Battle of Harmony Creek - A ‘War of 1812’ fictional game
The local New York State militia commander needed to help his flagging political career and what better way for an American politician than a good ‘ol military victory! What excites the American voter more than the triumphant conquerer.
A decent orator, he was quick to enflame the local militiamen to quickly leave their jobs and loved ones and, still in their civilian dress, conduct a raid into Canada across Harmony Creek to capture the nearby farmhouse.
Singing patriotic songs the American militiamen were oblivious to the green-jacketed Glengarry Fencibles (a trained long-term Canadian militia unit) deployed along the creek. The Glengarry commander had strict instructions not to engage the Americans unless fired upon or the creek was crossed, so was somewhat baffled as the noisy American column seemed not even to notice his unit but continued to the bridge upstream.
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| The Glengarries, uniformed in riflemen's green but armed with muskets wait along Harmony Creek. The seemingly nearsighted officer checking his orders once again. "What to do if they ignore you?" |
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| Mrs. Secord informs the Canadian commander of the threat. "Many thanks Madam". The uniformed militia await orders. Many of the Canadian militia were provided British infantry uniforms but in green with a variety of red, yellow or blue facings along with blue coloured pantaloons and stovepipe shakos or top-hats. |
Mrs. Secord, escorting her cow, had warned the British commander of the threat and the local Canadian militia had formed at her farm to meet the threat. The oblivious New Yorkers (the US commander’s second roll for ‘situational awareness’ was again a 1 ! ) continued his advance toward the farm only to have the Canadians emerge from the wheat field and along the side fence mere yards from his column. The combat was rather one-sided routing the first NY unit who piled into the second. Shocked by the sudden fighting, all the Americans started running for home.
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| The American column. |
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| The combat near Harmony Creek |
The Glengarries meanwhile had advanced across the stream to follow the American column and were reforming from the slight disorganization of this maneuver as the Americans came back in great confusion. While the greencoat’s musket fire caused little in way of casualties, their fire pushed the New Yorkers into the woods away from the blasts. No hope for the Americans to reform.
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| The first militia unit collides into the column following. Quickly both are in rout. The knapsack markers indicate disorder effects |
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| The bird-eye's view near the end of the affair. The routing Americans in the middle with the Canadian militia to the left and the Glengarries in the upper portion of the photo. |
The Canadians, now in US territory, did not pursue but quickly returned across the creek with no casualties.
With some dead and many wounded, the main casualty was the Senator Glutson’s election bid. He lost by 6,200 votes.
The solo game was conducted with my rather simple rules of random rolls for unit’s orders and combat results. The diced actions then form the narrative.
I started this game by randomly bringing out of the boxes an American civilian dress unit. During this era, they are usually commanded by a local politician, thus the beginnings of my story…..