Our Semi Regular Retirees Game at Miniature Market Retail Superstore – Cave Springs was a venture into a lesser known but critical action of the American War of Independence and history in our own backyard.
Using The Historical Game Company’s board game we looked at The Battle of St. Louis where some 800 British & their Native American Allies took on the then Spanish Garrison that defended the city from their attack.
The small footprint of the game allowed us to get two maps on the table for two separate games. Pat L and Steve L took on Tom S & Steve T. respectively with Pat & Steve L being British and Steve T & Tom S serving as the Spanish garrisons. Bill D, Andrew B, Mark J & Bill I. stopped by to check out the action.
As this was our first play through of the game, it was a learning experience for the group and we made our share of errors in deployment and reading the rules, but that had value as we learned the mechanics of the system and the particular rules for this battle.
In the photo above the Natives pour on the coal to get to the defensive works but are stymied by the accurate defensive fire of the settlement.
To put it simply, St. Louis is a tough nut to crack for the British and didn’t fall in either game that we played. The good news is that we can all sleep safely tonight knowing that the defenders held their ground.
All reported they thought the game was a good one and we expect to have it back on the tables soon enough as we work together to familiarize ourselves with the rules of both this and The Attack on Cahokia as part of a project that is in the works to do the battles in both a 3D board-game and in miniatures of varying scales and with different rule systems.
Below is a sneak peak of Steve Lowry’s 54mm Scale Fort San Carlos which was the pivotal defense for the Battle of St. Louis.
For more information on these games of local history check The Historical Game Company at https://www.thgcpublishing.com and be sure to check out the superb exhibit at the St. Charles County Heritage Museum https://www.sccmo.org/658/Heritage-Museum
