Cool SYW Wargame Picture

French vs British in 54mm with John Jenkins Designs figures.

This picture, which I found on the Flintlock and Tomahawk blog Link Here shows a wargame using 54mm French and British John Jenkins Designs figures. Add in some Teddy Bear Fur and you have one piece of realistic looking eye candy going on here.

If I had the time, space and money to collect these expensive pre-painted collectors figures, then I wouldn't mind giving this a try.

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Weekend Happenings At Schloss Fritz

I have several interesting little projects sitting on my painting table at the moment, so which way I go with the brushes is yet to be determined.  I have two sections of Royal Horse Artillery to paint for our refight of the Coa Bridge in Brown Deer, WI on November 10th; I have some Minden Highlanders to work on; or I was dabbling with some of my Fife & Drum British for the AWI and painting them in green coats with white facings so that I could use them as Queen's Rangers circa 1777, before they donned the fancy leather headgear. The first couple of samples of AWI British line infantry in green look very promising.

The RHA consists of 15 pieces per section of the battery ( 5 crew, 4 limber horses, 1 limber, 1 cannon, 2 limber riders, and 2 limber drivers), so painting two sections of the battery is like painting a 30-figure infantry battalion; so this is more than just a weekend project. I will take me about a week to paint. Once finished, the new sections will bring the battery up to six guns, limbers and crew. Now all I need are some ammo and supply wagons - it looks like the Perrys have some such things on the workbench and should be arriving to the market soon. count me in.

Some Minden Civilians

Minden SYW civilians employed in the AWI environment.

I found this picture of some of the Minden SYW civilians on another blog this morning:

Wargming With Silver Whistle

Since this is the first time that I have seen the figures painted, I wanted to "borrow" this picture from that blog so that everyone could see these fine figures in their painted splendor. It is interesting that they are being used for the AWI period. If you look closely at the figures, you can see lots of conversion opportunities abound. For example, the artist has placed muskets instead of work tools in some of the figures' hands. The fellow with the musket is eventually going to be an artillery "matross" in my AWI armies (i.e. dragging the cannon with a drag-rope). The figure carrying the bag over his shoulder would fit in well with a field bakery in the SYW.

AWI British Artillery

British Artilleryman and Matross, circa 1775 - painting by Don Troiani

I found this painting on Don Troiani's web site today and find it interesting for a number of reasons. For  starters, it depicts the "regulation" uniform of the Royal Artillery at the time of the American Revolution. You don't often get to see the reverse view of a figure so it is great to see how the leather cartridge box attaches to the belting (and that the cover is white leather).

I also like the ammo wagons in the background. I have seen a picture of a similar wagon at Fort Ligonier, Pennsylvania and perhaps Mr. Troiani modeled his representation on the reproduction wagon at that site. You can see the royal cypher stenciled onto the cover of the wagon and the "basket weave" sides of the wagon are also of interest to me.

If you want to see more Troiani pictures, then click on the link below. But be careful, you will find yourself spending at least an hour there looking at all of the wonderful historical prints.

Don Troiani Gallery

AWI Militia Flag

Pennsylvania Associator Flag

I found this nifty looking militia flag on the Revwarlist group today and like it so much that I think that I will paint a new American militia battalion, using Fife & Drum Miniatures of course, and give it this flag.

One of the re-enactor units in Pennsylvania apparently use this flag for their unit. In Pennsylvania, the militia were called "associators". Perhaps the most famous of these regiments was the Philadelphia Associators commanded by John Cadwalader. They gave a good account of themselves in the Trenton-Princeton campaign in early 1777.

The canton has the thirteen red and white stripes found on several flags in the Pennsylvania-Delaware area near Brandywine battlefield. In fact, several similar flags of this style were called Brandywine flags, as they seem to have first appeared at this battle.

From Wikipedia:

The Brandywine flag was a banner carried by Captain Robert Wilson's company of the 7th Pennsylvania Regiment. The company flag received the name after it was used in the Battle of Brandywine, 11 September 1777. The flag is red, with a red and white American flag image in the canton.^[1]

Other stories indicate that the flag may have actually flown earlier, at the Battle of Cooch's Bridge in Delaware on 3 September 1777.^[2] Captain Wilson may have also brought it to the Battle of Paoli on 21 September and the Battle of Germantown on 4 October.^[3]

The 7th Pennsylvania Flag may have been one of the first American flags to feature stars and stripes, although it was a militia company's flag, not a flag of Washington's army.^[4] The Flag Resolution of 1777 defined the official flag of the United States as having 13 stripes and 13 stars, although the specific pattern of the stars was not specified. Many variations existed. The flag shown in the canton of the Brandywine Flag uses a 4-5-4 star pattern, and was probably patterned after a Hopkinson-style United States flag.

The Brandywine Flag is currently displayed in Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park,^[3] and was featured on a 33¢ postage stamp issued in 2000, as a part of the US Postal Service's Stars and Stripes series. The colors and pattern on the stamp may have been altered for aesthetic purposes.

Perhaps GMB Designs or The Flag Dude will add this flag design to their product list. 

Minden SYW Highlander Pix

Minden SYW Highlander Firing Line Figures

Reverse View

Here are a couple of pictures, a little blurry I'm afraid, of Frank Hammond's new Minden SYW Highlander firing line figures. I painted these last evening and found them a joy to paint. These may well be some of Richard Ansell's best work on the range, here to date. There are a total of eight figures in the firing line set: Officer standing with claymore in the ground, piper/drummer/standard bearer all standing, standing firing/kneeling firing; standing at the ready/kneeling at the ready to complete the set.

As I said in my earlier posting today, you could also paint these as Jacobites for the Forty Five by painting them in grey, brown, blue, green etc. and use them to augment the Jacobites in the Cran Tarra Jacobite range, also sculpted by Richard.

Highlanders are probably my favorite wargame figures so I am sure that I will have to find some way to get a unit of these guys into either my SYW or AWI armies.

British Army on Campaign Circa 1777

Light Infantryman - by Don Troiani

I have posted some drawings that depict the appearance of the British soldier during the American War of Independence, showing how they would actually look while on campaign. Gone is the formal look of the 1768 Clothing Warrant, with the long tail coat, tricorn hat, and knee britches. Also gone is the knapsack, replaced by a blanket roll that is attached to the back via a "tumpline". All of the uniform and kit changes were adapted by the soldiers for comfort and practicality while operating in the terrain that was North America at that time.

40th Foot Defending the Chew House - Battle of Germantown (Osprey: Philadelphia Campaign of 1777)

The Osprey picture is probably the only drawing that I have seen that correctly draws in all of the elements of the adapted British uniform. The figure with his back to us in the foreground wears the tumpline upon his back.

Loyalist soldier in 1777 - by Don Troiani

Minden SYW Highlander Firing Line Figures

I primed a batch of Frank Hammond's new Minden Highlanders in firing line poses yesterday and painted a sample of the standing firing and the advancing or "at the ready" pose and the finished result is really sweet! I will add a couple of pictures later today. I hadn't planned on having a Minden British SYW army, but now I'm sort of at sixes and nines over this issue because I have to have a unit of Highlanders in one of my armies.

I may paint these as the 84th Royal Highland Emigrants for the AWI period and use them for the American Revolution as part of a hypothetical Loyalist brigade in my British 1777-78 army. They did not participate in the Philadelphia Campaign, but they look too nice not paint and complete.

It also occurs to me that these figures could also be painted as Jacobites for the '45 Rebellion. That would look cool too. I imagine that this was part of Frank's thinking when he commissioned the figures to be made -- they make for a nice add-on to the Crann Tara figures that Graham is building up. All of these figures were sculpted by the talented Richard Ansell, of course.