The War of 1812 may have been determined by the battles on the periphery of the new United States and on the high seas, but on the far (Old) Northwest Frontier in the Illinois Territory (which then included Wisconsin) it was just as desperate if not moreso.
The British ... and the local American Indian tribes ... got word of the war starting a full month before the Americans did, and in Illinois the war finally started with the 15 August 1812 Fort Dearborn Massacre which, among many others, claimed the life of young Ensign (2nd Lieutenant) George Ronan, West Point Class of 1811, the US Military Academy's first graduate Killed in Action (KIA).
The game has no conventional movement grid. The rivers are the highways - keelboats *could* go/sail upstream, if slower - or cross-country to the nearest opposing fort or town or village.
Combat is very simple, but losses are permanent for Indians, so if they do badly they might be neutralized for the next season: Hostile, ?? (Neutral), and Friendly. The Indians naturally looked to the British as protectors against oncoming American settlers and both they and the British wanted the territory north and west of the Ohio River to be their neutral reserve.
The first year, the British have Strategic Superiority, but things can then reverse in land and Great Lakes naval battles as well as in the East and on the oceans. There are victory point compensations either way.
Tribes represented are the Winnebago/Ho-Chunk in the North, the (warrior) Sauk and (farmer) Fox along the Mississippi an Rock Rivers and around Rock Rapids and Island, the Potawatomis along the central Illinois River, the Kickapoo south along them, and the Plankashaw/Wea in the southeast near Vincennes and Fort Patrick Henry.
Both British and Americans can build forts, and there is a chance Fort Dearborn can be safely evacuated.
Agents competing for (Indian loyalties) influence are spy Thomas Forsyth for the US and agent Robert Dickson for the British.
Leaders (who can be caughtkilled) include Governor Edwards, Ensign Ronan, and chiefs like Black Hawk, Bad Sturgeon, and others.
Massacres by either side can occur and have strategic negative impact.
Victory is determined by who controls forts, settlements, and/or villages.
This is right now a 2-player game with hidden deployment, but I may be able to devise simple solitaire mechanics.
It plays very quickly. Hostile tribes cannot attack through neutral or opposing tribes' territories.
—description from the publisher
American Indian Wars, American West, City Building, Dice, Napoleonic, Print & Play, Spies / Secret Agents · Alliances, Area Majority / Influence, Catch the Leader, Force Commitment, Hidden Movement, Push Your Luck, Secret Unit Deployment, Solo / Solitaire Game, Variable Set-up
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