Saturday October 19, 2024 Big Muddy Historical Gaming Alliance – St. Louis visited the St. Charles County Heritage Museum to present five different games related to their exhibits on the American War of Independence, Battle of Cahokia 26 May 1780.
If you haven’t as of yet had a chance to take in these superbly crafted exhibits we urge you to not delay. They are simply fantastic representations of the uniforms of the era and local area history which as several of us discussed, somewhat eluded our classroom education on the American War of Independence. Simply put, not everything happened on the East Coast and what came to pass in our neck of the woods was critical to the strategic prosecution of the war for the Patriot cause.
Curator, Kristine Madras worked with our group to give us the best possible spots in the Museum space.
With three games in their main function area. This is where we were able to demonstrate
“Attack on Cahokia” 3D board game with Pat Lewis as Game Master.
Tom Vielott, Steve King and Mark Luckenhoff all joined in to play this jumbo sized version of the game designed by Steve Kling of the Historical Game Company.
We understand the Patriots held off the British Native American Allies, but it was a near run thing as they really pushed hard on the settlement.
Next was Cahokia using Warlord’s “Black Powder” rules with 28mm miniatures as presented by Burt Campbell which was so popular that it ran twice that day.
Some of Burt’s wonderfully painted miniatures were a treat to behold.
Also in the main room was Attack on a Cahokia Farmstead presented by Mark Williams using “Fistful of Lead Horse and Musket” rules.
The game scenario premises an opening stage of the conflict as the Chippewas arrive in the area and fall upon a single farm which is defended by a mix of civilians, local militia and a couple of George Rogers Clark’s Illinois Militia of Virginia.
As with all our games that day it was about easy to learn and fun to play rules and Fistful of Lead falls right into that category. Here some new to historical gaming players try their hand at the situation as Mark guides them through the challenges and opportunities that are presented.
The mixed group of defenders man the wall near the barn with the Chippewas approaching in the distance.
The Chippewas advance.
The game went so well that there was time for a second session with a different set of players.
In the two games we understand that both sides won one apiece.
Anchoring our main room event was Steve Lowry’s Attack on Fort Bowman in 54mm which was a visual treat for the players and on-lookers that stopped by. The premise of this scenario was that things went very well for the Chippewas and associated tribes and less so for the Patriots as they had fallen back to the final defensive position of Fort Bowman.
Here we see the set up as the Native Americans are prepared for their attack.
Here Steve Kling, designer of the “Attack on Cahokia” board-game looks over the table.
The attack underway.
Our young player studies the table.
The game resulted in a British Victory but one that they could ill afford to repeat suffering some 75% losses.
Following the actions at Cahokia and St. Louis in May of 1780 a raiding party was dispatched to disrupt any future attempts by the British to launch incursions into our area from their bases in Michigan. Dave Schaffner’s Battle at Fort Le Petit served as our other game anchor for this event.
Le Petit set up amongst the Museum displays of the actions in the North on the raid.
Dave discussing some of the history of the events surrounding his scenario.
Le Petit in action as the raiding party finds itself being raided by the British Allies interested in recovering the goods taken from them. Using Muskets & Tomahawks rules featuring a random activation system this scenario proved easy but yet very challenging as the players weighed their options.
Dave presents some of the history of the raid to onlookers later in the day.
Overall a Great Day of Gaming and outreach for our group and hobby.
We would like to extend our appreciation to our
Game Masters: Pat Lewis, Burt Campbell, Mark Williams, Steve Lowry and Dave Schaffner.
Those who helped prepare for this event contributing their talents and efforts: Andrew Biedenstein, Steve King, Ed Gray, Harry Borschardt, Mark Lueckenhoff, Bob Alsop, Jerry Merrill, Mark Johnson, Patrick Connaughton, Greg Dieckhaus and Les Hostetler.
Our Promotional Partners: DieCon, Historic Florissant Inc, Lone Warrior Magazine, HMGS-Midwest, and Miniature Market Retail Superstore – Cave Springs.
Our Event Partners: The Historical Game Company and The St. Charles County Heritage Museum
