I think Lake Champlain does hold the record

Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, Oct. 11, 1776

I wondered a day or so ago if Lake Champlain held some sort of record for the largest naval battle on the smallest lake.

Some preliminary research suggest that it does. As a matter of fact, Lake Champlain was the site of TWO rather large naval battles.

Naval battle big enough to have a name are extremely rare on lakes, it turns out. I could find only a handful. It appears some very special circumstances are required and, in fact, the struggle for the lakes in the War of 1812 was to only campaign of its type ever that I could find.

It appears there have been roughly a half dozen major naval battles/campaigns on freshwater lakes in recorded history.

Three of those occurred on lakes considerably larger than Lake Champlain: Lake Erie in 1813. Lake Ontario in 1813-14 and Lake Tanganyika in 1915-1916.

There were, as I said, Two large naval battles on Lake Champlain: Valcour Island, Oct. 11, 1776 and Lake Champlain (also known as Plattsburgh) Sept. 11, 1814.

There's only one other candidate to threaten Lake Champlain's record, a battle or series of battles on Lake Poyang, China from Aug. 30-Oct. 4, 1363. This battle is sometimes regarded as the largest naval battle in history in terms of manpower, with several hundred thousand fighting men, but there doesn't appear to be an awful lot of confidence by historians in those numbers. In any case, there's also the question of the size of the lake. Lake Poyang is reported to be as small as 1,000 square kilometers in the dry season as compared to Lake Champlain's 1,130 square kilometers, so it's possible that Poyang edged out Champlain -- but the battle occurred during China's rainy season when Lake Poyang can be as large as 5,000 square kilometers. I think it's probable, then, that Lake Champlain securely holds the distinction of being the smallest lake to be the site of a major naval battle -- twice over.

Veterans Day battle - Crysler's Farm Nov. 11, 1813

For Veterans Day Young General and Old Warrior took a break from BattleLore to refight a historical action, in this case the Battle of Crysler's Farm from the For Honor and Glory game, which happened to be on Nov. 11, 1813. It would be anachronistic to refer to this as a Veterans Day fight, but it had the virtue of being a familiar game system for both of us and relatively quick playing.

The set up is as shown below:


The Americans have the advantage in numbers, with eight regular infantry units, a unit of dragoons and an artillery battery, with two leaders. Their main challenge is that they have a low Command level (just a 2, which means they will get to move from 3-5 units per turn, or no more than half their force) and a long way to go to reach most of the victory objectives.

The British are fewer, but have a definite edge in quality, with two leaders, two elite infantry units, two light infantry units, an artillery battery, a band of Indians and a gunboat on the river flank. They also have an advantage in command quality, with a Command level of 4. This will allow for 5-7 units to act per turn, conceivably 100 percent of the force!

Young General, being a true blue Patriot, wanted to play the Americans. He started with a tentative advance, quickly losing a unit to very accurate fire from the light infantry and Indians in the woods. Tempted by the two Victory Points for sinking the gunboat, he also moved up his guns, escorted by the dragoons. He was rewarded with a hit on the gunboat, which prompted the vessel to start pulling back. Rashly, Young General followed and found his gunners under fire from the right flank light infantry, who also proved to be good marksmen as they eliminated the artillery unit in one long-range volley.

All was not lost for Young General, who has the the spirit of Jeb Stuart. Seeing as his dragoons were also in a forward position he made a dash for the victory point objectives along the river, scooping both of them up while taking just one hit on the way. Unfortunately, the brave troopers found their way back from enemy lines blocked and the last of them fell victim to some Elite infantry, although the dragoons inflicted a hit as they died.

At this point the gunboat, now safe from counter fire, moved back towards the riverbank. Young General, meanwhile, became aware that time was starting to run out and he made an effort to start a coordinated push forward with several regulars accompanied by the two leaders. Also playing for time, the British light infantry and Indians fell back to join the Elites defending the remaining pair of Victory hexes.

Time did indeed ran out for Young General, and when regulation play ended on Turn 25 he was locked in firefights with the Elites, lights, Indians and cannons near the objectives. He did manage a lucky shot that took out one of the British commanders, but the final score was 3 victory points for the U.S. (2 objectives and a leader) for 5 for the British (artillery, dragoon and three regulars), so the British won on time.

Young General's blood was up, and he asked that the battle continue to Turn 30. He did manage to inflict some more losses on the British -- one of the British Elites only survived because it made two successful "saving rolls." Two more US regulars were eliminated, while the Indians also left the board, so the additional time didn't bring the Americans more overall success.

It was an interesting fight. Historically the Americans suffered a defeat and the scenario does seem to be pretty challenging for them. The nature of the game system makes it hard to bring superior numbers to bear, especially when they are not well-led.

Session Report For Honor and Glory Lawrence vs. Broke

I've always thought that a good wargame should be able to recreate not just the historical outcome but the means achieved to get there. At a bare minimum it should be possible to physically copy the actual movements and battles of the actual event, but ideally it should also be plausible in game terms.

It's amazing to me how often wargames fail to do this. For one simple, yet obvious example that should be familiar for most wargamers, in the introductory wargame Napoleon at Waterloo the chateau at Hougoumont always automatically falls on the first turn, freeing up the French corps attacking that site for further action elsewhere. In the actual event, of course, Hougoumont held out for the entire day and tied up that French corps during the critical phase of the battle.

So I thought I'd try a little experiment and see how a few wargames tack up when put to the test of recreating the course and outcome of a historical battle, in this case the naval engagement between the USS Chesapeake and the HMS Shannon during the War of 1812.

I selected this engagement for several reasons. It's a famous and well-documented battle with little controversy over how it was fought. It's a standard scenario in most naval games covering the period. It was very quick, the decisive phase lasting just 15 minutes and small, there were just the two ships involved. Finally, it was not a complicated battle with a lot of maneuvering. Both captains were eager to come to grips with each other directly.


The opposing sides


My primary source for the historical course of events is Theodore Roosevelt's highly regarded 1882 work The Naval War of 1812, with supplementary use of the Osprey title American Light and Medium Frigates 1794-1836 by Mark Landas.

The USS Chesapeake and the HMS Shannon were very evenly matched ships, at least on paper. Both were rated as 5th-rate frigates in the style of the times.

The Chesapeake was one of the original six frigates of the new U.S. Navy. Laid down as a 44-gun frigate in 1798, although of a lighter build than the famous Joshua Humphreys designs, the Chesapeake was was re-rated as a 36-gun frigate by the War of 1812. During her engagement with the Shannon the Chesapeake carried 50 guns, mostly 18-lb long guns and 32-lb carronades, with a couple of smaller guns. Her broadside weight was 542 pounds of metal according to Roosevelt, who said American cannonballs during the era tended to be underweight. 379 men were aboard.

The Shannon was a fairly standard 38-gun Royal Navy frigate in design. She carried 52 guns, also mostly 18-lb long guns and 32-lb carronades, with a few smaller guns. The weight of her broadside was 550 pounds and she carried 330 men.

The biggest difference between the two ships was the experience level of the crew. The Chesapeake sailed into battle with a brand new crew, although many of the individuals had served on other ships. There was no time drill the crew in their duties beforehand, however, which probably reduced the effectiveness of the crew somewhat. The Shannon, on the other hand, had a well-drilled crew that had mostly served for a long time on the ship. The British ship's captain had drilled his crew extensively in gunnery, which was unusual among British ships at the time. This would prove to be an important factor in the fight.

The two captains were both highly skilled, competent and aggressive leaders. Captain Philip Broke of the HMS Shannon had, as has been mentioned, drilled his crew extensively in gunnery with much firing at targets. To our 21st century sensibilities this is simple common sense, but ammunition was expensive in the 19th century and the military sciences rudimentary, so Broke's attention to training was definitely progressive.

Captain James Lawrence was newly promoted to frigate command, having already won fame in a single-ship duel as commander of the brig USS Hornet when it captured the brig HMS Peacock. Both ships were very evenly matched, but the Peacock got much the worse of the affair.

The Shannon had been cruising off Boston for a considerable time, attempting to goad the Americans into sending the Chesapeake out. Broke had even gone to the trouble of sending a letter to Lawrence, challenging him to come out and fight. The letter never reached Lawrence, however, as he needed no goading. In fact, he was already on his way out of the harbor and the two ships closed for action on June 1, 1813.

Roosevelt's account includes a diagram of the action, reproduced below:

The notable aspects of the fight, as can be seen in the diagram, is the limited maneuvering involved and the extremely short duration of the fight. Roosevelt's diagram picks up the action as the first broadsides were exchanged and shows both ships running before the wind, with the Chesapeake to windward.

The rules

The naval rules in For Honor and Glory do not specify a scale, but as guns are allowed to fire just two hexes and most naval gunnery of the time was effective out to around 800 yards we can probably assign a hex scale of 300-400 yards and a time scale of about 5 minutes per turn.

The initial setup given in For Honor and Glory doesn't match Roosevelt's account, showing the two ships beating before the wind with neither ship having a clear advantage in wind position.



For Honor and Glory's naval rules system is extremely simple. Ships can move in any direction, with the distance determined by how many "plotted moves" are available. In this case, each side had three, for an effective base movement rate of 3 hexes. Ships that start their turn with the wind coming from their rear three hexsides get a bonus of one more plotted move to use, and if only one ship has the wind behind it that ship gets the "weather gauge" and moves second. If both ships or neither ship have the wind to their back then the ship with "commander's advantage" moves second. In this scenario the Shannon has the commander's advantage.

Firing is handled by rolling a number of d6 based on the ship's "Gun rating." Both ships, unsurprisingly, have the same gun rating here, a "two." The effectiveness of the guns depends on the range and whether or not the target's "T" is crossed. The least effective shot is a 2-hex broadside to broadside one, which hits on a 6 only. The best position is a one-hex T-crossing shot which hits on a 4, 5 or 6. Intermediate situations hit on a 5 or 6. Crossing the T is strictly defined, being achieved only by firing ships directly ahead or behind the target.

The damage-absorbing ability of the ships is expressed by a damage rating, which is how many hits the ship can take before destruction. In this case both ships are a "6." A ship that takes hits equalling half its value is penalized by losing one plotted move per turn and firing at one less die.

The final important rule concerns boarding. Ships that end up in the same hex may get involved in a boarding action. A dice roll is involved, with a larger ship having an advantage in either boarding of avoiding a boarding action. If a boarding action begins it's resolved by having the two ships' "Marines" fire at each other sequentially (defender first) with 6's being a hit. Each Marine factor allows one die roll and each hit reduces the Marines by 1. If reduced to "0" the defending ship is captured. The attacking ship has the option of calling off the attack, which otherwise continues to the bitter end. Here the British ship has an unexpected advantage, with a Marine factor of 4 compared to the American ship's 3. I can only assume these numbers were assigned based on the historical outcome, because the Shannon actually had a smaller crew than the Chesapeake, including fewer marines.

The Battle

Turn 1

The Chesapeake begins in Hex 3L facing in direction 3, with the HMS Shannon three hexes ahead of it in Hex 6L also facing in direction 3.

The two ships closed on each other under reduced sail, according to Roosevelt's account, although the breeze still allowed both ships to move pretty fast. The details of the sail states are not reflected in For Honor and Glory's rules however and the bottom line is that both captains' aim was the same, to get in close.

So we will assume that both ships will turn immediately, with the Shannon making the tighter turn in order to close the distance quickly, so Chesapeake orders are 1 straight, right turn and then 1 straight to end up in Hex 5L facing direction 4. Shannon's orders are Right turn, 1 hex forward and then another Right turn to end up in hex in 7L facing in direction 5. Under the rules a chip can fire at any point in its move and the Shannon is in a position to fire at range 2. In FHAG there's no penalty for firing at every opportunity, but in the actual event the Shannon's crw had been orderd to hold fire until the range was much closer. Here's where we find our first major departure from the historical event. While in the game the player isn't forced to fire, there's no reason NOT to and a player would naturally fire. We will assume the Shannon fires its two dice but fails to roll a 6 on either one.


Turn 2

Both ships have the wind to their rear, and so are allowed 4 plotted moves, but the British ship retains the initiative because of the commander's advantage.

At this point Roosevelt informs us that "Broke was afraid that Lawrence would pass under the Shannon's stern, rake her and engage her on the quarter."

This is a real danger in the game, as well, and so Shannon's orders will reflect this fear, with plotted moves of "X" (no move), 1 straight, 1 again and 1 straight, ending in Hex 7J facing direction 5.

Roosevelt tells us, however, that "either overlooking or waiving this advantage, the American captain luffed up within 50 yards upon the Shannons's starboard quarter." We will reflect this with this series of plotted moves for the Chesapeake, 1 straight, right turn, X and finally 1 straight, putting the US ship in 6J facing direction 5.

The British captain will elect not to fire when the US first comes adjacent, hoping for a better shot later, but by the final hex both captains will realize no better shot is in the offing and will open fire.

Now, as it turns out, despite the fact that the British ship was noted for its gunnery, the Chesapeake's fire was also very effective and before the short battle was over 83 members of the Shannon's crew were killed or wounded, for a casualty rate of about 25 percent! Roosevelt's account states that over the course of the whole battle the Shannon was hit 158 times and the Chesapeake was hit 363 times, for about a 2-1 ratio. Both ships roll two dice with 5s and 6s being hits, so we will credit the Chesapeake with a good roll that includes one 6 but the Shannon with an even better roll of a 5 and a 6 for 2 hits.

Turn 3

For the next turn both ships will continue ahead slowly. Roosevelt informs us that "at 5:53, Lawrence, finding he was forging ahead, hauled up a little." The Chesapeake moves X, 1 straight, X and 1 straight to end up in Hex 6H facing direction 5 and the Shannon moves X, 1 straight, X and X. to end in 7I facing direction 5. Both ships continue to fire with effect and we will assume that each score 1 hit. This reduces the Chesapeake to half damage.

Turn 4

The next turn finds us in difficulty again, as the game doesn't really lend itself to recreating the historical events. Roosevelt account says that "at 5:56, having had her jib sheet and foretop-sail tie shot away, and her spanker brails loosened so that the sail blew out, the Chesapeake came up into the wind somewhat, so as to expose her quarter to her antagonist's broadside."

In game terms this requires us to have the Chesapeake move 1 straight, turn right and then X., ending up in Hex 6G facing Direction 6. (Due to damage the Chesapeake is only entitled to three plotted moves). The Shannon's move has to be 1 straight, followed by X,X,X., which is somewhat risky in game terms because it would have allowed the Chesapeake to cut ahead of her for a rake. It's no great stretch to award the Shannon another hit on the Chesapeake with a stern rake by two guns with a 4-6 hitting. The Shannon ends up in 7H facing direction 5.

Turn 5

Our difficulties reflecting the actual course of events accurately in game terms continue, as the best move for the Shannon at this point would be to keep the range long, having a 4 to 2 advantage in remaining hull points and now a 2-1 advantage in firing dice. And indeed, Broke did attempt to delay the boarding action, Roosevelt tells us, but the wind blew the Chesapeake backwards into the Shannon so that her rear port quarter collided with the Shannon, leaving Chesapeake unable to fire while the Shannon could stern rake her. There's no way for this to happen in FHAG because there are no rules for drifting.

Instead we must assume that the player Lawrence would turn his ship right, and then X. X. to remain in 6G but now facing Direction 1. And we must assume that our aggressive player Broke would move X (to get in another rake -- we'll score another hit without being at all generous to Shannon), turn right (to pursue in case Lawrence tries to open the range) 1 straight and finally an X (to avoid potentially overshooting the US position) therefore also ending up in 6G, but facing in direction 6.

Given the grim situation (Chesapeake gravely damaged, unable to fire and raked), it's no surprise in either real-life or in game terms that Lawrence would attempt to board, it being his one chance at victory. The real Lawrence, however, never got the chance, being cut down by a musket ball at this point and mortally wounded. We can assume the player Lawrence, being immune, would however order a boarding anyway. The real-life Broke did not hesitate to order his crew to form boarders and led them over the side. In game terms a player Broke might be tempted to avoid a boarding action, given his solid advantage in the game, but the player might fear losing the boarding roll and prefer to be the attacker able to call off the attack if it's not going well rather than being the defender and forced to stick it out. So our player Broke will copy the real-life one and announce he will board also.

Under the rules the players compare the current damage rating of the two ships. In this case the Shannon is a 4 and the Chesapeake a 1, for a difference of 3. The Shannon rolls two dice and adds the difference in the damage rating to the roll. In this case we will assume a quality roll of a 9 plus 3 for a final result of a 12. The weaker ship then rolls 2 dice straight, and we will give the Chesapeake a slightly below average roll of a 6. If the difference had been less than 7 there would have been no boarding action, which would suit the Shannon just fine. As it turns out the difference is exactly 7 and we move to the boarding procedure. Because there' s boarding action each player now rolls two dice again with the stronger player again adding the difference between the damage ratings to his roll. The Shannon would win a tie due to commander advantage. We will assume both players roll near average, a 6 for Shannon, boosted to 9 and a 7 for the Chesapeake so the Shannon is the attacker. This still suits Broke as Shannon now has a chance to end the battle right away and yet can call off the attack if it starts to go bad.

Finally we have the boarding phase, The defending American marines number 3 factors and on the first turn can get hits with a 5 or a 6. We will assume they roll average and get 1 hit on the Shannon boarders. The Shannon still has three marines left, after losing one, so Broke decides to push his luck and continue the atatck for now. He's rewarded with a hit. The remaining US mariens now only hit with 6s and their 2 dice miss. Broke's three boarders fire again and get another hit. The final US marine factor, having no choice fire again and gets a hit! At this point we may note that Broke was wounded badly. The player Broke, however, being unhurt, and well tempted by the fact that one more hit will end the battle elects to stay for another round and hits again with one of his 2 dice, reducing the US Marines to 0 and taking the ship!.

Conclusion

Overall, For Honor and Glory can't really replicate the course of the historical action very well. The simple movement system is simply unable to capture the subtle maneuvers that affected the action. The simple combat system also has trouble capturing the action. Our illustrative replay gave the Shannon good, if not exceptional luck, while not cutting the Chesapeake much slack. But in reality there's very little to choose from between the two ships and in a solitaire run-through I tried without regard to the historical account the Chesapeake actually emerged victorious by having better luck in gunnery and fending off a boarding attempt by the Shannon. That engagement also lasted much longer than five turns, with much more maneuvering by the two ships as they tried to get unanswered broadsides. I don't think many players would either "overlook" or "waive" the chance to rake the enemy like Lawrence did.

The final verdict is that For Honor And Glory, while achieving its goal of being very simple, probably overshoots the mark so much so that it can't be considered a good simulation. Historical decisions don't make sense in game terms and often are not even physically possible.

For Honor and Glory -- a review

For Honor and Glory is the War of 1812 edition of Worthington Games' Wars for America series.

These games have more than a passing resemblance to Borg';s Commands & Colors system.

Some of the differences are really just in style. For example, In FHAG firing units roll the same number of dice no matter what the range is, but with a reduced chance of hitting per die, in C&C the chance of hitting remains the same, but longer range fire uses fewer dice. The end results are similar.

Other differences are more substantive. While both game systems limit the number of units a player can order. C&C does it using cards that are usually keyed to a portion of the battlefield, while FHAG uses a die roll that determines how many "Action Points" the player has to activate units, but those action points can be spent anywhere on the map.

In both games the physical presentation of the units serves to disguise their real nature, which is as entities which firing and move characteristics varying by type and possessing the ability to take 1-4 hits.

The game is fairly straightforward and of low complexity. During his turn a player uses action points to activate units to perform movement and combat activities. Most activities cost one AP, although there are a few special actions such as close combat that cost 2 AP. All combat is handled the same way. The attacking unit rolls dice (generally three) with hits occurring depending on the range and the type of firing unit. For example, an artillery unit firing at an adjacent unit hits on a 4,5 or 6. An infantry unit firing at a range of 2 hexes hits only on a 6. Terrain effects can reduce the hit numbers and some have movement effects.

Like the C&C games, FHAG is a scenario based system with battlefields constructed using terrain tiles added to the plain map. Victory is usually measured in VPs, with one VP earned per eliminated unit (similar to the "flags" of C&C-series games) or for holding terrain (also similar to many C&C games)

Physically the game is roughly similar in presentation to the Columbia Games standard, which is usually considered pretty good by wargame standards, although it's worth noting that Worthington Games has raised the bar significantly with its latest War of America series game (Hold the Line) which is made in Germany to euro standards.

For Honor and Glory includes four card-stock maps (two land and two ocean) that create a 9 by 13 (land) or 11 by 13 (sea) playing surface, although some battles modify this further. Terrain tiles are a thin card stock.

The rules and scenarios are contained in three booklets, all printed in two colors.

The playing pieces are wooden block with stickers affixed. Unlike Columbia-style block games, the wooden blocks are not used to create any fog-of-war, instead they basically create thick, sturdy counters. Pieces are used laying flat on the map and are turned around and/or flipped to represent step losses.

Units are mostly regular and elite infantry, with militia, light infantry, marines, Indian warbands, artillery and dragoons making an appearance.


There are 10 well-chosen scenarios depicting most of the war's major battles and providing a good mix of different game experiences.

The game also includes a naval system and 11 scenarios for that, but this portion of the system is definitely very simplistic. Ships are rated for firepower and ability to take hits. Boarding actions are fought between marine contingents, also with a hit-based combat system. Movement is ordered using order markers (specially marked regular infantry units doing double-duty) with wind direction having a minor effect. The naval scenarios comprise a mix of single-ship duels, some 2- and 3-1 gang ups and two squadron actions based on two of the big Lake battles (Erie and Champlain).

Overall I rate For Honor and Glory as a success as land warfare game, prov ding an entertaining game while being reasonably historically accurate . The naval game is too simplistic, however.