer of 1803 the Spanish received the shocking news that France had sold New Orleans and the immense vastness of Louisiana to the Americans. With its huge undefined borders the Americans acquired the means to hold a gun to the head of New Spain. Already negotiating with the Spanish for a passport to explore the upper reaches of the Missouri for a dozen or so men, Jefferson again requested that a somewhat larger expedition on Meriwether Lewis be permitted to cross Spanish territory on an exploring mission.

The Spanish were quite fearful of the military expedition and the threat it posed to Spanish possessions in New Mexico. The source for the knot of rivers that converged with the Missouri was unknown, and were believed to perhaps originate in what is now the Colorado Rockies, then an important part of New Spain and not far from Santa Fe, its capital.

When Lewis assembled his Corps of Discovery, he wisely located it at Camp Dubois on the east bank of the Mississippi River, just downstream from St. Louis. It Spanish control until November of 1803, passing to French control at that time, before reverting to American sovereignty in early 1804. Though his relations with the Spanish commander were friendly, it was equally clear his status as a military commander and expedition leader was one of a rival, and Lewis's plans were reported to the Spanish governor of Louisiana, Charles Delassus.

Delassus, through his career as Louisiana governor from 1799-1804, deftly maintained peaceful relations with the United States despite their bellicose demands for Spanish territory as well as their liberal interpretations of the borders of American lands. Believing the Lewis and Clark expedition to be a danger to Spanish claims, he authorized a military expedition to set off, intercept the expedition, and arrest its leaders. The composition of the intercepting force is unclear. Richard Dillon, Lewis's biographer states it was about a hundred men composed wholly of militia that unfortunately ran afoul of the Pawnee on its way to the Platte River's intersection with the Missouri. Another source states that the Spanish force was composed wholly of Comanche allies. Yet another has a mix of Spanish troops and Comanches.

In any case, locating the Corps was a bit like finding a needle in the vastness of the American wilderness. It didn't happen. A second expedition was sent out to catch them in their return trip, but again no connection.

It's difficult to speculate what might have happened if the expedition and Spanish had met. Would Lewis have meekly capitulated? Both Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were men of grit and determination, and it's unlikely that they would have ended their mission without a fight. It was well armed, and many of the men were skilled woodsmen and marksmen. However, Jefferson's directions to Lewis required that he avoid putting the Corps into any hazards that might result in its destruction, that the scientific information they were gathering was too important. All the makings of a good hypothetical action

Year End and A Look Ahead

Yesterday I went up to Renton to pick up the keelboat from Mark Waddington. It looks just as beautiful as the pictures Mark sent. Now I need to figure out how I'll use it as a gaming piece. We exchanged some scenario ideas over lunch. Now I just need some figures for Lewis and Clark's adversaries.

As promised, I've ordered the Spanish from London War Room. One bag each of the dismounted soldado de cuera. These "leather soldiers" were Spanish Presidial troops, the frontier garrison types who fought the Indians and kept the peace. There is some great information about these troops in California, as well as a description of them at the California State Military Museum and David Rickman's page on the Royal Soldados of Santa Barbara. It is known that mounted cueros intercepted Zebulon Pike's expedition in 1807, so it's not unreasonable to think that such soldiers would have been deployed to catch the Corps of Discovery. The following pictures are from Jose Maria Bueno's book on uniforms and a photo of a re-enactor.

The other bag o' troops are simply your basic Spanish infantry dudes who will be attired in white.

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, I've set three priorities. One, is getting the Lewis and Clark figures done so that I can game with them. We're not talking lots of figures here. At least initially I'll be painting them all as dismounted troops. I'll order the eighteen dismounted Comanches from Conquest miniatures when I have a bit more dough. Second, I'm going to paint up more of the troops from the Battles of Bladensburg and North Point from the War of 1812. Those will probably be my big historical projects for Enfilade. My final big project will be wrapping up all my unpainted Space 1889 stuff. I need another two dozen or so RAFM figures to get my militia units up to the right size and that will be that.

I'm really feeling the need to be frugal in the hobby this year. I'm going to keep my figure purchases as low as I possibly can, and only buy what I really need. Right now, I've shared the needs that I really have. If that's it, that's it.

Keelboat complete

Crap, I'm not sure why I can't manage my photos better on this blog, but it is what it is. These are the final photos of the Lewis and Clark keelboat. I included these specific pics mostly to show off Mark's incredible craftmanship. The tiller looks fabulous. Check out the reinforcement on the cabin door. Amazing stuff. I hope others see this and Mark gets some of the recognition he deserves for the kind of work that he does. On Saturday I take possession of the vessel. I'm meeting Mark for lunch, assuming that I can navigate the roads to Renton, twenty plus miles through the snow.

What comes next is the big question. I have figures that will do for L and C, but enemies for them are a bit more problematic. If I include the intercepting Spanish forces, I'm likely to use these figures from London War Room. I will probably include the dismounted soldado de cuera or leather soldiers which seemed to be used through out the 18th and 19th century American West. I'd also like to include some of them mounted. The fusiliera figures are also quite serviceable, and if bought in bags the cost is about a buck per figure. Comanches also accompanied the Spanish. I'm looking at the beautiful Comanches by Conquest Miniatures. Some of the figures aren't quite suitable because their weapons are too 19th century, but a lot of them look great. I'll have to pick up some of the mounted figures when they become available. The other likely conflict was with the Teton Sioux (or Lakota,) but again I'd need a lot of pre-gunpowder miniatures and I just don't know how available they are.

I've hit kind of painting lull. I am nearly finished with another unit of Martian militia, but after that, I'm not quite sure. I am considering remounting my Lewis and Clarkish figures on somewhat smaller bases so more will fit on the keelboat, but I'd also like to make more progress on my War of 1812 stuff. With school out early due to the snowfall, I have a chance to make some extra progress.

Up the Missouri

These are final photos of the Lewis and Clark keelboat. L and C actually had a small flotilla as they ascended the Missouri river which also included two "priogues" or heavy longboats, each with a mast and sail. They were each armed with a boarding blunderbuss, but neither with appreciable artillery. In the end all the vessels were intended chiefly as transportation for the tons of food, equipment and trade goods the Corps took in anticipation of the challenges they would face on their journey. They aren't warships, though the keelboat is built like a floating fortress with its solid bulkheads.

Mark has built some incredibly nice features into the keelboat. The mast is removable. There are two brass pins holding the mast into place that are easily removable. The one pounder and and oars are extra details that make the model quite special. I paid for the materials, and Mark took the project on for the love of doing the project. It's a Christmas present to me from my wife and I truly thank Mark for his willingness to take this on.

Geekdom That's Cool

This is Lewis and Clark's keelboat. It was built for them in 1803 at builder's in Pennsylvania. It's nearly sixty feet long and eight feet wide. It would never qualify as a warship, mounting only a one pounder and a couple of boarding blunderbusses. But it was like a floating fortress with thick sides that could offer cover to the riflemen of the Corps of Discovery.

I think I've talked about my Lewis and Clark geekdom before. I think the story of the expedition is fascinating. It has all the drama of a great exploring adventure. There is the tense moment when the expedition could have erupted into violence against the Lakota Sioux. Sacagawea's role in the expedition as honorary mom, carrying her baby on her back, and the coincidental meeting with her brother in the Rocky Mountains of Montana made the expedition unlike all of the other American military expeditions into the West. The nightmare crossing of the Bitterroots nearly ended in disaster. The descent to the lower Columbia and the long wet winter at Fort Clatsop is simply a tale of persistence in the face of adversity.

Recently, however, historians have taken note that the Corps of Discovery was first and foremost a military expedition, the first of many that would scout and map the regions of the west, but as much as anything aggravate the hell out our neighbors. How else do you think John C. Fremont ended up in California at the outbreak of the Mexican-American War with American troops, including artillery? The Lewis and Clark concerned the Spanish authorities so much they sent out an expedition of their own to intercept them twice-once on the trip out to the coast and once on the way back.

I've often thought about gaming this potential collision of forces, but with Spaniards numbering about eighty men, including some Comanches, probably all mounted, being caught in the prairie would be a bad, bad thing. I wistfully considered adding a seaborne side to the expedition, but I am simply not much of a model builder.

But I know somebody who is: my good friend Mark Waddington. These are a couple of photos of the keelboat Mark is graciously building me. He began by building the basic shape and is now in the planking stage. Mark says this kind of work is really fun. The planking is basswood strips that he has stained and then cut to the proper length before gluing. Mark says he soaks the planking in ammonia and water before bending them around the hull. It is an amazing, generous project, and I truly appreciate it. I'll keep you posted on the construction.