British Legion Cavalry

Just a reminder that Fife & Drum Miniatures added Tarleton's British Legion figures to the range in 2014. You have a choice of seven different poses plus Bloody Ban himself, all guaranteed to make any Continenal feel a little bit uncomfortable.

BC-003 Banastre Tarleton 

BC-025 British Legion Officer

BC-026 British Legion Trumpeter 

BC-027 British Legion Trooper Hacking

BC-028 British Legion Trooper Charging #1

BC-029 British Legion Trooper Charging #2

BC-030 British Legion Trooper Shouldered Sword

BC-031 British Legion Trooper Firing Pistol

The figures are sold individually and include the horse and are $6.00 per figure. 

To order, send me an email at: altefritz1740@yahoo.com. PayPal accepted.

I will be moving a few of these guys onto the painting table soon as I get to work on my Cowpens Project. I want to get my forces painted and ready to go in time to game the battle on its anniversary on January 17 (1781) 2015.

More Austrian Artillery

Austrian 3-pdr with limber and Austrian artillery train driver

As promised, here are some more pictures of the new Minden Austrian artillery equipment models. Note that we also have  two-wheel and 4-wheel ammunition wagons that are at Griffin Moulds waiting for the master and production moulds to be made.

The new product codes and prices are indicated below:

AE-033  Austrian 3-pounder  -- $6.00

AE-034  Austrian 6-pounder -- $6.00

AE-035  Austrian 7-pound howitzer -- $6.00

AE-036  Austrian 12-pounder -- $7.00

AE-037  Austrian Y-frame limber -- $5.00

And some recent additions that are available to help fill out your Austrian artillery train:

AE-030  Austrian artillery train drivers (2 figures) w/o horses -- $4.00
AE-031  Austrian artillery train driver and horse (1 of each)  -- $6.00

And of course, you will need Austrian artillery crew to man your guns:

MA-017  Austrian artillery crew (set of 4 figures with tools) -- $8.00
CIV-003  Civilian laborers in waistcoats - perfect for man handling your guns -- $8.00
CIV-002  Agricultural laborers (2 figures carrying ammo chest)  + 2 other figures -- $8.00

Austrian 3-pdr and limber

Austrian 12-pdr (L) and 7-pound howitzer (R)

Austrian 3-pdr (L) and 6-pounder (R)

As always, please click on the pictures to enlarge the view.

New Minden Austrian Artillery Pieces

Here are pictures of the new Austiran cannon, Left to Right: 3-pdr, 6-pdr, howitzer, and 12-pdr.

More later today.

New Minden Cuirassiers du Roi

French Cuirassiers du Roi - Minden Miniatures 

I completed a squadron of 12 of the new Minden French Cuirassiers du Roi, which are presented here for your viewing pleasure (click the picture to enlarge the view). On several of the pictures, I experimented with turning my iPad upside down so that the camera lens was at the ground level. I think that this, along with the painted back drop, creates a better looking photograph of the figures.

The Cuirassiers du Roi donned the bearskin after the War of Austrian Succession, just in time for the Seven Years War. They were the only cavalry regiment to wear front and back metal plate and they wore the cuirasse outside of the jacket, rather than underneath the jacket. The other French Cavalrie regiments wore just the front cuirasse plate under their coat.

The Minden figures are sold in packs of three figures, including the horses, for $18.00 per pack. There is a command pack MFC-007 consisting of the officer, colour bearer, and the musician. In the future, I plan to add a French Cavalrie kettle drummer.

The pack of three rank and file cuirassiers, MFC-008, is the other available pack.

To order: send an e-mail to me at: altefritz1740@yahoo.com. Paypal is accepted for all orders. 

Cowpens 1781

I've been reading Lawrence Babits' book, "A Devil of a Whipping. The Battle of Cowpens" and I'm kind of thinking that this would be a fun battle to play on the tabletop.

Fife & Drum Miniatures has most of the figures that I will need for this battle with the exception of the 71st Highlanders- I will use the Kings Mountain figures for this regiment.

Now I have to work out the order of battle at either a 1:5 or a 1:10 ratio and see where I am with respect to painting needs. More later.

What do you think?

Hesse Seewald Corps of Mounted Guides

(click on all pictures to enlarge)

The first squadron of the Hesse Seewald Light Dragoons (AKA The Corps of Guides) has been completed and are ready for your inspection. The figures are the British 16th Light Dragoons from the Fife & Drum American Revolution range of figures.

The uniforms and painting scheme is modelled after Napoleon's regiment of Chasseurs a Cheval of the Guard: Green coats, buff breeches and red facings. The shabraque is green with yellow/gold edging. I have not yet settled on a flag so the standard bearer is missing his colours. The standard bearer is the Fife & Drum 1st Continental Dragoons standard bearer with a head swap from one of the 16th Light Dragoons figures.

1st Squadron with flankers.

I really like the skirmishing poses that Richard Ansell sculpted for the 16th Light Dragoons. There is one pose firing his carbine, one pose reloading carbine, one pose with carbine rested on his thigh - provides a second level of skirmish support to the front line, and one pose firing pistol. The latter figure is placed on the flag stand, sort of guarding the colours, as it were.

The flankers are now moving out in front of the squadron.

I have not decided on whether to paint a second squadron of 12 figures. For now, a dozen troopers plus four mounted skirmishers seem like enough. In the event of a war, the regiment could be increased to 24 figures.

I'm thinking that I could probably get away with also using the Guides as an AWI Loyalist cavalry regiment.

I'm pretty happy with the way that this regiment turned out. What do you think? Please feel free to leave a comment.