"Starting 1812- any guides?" Topic

I'm interested in this period but know nothing about miniatures etc. 28mm is my preferred scale. Are there any plastics that can be used or converted etc?

Fm

I'm interested in this period but know nothing about miniatures etc. 28mm is my preferred scale. Are there any plastics that can be used or converted etc?

Fm

Try Knuckleduster Miniatures.
link

Marshal, I think that most Nap plastics can be adapted to 1812. I say that having zero knowledge of Naps. However, I did purchase a beautiful War of 1812 Army made from Victrix plastics. So I know that it is possible.

Two excellent sites.The second lists all the websites available for 1812

warof1812wargaming.blogspot.ca

link

There are a couple of Yahoo groups that are good. Search it.

And finally "With McDuff on the Web" was my intro to 1812
and is still around, in another form, I'm told.
Ken Cliffe and Ross Mac were very much involved.

Good luck

The Victrix British work for both sides. I've used the Peninsula for British and the Waterloo for US troops. Button counters would argue, but they look right from a playing distance.

Cheers guys Ill check out the links and see whats what

Brigade games has a line of figures
link

here's some blogs for inspiration
link

warof1812wargaming.blogspot.com

Uniforms
link

Wrt history etc, "The Napoleon Series" has a good "war of 1812" section/magazine:

napoleon-series.org

Check out Battlefield Game Designs for rule sets. Great game. Contact me at: battlefield_designs (@) rogers (dot) com

You will want to decide which armies you want to start with. There are three very well known manufacturers who do plastic 28mm scale figures. Check out Victrix, Warlord and Perry Bros. The last two also offer metal figures in the 1812 era. Good luck, lots of great resources out there.

The War of 1812 is a fascinating period and provides great opportunity for miniature War gamers. The armies are perfect for table top battles. They are colorful and offer a wide variety of Uniforms and troops types. In addition, due to the recent 200th anniversary there is a abundance of materials out there. I have just (nearly finnished) my Niagara 1814 project and am branching out adding more colorful regiments.

When staring the period I found these guides to be very helpful. They are moderately priced and available from On Military Matters. They provide the basic material you need for organization and uniforms.

Barbuto, Richard & Manley, Stephen WAR OF 1812:V1-Uniform Guide of the U.S. Forces
Barbuto, Richard & Manley, Stephen WAR OF 1812:V2-Uniform Guide of the King's Forces

If you get into the period and want more these two books are the definitive uniform bibles. Outstanding!

Chartrand, Rene A MOST WARLIKE APPEARANCE: Uniforms, Flags and Equipment of the United States in the War of 1812

Chartrand, Rene A SCARLET COAT: Uniforms, Flags and Equipment of the British Forces in the War of 1812

Lastly figures. I am not a plastics man. I do not have the talent for putting them together. More importantly others here have given you very good suggestions. But if you want metal, 25mm figures these two companies are great and provide outstanding figures.

knuckleduster.com/shop
(Look under free down loads. Forrest provides great unit guides on how to build your regiments)

link
Just got done of these figures at Cold Wars and they arevery, very good.

As to blogs the two very best ones have already been mentioned. Both have provided me with inspiration and assistance in starting my own collection. Good luck and happy gaming!

Mark
bravefusiliers.blogspot.com

Marshal, I think that most Nap plastics can be adapted to 1812. I say that having zero knowledge of Naps.

Make sure your Nappies are early war, such as the Peninsular Brits and not the Waterloo era Brits.

It's the Americans that are more of a challenge. Add Old Glory to the manufacturers given above.

link

All the figures seem to match pretty good.

Both Knuckleduster and Old Glory have extensive lines for both sides, and they do indeed look good together. Artillery is the easy part as the standard British and French Napoleonic guns are pretty much standard for the opposing sides.

The American guns were painted light blue, and often had iron barrels as opposed to brass or bronze. Interestingly enough, however, some time ago when going through the old Massachusetts' militia laws, I found a passage whereby a volunteer militia company could petition (and receive) two brass 6-pounders from the State Quartermaster. I'm sure that's true for much of the American militia artillery.

Good luck and enjoy the research--that's half the fun of this hobby.

I have a lot of the Old Glory range for my Americans. Bought 'em long before the other rangers became available. I still like 'em.

Knuckleduster has a really nice range in terms of coverage. I find them a bit smaller than my OG figures and a bit less animated too. But they also have nicely varied range of militia for the US and Canadians. Good stuff.

I used Victrix figures for most of my Brits and was close to self-harm. I found them to be a lot of work, hard to stick four figures on a 40mm square base. That's not to say they don't look nice, but I might think about Perry or Warlord plastics to see if there are few bits per figure.

The Barbuto stuff is great, but spendy if you arent' getting it at OMM. Take a look at the Lordz Modding Collection for American stuff for free. link

Bookwise consider anything by Donald Graves including his works on Chippewa and Lundy's Lane. Osprey did a nice campaign book on the Chesapeake campaign a couple of years ago.

Nobody does an American infantryman with pike, sigh.