At last, a start to my British Army for the American War of Independence. This is the 23rd of Foot (Royal Welch Fusiliers). My British order of battle will be based on the Guilford Courthouse campaign of 1781.
The figures are from the Perry's metal range. I must have purchased these about five years ago and they have sat patiently awaiting painting all this time. I managed to paint a couple of brigades of Continentals and Militia during my last AWI phase in about 2008. This was helped by recovery time post-surgery. Probably the best thing about undergoing surgery is the necessary recovery period of taking it easy afterwards and those four weeks saw two full battalions of Maryland Infantry completed!
I painted these figures using my usual method of white undercoat, then base colours, dark washes to lowlight/texture, base colours again, and then highlight. This is followed by lining-in and copious amounts of touching up (prior to varnishing and basing). I'm happy with the finished result, but my goodness, it's time consuming. I have just assembled a unit of the Perry's plastic AWI British Infantry which I have undercoated black. My intention is to try the 3 step 'triad'-style method of Kevin Dallimore/Foundry (not that I have any illusions of getting to the same standard as Mr Dallimore!). I just want to speed things up a little as I think I'm making my process unnecessarily complicated, and I don't have the time now that I did do.
Of course- changing to a new painting technique might end up being a longer process, but I'll have to see. Nothing ventured and all that!
The flags are by GMB and the paints used are mostly Vallejo acrylics with some Citadel colours and Miniature Paints (the fine blue).
A few close ups...
I have to say that it's a nice change from all the green armoured vehicles I have been painting. As much as I enjoyed doing armour, it's hard to beat painting up a unit of red-coats for the sheer satisfaction of seeing the completed unit. Hopefully I will stick with doing AWI for a while, though the summer usually has me thinking about English Civil War battlefields or Normandy Hedgerows!
Absolutly excellent, these colors are stunning and details...ouaouh! Love the flags too...
ReplyDeleteHi Phil,
DeleteThanks - the GMB flags are just lovely. I just wish they did more (always we need more! :-) )
Best wishes,
Jason
A very eye-catching unit for sure. The white plumes on their distinctive hats provide a nice contrast to the red coats. I almost thought they were Royal Marines from the Napoleonic period.
ReplyDeleteHi Dean,
DeleteI love the look of the British Infantry in the AWI - just enough differences though, even between units, to make painting different units a lot of fun.
Best wishes,
Jason
Wonderful looking unit you have painted and the basing is first rate. AWI is period that just takes time to do, but gives a very satisfactory feeling to each completed unit.
ReplyDeleteChristopher
Hi Christopher,
DeleteThat was my first British AWI unit (if we don't count the Airfix 20mm plastics I painted too many moons ago!). It's labour intensive but I don't find it a struggle as I do with Napoleonics. I'm on my second redcoat AWI unit now and I can't wait to finish them.
Best wishes,
Jason
Wonderful looking unit in all respects!
ReplyDeleteHi Gonsalvo,
DeleteThank you for your kind compliment.
Best wishes,
Jason
Beatifull work!
ReplyDeleteHi Michal,
DeleteThank you very much. It's pleasing to get such good feedback on a newly painted unit.
Best wishes,
Jason
awesome. If I had a thousand lifetimes I may have time to wonder how armies come up for their "colours" their uniforms and all that........but alas, no time for anything more.
ReplyDeleteJanice
Hi Janice,
DeleteWelcome to my blog :-) Thank you for your kind comment. Uniforms and colours are a lifetimes study for sure - even just for the Napoleonic period! Well the British Redcoats adopted their famed red coats with the New Model Army during the English Civil War and that is a good starting point as far as British uniforms go. It just gets even more fascinating from there!
Best wishes,
Jason
Fantastic firing line. Like how your red turned out. Impressive unit with some impressive basing as well! Cheers, Michael
ReplyDeleteHi Mike,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind compliment. I used Vallejo Red for the short tunics - I liked it better than the Vallejo scarlet. Having said, that I have just used something different for my next unit. I took the plunge and bought Foundry's Napoleonic colours.This includes a very nice triple set of shades for British Redcoats. I have to say I really like the Foundry shades. Pictures will follow soon! :-)
Best wishes,
Jason