Fort Mackinac - July 1812

Now that naval operations for the year are over it is time to begin the land campaign. So we will go as far from the sea as possible to Fort Mackinac.
Now historically the British commander, Captain Charles Roberts received news that war had been declared. Promptly taking advantage of threat advantage he gathered his forces to quickly deliver the news of the outbreak of hostilities to the American commander a Lieutenant Porter Hanks.
If only it was so simple, there would be point in recreating it. There are a number of points in the narrative of this story that give us the chance to play with history.
The first are British intentions. Captain Roberts immediate superior, General Isaac Brock wrote three letters dated the 26th, 27th and 28th of June ordering him to attack, not attack and attack the Americans. General Sir George Prevost also wrote ordering Roberts to defend his Post. Finally Brock wrote to Roberts authorizing him to use his discretion. So there is a chance that Roberts is a little confused over what his commanders expect of him. So, there will a 1 in 6 chance of command confusion but throwing a five means that I don't have to figure it out.
Second is British mobilization. Fortunately Roberts was kept well informed about the approach of war if not the plans of his commanders. There is a chance that all the confusion will adversely affect mobilization in the area but with a 1 in 6 chance of having a smaller force and throwing a 5 means that the British are fully mobilized.
Third is the Americans tell Hanks that war has been declared and giving him a chance to be prepared. Another 1 in 6 chance of this happening but another five means that this does not happen.
The end result is that Fort Mackinac surrenders to Captain Roberts on schedule.

A New history of the Italian Renaisance

Wargaming is a hobby about history and wargame campaign is a chance to write or rewrite history. Usually we start we start with known battle or war as a starting point. But history is also about what could have been and this is one of those stories,
In July 1480 a Turkish fleet unable to take Rhodes descends upon the Italian port of Otranto. After a siege of about three weeks the city fell to the Turkish forces. For the rest of that summer various coastal communities along the coast of Italy were raided by the Turks. When Winter arrived it was difficult to supply such a large force so they returned to Turkish territory leaving behind a small garrison to defend their new conquest.
In 1481 a Neapolitan army gathered to retake Otranto, this included Hungarians sent by the King Ferdinand's son in law, King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. The Turks were presumably awaiting a relief force to arrive so as to continue their advance. But the Neapolitan army arrived first. Then three days after the arrival of the Neapolitan force at Otranto, the Sultan died plunging the ottoman empire into a civil war. With no relief coming the garrison surrendered and left Italy.
The attraction for me is that I can put both sides into field, though of course I can always do with a few more troops to do it properly :-). So let us see what sort of alternative history can be written as the Turks attempt to push into Italy.
Forces involved - 1480
Otranto garrison

• 400 men
• 800+ civic militia

The garrison is reported to have fled while the Ottomans were summoning Otranto to surrender. This left the civic militia to defend the place. I have assumed this to over 800 men as it is reputed that this is number of citizens massacred when the Turks took the city. So there were definitely some interest in putting up a fight.
Turkish forces

• 700 cavalry
• 18,000 infantry

Two comments. The number of infantry is probably exaggerated and will include a lot of non-combatants. This could reduce the Turks down to about 9000 actual combat troops. Second a large percentage of the infantry are actually dismounted cavalry. Now while I don't have access to any breakdown for this force
Forces involved - 1481
Otranto garrison

• 500 cavalry
• 800 infantry

Neapolitan Forces

• Unknown at this stage but over a thousand Hungarians.