AWI Hessians Completed

Completion of the Hessian grenadiers a couple of weeks ago left me with just a few odds and ends to tidy up before I could call the Hessian contingent, and therefore the AWI British, complete. First off are eighteen Hessian Jaegers:

These were really nice to paint and included an interesting command figure with an eyepatch. I calculated he would be modelled after someone notable but could not guess who that might be. I found the answer on the very informative Jemima Fawr's Miniature Wargames Blog https://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/2022/12/25/nescit-pericula-my-awi-hessian-army-part-3-jager-artillery/ which has a wealth of well-researched information for anyone undertaking an AWI project. The subject in question is apparently Captain Johann Ewald, a veteran of the Seven Years' War, who lost his eye in a drunken duel with a friend:

The rest of the figures include some of the usual dynamic Perry skirmishing poses which are a joy to paint:

Next up were are two Hessian Swedish 4pdr cannon, artillery. I  painted them in Prussian artillery blue as this would appear to be the most likely colour scheme for pieces supplied by Hesse-Kassel:

Again, some lovely sculpting and eight different poses across the two models:

Last off the production line are the three Hessian commanders from the Perry Hessian General set.  Wilhelm von Knyphausen seems to have been a steady and calm commander:

Johann Stirn was a brigade commander and, according to the excellent Tarleton's Quarter blog http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2007/11/major-general-johann-daniel-stirn.html, somewhat of a disciplinarian:

The final command figure is Friedrich Riedesel who was a Brunswicker and therefore in command of the Brunswick contingent. He was captured at Saratoga and, rather interestingly, appears to have been the person responsible for introducing illuminated Christmas trees to North America (according to Wikipedia at least, which means it must be true):

The Hessians are now finished and the AWI British army completed.

All up, I estimate this AWI British project now totals 834 figures made up of 769 mounted and foot and 65 horses, plus 10 artillery pieces and 8 wagons and limbers. 

This has taken the best part of ten months, which is longer than I had originally planned although I did add a few extra units on the way. 

Next up, the Continentals.

AWI Hessian Grenadiers

I painted my way through my second bout of COVID over the Christmas break and, thanks to a few intermittent bursts of energy, managed to complete two regiments of Hessian grenadiers:

First up is the Rall Regiment which was a standing regiment of grenadiers and part of Johann Rall's command at Trenton where they were surprised by Washington's crossing of the Delaware and soundly defeated:

These are again in the Perry marching pose and are lovely sculpts with some nice detail on the grenadier caps:

There seems to be some conjecture, as with many things AWI, whether the pompoms and caps should be light blue or red, but I opted for the latter:

The command pack unusually had only one standard bearer but included an officer with an open hand and an assortment of equipment, so he quite nicely doubled-up as a second standard bearer which allowed me to use both of the excellent GMB flags, even if they are carried at different heights and look a little uneven. :

The second battalion is the combined Block grenadier battalion, made up of (from left to right)  detached grenadiers from the von Wutginau, Prinz Carl, von Donop and von Trumbach regiments:

As they were a conbined battalion they did not carry flags, so the Perry command set includes a couple of drummers and a pioneer instead:

Being a combined battalion there was a nice bit of variety to be found in facing and cap colours:

I also completed the last two casualty dials for the Hessians which were some nice poses:

That's six battalions of Hessians now completed:

I now just have some Hesse-Kassel Jaegers, artillery and three command figures to go to complete the Hessian contingent.

As for my painting totals for 2024, I managed to complete 1093 figures in total comprised of 815 foot and 278 horse figures. Given that the bulk of these related to this ongoing AWI project all the foot and most of the horse were 28mm, so probably not bad all things considered and particularly because I have found British and Hessian AWI figures harder going than Napoleonic figures. I should be starting on the Continentals within a few weeks and am hoping they will be a bit easier.

AWI Hessian von Mirbach and von Lossberg Regiments

With Christmas just two days away I put a bit of extra effort in to get the latest two Hessian regiments, the von Mirbach musketeers and von Lossberg fusiliers, completed:

The von Mirbach regiment was among the first Hessian units to arrive in North America and is therefore a useful one for some of the earlier engagements such as Long Island, Monmouth, Brandywine and Fort Mercer:

The figures are Perry charging sculpts and include some nice dynamic poses:

The flags are as usual from GMB:

I painted up a casualty figure for the usual Warbases casualty dial which should be useful when I can eventually get enough Continentals completed for a game of British Grenadier:

The von Lossberg regiment also fought at Long Island and was later renamed as 'Alt' or 'Old' Lossberg regiment when the von Mirbach regiment was renamed 'Jung' Lossberg in 1780. It can be quite confusing trying to keep track of the renamed regiments resulting from changes in colonelcies with, in this case, the two von Lossbergs being brothers and the older or 'Alt' brother remaining in charge of the fusiliers (thankyou to Giles Allison's Tarleton's Quarter for confirming this https://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2024/08/lieutenant-general-friedrich-wilhelm.html):

They wear the distinctive fusilier cap with brass front plate and fittings:

It was also nice to paint a unit with orange facings for something a bit different:

Which matches the orange GMB standards:

That's two more Hessian regiments now completed:

Next up, two grenadier regiments which I hope to have completed by the New Year. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas.

AWI Hessian von Donop and Erbprinz Regiments

Last weekend saw the completion of the first two of seven planned Hessian units, the von Donop and Erbprinz regiments:

First to be completed is the regiment von Donop with their distinctive straw-coloured small clothes and trousers. At least, some of the sources have them in straw-coloured trousers while others indicate these were white, and they were more than likely both depending upon uniform supplies and the stage of the war:

Either way, I threw in a few different colours and also some representing sail cloth or striped ticking material, to provide a bit of variety. The British Grenadier rules also call for the Hessians to be based in groups of six to represent their more regimented formations as opposed to the British and Continentals who fought in looser formations, although again there is a lot of speculation that the Hessians too quickly adapted and fought in more extended order:

I found there was also a lot of conjecture about the standards, including whether the finial was brass, gilt or silver in colour, if there were tassels and whether these were red, white, silver or a combination. I went for brass with white tassels, and gave the ensigns and officers the Hesse-Kassel white pompom with a red center:

Next up is the Erbprinz regiment. There were apparently two regiments in North America with this designation, with the Colonel of one being a prince from Hesse-Hanau and the other an hereditary prince from Hesse-Kassel. As if that isn't confusing enough, the Hesse-Kassel regiment which is represented here (and was the one most involved in the AWI, the other operating mainly in Canada) landed as a fusilier regiment and converted to a musketeer uniform upon resupply around 1780. At this time their facings apparently changed from rose to crimson, while their standard changed from crimson to rose. By this stage I was quietly thanking myself that I have only purchased seven regiments to complete:

Again, six to a base with predominantly linen trousers but with a few variations thrown in:

These are obviously in firing line poses, which again is nice for variety although the firing figures do overhang the bases a little way:

The flags are from GMB, and the only Erbprinz flag that Graham Black does is crimson. As mentioned above it should probably be rose, but perhaps they had already swapped their fusilier caps and received the new uniform before they exchanged their standard? 

I also completed two casualty dials, one for each regiment:

That is it for the first two Hessian units:

There were a couple of  other false starts in that I realised I had inadvertently painted the von Donop musket slings white so had to go over them again, but I got there in the end. Next up, another musketeer and a fusilier battalion.

Last of the British AWI Units

I had initially thought about breaking the following up into a number of separate posts with several units having been completed a few weeks ago, but decided to lump them together and rely on the Canadian postal system to determine when the final post would be made. 

This is because I rather foolishly completed the British limbers and wagons without giving much thought to to the traces required for the two-horse teams. I did initially think about braided wire, but then found a Canadian supplier called 'Ropes of Scale' and thought I would try using model ship ropes instead:

https://ropesofscale.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorGREHFu_sc9uFG7CzWIF1Jh9SkagQU5gykrPSXetN6eQdUGXur

My order was almost immediately despatched, but I knew it would likely take a while to arrive so thought I would fill in the time with the few other odds and ends I had in store to complete the British AWI army. First off, the rather effective Butler's Rangers:

These contained a nice variety of sculpts, especially because there is only a dozen figures required to cover all British Grenadier scenarios so the Perry command and skirmishing sets gave me twelve unique poses:

Lovely robust figures and a lot of fun to paint:

Having recently completed the Queen's Rangers foot regiment I thought I'd add the Queen's Rangers mounted troopers, with half a dozen figures enough to cover most scenarios:

There really isn't any fiddly stuff involved in painting the Queen's Rangers, either foot or mounted, and I managed to knock these out reasonably quickly:

I can't remember why I ordered this next unit. I can vaguely recall that an OOB somewhere included a six-figure Loyalist militia unit and the Perry black militia unit fitted the bill perfectly:

I remembered I also had the Perry vignette with the rather sorry-looking and isolated Continental officer being interrogated by British ADCs and officers and, as nice segue into  the next stage of the project, a Hessian grenadier and officer from the von Donop regiment (more of them to come soon, hopefully):

Next up, the Volunteers of Ireland:

Thankfully very few buttons involved here, so I managed to complete them within a week:

The Perry set usually includes a couple of expressive NCOs, and I always look forward to painting them:

Another regiment completed:

Back to the wagons and limbers. The following four didn't need traces and were very easy to put together. Firstly, two tumbrels:

And a couple of ammunition wagons:

Now to the Canadian rope. It really is lovely stuff, and of course I launched straight in and became instantly frustrated when I tried to cut various lengths and it unravelled on me. I then did what I should have done in the first place and looked on-line, and the secret is to either cut it with a soldering iron or put a few drops of superglue on the spot where you need to cut. 

Having worked that out it became relatively easy. After attaching the traces I applied a wash  If I'm being completely honest I probably darkened them too much, but I quite like the overall effect and still have a couple of meters in hand ready for the next batch of limbers. You can see my efforts below and hopefully make out the rope traces:

Finally, and also incorporating the Ropes of Scale product, is my favourite Perry AWI cart, which is why I have included three pictures:

This means I have finally finished the British and loyalist contingent. At a quick count it is comprised of nearly seven hundred figures and took me a few months longer than I had envisaged thanks to all the buttons and lace.

Now, on to the Hessians...