much ado about nothing: War of 1812: Americans for Sharp Practice 2

So, a second kick at the can as it were...

A number of years ago, I sold off my substantially large 28mm Napoleonic collection, which included a lovely War of 1812 contingent. They were primarily Old Glory figures and organized for Field of Battle. We played the shyte out of that collection and I was very happy with it. But as with many of collections over the years, it had served its purpose and provided many hours of fun and it took a walk to greener pastures.

Hop, skip and jump to this year and the release of Sharp Practice 2 from Too Fat Lardies. Vidal promptly set about building British and French armies for skirmishes in the Peninsula (and a lovely job he's done). Meanwhile, I was using my ImagiNation and Carlist Wars collections for some entertaining SP2 games. Now, one of the greatest things about these rules is the promise of being able to build armies on a relatively small budget. Most force lists require less than 100 figures (and that includes a variety of supports). I started looking around for some new SP2 projects and was digging through the lead pile and found a surprising number of unpainted Old Glory War of 1812 figures for an American force (from whence they came I have absolutely no idea). This would dovetail quite nicely with Vidal's Peninsula Brits, I thought. And thus, over the last few months, I've been putting together an American force for 1812.

While some aren't too keen on Old Glory sculpts, I quite like them and their War of 1812 range is one of the best in the catalogue. After assessing the figures I had, I realized they were primarily militia sprinkled with a few regulars in the early war uniforms. I decided to concentrate on 1812 (and maybe 1813) and build a force made up mainly of militia, with a few regulars for support. Although my original intent was to not buy any new figures (there were, after all, over 200 figs in the pile), I did go ahead and add some US cavalry and mounted commanders from Knuckleduster Miniatures. The cavalry have not yet seen the painting table but all the rest have been completed. And a spiffing little force they make!

The entire force, missing only the one group of cavalry.

New York militia rifles - two skirmish groups and one Big Man.

(Old Glory miniatures)

US regulars - three groups and two Big Men.

(Old Glory miniatures)

New York militia - four groups, two big men, standard bearer, and drummer.

(Old Glory miniatures)

[note: I decided to build my militia groups of eight figures each as opposed to 10-figure militia groups as presented in SP2. I've yet to hear a satisfying explanation as to why regulars are eight figures and militia 10 figures in the rules.]