American War of Independence - Lee's Legion

Some troops ready to seriously challenge the British 'Light Bobs' on the field of battle.  Here we have the foot troops of Lee's Legion ready for battle.

Usually with painting for a particular project, I will determine the theatre of war that my main interest lays, and then a date range or particular campaign and then build my forces around that.  With my American War of Independence troops, my main interest is in the Southern campaign around the time of the Guilford Courthouse battle.  In this case, I had a conflict in the uniform I wanted to paint Lee's Legion in and what they actually wore.

I have always found artwork of Lee's foot troops resplendent in their purple uniforms an irresistible object of my desire to paint as wargaming figures.  However as I read further into the particular campaign of 1781, it became apparent that  Lee's men are described as being dressed in green making them very similar in appearance to Tarleton's British Legion.

I have recently painted Tarleton's Legion, and very smart they look too, however I really had set my heart on the slightly earlier purple uniform (though I know that the purple is disputed by some).  So I had a dilemma on my hands - though a not un-enjoyable one. I find that when confronted by work issues in the day job it is a nice distraction to think about more important issues such as paints to use on wargame figures when one gets home!

So as we can see, I made the decision.  At least I can use these for earlier campaigns should I wish and I shall just have to imagine that perhaps some old stocks of uniforms may have been found for some men for the Guilford Courthouse battle!

Anyway, the figures are from Perry Miniatures.  The paints used were a combination of colours from different companies, with much mixing of paint to to get subdued shades of a not too gaudy workman-like appearance...and yet be a purple hue.

I think the 'Tarleton' helmet is such smart uniform item and it always pleases me to see units wearing this item of headgear.

I have high hopes of the performance of these chaps on the field of battle given their high morale and light infantry skills.  As a freshly painted unit we will have to see whether they break the age old tradition of new units of fleeing in the first turns of their first outing!

 A few more pics to follow below...