“We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”
Happy Birthday, America! Having recently returned from a quick trip up to Erie, PA and eventually up into Canada, I was hankering to do some War of 1812 Naval Gaming, more specifically, hankering to refight the Battle of Lake Erie, a pivotal engagement of the War of 1812 in the northern theater of operations. I asked Alex if he would be available to command the American fleet (Oliver Hazard Perry’s flotilla) and he accepted, if for no other reason than to say “Dont Give Up the Ship” during the heat of battle). I played the British and commanded the Royal Navy Squadron under Commander Robert Barclay.
I feel like you’d be hard-pressed to find a better time to refight the battle of Lake Erie than America’s birthday – the 250th! So here we are – with a rag-tag fleet of upstarts and ne’er-do-wells fighting (yet again) against the world’s most powerful Navy, this time for control of Lake Erie. (and if you have not heard of the herculean American ship-building effort the previous year on Lake Erie – it is an incredible story of perserverance against long odds and probably worth a blog post in its own right).
I won’t review the history leading up to the battle but you can check out the well-done wikipedia page here.
We used John Armatys’ “1 Hour Age of Sail Naval Wargames” rules found in the files section of the Groups.io “AMW” site. These are based off, and very much done in the ethos of, Neil Thomas’ One Hour Wargames. Most readers of my blogs (past and present) know my penchant for Neil Thomas’ rules and so the opportunity to fight a battle from the Age of Fighting Sail was just too good an opportunity to pass up. We made some very slight modifications as I’ll discuss as the battle unfolds.
We treated the largest ships as 1st Rate (the British large ships seem to be a little larger than American brigs) with the American brigs as 2nd Rate, and the Schooners and Sloops as 3rd Rate ships. This nicely captured their (lack of) firepower. The British have the 2 x heavy 1st rates, but the Americans have more ships.
The first few turns were spent coming up into position – nothing fancy. My intention was to bring my ships up alongside the enemy – in proper Royal Navy fashion… As our lead ships came into range of our guns, we opened fire. In this instance, I won the initiative roll (which we instituted) and so I moved first. This allowed Alex to move second, close the range and fire. The rules are very generous about shooting – which is allowed anytime during your move. The USS Scorpion opens the ball…
As we close, the intention is to bring as much of my firepower to bear as is possible. Eventually I want to turn into the American fleet to the extent that the wind will allow me to. Alex is thinking the same thing!
By turn 5 lots of markers start appearing on the table. USS Scorpion is already crippled (she can still fight, but each new hit over 10 and we roll for her to strike her colors) as is the Ariel. USS Scorpion does NOT strike this turn amidst all her hits! The Queen Charlotte is also making her guns heard and spreading more damage amongst the American fleet. I move the HMS CHipewa in but with some fancy seamanship, Alex makes use of Scorpion’s great mobility and sets up a raking shot on the Chippewa! The USS Ariel moves in between 2 x Royal Navy ships and gives BOTH a taste of her broadsides! (okay okay she’s a sloop but it’s not any less dramatic)
As all of this intense small-ship action is occuring in the van of the line, the USS Lawrence and the HMS Detroit are fighting their own little war, both Captains glaring at each other from their decks. USS Lawrence rolls an incredible “6” and the HMS Detroit, long suffering from hit after hit, is crippled but does NOT strike her colors! Along the line, ships from both sides are taking hits with some damaged and some crippled already.
Note the HMS Detroit is crippled.
We instituted a few new rules to John A’s set – including rolling each turn for the wind direction to slightly change 1 45 degree point on the compass. Also, each time a ship takes a new tier of damage, we rolled for the Captain’s health if she was the flagship. I’ll note neither Perry nor Barclay were killed. They both survived the battle.
On Turn 7, the wind changes direction, more heavily favoring the Americans! The British are in irons / close hauled and their movement is significantly reduced until they can adjust their positions. Chippewa captures the USS Scorpion, giving a point to the British, however the Chippewa is crippled. Things start to really move now and in a very unexpected turn of events, the HMS Detroit, Barclay’s flagship, is hit with a whopping 6 points of damage. She does NOT strike and sinks instead!
Turn 8 rolls around and the Queen Charlotte, enraged by the loss of their flagship, fires a broadsides into the USS Lawrence – rolling a 6! 8 points of damage scored! Revenge! The Lawrence strikes! Both flagships are down! (but also Perry lives and makes his way to the USS Niagara)
During the American portion of Turn 8, the American schooner Caledonia cripples the HMS Queen CHarlotte and she strikes! Both British 1st rates are gone, either at the bottom of the lake or struck. To add insult to injury, the USS Niagara sinks the HMS Chipewa! This is now 7 American points to 3 British points). The British only have schooners (3rd rates) left but they sink the Ariel as they attempt to disengage.
Amazingly the British have 1 ship that is still unharmed at battles’ end – the HMS Hunter. The Americans end up also striking the HMS Little Belt as well, bringing their total victory points to a whopping 8! This battle was a clear American victory.
We both tremendously enjoyed this engagement! The rules really capture the ebb and flow of Age of Sail gaming – really not bad considering they’re one single page! We used rosters to capture damage points and markers to capture “damaged” and “crippled” ships. we also made some determinations with the movement rules in terms of “interpenetration” speed after turning and maneuvering allowances for more nimbler ships.
We were able to add a little chrome too, which added a nice touch (the Perry touch?) to the day’s proceedings. If a ship reached a new level of damage we rolled for the Captain as a casualty. (needing snake-eyes).
In retrospect for this engagement, I probably should have focused my firepower and ganged up on American ships instead of spreading it out like I did. Capturing the USS Scorpion was fun too – and I imagined a swirling below-decks melee with grenades, knives clenched in teeth, swashbuckling and pistols! Probably from watching “Master & Commander” too many times 🙂
Alex offered his expertise and was great fun to play against – and truth be told we’d both been wanting to play an Age of Sail game for awhile now. Alex very skillfully handled the American fleet and we both rolled some devastating broadsides when we needed to! (The USS Lawrence destroying the Detroit, followed by the Queen Charlotte striking the Lawrence was much fun and supported a great narrative).
The zany reversals of fortune were also perfectly woven into this new narrative of the battle. Honestly, I cannot think of a more perfect way to spend the 250th than wargaming one of our most important naval battles from our infancy as a nation. If you want to fight Trafalgar (see Martin Rapier’s excellent 1 Hour Trafalgar blog post) with as little rules overhead as possible, then these are the rules with which you can do it! Alex and I are already talking about refighting Lake Erie and I’ll make sure to have the ships labeled and proper colors flying for the next round. I also want to come up with some cooler damage markers, as well as some proper markers for when a ship is taken as a prize or strikes its colors.
