Strategy & Tactics # 346 - Andrew Jackson’s Battles

From Decision Games:

The Magazine:

Battles of Andrew Jackson: The Creek War & New Orleans The War of 1812 saw several campaigns fought across the Great Lakes region, but others were fought on the US southern frontier. It was their outcomes that certified the US as an independent nation, and leading the American forces in them was a rising politician and soldier, Andrew Jackson.

Additional feature articles:

• To Lose a Battle: The Somme, 1916 Dubbed the “Big Push,” with some 100,000 men involved—began early on 1 July 1916. That date has ever since been known as the single most tragic in all of England’s military history.
• The Great Siege of Malta: 1565 On 18 May 1565, an Ottoman fleet arrived off the coast of Malta, bringing an army tasked with seizing it. A territory of the Spanish crown, Malta was defended by the Knights of St. John. Capturing the island would facilitate Ottoman invasions and slave raids all around the Western Mediterranean.
• Soviet & Chinese Wartime Support to North Korea & North Vietnam Recent scholarship on the involvement of China and the USSR in the Korean and Vietnam Wars has shed light on the massive levels of that assistance to North Korea and North Vietnam. It is now clear that aid was crucial in preventing the US from winning those conflicts.

The Game:

Andrew Jackson’s Battles is a tactical simulation of battles on the American frontier during the early 19th century, concentrating on the two major actions (Horseshoe Bend and New Orleans) in which Andrew Jackson participated. While these battles often involved relatively small armies for the era, they proved decisive in shaping the future of the United States. Each game in the system is based on one battle of this period, with its own map, special rules and counters representing the military formations which participated in the original action. The rules model the overall effects of the weapons and tactics in an era in which regular tactics were tempered by frontier fighting, and include combat, leadership and morale.

Each hex on the map represents 50-200 yards, depending on the scenario. Each game turn represents 10 minutes to one hour. Combat units represent anything from individual companies to wings (two or more companies) and/or battalions. Each artillery unit represents two to six guns. Leaders represent a single commander plus staff.