Sunday, September 16, 2012

British Infantry on Campaign - AWI

I was able to finish the 5th Regiment of Foot over the weekend and will post some pictures by Sunday evening. The regiment has been glued to its bases (40mm by 80mm), 8 figures per base and in two ranks, for a total of 32 figures in a British regiment. The goop was then applied to the bases and dipped into a box of fine gravel. Tomorrow, once the goop has dried, I will finish the bases by applying dark brown ink, dry-brushing some tan onto the base, then apply static grass and some flock.

The 5th has been painted to resemble a regiment that has been out on campaign for quite awhile. The soldiers' jackets were painted in a faded red-pink color to depict the effects of continuous sunshine on the red dye. Lots of knee and elbow patches were painted onto the figures (conversion by paint, if you will) and a spattering of mud was painted near the feet, using some brown paint applied by dry brushing.

I think that I will paint another regiment on campaign to pair up with the 5th Regiment. It will be one of the yellow-facing regiments, either the 10th or the 44th regiments. In this manner, I can have one brigade of British infantry in brand new red jackets and have another brigade in faded jackets. My brigades will have 3 or 4 battalions plus a section of 6-pound artillery.

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Minden Miniatures are in transit

I ordered some of the marvelous mounted civilians from Minden Miniatures last week and look forward to seeing them first hand and then pitching in to paint the figures. While going through some boxes of Minden figures, unpainted figures, I remembered that I had bought some of the Minden civilian laborers and it appears that these will work perfectly for either the SYW and/or the AWI periods. I may have to move the civilians up in the painting queue as these are beautiful little figures.

I also ordered a battalion of the new Minden SYW Highlanders in firing line poses. I simply love figures that are firing their muskets, because that is what they are supposed to do during a battle. I realize that the majority of people prefer march attack poses, but give me firing line figures any day. That said, even though I probably will not paint the Highlanders for at least a year, I want to support Frank's new production by purchasing the latest figures. Maybe if enough people purchase firing line poses, Frank could be persuaded to have some Prussians in firing poses too.

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Hessians

Speaking of Minden Miniatures and their Prussians for the SYW, I would like to remind people that the Prussian figures will work perfectly fine as AWI Hessians. Because of that, I am not in any particular hurry to add AWI Hessians to the Fife & Drum range of figures. When I want to use Hessians in a wargame, I will just pull out my SYW Prussians as stand-ins. So if you want Hessians, if you need Hessians, if you gotta have your fix of Hessians, please considering buying them from Minden Miniatures.


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Napoleonics in the Peninsula

I also ordered some Napoleonic figures from Elite Miniatures last week. Bill P. and I enjoyed our Coa Bridge scenario (curtesy of Charles Grant - the scenario will be published in Grant's forthcoming "Wargaming in History" series, due to be published before Christmas 2012. The book will deal exclusively with the Peninsula War in Spain) so much that we want to play it again in November.

This should give me enough time to add two more sections of Royal Horse Artillery to the British forces. We only have four 6-pounders so far, and I would like to increase the battery up to 6 cannon and crew. Also, since I am starting to get a little bit tired of getting shellacked by the Frogs in Spain, I also ordered a battery of British 9-pounders to use when we get around to staging larger Peninsula battles. For now, we are content to fight some smaller actions while we work on building up our British forces.

1 comment:

  1. I look forward to seeing photos of your newly dressed unit.


    -- Jeff

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