REBELS AND REDCOATS-War in the colonies

The first scenario in the rebellion book is the 1775 battle of Bunker Hill and the assault on Breeds Hill. I started by looking at the map in the book and what I would need to recreate the battle field.

I realised what I needed was a large hill for my red coats to march up with a redoubt at the summit. I also needed the edge of Charlestown on one side of the board. I had a green mat but no hills big enough so I wondered how best to tackle it. I already had some hills I’d made out of foam that double as islands for other games. I laid them out and cut up some new sections to fit what I already had.

I continued using foam to create the redoubts. I cut up some sections and added some Gabbions although I don’t think any were at the battle but I was thinking of reusing them for other battles later. I added some balsa wood panels to the back and painted them up and I was pleased with the results.

Black Powder has units that work with a frontage of different sizes which allows a lot of freedom with the unit covering that frontage. I decided on round bases for my troops on movement trays. That way I can use the figures for skirmish games in the future. I think on square bases the figures would rank up better but round bases does make it more economical with less figures required. Blackpowder games do have a level of abstraction when it comes to unit sizes. The minis are from Warlord with a handful of Perry miniatures. I still need an artillery piece. At this early stage of the war the militia units dont have an overall uniform from what I can tell so it was nice to paint a black powder force that wasn’t so uniform.

All the units for the Bunker Hill scenario int Rebellion sourcebook for Blackpowder. They are split into three battalions. One led by Major General William Howe and another by Brigadier General Robert Pigot. The third are reinforcements led by Major General Henry Clinton. I’m missing one artillery piece.

At Christmas I picked up the second edition of Blackpowder which contains an updated version of the battle of Bunker Hill. This at first I thought was a problem because I’d collected the forces for the original scenario and the terrain. However I think this updated version provides more flexibility to the battle and is larger in scope. This means I need to pick up a few more minis and put together a larger battlefield. I had started collecting for the second scenario in the rebellion book which was Chattertons Hill but I’m putting that on hold but still have a load of minis to paint for it.

I picked up a couple of plastic buildings from rendera which come with a lot of fences which seem common on American battlefields. I find them a bit flimsy on the table so I decided to mount them with a few flowers and a couple of grave stones. The church can come off the board and be replaced with the cabin. Maybe they buried their relatives in the back garden. I hope to get a few more buildings so I can do the edge of a settlement.

This turned up today. A skirmish company level rules set. This is why I base my minis on round bases I can take off my trays. Very familiar Osprey rules. I like the rules for commanding officers giving them quirky traits. The rues cover everything from the French indian wars to the civil war. I;m yet to read it all but so far so good.

I needed a flag for my rebel standard bearer and decided to go for the prototype before the stars and stripes. I find this design interesting because it has the union flag in the corner with stripes rather than the 13 stars for the colonies. It makes me wonder if this could have been the flag for the Americas if a peaceful independence was achieved like Australias flag today. Whats funny is it is almost identical to the standard of the Honorable East India company which at this time was planting it’s flag around India.