Prepping for today's 247th Anniversary 1776 Battle of Brooklyn AKA: Long Island game

 I've been remiss in blogging here, which bums me out, largely due blogger having once again revised their system and semi-locking me out of administering my blogs.  I've been very busy without the time to focus on finding the solution or a workaround, but in the meantime I have been kinda busy on the hobby front, which is why I'm putting in the effort to post this late tonight, before tomorrow's above-mentioned 247th Anniversary refight game of the August 27th 1776 Battle of Brooklyn, AKA: Long Island, taking place at the Knights of Columbus hall on N. Anaheim Blvd. in Anaheim, California.

Despite being the largest battle of the American Revolution, fought over a large area and by very large armies within the context of the war, it is relatively little known.   I grew up in the neighborhood where some of the most dramatic action of the day took place and have always wanted to recreate it as a tabletop game, but though I've always been interested in it, AWI has never been a central focus of my own collecting, terrain building or gaming.  However, about a year ago when a good friend of mine down in Orange County (who develops lots of historical scenarios & GMs lots of games using his home-brew rules called FIRE AND MANEUVER) decided to raise armies for a refight of Bunker Hill, I put a bug in his ear about Brooklyn.  After a while that turned into a scenario and then a first version of the game which we played back in May.  Along the way I asked my younger daughter who was at school in NYC to visit the actual Old Stone House (which is generally regarded as an accurate recreation built after the original burned down towards the end of the 19th Century) and take some pics of the the building and the diorama on display inside, which she did and which I will be eternally grateful for!  After our first attempt proved that the scenario (despite being unbalanced in favor of the British) could deliver an enjoyable game for both sides, the GM & myself convinced another good friend of ours to build a mini version of the Old Stone House my daughter had collected valuable intel on -- where a handful of American troops made repeated assaults on the British occupants which helped prevent the larger British army from being able to surround, cut off and potentially capture or destroy most of the American army.  That first game also led to me making terrain pieces for Gowanus Bay, Gowanus Creek, the surrounding salt marsh, a waterwheel for nearby Gouwer's Mill (AKA: Freeke's Mill) and building the bridge across Gowanus creek, which at the actual battle some other Americans burned to delay their British pursuers.  I made these new water features to match the set of river and canal boards I had previously made for the same GM friend years ago for his Arnhem and Eindhoven games, which we repurposed to serve as New York Bay and the East River in the game we'll be playing on the 247th Anniversary of the battle.

Earlier today -- the day before the anniversary -- the GM and the other three of us who built terrain for this project got together to set up the table and stage the forces.  Perhaps the most interesting & original feature is a contemporary illustration of the Manhattan Skyline c.1760-1790, which we placed atop a separate narrow table across an "aisle" space from the Western edge/shore of the Brooklyn/Long Island table, with the "aisle" standing in for the East River.  In fact the battle can be seen as an American version of Dunkirk, with George Washington and his Continental Army succeeding in retreating from the tactical or even operational defeat while managing to pull off something of a strategic victory by enabling the vast majority of their forces to safely cross the river to Manhattan and live to fight another day.

The process of researching the battle -- and specifically its terrain -- was a time-consuming but enjoyable one and I hope to write more about it here at some point.  But right now I need to get some sleep so I can be ready for the game tomorrow, so I will leave it at that and add some pics for you to hopefully enjoy...

TO BE CONTINUED......

CAMERONE 160th Anniversary game Sat 5/21 @ Sand Wars 2023 in Mesa, AZ

Hard to believe it's been more than a year since the last time I posted here.  I'm pretty sure that's the longest stretch since I started this blog back in the Spring of 2010.  The past year was surprisingly hectic for me, mostly in good ways. 

High points included my older daughter/middle child's graduation from West Point and commissioning as a 2LT in the Army of the United States -- that's still how they write it on her paperwork!

At the other end of the spectrum our family dog, Sam, passed away this past July, a couple of months short of turning 13.  Sam was a Canaan Dog, a breed native to Israel, as well as Jordan & Lebanon, but we got him down in Yucca Valley, California.  He was 6 weeks old at the time and he was the dog our kids grew up with and pretty much the greatest dog who ever lived -- well, at least to my mind!He was a working dog with strong instincts for herding and protecting.  When he was 5 or 6 years we took him a couple of times to herd sheep and -- despite having never seen or heard a sheep before in his life -- he proved to be a master at the task.  Part of me wishes we'd taken him to do that more often, because it was so much fun to watch him in action, and also for me to participate in when I got to play shepherd... but the truth is to Sam it seemed more like work than joyful recreation.  He did a great job, but watching him you didn't get the idea he preferred getting covered in dust while wrangling flighty sheep in the hot sun to dozing on the couch at home or sitting in the shade on the front step keeping watch over things.

One day when Sam was 3 or 4 years old, he was the only one in the house when our son came home from school and a short time later a felon broke into an empty bedroom in our house.  Lounging in the family room with our son at the time and going by nothing but the sound, Sam instantly charged the closed bedroom door, snarling and barking as only a guard dog whose territory has been violated can.  This rapidly convinced the intruder to jump out the window he'd broke in through and scramble back to the van where his girlfriend was waiting at wheel.  They sped off, having stolen some cash and my son's iPhone from his nightstand.  But...

Unfortunately for them my young tech-savvy son had previously set-up the "Find my iPhone" feature on his computer, which he proceeded to activate.  When I got home a little later I called a cop friend at the local stationhouse who instantly put my son on the phone with a detective, and then the LAPD went and caught the guy.  He was a gang-member and three-time loser who if convicted on these new breaking & entering and burglary charges would face a long mandatory sentence (though this happened in Los Angeles, California, it was years ago).   The police recovered the phone but we never got it back.

Months later, on the day before the start of the trial, knowing my son intended to take the stand the next day, the culprit pled out rather than face a jury.  I loved Sam long before this happened, but after it happened I felt very lucky and very thankful he was part of our family.

Well... not sure where that came from, other than the heartfelt past!  Apologies that it has nothing to do with wargaming -- but years ago I did get myself a 28mm version of Sam, who accompanied various armies across my tabletop, sometimes at the heel of an officer, other times doing his due diligence with those dang sheep...

And the real thing...

Now on to the miniature matter at hand as mentioned in the title of this post...

To commemorate the upcoming 160th Anniversary of the iconic battle, together with my buddies Dan Gurule and Shawn Hutson, I'm bringing a Camerone game to the HMGS Pacific South-West "SAND WARS" con at the Mesa Convention Center in Mesa, Arizona on Saturday May 20th.  The convention lasts through Saturday and Sunday and here's a LINK to its website:

https://tabletop.events/conventions/sand-wars-2023

...here's a LINK directly to the Event Page where you can sign up for our particular game:

https://tabletop.events/conventions/sand-wars-2023/schedule/8

...and here's the write-up for the game (which I already posted over on the even more out-of-commission Camerone Day blog that I created for the 150th Anniversary game I ran back in 2013 & where you can also read a lot more about Camerone & see a ton of pics from that game played 10 years ago):

On the morning of April 30, 1863, 49 officers and men of the 3^rd Co., 1^st Batt. Foreign Regt. (AKA: the French Foreign Legion) led by Captain Jean Danjou occupied a decrepit hacienda compound in the abandoned village of Camarón (“Camerone” in English) and fought a 10-hour battle against 2,000 Mexican regulars and guerillas under the command of Colonel Francisco Milan. The compound sat along the “Royal Road” leading from the port of Vera Cruz on the Gulf coast inland to Puebla and Mexico City. When they first encountered the enemy, Danjou and the 3^rd Co. were en route to escort a convoy carrying siege guns, ammunition, and 3,000,000 Francs in gold (approx. $57 Million in 2023 USD). Ten hours later when the fighting stopped, all but one of the Legionnaires had been captured or killed. But though the 3^rd Co. no longer existed, it had accomplished its mission: the gold convoy had heard the sound of the ferocious battle up the road, turned around and headed back to safety. After the battle ended and Colonel Milan learned how enemy soldiers his men had actually faced, he declared: “These are not men, they’re demons!”

Join us to commemorate the 160^th Anniversary of the battle by honoring the men of Company Danjou fighting for the glory of the Legion, and their Mexican opponents fighting to defeat the French Intervention (1862-67).

 

As Captain Danjou or one of his lieutenants, can you lead your handful of men to hold out long enough to keep the Mexicans from hitting the convoy…?

 

As Colonel Milan or one of his deputy commanders, can you coordinate your array of disparate units to overcome the ferocious enemy behind the walls of the Hacienda de la Trinidad fast enough to still be able to ambush the unescorted convoy and score a major victory for your cause…?

 

This will be a 6-Hour Epic Struggle: 3-hr session I from 9am to 12 Noon--lunch break--3-hr session II from 1pm to 4pm, played with finely painted figures over award-winning terrain, using Osprey’s popular “The Men Who Would Be Kings” colonial rules, with mods for the scenario and to speed up convention play.

 

Room for up to 3 French & up to 5 Mexican players (combined maximum 8 players).