55th Regt. of Foot - AWI

The 55th Regiment of Foot - Fife & Drum British infantry figures. Click pix to enlarge.

Over the past weekend, I finally finished my second battalion of British infantry for my AWI army: the 55th Regiment which sport some nifty looking dark green facings and regimental colour. This regiment was brigaded with the 27th (Inniskillings) Regt. that I had previously painted during the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777. They were part of the 2nd Brigade commanded by Major General James Grant (5th, 10th, 27th, 40th and 55th regiments) which, in turn, were part of the Right Division commanded by Lt. General von Knyphausen.

The brigade had an estimated strength of 1,500 men spread across 5 regiments, for an average regimental strength of 300 men. So using a 1:10 ratio of castings to actual men, I would need 150 figures to represent Grant's Brigade on the tabletop.

How did I happen to choose this particular brigade to be my first Fife & Drum Miniatures British Brigade? For one thing, the name Grant made me think of Charles Grant Senior and Junior of wargaming fame, so that sort of drew me to this brigade as an homage to this distinguished family. And secondly, the brigade has a nice mix of facing colors for the various regiments:

5th - light green

10th - yellow

27th - buff (the famous Inniskilling Regiment)

40th - buff (and famous for their stand in the Chew House at Germantown)

55th - dark green

This should provide you with a little bit of insight into how I select particular regiments or brigades to paint when I am planning my wargaming armies out on paper.

The rest of Knyphausen's Division includes the following as well:

1st Brigade - commanded by ???

4th - royal blue (The King's Own Regiment)

23rd - royal blue (The Royal Welch Fusiliers)

28th - yellow

29th - yellow

71st Highland Regiment - 2 btns or 1,000 men, practically a brigade by itself. And I do love to have Highlander regiments in all of my British armies. So this is a big plus.

Hessian Brigade - Stirn

Lieb

Mirbach

Donop

Loos

Queen' Rangers - about 400 men

Ferguson's Rifles - about 130 men

16th Light Dragoons - 1 squadron (they wear a really cool variant of the Tarleton cap)

The above roster should provide some hints as to what will be added to the Fife & Drum range of AWI miniatures.