"War of 1812 rules recommendations?" Topic

We had a brief talk last night about gaming the War of 1812.
I am alredy dilletanting with Knuckleduster in 28mm, and epturner has plenty besides.

We decided on Blue Moon for 15mm and larger battles. It's easy to make regiments at that scale.
What rules are people using, and why?
I already have "Rocket's Red Glare", and have had good FIW and AWI games in the past with this system.
We already decided to use FoW plastic bases to base the figures on, and as long as both sides are done the same, we should have no problems with basing, and can try a few before we decide.

So, we are looking for a War of 1812 rules set, with the basic unit a regiment. Our games have usually 6-8 players show up, and we don't want anything that needs a lifetime of study and hard work to master.

Some people around here have used Lasalle, but without columns. We have also tried Maurice, but some of the "lost in the woods" cards had a bit too much of an effect when half of the terrain was wooded. Black Powder may be another option, although we found that the rules were not all that concise, so it took a lot of leafing back and forth to understand them.

P.S.: A local player has GMed Napoleonic convention games with Lasalle, and most participants seemed to grasp what was going on fairly quickly.

Rockets Red Glare did a great job on the period and conflict why do you want to change?

VR
James Mattes

There Is But One True Set of Wargames Rules! WRG 1685-1845. All Else is Heresy!

We might except Black Powder users from burning at the stake…

Hi John,
I've been thinking of doing a 15mm War of 1812 project too. Like you, I have Rocket's Red Glare and I might use it but the other set of rules I'm considering is Rank and File. It's fairly cheap ( at least in the UK) and seems strait forward to play. I also think it would work well for multi-player games. There are plenty of reviews and posts about it on TMP.
Black Powder could work but you'd need to either find the modifications to the broken brigades rule for small battles ( they are on-line somewhere) or scale your game so that Black Powder brigades are actually battalions made up of companies or similar.
Lasalle or Maurice could work for two player games but I don't think they'd be good for multi-player games.
You could also try British Grenadier, the new edition has a scenario for the Chippewa. Or any other AWI rules could do, including the rules you currently play (Warfare in the Age of Reason?). My take on War of 1812 is that it isn't really all that different in terms of tactics to the AWI. That's because they are governed by the landscape, and it was largely unchanged in the time between the two wars.
All the best,
George.

When we were gaming War of 1812 we split time between Rockets Red Glare and Cousin Jonathan. The latter has a cool campaign system for free also. CJ is very morale driven which I found very appropriate for the period. We actually had Congreve Rockets scare off a militia unit for our Bladensburg Races game. Both have high merit, I slightly prefer CJ.

John;
I think you have a copy of "Rank and File" that some thoughtful soul might have forwarded to Scholss OFM…

There's always Regimental Fire and Fury or British Grenadier.

And if you start me into painting this conflict in a second scale before I'm done with one scale…..

Grrr. Argh.

Eric

I decided to go with Regimental Fire and Fury. I haven't played it yet but it look's promising; each base represents 40 men allowing for a decent number of figures to represent each regiment. I'm toying with reducing the ratio to one base representing 30 figures and upping the numbers of artillery pieces used to offset this. Here's the link to the 1812 playsheet which might help make your mind up:
link

and here's a link to some of the figures i've completed: jacobiteirish.blogspot.co.uk

Like Pete, I'm also using Regimental F&F. They work great. I have played in several games at various HMGS-E Cons using RFF and they were all a lot of fun.

Rich Hasenauer has been playtesting The Battle of Bladensburg over several conventions. Here is a link to some pics.

link

Mark

Empire IV.
Dons flak vest and steel pot while diving into bunker.

I suggest you have a look at the free set of rules called Cousin Jonathan (and their skirmish variant called John Bull) by The Perfect Captain.
link

Why is this on the "modern" boards?!!

Don't know why it is. You're the first to bother mentioning it!

For War of 1812 I'm using Warfare in the Age of Napoleon with my own house rule modifications.
link

About ten years I created a Wo1812 Unitied States Army and British/Canadian army for Empire (Empire is what the club played).

Napoleonics/E,mpire died at our club and I sold my armies.

The club has now fully adopted FoGN and I am now rebuilding my Americans for that rules set.

I have created an army list for the United States, the British in Canada, and British Invasion armies (covers British armies outside of Canada in the North America campaigns) for FogN.

If anyone is interested, I am willing to share my lists.

I viewed the USA (and others) lists for FoGN in a purely Tournament setting- not for historical re-fights.

Oh BTW- our club only play 15mm.

Why is this on the "modern" boards?!!

Probably because the letter "M" is next to the letter "N" and with the board posting options spaced tightly together on the drop down menu, it is very easy to pick the wrong board by mistake. Once you hit the submit button, you cannot change or edit where a thread is cross-posted.

John: you can have a copy of my free AWI rules – printed on one side of a sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper. I use this at conventions and find that the players usually pick up a working knowledge by the end of the first or second turn.

Jim

JOFM: I just sent you a copy via Fritzmail.

Try Republic to Empire from Barry Hilton at the League of Augsburg

Modern?

Well, Napoleonics is more modern to me since I usually game 18th century stuff. :-)

I would be curios to read a review of Cousin Jonathan (CJ), which I have read but not played. CJ has more chrome than Rocket's Red Glare (RRG) but can you get a game done in 4 or 5 hours with 8 to 12 regiments / battalions per side? There seems to be a fair bit of book keeping with CJ.

I have tried both RRG and LaSalle for War of 1812. LaSalle plays faster, but RRG has a more historical War of 1812 feel to it and allows you to represent units smaller than battalions.

Brian

VR asked why change from Rocket's Red Glare?
While the book provides some very good information and scenarios the rules are a bit dated. It has a clunky shooting mechanic, close combat and melee mechanic that needlessly slows the game down with calculations.
I have found that the card system for command actions can really skew the game. It can become a game that plays on the basis of whoever has more 3 move cards wins. As a friend of mine put it: You stand in line, your opponent runs up and shoots at you twice before you can do anything. It is a remarkably bad game that was designed solely to recreate the Battle of the Plain of Abraham when the French succumbed to three British volleys. It's so specific, it should not be used for any other battle.
That is why I am looking at other rule sets.

I think you're probably thinking of Habitants and Highlanders. Its a similar system to Rockets Red Glare.

I use Rockets Red Glare and have not found any reason to look for another set of rules.

One of my favorite parts of the rules is army morale. The armies don't fight to the death, just til they lose the will to continue the battle.

"One of my favorite parts of the rules is army morale. The armies don't fight to the death, just til they lose the will to continue the battle."

That is why I like and use General de Brigade rules. Not only is there unit morale but brigade and Divisional morale. The rules are made for divisional size battles (optional rules for corps level) that fits the scope War of 1812 battles, which were divisional sized or less.

The latest G de B edition has a page of supplemental rules for the War of 1812. Our group has steadily added to our War of 1812 addendum to these rules. Also, the ratio is 20:1 so you get a good tactical feel…battalions in line are more realistic and difficult to maneuver. This forces a player to be more aware the constraints of tactical formations in this period.

Regarding Rockets Red Glare and Habitants and Highlander they both use the same basic card system for actions so the problem of having a unit gets 3 actions is in both rules. There is also a loophole that allows artillery to combine in to "grad batteries" that become very devastating, but a simple house rule can fix that non-historical problem. However I still prefer Black Powder or British Grenadier rules for War of 1812.

IronDuke596 have you also tried British Grenadier? I know it and General de Brigade are based on many of the same mechanics. I have played BG and it worked alright, but I am wondering how GdB would compare? I know it does not have the DP points that can be annoying but do add "realism".

Brian H,

Sorry for the late reply. I have BG but I don't like the logging and tracking of DPs (Disruption Points). You are quite correct…they are annoying.

I was hoping that BG would have a detailed rules on the use of Indians but sadly not. So, I don't use BG.

Do you use BG for the War of 1812?

IronDuke596,
Have tried LaSalle, RRG, and Black Powder for War of 1812 and was not entirely satisfied with any of them.
Part way through our first test game of BG for War of 1812 (Chippawa Scenario), so far so good. I have played the game at a convention a couple of times but this is my first go at using the rules without a knowledgeable GM to rely on. The BG rules seem fine, although could be better organized as it sometimes takes awhile to find what you want. The DP point can be marked on the board with small pebbles glued to bases which eliminates accounting. The rules force commanders to rally troops otherwise you pay a price if you force them through all sorts of bad terrain then expect them to fight immediatly and take punishment.

We use a modification of the Gettysburg Area Gamers (GAG) FIW rules. It keeps the same structure, but allows for special situations for scenarios or unit types.

It does require the GM to do some research to mod the troop types and values, but I love them and use them exclusively.

If you Google the GAG, they will show up and you can download them for free. If not, just contact me at epturner29@aol.com and I will send them to you.

Eric

Thanks will look over the GAG FIW rules but for now want to stick to BG to give them a reasonable trial. I game mainly in 15mm and I find BG conversion for 15mm strange. The movement seems to be the same for 15mm and 25/28mm scale (die rolls = inches) but the firing ranges are reduced in 15mm scale by 1/3 (looks like the author multiplied the inch measurements by 1.667 to give a range in cm). This would appear to favour attackers in 15mm scale as ranges are reduced but movement is not? Think I may just use the 25mm movement and ranges for 15mm.

Has anyone used Sharpe Practice with or without the "Longue Carabine" supplement?

My rules of choice would be for Hordes of Models and Buckets of Dice (gunpowder period 1560-1885 by Nigel Emsen. The rules don't suffer from over production and work well for different sized units with numerous commanders of varying capabilities. good use of light troops to gain the initiative is important.

I'm really impressed with them and recommend them to anyone.

cheers Pete

I too am using modified Warfare in the Age of Napoleon

I use carnage and glory computer aided rules and have run Stoney Creek, Cryslers Farm, New Orleans, Sackets Harbor, and Chippewa with realistic results. Lots of chrome, fatigue, brigade and Division morale, and fit in a 3-4 hour convention slot.