War of 1812 Research

I figured I'd pass along news of what I've been up to wargaming wise.  I've been researching like no tomorrow for a historical War of 1812 (North America) skirmish battle hopefully using at least some of my painted 28mm figures.

I have this love-hate relationship with the War of 1812.  The love part is this was a war that took place close to where I grew up, interesting history, and I've visited a number of the forts.  I have enjoyed painting up the figures whether 15mm or 28mm.  The hate part is I can't figure out the rules to use and a historical battle that fits that does not need lots of 15mm or 28mm figures.  I have painted up the 15mm figures for the Battle of Crysler's Farm using the Generale de Brigade ruleset.  It worked okay, but I think I lost interest in the ruleset.  After that I researched similar sized battles  to Cryslter's Farm and could not find the right ruleset to work on a 6'x4' table.  I gave up.  Then I discovered that probably the best approach was just paint up 28mm for skirmish battles.  This works just fine for hypethetical battles, but doing hypethetical battles really isn't my thing.  I prefer historical battles which have the correct terrain and units in the battle.  I went ahead and tried my hand at 28mm painting and succeeded to my liking.  I discovered there are napoleonic rulesets that have figures representing less than 1:50 and that peaked my interest again in War of 1812.  I had forgotten that The Sword and the Flame ruleset is actually 1:10.  Not saying I will use the ruleset, just noticing that there are rulesets out there that may work out for a historical battle with a low ratio.  I'm looking at trying to keep the number of figures that I have to paint up low, but still have a good 6'x4' table battle.  The latest two battles I've been looking at are the Raid on Black Rock and the Battle of Ogdensburg.  Ogdensburg, NY is only a one hour drive from where I grew up (Ottawa, Canada).  I think both battles would use some of my painted figures.

So hopefully soon I will have a battle and ruleset picked out for my War of 1812 figures.  I will be buying Americans and more British/Canadians/Native tribes.  I don't mind painting up more 28mm figures, now that I know I can do it and I like the uniforms.  Iroquois Warriors have been ordered from Conquest Miniatures.

There has been discussion that 25/28mm buildings are too big on the wargaming table.  I somewhat agree.  The concept would be to use 15mm buildings with 28mm figures.  I'm going to have to look more into this if I use the 1 figure represents 10, 15, 20, or 30 soldiers.


Rules I'm leaning towards:

• modified The Sword and the Flames by Bill Molyneaux
• Rocket's Red Glare