Game Board Testing

I've been going back and forth on ideas for creating a game board. I've been reading a number of blogs where the players use a flat terrain map, sometimes with risers beneath to create hills. Roads, rivers, and buildings are then placed on top to complete the terrain.

I'm not sold on above table rivers though.

Another option is to build a table with foam, where rivers and entrenchments can be carved down below the main surface. I like this look, but that potentially means creating a new board for each scenario.

The mid-point between these two would be a modular board made up of tiles. Several years ago I read about hexagonal pieces made from foam-board that could be mixed together to form a play surface, similar to old-school hex maps from games like BattleTech. I thought I'd take a crack at a small proof-of-concept version of that.

First up, I used a roll of flocked paper that I picked up at our local art store. I found some 1.5” foam-board in our basement, and a scrap piece of 1/4” plywood that I used to make a template from. With these in hand, I used my favorite spray-on tacky glue to attach the flocked paper to the foam. Since I don't have a hot-wire foam cutter (note to self, buy a hot-wire foam cutter), I tried a few different ways of cutting out the hexes. Scoring the lines with a hobby knife, then cutting them out with a small hacksaw seemed to work the best. The dust is messy, but a quick vacuum cleared that up.

Grass mat, foam board, spray glue & template

Flocked paper down and drying

First cuts

With the supplies I had on hand, I managed to make 8 full tiles, 4 half tiles, 4 end triangles, and 2 corner triangles. This gave me a playing surface roughly 2' x 2'. Three more sets will get me a surface suitable for some Smooth & Rifled skirmish games.

A decent start

Rough assembled board

Assembly after trimming tiles

Time and cost-wise, I'm not sure if these are worth the effort. I like the idea, especially once I start adding rivers and multiple levels, but some of the retail version out there may actually be cheaper in the long run.  The other issue with hand-made tiles is getting a tight fit.  These aren't bad for a quick test, and a hot-wire foam cutter would help.  I'll have to play with the idea some more before I make any purchase decisions.

With a bit of terrain and some troops..

Low angled shot shows the gaps a bit too much

Ground level view

Warner's Regiment in the sun

Seth Warner's Extra-Continental Regiment

I'm almost finished with my first set of AWI figures, very loosely based on my re-enacting unit, SethWarner's Extra-Continental Regiment of Foot.

The Regiment was originally raised in July of 1775 as a New York regiment, to be comprised of men recruited from the “Green Mountain Boys.” The original Green Mountain Boys were home-grown militia living in and around the New Hampshire Grants (today's Vermont). The Grants were in dispute between New Hampshire and New York, both of which claimed the land. The Green Mountain Boys fought against New Yorkers who were moving onto lands already granted to settlers by New Hampshire, in some cases burning homes and destroying settlements. In fact, when the Regiment was ordered to be raised by New York, several of the leaders had bounties out for their arrest, to be paid by the government of New York.

The Green Mountain Boys are probably most famous for their capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 at the start of the American Revolution. Led by Ethan Allen, the militia version of the Boys, along with Benedict Arnold, captured the Fort on 10 May, 1775 without a battle. Some men, under Seth Warner, then moved north down Lake Champlain to capture the fort at Crown Point.

The official 1775 version of The Green Mountain Boys was led by Seth Warner after the men chose him over Ethan Allen as their commander. The Regiment took part in the Invasion of Canada, seeing action around St. Jean and the Richelieu River. Allen, separate from the Regiment, actually made an attempt to capture Montreal and became a prisoner of war. The Regiment left Canada in November of 1775.

In January of 1776, the Regiment was once again activated to fight near Montreal, eventually acting as the rear guard for Benedict Arnold's army as they retreated from Canada in June of 1776. The next month the Regiment was re-authorized by the Continental Congress as an Extra-Continental Regiment. In other words, they reported directly to Congress, as opposed to any particular colony.

In 1777, Warner's Regiment took part in several engagements of the Saratoga Campaign, including the withdrawal from Fort Ticonderoga, the rear-guard action at Hubbardton, Vermont, and the Battle of Bennington in Hoosick, New York.

Between 1778 and 1780, the Regiment was stationed in the Lake George area, mostly taking part in scouts and skirmishes with the enemy. After severe losses on 11 October, 1780 when Fort George was surrendered, the Regiment was officially disbanded on 1 January, 1781.

For these miniatures, I've painted them in the green-faced-red coats that were ordered when the Regiment was raised. These were originally Perry Miniatures British Infantry, sculpted with gaitered trousers. Warner's was actually poorly supplied, and spent most of the war in stockings and breeches, so this portion of the uniform is incorrect. Our re-enacting unit has evidence that the Regiment was issued both “hats” and “caps”, so I've modified a few figures to have jockey caps instead of riflemen's hats. Since I may use these for some demonstrations of field movements, I've broken the figures down like this:

Privates and Corporals – Riflemen's caps

Sergeants – Jockey Caps

Lieutenants – Tricorns, Muskets, Sashes and Sheathed Swords

Captain – Tricorn, Sash, and Drawn Sword

These pictures show two platoon (4 sections) of Weight Hopkin's 1^st Company, mixed in with some trees that I bought at the craft store. I have another 10 figures to finish painting up to represent Gideon Bronson's 2^nd Company. Warner's was in short supply of bayonets, so I removed the cast bayonets from all of the muskets to portray this.

 

The craft-store trees I dressed up a bit by adding bigger bases that I then flocked and scenicked. For the figures, I based them for two different games: Smooth &Rifled, which uses individual figures for skirmish games, and BritishGrenadier! which uses stands of 4 to 6 figures at a scale of 1 figure per 15 to 20 men. So, for small games, I'll have 30 men. For larger games, they can represent a Regiment of up to 600 men (the historical Regiment was about 500). I'm experimenting with movement tray ideas. Each figure has been glued to a magnet as a base. I then added magnets to a 30mm x 50mm rectangular base, which was then painted and flocked. This way the individual figures can be added to stands for easier movement when in formation. I'm not sure if I like how high they sit, so I may experiment with cutting round recesses into the movement tray instead of building up the layers.