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.