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.

Since picking up the Blackpowder second edition I have a larger battlefield to put together for the Bunker Hill battle. I have enough of a redoubt but need a bigger hill to put it on and some surrounding fields.

I decided to take a break from the mass of infantry that is required for the AWI being an infantrymans war not much in the way of cavalry was used due to the terrain. The British sent just two units of Dragoons and they dont pop up in many wargaming scenarios. But they do stand out on the tabletop and it made a nice change to paint these after all the infantry I’ve done.

After changing my Bunker Hill scenario to the one in the Blackpowder rulebook I’ve had to expand my hill. I made this out of upholstery foam for another game and got my pieces together.  I had to carve out some new pieces to complete the shape. On the scenario map the redoubt is in the middle of the hill. My redoubt is now too small and I need to expand it as well but first I need to paint up and flock the entire hill.

I decided to get back to work on creating my battle field for BunkerHill. I broke out the upholstery foam and began picking to finalise the shape and size of Breeds Hill and gave it a quick paint. I got to work on my tree collection and have attempted to improve them with a bit of filler and the odd rock on the base. Next step painting and flocking.

Still working on gathering my forces for Bunker Hill I have finally completed my movement trays for all the forces involved but need to get myself one final redcoat unit. I have given each unit a piece of identifying text explaining who they are and what Brigade they belong to. This will help ID them from the rear by the controlling players.

I have some old tree’s so I thought I’d give them a face lift by working on the base of each wood. I stuck a few stones on from the garden and textured the bases with filler before painting and flocking making them look more interesting than the simple flat flock they originally had.

I have four buildings now to represent the edges of Charles Town. When i put these two kits together I completely forgot to take any images of my progress. I might need to do a bit of work on gardens for the larger house.

I’ve never made fields before but I’m pleased with the results. It was a simple job of painting a carpet tile brown and gluing down some sprinkled oregano and rows of flock and clump foliage. All I need now is a scare crow.

I got my last box of minies for the Bunker Hill battle. I went for a perry miniatures plastic kit which is my favourite range for the period. I have one large unit of Marines to put together and the rest are used to complete a small Light Infantry unit. Nice break from the terrain building and I have a quick system for re cats now so hope to have them done by the end of the week.

Today I completed the light company detachment that I put together yesterday. I thought mixing the Warlord plastics with the Perrys might look odd but it seems to be alright.

I have now finished my roads criss crossing the battlefield. I watched a terrain tutor video on this and made some simple dirt tracks with some filler. My main concern was warping but mells tutorials have some good tips to prevent this. I put some tape under the card to stiffen it up and it’s worked well.

Stared work on my last unit for Bunker Hill. Marines ( not yet Royal ) should get these done over the weekend fingers crossed.