Three More Continental Regiments Completed

I have managed to complete three more Continental Regiments toward my AWI project, a couple of days before the end of February which was the self-imposed deadline I had set myself:

The majority of these are Perry plastics with a few metal command figures thrown in to make up the numbers. First up, the 2nd New Hampshire:

Given the preponderance of hunting shirts in the Continental army I thought it about time I mixed in a few such figures in a regiment and the 2nd New Hampshire seemed to fit the bill nicely:

I also decided to give themtwo flags. I realise that most regiments most likely carried only one standard but, as the GMB flag packs come with two (albeit many of them speculative), it seems a shame not to use them both on a few regiments here and there:

The 2nd New Hampshires appear to have been a green-faced regiment which looks quite nice on the figures, although a little less-distinctive in the photographs:

Next in line is another Massachusetts regiment; Gist's regiment. While most of the OOBs for British Grenadier call for American regiments of 20 figures or less, a unit of 24 figures does make an appearance here and there:

This is the second brown-coated regiment completed thus far and, even though they don't fit the usual blue-coated stereotype, I much prefer painting them as the highlighting is more distinctive. I again sprinkled in a liberal helping of hunting shirts:

I also had to have a regiment carrying some stars and stripes. The two packs of Betsy Ross standards I purchase from GMB will however remain unused due to there being no apparent record of their having been actually carried:

Last up is the 1st Connecticut, without tricorne and waring red coats. The variety in the AWI uniforms always keep me interested in what the next regiment will bring, even though I am essentially painting the same set of figures:

While I find gluing together plastic figures frustrating at the best of times, I appreciate the variety of poses which can be achieved. The Perry figures are well thought-out and not difficult to put together, and the manner in which the muskets are carried can convey many different impressions ranging from a well-disciplined unit to one that has been on the march for a long time:

That said, I was a little unsure whether my posing on the officer ended up looking like he is trying to stop traffic so he can get the regiment across a busy intersection:

None of these posts would be complete without the by now ubiquitous casualty dials. Unfortunately the one on the right looks a little like a layer cake due to the fact that I used PVA glue and it slid around a little, but it still looks fine when viewed from above. It will be superglue all the way from now on though:

That is now one hundred and eight Continental figures completed, with just over four hundred to go:

It is now over a year since I started this project, and I expect I'll be going for at least another three months. I am however relieved I saved the Continentals for last. 

AWI Massachusetts Regiments

The first of my Continental regiments were completed over the weekend. One pleasant surprise is the variety that can be found in Continental uniforms and I decided to start off with two regiments from Massachusetts:

First up is Bailey's regiment as the red facings with brown coats especially appealed to me. I mixed in a few different coloured coats and trousers to give them a slightly less uniform appearance:

The bulk of this unit are Perry plastics which are quite easy to put together, although three boxes' worth have taken me the best part of six to seven hours:

The nice thing about plastics though is being able to vary the poses and swap things like backpacks around:

The flags are from GMB and are a rather simple design:

The second unit, also from Massachusetts, is Marshall's regiment in the more iconic blue coat with red facings:

With a slightly more decorated but still unelaborate flag from GMB:

I also completed two accompanying casualty markers:

That is the first two Continental regiments completed, with just another seventeen or so to go:

There does however seem to be a lot of variety in uniform colours and style which I am hoping will be more than enough to keep interest levels up over the coming months.

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.