The Reviewing Stand

Rocket's Red Glare:
War of 1812 Rules

Canadian Wargames Group

by Jim Birdseye


Written by Bruce MacFarlane and published by The Canadian Wargamers Group, 76 pages, maps, ill, bib. The recent interest in the War of 1812 within the Napoleonic period is well served by this booklet. Following along the lines of Habitants and Highlanders and Flower of Chivalry, this work includes a brief historical outline, painting and unit information, three distinct rules sets and a number of well designed scenarios for both land and sea. The Canadian opinion on the war seems balanced and sense the secondary purpose of the war from the U.S. side was the capture of Canada, their interest in presenting these rules is understandable. The rules are well written, simple, and play well.

The major innovation is the card/action movement/fire. Depending on the quality of the command and staff of a side it is given a variety of cards worth either one, two, or three actions plus a two action joker. When a side draws its card it can move or fire every one of its units the number of actions indicated on the card. When the joker is drawn the deck is reshuffled. The system works well and the games play quickly and seem to recreate the era fairly well. The naval rules use the action cards as well. The rules, tables and all, cover only thirteen pages. The meat of Rocket's Red Glare is the set of scenarios. The land scenarios include units for the Battle Scale and the Small Unit Scale. The size of 1812 battles were fairly small by European standards. I can recommend this Rocket's Red Glare just for the scenarios which can be used for any set of rules. You can order a set through Canadian Wargamers Group, Box 1725, Station "M", Calgary, Alberta, CANADA T2P 2L7 for $16.00 US plus $3.00 S&H or from any good hobbystore.

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