Light Infantry

Like the Queens Rangers artillery these were found half painted in an old bits box from a few years back, I decided to painted them up as generic light infantry skirmishing. I based them the same as I have done with the Hessian Jaegers, on 2010 pennies. I have no idea why I based them all specifically on 2010 pennies if I'm honest.

I snipped off the bayonets and tidied up the barrel as I am sure they did not fit them while skirmishing as this would decrease accuracy, I may be wrong however. Also in the picture to the left you may see a light infantryman carrying a friend away from the battle. It's figures like these that is the reason why I so far haven't figures from any other manufacturer other than Perry Miniatures.

Perry Miniatures, Painted September 2011 20 figs

Queens Rangers Artillery

Bought most likely 3 years ago I painted these three time, thank heavens for nitromors. The first time I knew nothing about the uniforms and I think I painted them red! Anyway I realy enjoyed painting these, I found them in my bits box in a terrible condition so a little greenstuff and a clean basecoat of chaos black and they were good to go. I used catachan green for the waistcoats with dark angels green in the recesses. I'll give a full history of these very interesting regiment in a few months when I get round to painting the whole regiment.

Perry Miniatures, Painted September 2011 8 figs

Leib Regiment

Around 18,000 Hessians arrived in America, landing on Staten Island on 15^th August, 1776. The Hessians were to be around a quarter of the entire troops fielded by the British during the war.

The Lieb Regiment or du Corps as it was also known as was one of the first battalions. The commanding officer was a colonel Wurmb. The Regiment fought at White Plains in 1776, Brandywine Creek, Germantown and Whitemarsh in 1777, Monmouth Courthouse they were then garrisoned in New York until the end of the war. I’m finding it very difficult to find productive sites for researching the history of all the Hessian regiment, so please if anyone knows of a good book or two let me know.

I began painting this regiment in April but I then stopped painting altogether until the start of September when these were on the top of my list. Not too sure about the blue but I quite like the contrast with the yellow facings and small clothes. I used a Regal Blue base coat followed by highlights of Ultramarines Blue and then Badab black to bring out the creases.

Perry Miniatures Painted April/September 2011 42 figs

British Dragrope Men

These Perry British dragrope men were great fun to paint; I decided that I would paint a few of them as the New Jersey Battalion which hauled the guns at Brandywine Creek as part of Knyphausen’s Division. The poses are incredibly lifelike, I was very tempted to give them a gritty worn out look which would have suited them better I think, but I couldn’t resist leaving them with bright white overalls instead. Also with the dragrope men is an old ammunitions cart, I had found this hidden in my bits box half painted with a wheel snapped off. I stripped the paint, fixed the wheel and painted it.

Perry Miniatures, Painted September 2010 6 figs

27th Regt of Foot (Enniskillen)

The 27^th Foot was raised as militia at Enniskillen by Colonel Zachariah Tiffin in 1689 to fight against James II. Their performance gained them a place on the English establishment a year later as a regular infantry regiment; they then fought at the famous battle of the Boyne. In 1751 they were given name 27^th (Enniskillen) Regiment of Foot.

During the American War of Independence the regiment’s commander was a Lieutenant Colonel Edward Mitchell. The 27^th Foot was stationed in Boston 1775 fought at Long Island and fort Washington in 1776 and then at Brandywine, Germantown, Fort Mifflin, and Whitemarsh in 1777. In 1778 the regiment was posted to the West Indies but the light company was left behind and was present at the Yorktown siege in 1781.

The 27^th Enniskillen won undying fame at Waterloo in 1815 when they saved Wellington’s right without giving an inch of ground. The regiment was cut to ribbons and took the full brunt of a French Cavalry charge.

Perry Miniatures, Painted January/February 2011 30 figs

Guilford Courthouse

Bought as a Christmas present from Grand Manner as part of the Guilford - Hartwell Tavern package, I painted the courthouse over a few weeks in January. It is not known exactly what the Courthouse looked like but I would like to think it was something along these lines. This was a joy to paint. For the painted woodwork I started with a "Codex Grey" then "Fortress Grey" I finally painted "Skull White" before a "Badab Black Ink" in the recesses.

I am currently working on the second building for the Hartwell's Tavern which again is great fun to paint. All the buildings are finely sculpted which means they almost paint themselves and I would love to have a go at making one myself. One thing that did frustrate me about the buildings from Grand Manner is the amount of dust the buildings contained I sneezed continuously while dusting them.

Grand Manner, Painted January 2011

10th Regt of Foot (North Lincolnshire)

The 10^th Foot was raised in June 1685 as the Earl of Bath’s Regiment. It was renamed the 10^th in 1751 when all regiment were given numbers rather than the name of the colonel. In July 1782 it was given the name North Lincolnshire Regiment and linked with that county.

The regiment arrived in North America in August 1767, where they garrisoned the Great Lakes forts until October 1774 when they were shipped to Boston. The flank companies of the 10th fought at Lexington-Concord and Bunker Hill in 1775. The regiment as a whole fought at Fort Washington and Long Island in 1776, Brandywine Creek and Fort Mifflin in 1777, Monmouth Courthouse in 1778. The 10th Foot was amalgamated into other regiments but the officers and NCOs were shipped back home to raise the regiment again in September 1778.

The commander of this regiment was a Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith. He led the first column at the battle of Lexington-Concord and was wounded in the thigh for his troubles. Then promoted to Brigadier-General he made quit a blunder by not passing on information about the rebels digging of the Dorchester Heights to his superiors. This caused the British position in Boston to be unworkable and they later evacuated to Halifax. He went on to command a brigade in the battle of Long Island and another in the battle of Rhode Island. In 1779 he was promoted to Major-General.

Though I have been painting British AWI troops for almost 2 years this is the first regiment I have painted and completed in full. I decided to start with this regiment as I’m hoping to complete the 2^nd brigade, which also includes the 5^th, 27^th, 40^th, 55^th for the Philadelphia campaign in 1777. At a rate of one regiment every two months it could take a while.

Perry Miniatures, Painted October/November 2010 30 figs.

Basing The Regiments

To the left hopefully there should be picture which shows how I have based my units. The top layout is how they should look when finished but I’ll most likely use the layout bellow when I come to taking pictures.

I went for two figures per base (30mm x 20mm) as I have yet to decide on any rules to game with. To be honest I have never even played a wargame, I think this is due to the fact there is no club of my knowledge within miles of where I live (Anglesey) and also I have only really considered joining one for a few months.

As you may have noticed there are 30 figures in the layout this is because I intend on painting up my regiments in a 1:10 ratio rather than a 1:20 which I gather from various forums is the norm for this period. Reason for this is simply I prefer the look of larger unit. Now I know there the strength of a regiment was usually 477 men, but this was rarely the case so I'll just average all british regiment at around 300 men.

I have also left out the light and grenadier companies (flank companies) since they were almost always detached from the parent regiment I decided I’d leave them until I paint the composite battalions which should be in a few months.

Yet Another Wargaming Blog

So I’ve been painting now for… well since I was 11 so around 9 years. I have moved from Warhammer (Dwarfs) to Warhammer 40,000 (Space Marines) to Lord of The Rings, which last a good few years. I then went on to start painting the Perry Miniatures AWI range Saratoga units though I hadn’t a clue what I was doing when it came to researching the battles, regiments or uniforms involved. I then after watching “The Last Samurai” a few times I painted a few samurai units again not knowing what I was doing really.

Anyway I’ve now decided to start writing up a blog on the American War of Independence / Revolutionary War. I’ve been following a few blogs particularly “Tarleton’s Quarter” by Giles Allison (great title and a huge amount of fantastically painted figures) for a couple of years now and I like the idea of having what I have painted archived. Though I do hope a few people will stumble across the blog eventually at the moment it is primarily somewhere I can archive things and keep links to various blogs, forums and other such things.

I’m not sure what drew me to this period possibly the politics and the way in which facts have been distorted into legends and myths, which in my opinion makes the history much more interesting and intriguing. Anyway I’ll mainly be focusing on the British, Hessians and loyalists to start with then hopefully I’ll go into the myriad of American regiments that in my probable ignorance seem to change uniform or name every year.

To start off with I will be following the order of battle for Brandywine Creek, Major-General James Grant’s Brigade which was part of Knyphausen’s Division will be my aim to complete before Christmas. This mean 5 regiments (5^th 10^th 27^th 40^th and 55^th) in 3 months, I have already made a start on the 10^th and 27^th so it should be possible.