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:
But 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:
Back to the limbers and 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 stillI 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 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 were far more difficult than I had envisaged, thanks mainly to all the buttons and lace.
Now, on to the Hessians...
