AWI Ansbach-Bayreuth Jagers

Here is the latest addition to my American War of Independence collection.  Playing such a key role in so many battles, I decided to make my fourth British and Allied unit, a unit of Jagers.

I opted to paint the Ansbach-Bayeuth Jagers as they fit in with the Southern campaign battles which I am hoping to fill the order of battles for.  The good thing is that they are so similar in dress to their better known Hesse-Cassel comrades that I should be able to get away with using them for both as required.

My sources seem to disagree on the colour of the hat cockade for Ansbach-Bayreuth Jagers so I chose one and opted for black.  I can always change it should more information come my way.

I understand that there were eventually six companies of Ansbach-Bayreuth Jagers serving in North America by the end of the war.

The figures are from the wonderful Perry Miniatures range.  I painted them mostly with Foundry triad paints but for the green I used Vallejo flat green for the main shade, applied over the darkest Russian Green shade.  I then mixed the flat green with some Foundry dragoon green for the highlights.  I made the mistake years ago of making Franco-Prussian War Jager coats too dark and I wanted to avoid that happening again.  Hopefully the appearance on these is close to how it should be.

The logs are twigs are from a wonderful New Years day walk in Wychwood Forest!  It was a wet but refreshing walk and a fine start to clear the lethargy of the Christmas break. The twigs did need some drying out on a radiator before glueing them on though!

 I was pleased with the way these turned out, the figures seem to have individual characters of their own.  As a result I couldn't decide which ones to post pics up of, so I loaded them all up.  I love the detail such as some of the riflemen using their slings to support their rifles in the firing position.

I am determined to paint up more AWI units before my attention gets pulled towards a different period of history.  I nearly started re-basing some WW2 1/285 vehicles (as I have just ordered a Desert Mat from Barrage Miniatures - see last post) but I managed to hold my course and complete these.

That's all for now.  I hope you all have a superb 2016!

Regiment Von Trumbach/Von Bose - Hesse Cassel Infantry - American Revolutionary War

A change of historical periods again for me with my latest addition.  I have been busy in my absence from blogging!

This time sees the Regiment Von Trumbach from Hesse-Cassel.   This unit later became the Regiment Von Bose when it had a change of command in 1778.

This regiment was hired, along with a large contingent from the German state of Hesse-Cassel, by King George III to go to American during the American Revolutionary War.  Hesse-Cassel provided the largest contingent provided by the German states.

The regiment saw action at New York, Eutaw Springs, Stono Ferry, Charleston, Savannah and Yorktown.  The regiment also famously saw action at Guilford Courthouse where they gained renown for their courageous actions during the desperate battle.

These figures are from the fabulous Perry Miniatures range.  Flags are from GMB and paints used are mostly from the Foundry range.

I couldn't resist painting some of the troops with 'mattress-ticking' overalls in a red-striped scheme.  I guess that the John Mollo book 'Uniforms of The American Revolution' left a deep impression on me. Despite an aversion to painting straight lines, I felt these just didn't look right until I had painted around a third of the regiment with stripes (after which I felt in need of a well-deserved drink!).

So, I am back into painting American War of Independence/Revolutionary War figures again.  There are several reasons for this, one being that I have a game scheduled in December.  I started this collection in 2008 and have never had enough figures for a game.  I now have enough...just...but I may need to use some French Indian range troops to fill in some gaps.

I am desperately painting Lord Cornwallis and two other commanders for the game.  Competing with this is an exam in December, and two weekends of Brown Bess shooting events (another reason for getting the inspiration for this fascinating period of history again!).