Having just recently finished the last of a batch of 216 English Civil War horses I needed a break before I start work on their riders. The next project I have in mind after completing the three ECW aremies is the American War of Independence which will encompass thirty or so British and Hessian units, and around half that number on the Continental side. I have purchased and actually read a copy of British Grenadier which seems like a decent enough ruleset for larger battles, but my immediate aim is to get enough figures and units done for a few games of Sharp Practice.
The first unit I have tried my hand at is the 4th Foot, Kings Own Royal Regiment:
The figures are all Perry plastics. I have managed to avoid plastics up until this point but as the 'core' AWI troops in the Perry range are plastic I decided to take the plunge. I much prefer the weight of metal figures plus have an aversion to having to glue bits together, but after trying and discarding two types of plastic glues finally settled on Citadel thanks to a tip from Mark of 1866 and All That. This did the trick beautifully and, although it was still fiddly gluing the arms and muskets in the correct position, I found it to be less of a chore than I was expecting:
The flags are from GMB which are a bit too large for the flagpole as supplied. Unfortunately the pole is cast on to the arm of the flagbearers, but it was a relatively simple task to cut and drill out their hands and replace it with a longer one:
The basing is in fours to suit British Grenadier, apart from two singles and a double to accommodate casualty removal in Sharp Practice:
I also purchased a few dials from Warbases on to which I will place casualties, which should come in handy for keeping track of disorder or morale status:
That's it for the first unit at least:
I'll probably try to knock out another two or three British units and a couple of American over the next month or so before returning to my ECW project for the final push there.
Beautiful regiment, Lawrence. Like you, I prefer the heft of metal but have introduced Perry's plastic WotR into my project list.
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested to see how you find putting them together. The pieces on these fit together very nicely, with the possible exception of the rolled blanket. I suppose one advantage is that it is possible to pose the figures slightly differently, but I'd still rather metal.
DeleteWelcome to the 21st century, Lawrence - you will be buying 3d prints next! Personally, I don't mind assembly Perry or Warlord figures, but Victrix take it a stage too far - they ware like Tamiya in 28mm, with separate cartridge boxes or water bottles etc! I also like the new style of plastic cement bottles, with the long metal tube of half to one mm dimension, allowing extreme accuracy when applying the cement, unlike the squeezable tubes of yesteryear...... oh, and your first batch of AWI Brits look great, by the way!
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith. I started off with Revell glue, with the metal tube, but couldn't get anything out so tried brushing it on. The Citadel glue is much better and flows properly.
DeleteLovely work Lawrence…I mix and match metal and plastic aesthetic vs bulk and cost. I find the Perry’s fine to put together I use Revell model glue which works fine. The only criticism I have of the Perry figures is they insist on those bayonets which are too fragile and a pain for storage as they stick out. Whilst advancing figures look great on the table they can be hard to align them in a column formation as the face to the left I wish they did a more Porte position which would align better in blocks . Nicely painted up 👍
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt. I am already flicking the bayonets every time I move them with a few starting to bend, and they haven't even see action yet. The third regiment will be in the at trail pose. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong with the Revell glue but I just couldn't get it down the metal tube.
DeleteSuperb regiment...and casualty!
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil, the GMB flags also gives it a big boost.
DeleteThose are some great looking AWI troops. Nice job. I'm constantly eye balling the Perry AWI range and posts like these don't help!
ReplyDeleteMy AWI figs are from Brigade miniatures are all metal. I might need to get some plastic soon.
looking forward to seeing your AWI armies. 😁
Their plastic figures are very nice, in spite of my complaints about plastic multi-part figures in general. They also have quite a good three-box deal which I used, giving enough for four decent-sized battalions.
DeleteA gorgeous paint job Lawrence. I always get plenty of eye candy with your work.
ReplyDeleteThat's very kind of you Richard. They were quite painful to paint and seemed to take me longer than other 28mm figures I have done, but then the first unit is always a bit like that when you are trying to figure out what colours to use on various bits of accoutrement.
DeleteGreat work Lawrence. Those Perry AWI figures are great to work with, and the GW cement is certainly my product of choice. You sure have done a fabulous job on that drummer.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark. The drummer took a bit of time but had some nicely raised detail which made things much easier. I know they were most likely ordered to stow their bearskins, but I much prefer the full dress look.
DeleteFine looking British troops. I have only worked with 1/72 plastic troops and they are a pain to clean and paint. But they end up looking good. I am with you though, I prefer the heftier metal figures for play. I love your casualty/disordered markers.
ReplyDeleteThanks Vol. The cleaning up wasn't too bad, just a few mould lines on the hats and where I slipped with the knife removing items from the sprue. I have nearly finished assembling the three boxes of British and will do the same for the Continentals, and then it's back to metal.
DeleteExcellent looking unit! I'ma big fan of plastic, especially Perry, I'm also not a big fan of Revell glue, doesn't seem to work for me, I prefer humbrol and Tamiya, talking of tubes of glue, they're much better than the stringy ones of our childhood, most of my French and Austrian Napoleonics were assembled with tube glue, as I was working in west London and had to leave early to beat the traffic, so I had half an hour to kill in the car. I brought a box file of troops with me and snips/scalpel and a tube of glue and assembled my figures that way, I didn't want liquid glue in a pot because of a previous bad experience when it leaked all over some partially assembled figures which were ruined but pretty much all my Perry plastic Napoleonic infantry have been built in my car at about 7am!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain. I find them fiddly enough to put together on a clear desk and dropped several hats and rolled blankets on the floor so I have no idea how you managed it in a car. I remember using a lot of UHU in my early days, with each foil tube eventually giving up and the glue coming out the sides and bottom as well as the nozzle.
DeleteYou are amazing Lawrence. Did not feel like painting the riders for your English Civil War, so just knocked out these American War of Independence infantry! They look superb too!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you re. assembling figures. I don't mind the odd aeroplane kit, or even tank, but with figures I just wanna clean 'em up and paint them (aside from the odd conversion, perhaps).
Regards, James
Just three boxes of Continental infantry to assemble, and then I think that will be my lot as far as plastics go James. At least the Perry figures go together nicely, but you have perfectly summed up my feelings in that I'd rather just give them a quick clean and then straight on to the painting table.
DeleteThey look rather smart Lawrence! The Perry's do make some fine figures.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ray. They are still among the best value out there as well.
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