Miniatures Sources for some almost Wars

[carlos marighela]

There are some actual instances of near conflict along the US-Canadian border that merit gaming. It's not just the War of 1812 and the Fenian Invasion.

Let's start with the Hunter Patriot incursion into Upper Canada in 1839, that's every bit as valid as the Fenian invasion, both were carried out by US based non-state actors. The Hunter Patriots were a kind of comic banditti, who while nominally supportive of the Lower Canada rebellion, made up of Canadian rebels on the lam and an assortment of Yankee adventurers, some of whom saw the invasion as a way to incorporate Canada into the US of A. They got their clocks thoroughly cleaned at the Battle of the Windmill and belatedly the US Government started interdicting attempts to cross into Canada.

Then you have the almost kicked off 1838  'Aroostook War'  where competing claims over the Maine- New Brunswick border saw troops massed on both sides and some actual fisticuffs between posses acting for both the Crown and Maine. Britain sent reinforcements and a number of blockhouses were constructed on both sides of the border.

The other missing ingredient is the so called 1859 'Pig War'. Competing claims over the San Juan islands saw a military stand-off between the US and Britain that threatened to spill over into general war.

For the Hunter Patriots and Aroostook Wars gamers may wish to look at the Empress 1st Afghan War range for suitable British forces. The banditti can be assembled from a variety of armed civilian types from various Alamo ranges (Boothill/Brigade) etc as well as Empress' Maori War Civilians. If you add in a variety of capote wearing figures from various FIW ranges and the Canadian Silver Bayonet packs you can expand to do the rebellion in Lower Canada. As the 1838 and 1839 fighting unusually took place in the depths of winter I've even used some of the wilder mountain men types from the Brigade Games Wild West Range dressed in fur coats. Foundry have similar offerings.

The Perries of course came to the rescue for the Pig War. You can find suitable figures for both sides between their British Intervention and ACW ranges.

[Captain Blood]

And again 

We are not doing USA / Canada politics here, even under the guise of historical conflicts between the two countries. Because the subtext is quite clearly the current situation, and - per the forum rules - we’re not getting into real world politics here. Which will inevitably follow in a thread like this.

Any further threads on this topic will just get deleted, not locked.