"Caribbean games?" Topic

So I was wonderig how many AWI gamers do games involving the Islands? You could have Ducth, Spanish and French oppoents, along with a variety of Yankee sailors or even Marines?

Reading "The Men Who Lost America" and the chapter on Admiral Rodney got me thinking on this front.

We have actually played some skirmish games in the Islands using the French and British. We have the French black troops that fought there also. Also have fought British Naval figures against smugglers, trying to aide the American forces. We are also planning to release the Spanish and have been looking into the Dutch troops too.
We are using our 40mm Trident Designs AWI figures. They are loads of fun.

Most of the land battles were pretty lopsided. Usually a fleet arrived, a few thousand troops landed, and if the small garrison wasn't immediately overwhelmed, it held out under siege long enough to get good surrender terms or get relieved. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't have fun with make-believe or what-if situations. :-)

For naval campaigning, there are few more interesting theaters in any war. The forces were evenly matched, the strategic choices were plentiful, and each campaign season had a clear start and stop point (when the hurricane season came, the fleets left and the garrisons hunkered down).

I've often thought of doing Caribbean campaigns in miniature, but I seem to be the only person within 500 miles that even thinks it sounds interesting. :-( I think the fights for St. Lucia (1778-9), Grenada (1779), and St. Kitts (1781-2) have tremendous potential as nail-biter wargame campaigns.

- Ix

Sounds like a good way to morph our AWI skirmish into Pirates via AWI in the sun!

Some of the fortresses in the Caribbean were quite elaborate and a "storming" game (similar to Savannah) using something like "Sharp Practice" would make a good scenario. Or you can have a "big battle" such as La Vigie, which is in the "British Grenadier" scenario books.

Sharp Practice would be very good for a Caribbean game. I've been trying to come up with a suitable scenario. I've got the units and terrain, just not the inspiration.
Mark