Water Craft Modification

The first scenario in the Pequot War book by First Command Wargames pits John Stone and his crew against a band of Niantic Indians.  The English start the game in the woods.  Their goal, on the opposite side of the board, is to reach their ship, anchored in the Connecticut River.  Since I was still waiting for some figure bases to arrive, I started thinking about terrain for the game.  The first thought, of course, was what to use for a ship.

Many years ago, on a visit to Plymouth, Massachusetts, I took a photo of the shallop that was floating in the water next to the reproduction of the ship Mayflower.  Thinking about what a band of English pirates may have been using as a landing craft in 1634, this image immediately came to mind.

Searching for "28mm shallop" didn't turn up much online.  Using more generic boat terms, I did find some terrain models, but they either cost more than I wanted to spend, or they were 3D printed, and my current printer is out of service.  My second option was to attempt to scratch build something.  I downloaded a few plans, and started to resize them, but then I remembered something.

Several years ago, I backed the Savage Frontiers Kickstarter campaign of French & Indian War figures.  Included with the Kickstarter rewards was a fur traders river boat, which I had assembled and painted up, then put on a shelf to collect dust.

Fur trappers river boat.

The cabin of this little craft is removable, so I considered an idea.  What if I could add sails to the hull, and make myself a more English looking craft for John Stone and crew to escape to?

Cabin removed.

 I didn't want to drill into the hull, or modify it in any way that would require cutting, so I thought that I might try building a sort of false deck, with masts and sails attached.  That way, I could easily convert back and forth between the French trapper's boat and the English privateer's boat.

Popsicle stick and dowels were cut to fit, using this image from the Royal Museums Greenwich as inspiration:

Pinnace sail plan.

Test fit with masts in place.

The original craft came with an arms for the rudder.  To more closely match the pinnace image, I used some of the stick cut-offs to create a small flat rudder that could slot into the back of the boat.

Rudder in place.

After some painting, sails were added.  I tried paper sails first, but didn't care for the look.  Some scrap fabric looked better, but was difficult to glue, and still needs a bit of ironing to flatten them out.  In retrospect, since I used fabric, I could have sewn the sails to the masts.  Live and learn.

Initial painting.

Sails in place.

Overall, I like the result.  It's not perfection, but it'll do for a single game, and I've learned what I can do to improve on the idea in the future.  I purposefully left off the rigging, which makes the scale modeler in me twitch a bit, but it helps with game play, as figures can be placed on the boat.  I think this will work well for the first Pequot War scenario

Ready to sail up the Connecticut River.

A New Project

 

"Lion Gardiner in the Pequot War," Charles Stanley Reinhart

 

On September 1st, on their Patreon Discord, Little Wars TV kicked off their 3rd annual "Fall Army Painting Challenge (APC)."  The challenge has inspired me to start a new project, which, in turn, inspired me to dust off "Lost in the Grants" again.

The theme for this season's APC is "Forgotten Wars."  The goal is to paint up an army and/or terrain representing a war that is sort of forgotten in history or overshadowed by larger more popular topics like the American Civil War or World War 2.  Basically, any conflict that doesn't get a lot of love amongst the masses interested in such things.

I quickly decided that pretty much any conflict in North America that took place before the French & Indian War falls into the "Forgotten" category.  These are conflicts that aren't covered much, if at all, in modern classrooms, and if they are touched upon, it generally seems to be generalized as whites killing natives for little or no reason.

For this project, I've settled on the Pequot War that took place in New England in the early 1600s.

The what war?  Yeah, that's why it's forgotten.

In the 1630s, in what is now Connecticut, a series of skirmishes took place between the Dutch, English, and several native tribes, culminating in the Mystic Massacre in 1637 in which the Pequot Indian tribe was basically wiped out by English colonists and their Narraganset allies.  One of my ancestors, Captain John Underhill, is often credited with instigating the massacre.  Another of my ancestors, Barnabas Davis, is said to have been drafted by the colony of Connecticut to fight in the war.  Thus, I do have a somewhat personal, though distant, connection with the conflict.  As I've been studying the battles, and the politics behind them, I'm finding that, like most of history, things aren't as black and white as they are often made out to be.  Did the English wipe out the Pequots?  Yes.  With help.  Was it racially motivated?  No.  It was a war of several opposing nations.  Was it horrific?  Absolutely. On all sides.

As I progress through this project, I'll try to share my research and thoughts on this particular forgotten conflict.  Though short, it's an interesting period of history to study, with a few first person accounts left by the English that give a feel for the battles and the reasons for the conflicts.

Old Sturbridge Village 2022

 

Old Sturbridge Village Pastures

After a couple of years away, Gabriella and I made our way down to Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA for their annual Rebels & Redcoats event that took place on the first weekend of August.

Sturbridge is one of my favorite sites.  Though the museum portrays 1830, the village and surrounding area, with the exception of a couple of buildings, could easily have been lifted from 1770s New England.  In fact, when the Revolutionary War reenactors take over for the weekend, the museum staff look out of place in their stovepipe hats.

Our Weekend Home

Gab and I arrived Friday night, just as the sun was going down. In fact, we had just enough light to fill out our registration paperwork, but ended up erecting our tent in the dark.

The event was smaller this year than it had been in past years.  Both the British and American camps were set up on the village green, where usually there are camps in the village and in the surrounding pastures.

Trying to Stay Cool

Much of Saturday morning was spent attempting to stay cool, and training some new members of Warner's Regiment.  With a heat index of around 102 degrees F, and humidity of about 98%, our main concern was to stay hydrated, and not to succumb to heat stroke.  As such, when the Saturday afternoon battle rolled around, we took the field without our coats, choosing to fight in our shirtsleeves instead.  As it turns out, this was a good choice.  It was reported later in the day that, between reenactors and museum guests, there were at least 12 heat casualties.  For my part, I took a tree early in the battle, and cooled down in the shade while the rest of the unit crossed the open fields while fighting the British.  I wasn't the only one.  At one point an artillery officer came under the shade, looked at me and another gentleman, and said as he wiped his brow "I'm just going to stay here and 'Guard the prisoners.'"

Warner's Regiment during the Sunday Fight

Sunday was a bit better, but the heat was still above 100 degrees.  We again took the field without our regimentals, which seemed to cause a bit of confusion for our adversaries.  First, they are used to seeing us in green faced-red coats, and usually on the flanks of the main army.  On Sunday, we not only went out of uniform, we were also held in reserve after the initial attack.  As such, at a couple of points, we watched the Brits send units to their flanks, looking for us.  Not finding Warner's, the Brits focused on the main American line, at which time we were called up.  To attack the flank.

Overall, a great, though super hot weekend.  Ice cream, cooling fans, and an air-conditioned tavern were welcome, if not period correct, relief from the literally blistering heat.  Old Sturbridge Village is a wonderful host site, and well worth the visit.

18th Century Me

Taking a Tree for Some Shade

Photos by Sierra Skye Makaris and Birget Loveall

Captain William Smith House

Neighbors visiting the Smith House.

When Stay-At-Home orders were issued back in March, I figured I'd use the time to work on a project.  I've been impressed with the offerings from Things From The Basement for some time, so I decided to order something for my AWI collection.  Their Captain William Smith House kit was perfect.

Kit parts.

The kit arrived quickly, and in great condition.  It was sent by Priority Mail by default.  While this did help with the shipping time, I would have been okay if there had been an option for slower shipping at a lower cost, but that option was not available from the website.  The only other minor issue is that instructions were not included in the kit.  They need to be downloaded from the website in PDF form.  I would have preferred a printed copy included with the kit itself, but this is a minor complaint.

First floor interior complete.

I found the instructions to be super clear and easy to follow.  I had the first floor assembled and painted on the first day.  Using photos of the inside of the actual house, I used wood stain on the floor, a flat white for the walls, and a colonial red for the doors and trim.

Assembling the windows.

The exterior walls go up.

The exterior woodwork and trim received the same treatment.  Stain for the exterior, white for the interior, and red for the windows.  Assembly was quick, and all of the parts were accurately cut and fit well.

Mrs. Smith checks out her new kitchen.

While I was building, the kitchen area seemed a bit bare, so I added a scratch-built fireplace and shelf.  While researching the actual house a while later, I found that I actually wasn't too far off on the fireplace placement.  The second floor and roof went together just as easily as the first floor and the walls.  I experimented a bit with painting the brick on the chimney, and was pleased with the result.  I wasn't sure about the weird white plaster bit on the front, as I thought it'd look, well, weird, but in the end I like how it came out, and it matches the original building.

The actual Smith House, Lincoln, Massachusetts

Overall, this was a great build, and I'm happy to have added it to my collection.  After building this, I'd highly recommend Things From The Basement products for anyone looking for buildings for their game table.

  

Redcoats & Rebels 2019

A few Warner's men from First Company waiting for morning formation.

I'm a bit behind on reporting events.  The first weekend of August was the annual Redcoats & Rebels event at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.  Gab and I, joined by her older sister, made the trip down from Vermont on Friday night.  Since we were only day tripping for Saturday, we opted to sleep in the back of our van.

Redcoats & Rebels is one of my favorite events.  OSV is a living history museum that portrays the 1830s of New England, but during this weekend every year, the entire place is taken over by folks from the 1770s.  The setting, with the exception of a couple of buildings, fits the time-period perfectly, and it's always fun to see several hundred people in period clothing bringing the site to life.

This year the turn-out of reenactors seemed smaller than previous years.  Both the American and British armies were camped on the village green, and there were very few outlying camps.  The turnout, however, did not diminish the event at all.

I didn't get any photos of my own this year, but there are tons online, as most of the AWI units in the New England area turn out for this event.  As usual, the battle in the afternoon was the highlight of the event for both participants and spectators.  The American army was severely outnumbered this year, but we put up a good fight.  Our unit, in particular, had a good time holding the flanks, trying to (unsuccessfully) build barricades to slow the British advance, and retreating through tall grass that was up over our waists.

The past few years, the Old Sturbridge Village Facebook page has featured a live overhead view of the battlefield, via drone footage.  As a participant, these are always interesting to view after the fact.  In the videos, it's possible to see various troop formations, tactics, and the overall flow of the battle.  OSV offered a few videos this year, and they are worth checking out on their page.

Though I had to leave Saturday night, from the photos and video that I saw online, Sunday went well.  Our unit, Warner's Regiment, is usually far from the cameras, but on Sunday the men appeared front and center in some of the video footage.  To close, here's a video that was found on YouTube, showing the Green Mountain Boys pushing the British back through the fields on the outskirts of the main village.