AWI - British Legion Cavalry

My American War of Independence collection now has its first cavalry unit added to it.  Of course it had to be the famed British Legion led by the legendary Banastre Tarleton.  I need not add too much history here, other than to say that a wiki search on his name brings up a good summary.

I used a number of sources for the uniforms.  Of particular use was the famous portrait of Tarleton by Sir Joshua Reynolds seen below.

Eye witness descriptions of the uniforms from contemporary sources also took away much guesswork though there was, as so often, small details that I had to make a best guess at.

I don't need to mention to my esteemed blog followers that I did NOT use the later cinematic sources by the infamous Anglophobe Mad Mel!

The figures are from the Perry's range.  I do love this range though there was a little more flash than usual obscuring detail which needed some considerable blade work to make good in some particularly awkward places.

Paints used were mostly from the Foundry Triad range for the uniforms, though a lot of Vallejo was used throughout.  I was unhappy with my first choice of Chasseur Green so I found that mixing it 50/50 with Dragoon green really brought it to life and much closer to what felt and looked right.

I always like the look of cavalry units when they are finished.  I must admit that horses are not my favourite thing to paint. It's the uniforms which are my primary interest and I struggle to enjoy panting large expanses of black, duns and bays (not to mention whites!).  Persistence and technique eventually pulled through and I am really pleased with them.  Another 4 weeks of evenings and weekends well used I think!

I really look forward to using these chaps in action soon.  There were barely started when I played my last AWI game with Ian a few weeks ago unfortunately.  The game was still a superb battle and the sight of the lines of redcoats, militia and continentals was so impressive.  I will have to do more post-game write-ups but battle reports are so time consuming!

I have to say that I'm not sure what to paint next.  I have spent the last few days just doing basing work - a welcome relief after so much painting.  I have focussed on AWI for what must be 6 months at least.  I now have a playable British Army to go with my Americans at long last.  I'm looking forward to finding out myself as to what I choose to paint next!

Anyway, a few more pics follow below.

AWI British Light Infantry

I have been looking forward to getting this battalion on the table for some time.  Today I finished painting a unit of the famed 'Light Bobs'.

The light infantry battalions were drawn from the light companies from British line battalions. The 'Light Bob' battalions were very much elite units, being skilled in woodland operations and also being used as assault troops in the same way as grenadiers in the line battalions.  As a result these fellows are going to be very busy in any wargame they are involved in!

My sources were unclear on a few items and I made my own best guess with some detail.  Some sources said that cuffs would have been kept as per the colours of the parent battalion. Well, this could well be the case, however, I could well imagine that having men with visible signs of their different regimental 'tribal' affiliations would not be conducive to having the men act as a single unit. Surely it would be better if the men thought, acted and felt they were part of the same regimental family.  I decided to go with jackets minus cuffs.

Equipment strap colours was another issue with some sources saying white and others black.  I went with black, as the light infantry tradition of black equipment must have started somewhere and the AWI saw the start of a number of new traditions in the British Army. Gatta's illustration appears also to support the black straps.

Della Gatta's contemporary illustration of British Light Infantry in the attack (black straps)

The figures are mix of the Perry-sculpted skirmishing light infantry produced for Wargames Foundry, and the command pack from one of the Perry's own sets of figures in short jackets.

These are another set of troops which I truly enjoyed painting, and I couldn't wait to get home each night from work to do a few more hours on them.

The plan is to give these guys their first outing next weekend (having a game planned gives great painting incentive too!), and I'm really looking forward to seeing them on the table.

A few more pics below to finish off.  Until next time...!

Breast Works for Me

A slight double-entendre there, but I notice from Fran (http://theangrylurker.blogspot.co.uk/) and Ray's (http://onelover-ray.blogspot.co.uk/) blogs that getting the word 'breasts' into the title helps with viewing rates.  I'm sure it should be written as 'Breastworks' instead of being separated into two words, however, this post might get more attention with it written as two words!

Anyway, to the main subject of the post.  I have been meaning to post this for a little while now.  I purchased a magnificent resin 28mm breastworks set from 'Paul's Modelling Workshop'  http://www.paulsmodellingworkshop.com/

This the 'Field Breast Works 1' set.  There is a 2nd set available too now.  This model comes unpainted  or painted (I chose unpainted so I could have a go myself) and it is a most wonderfully designed and sculpted set, with lots of raised texture.  I could see that a layering approach with final dry-brushing would do the job of painting very quickly and effectively.

To my amazement, it only took about 3 hours work in total to paint it all up.  Dry bushing the colours really was the way to do it, once the basic shades were on.  I started with a matt black so that the wooden inner planking supports would show depth.

I added small tufts of grass to finish off around the bottom edge to help it to merge into the table. The breastwork set is going to be used a lot in black powder era games.  I have a particular eye on using it for an ECW Battle of Lansdown game.

Anyway, a few more pics here to finish off.  I have only shown it with a few figures just so you get an impression of how it looks, without me crowding the scene with troops!  I absolutely love this model and I look forward to playing a lot of games with it as a key feature.

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!