Burning down the Houses: The War of 1812

[loki100]

Kingston

Here the American plan evolved. As before Dearborn was ordered to land to join with Wilkinson and rather than send units from York to safety, it was decided to use them for a raid at Ogdenburg. Hopefully the evil badger-brock would be caught facing the mighty Dearborn at York and with his retreat cut off. Hopefully ...



Unfortunately part of this plan failed as despite another naval win, but the American fleet fell back and Dearborn decided he'd rather rest in a hammock than get his feet wet



Abandoned, Wilkinson was badly beaten by Brock


(in later histories, this terrible defeat became known as the Battle of Fortking Hell)
[1]


West

In the west, Detroit proved to be not that well held and vulnerable to a siege, especially as the US lake fleet could cut its supply sources if needed. To reinforce the scattered battalions, a single additional unit was sent up from its rest at New Orleans ... its not as if it would ever be useful in that location in any case.



[1] - we'll see a lot of this in the next few turns. In effect my army has become incredibly fragile as I've failed to get a decent flow of reinforcements over the last 2 winters.

[morningSIDEr]

Some fortking good updates. Narwhal's victory in York seems very damaging for loki, so too loki's own troops seemingly defeating themselves at battles such as Fort King due to Dearborn not wishing to join the battle! I get the feeling the advatange may be swinging Narwhal's way now.

[Narwhal]

On the 30th of June, 1814

To the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord Liverpool

Your Excellency,

Let me tell you at once that Kingston is saved ! I marched as quickly as possible toward the threatened city with a small force, and saw a large but exhausted American force surrouding the city. I immediately ordered the assault, which took our opponents flat-footed. They were crushed, and the one that were not killed in battle were captured.



Unfortunately, Charles Michel de Salaberry proved the loyalty of the French Canadians to our cause the most costly way - he died while we were pursuing the defeated Americans.

This victory would not have been possible without the decisive action, once again, of Sir James Yeo. He sortied his fleet to meet the enemy lake ships as they were ready to land additional force. The battle was difficult, but we had the upper hand when a canonball took off the head of the enemy admiral, Monsieur Isaac Chauncey. An improper end for a valorous enemy admiral.




Sir James Yeo then came back to the harbor, and the confusion cast on our enemy by the loss of their leader postponed their landing long enough so that my force could establish itself firmly on the shore.

Generally speaking, everything occured according to plan :



There is a new enemy forces, mostly composed of militia, South of the Champlain. Now the situation in Kingston is solved, I am going to ride there as fast as I can. Meanwhile, I trust my officers on spot can handle the situation on their own. I ordered them to move to Ticonderoga, join up with the leaderless force there and chase the Americans.



This Monsieur Zebulon Pike is quite unknown to us, but I don't see why he do any better than Monsieur Dearborn, who at least has the experience brought to any man by repeated defeats.

Finally, in the East, I learned that Tecumseh and his native forces are eager to avance the attempt by the Americans to burn their village. I gave them the authorization to lay siege upon Fort Erié, which has no harbor and thus no other way to receive supply than by land. Meanwhile, the rest of our units will recover its forces in Fort Détroit, except for Sir Scheaffe troops who guard Burlington.



You tell me in your last message that a massive fleet has been sent to support us. I suppose your courier would travel at roughly the same speed as that fleet, so I suppose the fleet should be quite close to destination now :



I wonder, though, where that fleet will go. Lay siege to Washington ? Near New York ? Up North to help us in Canada ? It could be useful anywhere, and I sent a ship to look for that fleet in order to better coordinate.

[loki100]

[quick confession, I was hosting this game and made a right mess of the next few turns as I became terminally confused as to where we'd got to. I think I sorted out the images, but some may relate to a version we didn't take forward and I know, more for August, I have some missing]

Despite Napoleon's decision to take early retirement, July 1814 is one of those rare periods when we have Henri's dispatch in full. It maybe this was because it wasn't actually sent:



However, it is instructive as to the views and discussions in the American capital at this critical stage of the war. Thus we quote substantially from it:

"Oi Loser ...

You think you were unlucky, well you should have seen this. See they were planning to sweep the English back into Canada:




The only problem was they attacked a force of English regulars with Militia. I mean you'll be losing to them soon enough, so you know what I mean.



Then their ships move too slowly to escape.



The only good news was this Prevost bloke was the sort of large scale muppet you'd appreciate. Seems as if the English were trying to kill off all their Indian 'allies' for some reason.



So despite you deciding to let the English send half their army my way, i think we'll still win.

With all due respect, your emissary to the Americans

Comte Henri.

[morningSIDEr]

Good to see Henri in full mocking flow. The interrupted landing for the Americans must have been painful though. The newly arrived British fleet is further cause for concern for loki, quite interested to see where Narwhal sends it. Prevost's convincing defeat should lead to some more British infighting though!

[Stuyvesant]

Take New York! Burn it down like loki threatened - but failed - to do in your last AAR exchange! Show the Americans how it's done, the proper British way.

Good series of updates. I do feel that Dearborn's continued inactivity is really hurting the American war effort. The initiative seems to lie solidly with Narwhal for now, and that was before the British Armada showed up off the Eastern Seaboard.

[now]

No send it to Washington! Annapolis has a depot and there's lots of strategic cities to grab in that area. Just watch out for Baltimore.

[Narwhal]

On the 2nd of August, 1814

To the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord Liverpool

Your Excellency,

Once again, I bring great news. The enemy force at Fort Ticonderoga has been defeated by our superior force under my personal command. The enemy fled is disarray, and the way to Albany is now open !




Lord Selkirk and Georges Gleig both displayed outstanding valor in the battle, which might now have been won without them !

Once again, Sir James Yeo gallantly fought and defeated once more the American fleet, which lost several of its boats :



More impressively, Sir James Yeo only had bateaux at its command. He could safely reach Montréal, where he dropped our troops exhausted by the Kingston operation.

Unfortunately, I have to report that once more, Sir George Prevost illustrated himself by his uncapacity to command. Even though his orders were not to attack Fort Erié, he wanted to bring back its former glory to his tarnished reputation. Unfortunately, his skills did not match his objectives, and while outnumbered and of poor quality, the Americans were able to repulse him, killing in the process a great number of natives.

Sir Georges Prevost was wounded himself (some say "framed" by the disgruntled Naturals) and is recovering his health in Amhestburg. He wrote me that he would be unfit for command for 6 long more month. I hope this will be sufficient to finish the war, so that he will never command a force again.



This has a silver lining, though. Sir Georges Prevost careless attack exposed the weakness of the American forces in Fort Erié, a weakness we will soon be able to take advantage of !

Here is a map to show you the present situation :



Also, I was very disappointed to learn that the British fleet in front of New York is not a landing force. May the real landing force arrive as soon as possible :



He will take with it a force we received in Halifax :



In August, I have the ambitious plan to attack Albany, now the last American force in the area is defeated :



I will keep some forces to protect our positions on the Champlain.

On the Erié, the rotation of my forces toward Détroit carries on. Soon, our force will be fresh - and experienced. I am also sending some reinforcements from Montréal, now the Ontario lake is well under our control.



Finally, in Détroit, I spared some troops for an operation against Vincennes. Henry Proctor, a man who knows how to move fast, has handpicked the best soldiers for an expedition. He will move fast - before the American can react - join up with the cavalry sent to help the Natives, and set Vincennes under siege. Vincennes has no port, so we siege will be quick, I hope.

Yours respectfully,


OOC side note for the fleet : My apologies for this false impression. I write the AAR after the end of the campaign, and decided not to focus on fleet operations. Loading my games as I do the AAR, I checked in front of Philadelphia if there was a fleet as I expected the arrival of the reinforcements to be soon, and it turns out that there was my "regular" (the one from the start of the campaign) there at that moment, thus my mistake.

Also - next message soon on comparing the different units and why I won the battle at Ticonderoga without leaders ('cause Brock lied a little).

[Narwhal]

Point on the forces in presence.

Here is a list. In blue - the American forces, in Red the British. I only took a sample of the units, but it is representative (I checked that). All these are units with 0 in experience. Most English units has 1 in experience, so more cohesion, 1 more in offensive fire and more discipline than "green" troops.

Volunteers are the units which have the "colonial" color : Green for the Americans, orange for the English.

Jackson's funnies are troops the Americans got at New Orléans at the end of the campaign. They are a bit original - it is a makeshift army - those are just a sample.



As you can see, the quality of guns and natives is the same. Note that almost all natives of the English side have 1 or 2 stars of experience from the beginning, and outstanding leaders as well. The militias are slightly better for the Americans (the Ontario volunteers are unique), but actually the English have few militias - all of them fixed - while most of the American force, especially in the first year or so, is made of militias.

On the quality of regulars, the Americans lage behind : their best regular is worse than the worst English regular (which happens to be Swiss - it is the (unique) unit with the purple background. The English regulars will ALWAYS shoot first (better initiative) and have 1 or 2 more in offensive and defensive fire (4% or 8% more chance to hit). Add to this that half the English start with one star of experience, and that the English leaders are better, and you understand while Americans fail even when outnumbering the English.

The English have Grenadiers, but they are not better than English regulars, except in assault.

In the "Light Infantry" department, the English have yet again the advantage, but it is not as strong as the best American Light Inf. is as good as the worst English one. I believe both sides have the same number of Light Inf., too.

The [French] pirate gunners are quite simply the best American troops. That's saying a lot - but then it is a French game.


If you want information on what the numbers mean, click here.

Why I won at Ticonderoga.

Outnumbered and without commander, I should have lost, right ? Well. I did not.



Why so. Well, remember where we were fighting. In the wilderness, in clear weather. Here is the chart to know the effects :



This changed completely the battle result. I am now going to show why I had an advantage. Warning, there is going to be a lot of calculation, but I believe it will be useful. Also, full disclaimer – I did not forecast this before the battle, it was ex-post analysis, AND I might be wrong in my calculation, too.

Forces in presence

I had 9 elements of irregulars and 18 elements of regulars, 8 elements of guns.
Loki had 4 elements of irregulars, 12 elements of regulars or militias, 3 elements of cavalry and 12 elements of guns.

Let's deal with the guns first.

How many guns can fight ?

There is a system of frontage in the game. Here is the chart for wilderness :



The support_unit_quotas (used by guns and supply units) in clear wilderness is 60, and each gun “consumes” 15 in frontage. So only 4 guns can fight for both side.
But since Loki100 has supply wagons, one of the slot (and only one) is taken by a supply wagon element (in exchange, all his troops have +10% in fire). So that's only 3 guns.

Effectiveness of the guns due to the terrain

My guns are in defense, they fight at 50% efficiency. 4 guns at 50% = Effectively 2 guns.
Loki100 guns are in attack, they fight at 65% efficiency. 3 guns at 65% = Effectively 2 guns.

Leader and other modifiers

Loki has an offensive 4 leader, and a supply wagon in combat.
Effectively, he has 2 * 1,2 (4*0,05 for leader) * 1,1 = 2,64
I am out of command by 35%. 2 * 0,65 = 1,3.
Loki100 has a small advantage in guns overall, despite having 4 more guns.

Now to the infantry.

How many units can fight

On average, my units spend a frontage of 1/3 (Light Inf.) * 7 (Light Infantry Frontage) + 2/3 (regular) * 12 (Line Infantry Frontage) = 8,2.
On average, Loki's units spend a frontage of 4/19 (Light Inf.) * 7 + 12/19 * 12 + 3/19 (cavalry) * 15 (Horses frontage) = 11,4
The frontage for the battle is 100 (Combats_Units_Quota), which means I could bring 12 elements in combat each round, while Loki could only bring 8. This is an average, both of us could get lucky, or unlucky. Loki100 was unlucky since at least 2 of his cavalry engaged (they eat up frontage and are poor fighters).

Effectiveness of the units due to terrain

My troops :

Regular infantry fought at 75% of its capacity.
Irregular fought at 130% of its capacity.
Overall, my effectiveness was 1/3 * 75% + 2/3 * 130% = 93,3%. The impact of the enemy irregulars defensive bonus is more or less 5% (I won't get more into details) let's say I fight at 87,5%, at worst.

Loki100 troops :

Regular/Militia infantry fought at 80% of its capacity due to the terrain. Since this group is 2/3 militia and militias have about 50% of the efficiency of the regulars it means on average an element of this sub-group has 66,7% of the fighting capacity of a non-militia, so overall this group fights at 53% of its capacity if it was clear terrain and full regular. The defensive bonus of my irregulars has an impact of circa 8%, so we are down to 45%
Irregulars fought at 120% of capacity, say 112% after my defensive bonus.
Cavalry fought at 60% of capacity, 52% after my defensive bonus.
On average, due to the terrain and the presence of militia, Loki's group fight at 0,45 * 12/19 + 1,12 * 4/19 + 0,52 * 3/19 = 60,2%


Leader and other modifiers

I am out of command by 35%, so my army has 0,650 *0,875 = 56,8% efficiency. Since my troops are of better quality (see the beginning of this post), I would give myself 10% of bonus, so let’s say 62,5%
Loki100 has an offensive 4 leader and supply wagons, so his final efficiency on average for a unit is 0,602*1,2*1,1 = 79,5%

Final result


I have 12 units fighting each round at 62,5%, so let’s give myself 62,5% * 12 = 7,5 in combat.
Loki100 has 8 units fighting each round at 79,5% so let’s give him 79,5% * 8 = 6,4 in combat.
So my troops were about 18% better than his troops each round. And thus, I won the battle.
Hope this was not TOO boring, and quite clear.

[loki100]

thanks for that, of all the battles I lost that was the one I was least clear over, esp as I'd managed to catch you out of command (so for once the command bonus was in my favour).

It really reinforces the message that the Americans won't win an even fight in this scenario and that the terrain conspires to limit the impact of any numerical superiority (I thought my mass of guns would give me a real benefit - in fact I was relying on them to compensate for the essential uselessness of the militia).

I still think you can win on points with the Americans, but its clear (from both games) that you won't do this by prowess on the battlefield, more by concentration and using your one real advantage in terms of lake mobility.

You also, and this is hard, need to find a solution to the supply problem. The next few posts will see my army fall apart as all those, by now very weak elements, start to collapse - as an eg see my relatively high element losses despite the relatively low actual losses at Eire. I'd be tempted to a fairly committed campaign of converting the wagons you start with to depots and then hope to snaffle supply by raids on smaller English towns etc.

[loki100]

As above, I was hosting this game and mucked up the turn sequence etc at this stage. So we ended up playing these turns more than once and in the course I managed to delete most of my screenshots. Now this is not such a large problem as in truth I was scrambling to repair the damage of the defeats at Kingston and Ticonderoga, as well as reorganising to defend some key locations. So this conflates two turns.

August 1814

The main problem here was Pike's choice of retreat route after Ticonderoga. It would have been handy if he'd fallen back the way he came and thus still blocked the road to Albany. As it was he wandered off north into the wilderness, so I brought him on the well trodden route to Sackett's Harbour where he can join up with Dearborn (they can compare notes on places to stay and eat when you've just lost a battle at the southern end of Lake Champlain):



and in the West, Vincennes comes under threat:



Now rather fortunately, a battalion I'd sent up from New Orleans is nearby, so I'll let it recover and it may help to drive the English off, especially once winter has damaged them.

September 1814

What is left of the American forces around Lake Ontario is trying to reorganise. My plan is to hold Niagara if I can as that blocks the western approaches, and then use Dearborn/Pike for raids into Canada. I may get lucky and grab Kingston, and if so manage to threaten Montreal again. A small force is left to contest the Hudson valley.



But overall, its looking grim:

[loki100]

Good to see Henri in full mocking flow. The interrupted landing for the Americans must have been painful though. The newly arrived British fleet is further cause for concern for loki, quite interested to see where Narwhal sends it. Prevost's convincing defeat should lead to some more British infighting though!

Well at the moment, insulting Napoleon is as good as it gets for Henri I'm afraid, but yes the English too carry on bickering

Take New York! Burn it down like loki threatened - but failed - to do in your last AAR exchange! Show the Americans how it's done, the proper British way.

Good series of updates. I do feel that Dearborn's continued inactivity is really hurting the American war effort. The initiative seems to lie solidly with Narwhal for now, and that was before the British Armada showed up off the Eastern Seaboard.

I fear that rather than a half starved group of Indians, Narwhal has a somewhat more potent force to hand. Given the likely time in sieges (even with no American field army), you have to choose between Washington and New York. In our replay, I got greedy and tried to use that small force that Narwhal has in Halifax to take New York while I used the main body to do, as really you have to do with the British in this game, and burn Washington down. I got utterly humped by a large force he'd hidden away in New York.

No send it to Washington! Annapolis has a depot and there's lots of strategic cities to grab in that area. Just watch out for Baltimore.

Yep, in terms of VPs, if the British are win a clear victory they need Washington (remember the VPs in this scenario are not the same for us both)

[Narwhal]

thanks for that, of all the battles I lost that was the one I was least clear over, esp as I'd managed to catch you out of command (so for once the command bonus was in my favour).

It really reinforces the message that the Americans won't win an even fight in this scenario and that the terrain conspires to limit the impact of any numerical superiority (I thought my mass of guns would give me a real benefit - in fact I was relying on them to compensate for the essential uselessness of the militia).

I still think you can win on points with the Americans, but its clear (from both games) that you won't do this by prowess on the battlefield, more by concentration and using your one real advantage in terms of lake mobility.

You also, and this is hard, need to find a solution to the supply problem. The next few posts will see my army fall apart as all those, by now very weak elements, start to collapse - as an eg see my relatively high element losses despite the relatively low actual losses at Eire. I'd be tempted to a fairly committed campaign of converting the wagons you start with to depots and then hope to snaffle supply by raids on smaller English towns etc.

I think this battle shows that even number and quality of the leader won't make up for defensive position and good terrain. When I started playing, I never thought too much on the terrain. Now, I am always handpicking my units for combat in difficult terrain - only Lights or Indians if I can.

Also, if you are not fighting in a clear area a huge stack is mostly useless as no more than say 15 elements (4 units) are going to fight each round. Better have a small group of elite than a large group with a mixture of elite and poor units.

Remember, though, that in clear / prairie / wood terrain (but not forest), the STRATEGICAL rating of the commander increases the frontage. This can help an awful lot.

By the way, is "terrain" even an English word, or just French ?

[Narwhal]

On the 1st of September, 1814

To the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord Liverpool

Your Excellency,

I am writing to you from in front of the walls of Albany - our offensive was quick and efficient, and I have no accident to report. All our targets were met ; on all fronts.



Albany has almost no defense. I plan to assault it later this month, once I have receive a small complement of troops ; this should be easy.



On the Erié, Drummont's reinforcements arrived safely at the harbor, by virtue of Sir James Yeo lakemanship. Drummont will now move to Burlington, to prepare an assault to Fort Erié :



As for Vincennes, the Fort is more protected than expected, and assault is our of question. I believe there are a lots of supply ready in the city, and thus ordered to send a supply force to be able to hold the siege. Unfortunately, the supply will not arrive before several months :




Finally I have just learnt about the arrival of a fleet in the Chesapeake Bay.



I could cancel its order to land in Philadelphia at the last moment. I need a force to clean up New York, so my army currently in Albany will be able to move on the Mohawk Valley without the risk of an army moving along the Hudson from New York to retake Albany.

In addition to this, this will ease communication between our force and the reinforcements.



I suggest not to land directly on New York, but slightly North of it, lest the enemy is expecting us.

Confident in final victory,

Sir Isaac Brock.

[OOC : I did not land directly on New York, which might surprise you given my agressive nature, because at that moment I was playing against Baris and one of my Canada-liberating landing force tried to land on a beach held by the English and was entirely wiped out. Turns out I could have safely done it here, though.]

[Narwhal]

On the 2nd of October, 1814

To the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord Liverpool

Your Excellency,

Once again, the enemy forces did not react to our moves. I believe they are exhausted - and desperate.



Our forces are not in their heartland, in Albany and next to New York. Albany has been breached, and I am now going to assault it (a confusion in the orders I sent postponed the assault). Meanwhile, Robert Ross and his men will move toward New York :



Similarly, Drummont will lead an assault to Fort Erié. I believe we have superior forces :



Finally, the siege of Vincennes carries on. There have been some underestimation of the supply needed as winter approaches, and even the supplies brought by de Rottenburg will not be enough. I might have ressorted to assault, but the Natives told us the defense of Vincennes was well organise, so I just hope for the best.



On second though, I should have sent the supply-consuming cavalry away, but too late to send the orders.

Our victory would be even more complete with La Nouvelle Orléans, I believe.



For this reason, I am going to send our forces in Albany for a long expedition to the Nouvelles-Orléans :



Finally, I must warn your Excellency that the beer situation is getting serious. If we are not supplied soon - the last shipment had none for some reason - our men might be pushed to the worst !



Yours respectfully,

Sir Isaac Brock

[loki100]

By the way, is "terrain" even an English word, or just French ?

its the same in both, I suspect the English stole it ....

[OOC : I did not land directly on New York, which might surprise you given my agressive nature, because at that moment I was playing against Baris and one of my Canada-liberating landing force tried to land on a beach held by the English and was entirely wiped out. Turns out I could have safely done it here, though.]

in the replay he did the same thing to me ... so don't land on New York without scouting it first

[morningSIDEr]

As loki says the situation seems rather grim for America now. Lots of action in the last few updates, on Narwhal's side particularly, loki seemingly attempting to reorganise his forces primarily. Good going all round, I still think loki has a chance of coming back into this but Narwhal seems to be in the ascendancy.

[Stuyvesant]

I think it's time for 'Henri' to pack his bags and head for sunnier climes - Venezuela, perhaps? And I think it's time for the Americans to learn the venerable tradition of calling 'Uncle!'. This war seems done for, certainly points-wise, and I'm not ruling out a total British victory... It's hard to see how loki, with his increasingly fragile army, can stop the British advance, let alone turn the tide.

[loki100]

As loki says the situation seems rather grim for America now. Lots of action in the last few updates, on Narwhal's side particularly, loki seemingly attempting to reorganise his forces primarily. Good going all round, I still think loki has a chance of coming back into this but Narwhal seems to be in the ascendancy.

I can't to be honest, as the next post will show, my combat units are too run down and any losses in manpower translates to horrendous losses in elements (& thus to more lost VPs). I'm paying the price for being aggressive earlier and not sorting out the supply depots

I think it's time for 'Henri' to pack his bags and head for sunnier climes - Venezuela, perhaps? And I think it's time for the Americans to learn the venerable tradition of calling 'Uncle!'. This war seems done for, certainly points-wise, and I'm not ruling out a total British victory... It's hard to see how loki, with his increasingly fragile army, can stop the British advance, let alone turn the tide.

He's off to sunny New Orleans already, having carefully hidden the secret matches on his table in the office in the French delegation marked - "if you are English and want to set something on fire ... do not enter"

[loki100]

At least Henri's agents took some revenge



And the American navy at least did some more damage



But the twin sieges of New York and Albany were a bit of a problem



especially as Albany fell relatively quickly



and the English took back Fort Eire



But at least Vincennes held out



As far as can be understood, it is about this time that Henri relocated from Washington to New Orleans