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...

AWI British Artillery

The last week and a half saw a flurry of activity while I tried to complete my AWI British gun line before the arrival of the next tranche of grandchildren. This involved the completion of eight pieces with four 6 pdr guns, two howitzers and two 3 pdr butterfly cannon:

Here is a close up of the first battery of two 6pdrs and a howitzer:

and an identical second battery:

The figures themselves are a nice mix of firing poses:

With others who are more dynamically posed in running back or aiming the guns:

The butterfly cannon came with some protection in the form of two wooden mantlets which makes a nice addition to the models:

I also completed the set of Perry dragrope men. The main reason for this is that the Sharp Practice skirmish rules require five figures per artillery piece so I thought they would make an interesting addition. The Perry sculpting on these is great and I found the poses very interesting to paint. They really look like they have been undertaking some strenuous labour:

I found a couple of pictures of re-enactors wearing forage caps so went with the designs depicted there rather than the one shown on the Perry website, with these men having been seconded from the 24th regiment:

I still have the limbers and various ammunition wagons to complete, which I am hoping to now complete alongside a small contingent of Butler's Rangers.

AWI British Legion and Command Stands

After fiddling around with all that lace on AWI British figures for the past six months the British Legion cavalry seemed almost too simple. Nine figures also made for a nice small unit that I could complete relatively quickly:

Green, a bit of beige and the job was practically complete:

The horse furniture and equipment was likewise very simple to do:

While the command stand had a slight variation with brass buttons and helmet linings for the officer, and a couple of brass instruments for the trumpeter:

That is the third unit of cavalry completed for the British, with six mounted Queen's Rangers still to come:

I also completed ten command figures across eight stands. These are a mix of Perry colonels and Front Rank personality figures and ADCs. I was a little surprised the Perrys don't have any personality figures in their range, while Front Rank's are limited to Thomas Gage and 'Gentleman' John Burgoyne. A Cornwallis or a Howe wouldn't have gone astray:

The Perry British colonels are beautifully sculpted and have quite a bit of character and movement to them:

I probably should have taken a leaf out of Giles Allison's (of Tarleton's Quarter) book and modelled them after actual personalities, but I figure they can play a role in most battles:

The Front Rank colonels by contrast are much better fed and far less dynamic, but are nice figures in their own right:

I put General Gage on a larger base and gave him and ADC:

Whose twin brother can also be seen here advising General Burgoyne:

Next off the line will be the British artillery then some wagons and limbers and a few small units such as Butler's Rangers, and hopefully I'll have the British completed before Christmas.