"Rate Jean Lafitte's pirates at New Orleans" Topic

Apologies, I know they are 19th, not 18th Century pirates, but I figure this message board might have some answers. If Lafitte's pirates met the British in the open and not behind a canal and breastwork, how would things have gone?

Rated Arrrr for wargamers aged 18 and over.

Seriously, I don't think things would have gone without a canal and breastwork between them and the British. Lafitte doubtfully would have been there without the extra insurance. That said, I'd rate them above civilians but below regulars, if not in skill level than in reliability.

Lafitte's pirates supplied trained artillerymen, heavy guns and lots of powder. Take away the canal and earthworks and they'd be toast. This goes for the rest of Jackson's army too.

Of course, if Jackson hadn't hit the British in their camp the first night they came ashore, there might not have been time to build Line Jackson.

Don't know how I rate them, but always enjoyed Yul Brynner as Jean.

You have to take account not just training but motivation, the willingness to die for the cause. I might rate them as regular artillery as far as skills but rated militia for moral. I'd also ask if the artillery they brought have 4 wheel naval carriages or two wheel field carriages? If the 4 wheeled carriages that would restrict their mobility in the "open field".

At the battle, the Baratarians brought a naval gun on a four wheel carriage.

I also believe that it was Dominique You commanding the battery, and possibly the Baratarans as a whole. If I remember correctly, Jean Lafitte was actually guarding another approach to the city fairly far removed from any actual fighting ( Temple Mound over on the West Bank), but his brother Pierre was actually on the main East Bank battlefield at Chalmette Plantation.

Dominique You had prior military training with the French, and was apparently a dangerous guy, so there is that.

As for the breastwork, if it hadn't been there the British would have routed the American combined force, especially since the guys who were supposed to carry the scaling ladders would have been in the fight, rather than all of the varied screw ups that went with that whole thing.

Out of curiosity Nick, how are you planning to run the battle?

There's a whole series of minor events before the battle that, if they had gone slightly differently, would have led to a solid British victory.

The breastwork, btw, was barely a breastwork at all on the far inland part of the American line. OTOH, that was also the soggiest part of the field with the densest cover.

TSATF rules with their rolled movement would be very apt for this battle, as a lot of it hinged on the Britsh movements being uncoordinated and loner to achieve than had been imagined, leaving the British troops at arms length in a killzone, and in some places simply unable to scale the ditch and breastwork.

Then of course there's the whole thing with shifting the Scots ( who had gained some initial success) across the battlefield at short range along the length of the American lines…

komeradebob,

I plan to game Jackson's Night Attack on Dec. 23/24 in 54mm. But now I realize that there were no pirates involved in that action! I am planning on using skirmish rules like Muskets and Tomahawks for the game, although TSATF is also a good choice. I own all the figures needed to game the actual battle in 15mm. In that case I'll use Field of Battle 2nd Edition with which I've had great luck playing War of 1812 battles.

Nick Stern, I did the night attack in 28mm at the Chalmette Battlefield Visitor Center back in 2012, using a modified version of This Very Ground. None of the players had ever played a wargame before but they dove right in and picked up the rules in no time. The hardest part was figuring out how to treat the Carolina; ultimately, I just put the schooner on the table and none of the British players even asked about it until it opened fire.

This time, the British won, led by a 14-year-old girl. Her older brother, who played Jackson, took it rather well considering.

LT

brass1, I have played This Very Ground a couple of times. I like the way it models reloading muzzle loading small arms. But I could never figure out its hand to hand mechanics. In your game, did you use any special night visibility rules? It sounds like the night attack was full of confusion for both sides. But maybe playing with a table full of newbies provided adequate confusion.