AWI Jager & Highlander Greens Have Arrived!

Hessian Jager in action

Earlier this week Richard Ansell sent me pictures of the current batch of AWI figures that he is working on for the Fife and Drum Miniatures AWI range. We are adding seven new Jager figures and eight Highland regiment flank company figures plus a piper to the range. Previously, the Highland center company figures were added to the range, so the new additions give us a fairly comprehensive set of Highlanders.

The Jäeger Figures

By the way, I am told by someone who knows what he is talking about that the plural form of the jager is "jager" or "jäeger", so I am not going to add an "s" onto the end of jager to denote the plural. In any event, we are adding seven new figures to the AWI range and I really liked the way that these turned out. Richard made the skirmishers in pairs, one firing and one loading, as was the tactical practice of the jäeger in the field.

Hessian Jager skirmishing

Rear view of the skirmishing jager

The command set includes an officer, NCO and musician, as shown below:

Jager command figures: officer, NCO and musician.
The torso figure is a dolly that was made for other figures in the future.

Reverse view of the Jager Command figures

There are a couple of tweaks that Richard is going to make on the jäger, but after that they will be on their way to Griffin Moulds to make the moulds and cast the new figures.

The Highlander Flank Company Figures

We decided that it would be a good idea to go ahead and add flank company figures for the Highlanders that we released in March 2019. Richard was able to use some of the parts and pieces from the center company Highlanders and thus finish them faster. We also added a piper to use with the center company command figures.

The flank company figures can be used as either light company or grenadier company figures. For example, you could use the two marching flank company figures, the NCO and drummer, plus the officer from the center company sets to build a grenadier company or converged regiment of Highlander Grenadiers. The 42nd and 71st regiments converged their grenadiers into th 4th Grenadier Battalion.

NCO (left) and three skirmishers

The reverse view of the Highlander skirmishers.

Two flank company soldiers (left), a piper and a drummer. The piper is going to be tweaked so that the drones are  on the left shoulder instead of on the right shoulder.

Rear view of the figures in the previous picture.

There are some nice poses in the new figures. I particularly like the walking drummer who is carrying his drum slung over his back and the piper figure was needed for center company command stands.

The jäger figures have really caught my fancy, however. I have been reading the Diary of Johann Ewald ( a captain of the Hessian jäeger in North America) and there are a lot of small skirmishes and ambuscades that would make for good game scenarios. I have just purchased a copy of Sharp Practice (version 2) and plan on using some of the jäger and Highland flank company figures with those rules.

We are probably looking at a six to eight week time period to get the moulds made and the production castings spun. I will keep everyone up to date on the progress that we are making on the logistics and production stage of the new AWI figures.

New Link Added: Fife and Drum Proboards Forum
I have added a new link to the Fife and Drum Miniatures Forum on the lefthand side of this page in the Favorite Links column. Simply click on the link to get to the forum. If you are already registered with proboards for another forum, they you should be able to automatically log in. If you are not registered, then please do so (it only takes about a minute to do) so that you can access the content. You can also click on the direct link below:

Fife and Drum Miniatures Forum

If you are interested in the Minden, Fife and Drum and Crann Tara miniatures, then our forum is a place that you will want to visit frequently. In addition to discussion about the figures (which includes information on new figure releases, plans for new figures) there is also active discussion on 18th Century military history that covers a broad variety of topics. You can also use the forum to ask questions or seek advice on some matter.

Usually, I place pictures of the new greens on the forum, several days ahead of posting them on this blog or on the Fife and Drum Miniatures Facebook page. So if you are a forum member, you get the first look at any new figures.

The forum is well worth the time and effort to view. You are not required to make any posts in order to remain a forum member. If you feel more comfortable simply being a reader (or "lurker" as they say) then that is perfectly OK.

So give the forum a try, I think that you will like it.

Fife & Drum News Update, Bits and Pieces

The British battle line at the start of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

CLICK ALL PIX TO ENLARGE

I have a lot of information about the new products, SYWA convention dealer booth, and my participation games that I will be hosting at the convention.

New AWI Highlanders (in overalls)

The Highlander marching figures arrived from Griffin Moulds the other day and I've been busy bagging them for retail product codes in the web store, and also to offer for sale at the upcoming Seven Years War Association Convention. The convention information can be found HERE .

The new product codes for the AWI Highlander figures are as follows:

BA-018 Highland Foot Command

BA-019 Highlanders Marching (3 each of 3 poses)

BA-020  Highlanders Advancing with musket at the trail (1 NCO and 7 soldiers)

BA-021  Highlanders, Center Co., Skirmishers (2 each of standing firing and biting cartridge)

BC-007 Mounted Highlander Officer

The 71st Highland Regiment depicted deployed in a firing line. This unit was built using
the BA-018 Command , BA-020 Advancing at the trail, and the BA-021 skirmisher packs.

New Personality Figures
BC-005  Lord William Howe

(His Lordship was a late arrival on the boat from England. He made a stop along the way to visit Mrs. Loring and was, ahem, detained. His picture will be posted here as an update as soon as I can get the figure painted)


BC-006  Lord Charles Cornwallis

Lord Cornwallis

BC-007 Mounted Highland Officer (could be used as Simon Fraser)

Highland regiment mounted officer. He could be used to represent Simon Fraser.

AC-005  George Washington

George Washington

AC-006  Nathaniel Greene

General Nathaniel Greene on a command stand along with a standard bearer from the 1st  Dragoons regiment.
The flag is a variation of the Brandywine flag, cut down to size for a cavalry standard.

SYWA Convention News
All of the AWI figures will be available at the convention at the Fife & Drum Miniatures booth. I will also be bringing most of the Minden SYW figure range EXCEPT the British and Hanoverians.  If you want to pre-order some British and Hanoverians then send me an email and I will bring your order to the show with me. You will not be charged until you pick up your figures.

My Convention Games
I will be hosting two participation games in addition to running the Fife and Drum dealer booth. On Friday afternoon, it will be the Battle of Guilford Courthouse for 4-6 players. On Saturday afternoon (I'm a glutton for punishment, don't you agree?) it will be the Battle of Cheraw from my AWI South Carolina 1780 Campaign. This is the final battle of the campaign and could likely determine which side wins the campaign as right now the score in points is very close.

I have the Guilford Courthouse game table set up in my basement so that I can view the spacing of the terrain and make sure that the British can move across the full length of the table within a manageable number of game turns. For example, I have to measure the movement rate of the British and see if it is mathematically possible for them to fight their way to the thir line of Continentals. Of course, engaging the Americans in fire fights and melees would add game turns and might make it impossible for the British to accomplish the task of fighting Greene's Continentals after slogging their way through the militia lines.

Fife and Drum Miniatures Pipeline
Richard is currently working on the AWI Hessian jagers (7 poses) and will be adding 8 more Highlander flank company figures to the Highlander range. There will also be a piper to add to the command packs.

There will likely be more AWI figures going into production this year, but I am very happy with the latest additions to the figure range: personality figures and Highlanders, and this has ramped up my interest in going into more depth for future releases. Some of the items that the range needs include American riflemen and Continentals in round hats and peaked caps.

Minden Miniatures Pipeline
There are currently no SYW figures on the work bench as the focus is on the AWI figures at the moment. I do have a lot of ideas for the expansion of the range and I am fairly certain that we will work on the Gendarmerie de France cavalry - they fought at the Battle of Minden, and since the figure range is called Minden Miniatures, it would be remiss to not have these figures in the lineup, especially since 2019 is an anniversary year for the battle, which was fought in 1759

Your Comments
I know it is as hard as pulling teeth to coax some comments our of my readers, but I hope that you will come through this time and let me know what you think about all of the news that is going on with Minden, Fife and Drum and the convention scene. Simply click on the "Comment" button at the bottom of this page and fire away.

My New Favorite Wargame Unit

71st Highlander Regiment- Fife and Drum Miniatures 

I finished the basing and flagging of the new 71st Frasier's Highlanders, which will join Lord Cornwallis' army in time for the Guilford Courthouse game that I am hosting at this year's Seven Years War Association convention in South Bend, Indiana. The flags are from GMB Designs. I think that they look rather nifty.

I think that these fellows look rather dapper in their uniform of shortened jackets, white overalls and bonnet. The regiment did not wear kilts in the North American campaigns of the American Revolutionary War. The figures themselves look very elegant, sculpted in 1/56 scale, and so all of the body proportions look realistic to my eye. The animation of the figures looks very natural, rather than forced exaggeration with arms flailing about in rather unnatural poses.

The 71st Regiment in the field.

Putting all of these elements together gives me a Wargame unit that I find very appealing, and as such, it is now one of my favorite regiments in all my various wargaming armies.

New AWI Highlanders

An ad hoc skirmish vignette of Highlanders.

I have been busy painting samples of the 12 new Highlander figures that have joined the Fife and Drum Miniatures AWI figure range. I have to say that these may well be my favorite figures in the whole Minden/F&D figure ranges. I am partial to Highlanders in the first place, but I also think that the campaign uniform that they wore in North America is one of the niftiest I've ever seen. The bonnet hat of course is different from all of the other troops type that sport tricorn hats. The overalls (the pants) and the shortened coat look nice together.

Or maybe it is the animation that the figures have (see below). I particularly like the firing and biting cartridge poses. And now for something completely different, we are adding Highlanders carrying their muskets at the trail. This was actually the most common way that the soldiers carried their weapons as they advanced.

The Highlander Skirmishers (the two figures on the left) BA021 and
Highlanders Advancing at the Trail (the two figues on the right) BA020

Highlander Command Set (BA-018)

After working on all of these samples for the catalog photo shoot, I decided to gin up a battalion of 32 figures using the firing and command figures. They are being painted as the 71st Highland Regiment, a well travelled outfit that fought nearly everywhere in North America. Their record in the Southern Theater is particularly notable: Charleston, Stono Ferry, capture of Savannah, siege of Savannah, Cowpens (oops!), Guilford Court House and Yorktown.

Close-up picture of the 71st Highanders - work in progress.

71st Highlanders battalion work in progress.

View of the whole battalion - 32 figures.

My plan is to have the 71st ready for my game at this year's Seven Years War Association convention on April 4-6, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana.