George Washington Is Missing!

 

George Washington personality figure by Fife and Drum Miniatures 

I am working on a game scenario for the Battle of Princeton in January 1777 and one of the key elements is when Washington rode to the rescue to stop his men from routing away.

To my horror I cannot find the Washington figure that I painted in my collection. After searching high and low I have come to the regrettable decision that I will have to paint a new Washington figure. This time, though, I will make the command base larger and add a mounted soldier carrying his headquarters flag.

Nathaniel Greene with standard bearer. This is how I will depict Washington.

Ccc

Thinking About the Battle of Princeton

 

After watching the Little War TV video about the Battle of Princeton from the American Revolutionary War (or AWI for those of you who are heathens), I decided that it was time to work up my own scenario for the battle.

Fife and Drum Miniatures: British artillery 6-pounders with limbers.

Here is a link to the Little Wars video about their game. It includes some really good historical background about the battle and it is well worth the look.

LWTV Princeton

Continental infantry opening up a withering fire on the British 

The following map from Mount Vernon depicts the opening moves of the battle. Princeton is basically a "meeting engagement" where the two sides are marching in the opposite direction and then spot each other. A short intense battle follows. The British commander, Lt. Colonel Mawhood (pronounced "maud")

Map copyright of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. 

Princeton Order of Battle

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Amazing AWI Pix

"Hey, have you heard that Fife and Drum Miniatures is having a big sale?"
(picture edited and Photoshopped by Chris Gregg)

Click on all pictures to enlarge

Our Shot Heard Around The World {SHATW} sale ends tomorrow, May 8, 2025. So time is running short for you to score the 22% discount on all orders over $50.00; just enter the code Lexington2025 when you check out with your shopping cart and the discount will automatically be applied to your order. Fife and Drum Miniatures webstore

We are located in the Central Time Zone in the midwestern United States, so that means that the sale ends at 11:59PM tomorrow Chicago time. If you live a few time zones to the west and miss the deadline, then drop me an email and I will get you taken care of with your discount.  (altefritz1740@yahoo.com) 

This British Legion chap is on his way to the Fife and Drum Miniatures web store so 
that he can take advantage of the big sale www.fifeanddrum-minis.com 

General George Washington personality figure.

General Nathaniel Greene personality figure

Several customers were having a problem with the shopping cart not accepting their order. If this happens to you then send me an email and I can process your order manually. I think that the problem might be that my inventory stock counter in the cart system is turned to "on" and so if zero stock is shown for an item, the cart thinks that we are out of stock and therefore cannot accept your order. In most cases, I can fix the issue and manually process your order.

The British Brigade of Guards are looking for Fife and Drum Miniatures
in a Rebel town in the countryside. Look out though for that woman selling 
the apples. Those are not Fife and Drum Miniatures.

I want to thank all of our customers who participated in the SHATW sale this Spring. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Pictures of your Fife and Drum / Minden figures on the table top

I have not seen many convention games that featured the Fife and Drum AWI figures or the Minden SYW figures on the tabletop in an actual game. We have sold lots and lots of figures over the past decade and so I always wonder what happens to our figures once they go out the door to our customers.

General Nathaniel Greene has a few choice words with John the OFM
in front of the Savage Swan tavern. The Savage Swan is a favorite hangout
for painted Fife and Drum Miniatures.

Benedict Arnold is looking for new recruits at the Fife and Drum Miniatures sale.

I would like to post pictures of YOUR games with F&D/Minden figures on my blog so that you can show off your tabletop armies to the public. Also, any interesting or fun games and scenarios that you have played using our figures would be interesting to report.

Thanks go out to Steve L., Charles G., Stokes S., Guy B., and Dannie F., among others, for sharing your pictures with me. Our figures also made an appearance on the Little Wars TV episode about the Battle of Princeton from the American War of Independence. LWTV - Princeton This links to the YouTube video of the game and runs about 20 minutes.

                                                                        Some Minden Austrian Hussars 

                                                                        Painted by Michael S. in Germany

Well, I am off to the Man Cave now to set up my game table for the Battle of Princeton, inspired by that Little Wars TV video.

c

Shot Heard 'Round the World sale extended until May 8, 2025!

 

3rd Continental Light Dragoons - Fife and Drum Miniatures.

Several customers tried to place an order just under the deadline wire, but the coupon timed out as they lived several time zones away from Chicago CST time. While it was still April 30th where they lived, my web store assumed that the clock was on the next day, May 1st. 

So I reset the coupon code Lexington2025 to expire on May 8, 2025. You can still take advantage of the 22% discount that I am offering in this sale. So don't delay order today.

Fife & Drum web store

Prussian Hussars in Busbies at the charge.

American Mounted Militia

British 17th Light Dragoons

Tarleton's British Legion (Boo, Hissss!)
Did you realize that Colonel Tavington and Lucious Malfoy are played by the same actor?

British Guards Center Company figures painted as East India Company soldiers.
Thanks to Juergen Olk for the tip on how to use these figures.

cc

Antietam Battle Report: Hooker's Attack

 

Action in the Miller Cornfield

Back on October 9, 2024 I set up my game table to do a solo play of the ACW Battle of Antietam

Hooker's Attack

The battle of Antietam is best split up into a number of smaller actions during the battle rather than trying to fight the entire battle on one table. Smaller? I decided to recreate the opening of the battle with the morning attack of Major General Joseph Hooker's First Corps of the Army of the Potomac. As you probably can guess, I used my 54mm Confederate and Union troops from last year's Pickett's Charge war game at Historicon.

I used battalions to represent brigades in both armies. This allowed me to put the entirety of Hooker's and Jackson's division on my two game tables (6 ft x 15ft and 5ft by 12ft). The orders of battle are as follows:

Hooker's I Corps (3 divisions)

  Doubleday's Division (3 units) + 2 guns  / Patrick, Gibbon and Phelps

  Meade's Division (3 units) + 2 guns / Anderson, McGilton and Duryee

  Ricketts' Division (3 units) + 2 guns / Hartsuff, Christian and Seymour

Mansfield's XII Corps (2 divisions)   --- Optional for larger game

  Greene's Division (2 units) + 2 guns

  Williams' Division (3 units) + 2 guns

Stonewall Jackson's wing of the Army of Northern Virginia

  J.R.Jones' Division (4 units) +2 guns -- Grigsby, J.Jackson, Penn, and Starke

  Lawton's / Early's Division (4 units) + 2 guns  Early, Hays, Douglass and Walker

D.H. Hill's Division (2 units) + 2 guns --- optional  ---- Ripley

Hood's Division (2 units) + 2 guns --- optional --- Wofford and Law

In summary, the Union army has 14 brigades and 10 guns; Jackson's wing has 12 brigades and 10 guns. If this seems like too many units for the game table, then Mansfield's corps and the Confederate divisions of DH Hill and Hood could be eliminated from the game rosters.

For my game I used the Confederate divisions of Jones and Lawton and only Ripley's brigade from DH Hill's division. This gave me 9 CSA brigades. I only used the three divisions of Hooker's corp, each with 3 brigades. This gave me 9 USA brigades.

The table top set up. The split of my game tables is approximately at the lower end
of the East Woods and runs horizontally to Grigsby's location in the West Woods.

Hooker's stepping off point at the edge of the North Woods. The Hagerstown Pike runs
down the center of the table. Off in the distance one can see the Dunker Church where
the Hagerstown Pike intersects the Smoketown Road. Miller Cornfield in the mid-distance.

The Smoketown Road (right) marks the left flank of Hooker's Corps

The intersection of the Smoketown Road and the Hagerstown Pike in front of the Dunker Church.
This marks the back table edge of the Confederate army.

Let The Battle Begin - my report

On Turn 1 the battle kicked off with mostly long range artillery firing from both sides. Ripley's and Walker's CSA surprisingly move forward into the East Woods, hoping to bog down the Federal advance in that area. I didn't want this to happen, but the dice dictated otherwise. Doubleday's Division of Hooker's Corps advanced across a broad front.

Union artillery lob shells up the Hagerstown Pike to open the action.

Turn 2 sees the brigade of J. Jackson (not Stonewall, but the "other Jackson") marching forward on the CSA left into the West Woods. Walker's brigade charges the Union brigade of Seymour in the East Woods and wins the melee. On the CSA far left, they watch Gibbon's Iron Brigade advancing over open ground. The Iron Brigade opens up with its first fire of the game (aiming at Grigsby's CSA brigade in the West Woods) and completely whiffs on its target. Booooo!!!!

Gibbon's Iron Brigade unleashes some ineffective fire. 
(The 14th Brooklyn regiment is standing in for the Iron Brigade)

Turn 3: The action is starting to heat up as both sides come into rifle range. In the East Woods, Seymour's Union brigade had fallen back on Turn 2, but they gathered themselves together and counter-attacked Walker's CSA brigade. Seymour wins the melee and Walker's brigade routs.

Walker's and Ripley's Confederate brigades storm into the East Woods, where
they run into two Union brigades of Seymour and Christian, from Ricketts' division.

Meanwhile, Doubleday's Division (USA) attack is not going well as the Iron Brigade can't seem to hit a barn door and Patrick's brigade routs after receiving some musket fire. The prompts Meade to send his whole division of three brigades forward to help Doubleday.

Meade's division enters the Cornfield. Hartsuff's brigade from Ricketts' division
emerges from the East Woods, moves up the Smoketown Road, and attempts to 
outflank the Confederate defenders at the edge of the Cornfield.

Turn 4: Back to the action in the East Woods, Ripley's CSA brigade has to fall back as it is now faced off against two Union brigades (Christian and Hartsuff) and doesn't want to get outflanked. Walker rallies his brigade and they form a new line with Ripley's retreating Confederates.

Walker's Confederate brigade in the East Woods

Doubleday's brigades continue to have problems as Phelps routs out of the Cornfield and the Iron Brigade fall back to keep their flank covered. Now Doubleday has two brigades routing and the Iron Brigade's wheels are stuck in the mud. But wait! Patrick rallies his brigade. Hays' CSA brigade also routs out of the Cornfield.

Phelps' brigade enter the Cornfield (right), but do not stay there for
long as two Confederate brigades open fire.

Turn 5: With the West Woods no longer threatened by Doubleday's division, Jones shifts his division to the right and anchors his flank on the Hagerstown Pike to reinforce the Confederate center. Taliaferro advances up the Pike and wheels right so that it can pour enfilading fire into any Union troops traipsing through the Cornfield. In the center, Lawton moves his reserve brigade (Early) into the gap created by the rout of Hays' brigade on the previous turn. On the Confederate right flank, Lawton orders Ripley and Walker to retire from the East Woods and form a new line. He positions his artillery to give it a clean shot down the Smoketown Road.

Taliaferro's brigade wheels to the right to enfilade the Federals advancing 
through the Cornfield.

What is going on in the Cornfield at this moment? Ricketts hived off Duryee's brigade from his command, transferring the brigade to Meade's command. Duryee's Zouaves march smartly into the Cornfield. The other three brigade's in Meade's division are now advancing into the Cornfield and threatening the vulnerable Confederate center. It looks like we might have a Union traffic jam developing in the Cornfield.

Duryee's Zouaves make for a stirring sight as they enter the Cornfield.

Doubleday is still having problems getting his division to move forward. Inexplicably the Iron Brigade continues to fall back to its starting line. Patrick notices Confederates leaving the West Woods so he advances his brigade towards the woods. Phelps finally rallies his brigade. Meanwhile, Penn's CSA brigade routs out of the West Woods.

Grigsby's brigade of Jones' division seems to have things well in hand in the West Woods.

More action in the West Woods. Doubleday's Union division is 
running away from the hot fire zone.

A section of a Napoleon battery drops trail in the middle of the Hagerstown Pike.

At the end of Turn 5 the Union army had five brigades stacked up in the center (the Cornfield) and they are faced off by only two Confederate brigades: Douglass and Early. So Stonewall Jackson shifts Starke's fresh brigade to the center to back up the Confederates who are contesting the Cornfield. The CSA brigades of Hays and Penn are trying to rally behind their lines, near the Dunker Church. There, they come under the gaze of Robert E. Lee and he is not feeling very giddy at the moment. Over in the East Woods, the severely depleted Confederate brigades of Walker and Ripley are struggling to form a new defensive line to fend off the Union advance through the East Woods.

Game summary through the first five game turns

On the Union side, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that Ricketts' division (on the left) seems to have taken control of the East Woods and Meade has a mass of troops gathering in the Union center. The bad news is that Doubleday's division on the Union right is struggling to make a difference in the battle.

The Confederates are not feeling very good about their position at the end of the turn. Their right flank has been pushed out of the East Woods and the center is in trouble with two brigades routing out of the Miller Cornfield. Fortunately, Stonewall Jackson's left flank in the West Woods doesn't seem to be threatened any time soon, thank you very much Abner Doubleday. This enables him to shift two brigades into his center to confront Meade's attack.

Let us resume the report of the battle

Turn 6 saw lots of rifle firing but neither side was gaining advantage. Penn's CSA brigade rallied near the Dunker Church.

Turn 7: Union firing was beginning to take its toll on the Confederate forces. The Confederate right is destroyed as Walker and Ripley rout again near the East Woods and they are out of action for the rest of the game.

Turn 8: Jackson moved his last fresh brigade, Starke, over to the Smoketown Road - East Woods area and hoping that this will be enough to stall the advance of Rickett's two brigades (Hartsuff and Seymour). The Confederate center was still holding up, but the brigades of Early and Douglass were starting to see their numbers whittled down. At least Starke was there to back them up. The action was coming to a standstill in the West Woods on the Confederate left.

Jackson shifts Starke's brigade from the West Woods to the center.

Meade now had four brigades in the Cornfield (center). Hartsuff and Seymour seem to have hunkered down in the East Woods (left). Doubleday had two brigades trying to rally (Iron Brigade and Phelps) and his third brigade (Patrick) had no interest in advancing forward.

The final decision

I decided to end the game after Turn 8. The Union had enough troops to break the Confederate center, but they couldn't unwind the traffic jam of soldiers in the Cornfield and so they couldn't bring their whole weight to bear in their attack. There was no more fighting in the West Woods and the fight in the East Woods was petering out.

The losses were fairly even as the Confederates had 5 brigades of doubtful status and 1 brigade gone for the day. They had 4 viable brigades remaining in the game. The Union army had 5 viable brigades, 4 doubtful brigades and 1 brigade gone for the day.

I saw that neither side had enough of an advantage to stage a convincing win and I really didn't want to carry the game out to the last man.

This was a very balanced scenario that contained a lot of back and forth action. I think that it would make for a good convention game. All in all, this was a fun game to play.

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Little Wars Pix - Part II (the other games)

 

55 Days at Peking game based on the movie of the same name.

I had a minimal amount of time to roam around and look at some of the other games at this year's Little Wars convention, but there were some games that really caught my eye. The giant 55 Days At Peking game had a giant wall that must have been at least three feet in height. It also had hundreds, if not a thousand, 28mm figures on the table.

Entrance to the Japanese legation.

I'm gobsmacked by the amount of dice that this game consumed.

Here is a good picture that provides a sense of how big this game was.

Nice looking scenery and hundreds of Boxers on the table.

Yet more Boxers, scaling the walls of one of the compounds.

Some of the Other Games

There were a lot of good looking games at the show.

I do not know what this game was, but it had an awesome looking model of 
the White House in Washington DC. Judging from the style of the red car in 
the picture, my guess is that this takes place in the 1930s.

Amazing craftsmanship and modeling.

A Tolkienesque Mines of Moria game in 28mm.

Impressive looking terrain. My photographic skills do not give justice to the quality terrain.

A dungeon game. Simple terrain, but very effective and well-painted.

A large Napoleonic game. Nice terrain.

Western gunfight game with a suitably attired game master.

Close up view of the terrain in the western gunfight game.

Here are a couple of pictures of a very good looking Great War trench warfare game. My one nit pik, and this seems common to nearly all of the trench warfare games, is that the terrain is always modeled in a black color. I think that using a dark brown and some occasional tan dry brushing would really make this type of game terrain really "pop". Nevertheless, this was a well modeled tabletop lay out.

WW1 trench warfare game in 28mm.

Close up view of the trenches and dugouts. Nicely done!

Mare Nostrum board game. This looks really interesting to me and it would
augment my Punic Wars Project quite nicely.

There was a 54mm Battle of New Orleans game that caught my eye. I have been considering doing a 54mm Peninsular War in Spain, circa 1810-12, so I am always on the look out for plastic Napoleonic figures. My Roman buildings could easily serve as Spanish buildings.

Andrew Jackson's American Regulars

The British team advances across the pitch.

Overhead view of the New Orleans game. The British units are carrying  ladders
that they will use to cross over the fortifications.

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Here is the What A Cowboy game set in the Warner Brothers film lot in Hollywood.
This game won several awards at the 2024 Historicon convention.

Overhead view of the What A Cowboy game. Extra points for originality in 
the scenario and well executed terrain. I like the idea of the game set in the 20th Century
on a film lot filming a Western cowboy movie.

I need one of these lift cranes for my Roman city.
Anyone know who makes this model?

Battle of Freeman's Farm in the American Revolution.
I think that the table needs lots of trees though.

WW1 dogfight game, The game master is attired appropriately .

A parting photo of the great wall of China in the Boxer Rebellion game.
Superb modeling. This probably won the Best Terrain award,

Hannibal 54mm Punic Wars Game

While I will cover my own game in a separate blog post, here are a couple of teaser photos for your enjoyment.

Nellies lead the Carthaginian attack

A view of the three game tables (6ft by 18ft long each). Carthaginian table in 
the front, a center table that saw most of the action, and the far back table is
where the Romans deployed to defend their city over in the left upper corner.

The Carthaginian battle line deployment with elephants out front

A view of the three game tables from the Roman perspective.

A thundering clash of men and animals on the center table.
The Roman aqueduct spanned the width of the center table.

So there you have; it looks like another successful Little Wars convention this year. My thanks go out to Kevin Cabai and his staff of volunteers for organizing this fine show. The show was well organized, it was easy to sign up for games using the Tabletop Events software app, and I really liked the venue.

I am looking forward to next year's convention. Who knows what I will bring this time?