AWI: The Last Commands and Collection Done

 

Its finally completed. After 16 years, the last command units, for this Black Powder American War of Independence collection, have been completed and the collection (as I'd planned) is finished.

In the end there are: 14 command units, 47 standard infantry units, 24 small light infantry and infantry units, 14 small light horse units, 19 artillery and 47 artillery crew, split over both sides.

The last lot to come off the painting table were the final brigade commands for both sides.

Final British and German Commands

(Left) I made up a drum major with a head swap and used the final drummers to create a foot command from the IMEX British Redcoats set. Then used a couple of left over Italeri 17th Light Dragoons and a commander from the Italeri French Infantry set for a mounted command (Centre). Finally, I needed another German command so used the command figures from a leftover sprew of the HaT 7YW Prussian Infantry Command set.

I'd bought two lots of command packs from B and B Minatures, for both sides. So as to avoid painting the same figures up on each side twice, I swapped the packs around and used the Americans for Brits and V. V. - can't tell the difference at this scale. (Edit: Looks like B and B don't exist any more as their site has been down for over 6 months now.)

And I found these already prepped and undercoated in a box when sorting out commands, so painted another small infantry unit up just for shits and giggles.

Final American and French Commands

Some more B and B miniatures from the command set and extra standard bearers from other foot sets (Left), for another American command, flags fluttering towards their freedom. Then a whole raft of figures from the IMEX George Washington's Army set, plus another Brit painted as American command holding the '76 flag (Centre). Finally for the rebels, I needed another French brigade command so used the B and B Miniatures command leftovers (Right).

Also, having increased the Brits by an additional small infantry, it wouldn't to have been right to leave the Americans wanting. I used some remaining figures from Hat's new AWI American Infantry set for another small infantry. Returning to where I started, I finished these off as Rhode Island State infantry, after the first American unit I painted  - and the circle of life was complete.

Feels a bit strange to have actually climbed the mountain of shame and conquered an entire peak. In the end I've got a massive AWI collection which I'm grateful for. Admittedly its at a scale and quality of manufacture which often don't stand up to close scrutiny, but which are good for an 'arms length' finish on the wargames table.

I think I achieved my goal of getting colour on the table after painting the endless sandy khaki/grey of the Sudan uniforms. Having moved on to 28mm painting, I'm glad this is finished - no more tiny white straps!!!!! 😆

Thanks to Paul for taking the leftovers from all the years of collecting.

AWI: The Last American Units

 

With the last British units done, here are the last units painted in the push to finish this Black Powder collection. This time its the last two standard American infantry units, some artillerymen, and a light infantry unit to finish across the line. 

8th Virginia Regiment

This is another unit from the HaT Set, 8342, AWI American Infantry, released earlier this year. It's nice to get the option of hats cocked to one side, rather than the more common Tricorn, and enough make up a standard BP infantry unit. 

The uniform is of the shorter cut that appeared as the war progressed and various campaigns wore on, and the coloring is from the Baccus uniform guide on their website - blue coat, facings and cuffs. I also seem to have produced a Schrodinger's drummer, as their coat is perpetually in the superstate of being both reversed and not reversed at the same time 😲

5th Carolina

This is the last unit I'll be painting from the  HaT Set, 8342, AWI American Infantry, and the last standard BP unit for the collection!

Another small irony added in at the end after painting so many different coat colours, was a unit with blue coats, and cuffs and facings of a slightly different blue 😏

4th New York - Light Infantry

One final light infantry unit for the Americans, the 4th New York LI in late war pattern gear, taken from Strelets, Set M071, British Light Infantry in Egypt. I think, now I'm at the end of painting, this is my least favourite set I've used for this collection. They don't stand up to close scrutiny but will at least work for 'arms length' wargames figures on the table.

Artillerymen

Finally to finish the absolute last units off, the remainder of American artillery crews to man the guns painted previously.

These are from IMEX's, Set 555, British Artillery and were some of my favourite figures to paint - well proportioned and detailed.

But with all the units done, its time to finish of some BP command stands and call the whole collection done!

AWI: Last British Units

 

After 13 years, I have finally finished painting all the units I had planned for Black Powder AWI, including these Brits.

Light Infantry

A couple of 'light bob' units were left to do including making a small unit up from the A Call To Arms, Set 65, British Infantry 1775 above. And also another small unit from the Strelets, Set M071, British Light Infantry in Egypt below.

17th Light Horse

The second unit of the 17th Light Horse, to round out the cavalry for the Brits. Like the first unit done, there is a dismounted option from B and B Miniatures range, which I can't find on the internet any longer.

The guidon, I think, is of first squadron and the previous unit is 2nd squadron, taken from a general Google search and resized.

Tavington's Horse from 'The Patriot'

The last unit of British light horse from the Revell Set, 02573, Austrian Dragoons, from their Seven Years War range. 

Having searched for a decent color scheme for some loyalist horse - that's wasn't Tarleton's legion horse - I've settled on the only completely unhistorical unit for the entire collection.

Based on Colonel William Tavington's horse from the movie 'The Patriot', I've gone for red coats and green facings. But that's it, no more British unit updates as this part of the collection is complete. What an effort 😀

2nd Punic War: Romans and Carthaginian Spear

This was my historical tally over the new year's break, more conversions and unit completions for Hail Caesar.

Feels good to make some progress against the total rebasing started a few years ago.

Romans

Having finished the Hastati, I thought I'd get some Princeps going while starting on rebasing some cavalry and command.

The Princeps are from HaT Set 8017, Republican Romans Princeps & Triari and Set 8051, Roman Command. The shield decals are from Little big Men Studios and a private commission.

The cavlary are from HaT Set 8021, Roman Cavalry with a commander from Set 8051, Roman Command.

The commanders are a mix of the HaT Roman Command set and Newline Designs command packs (Roman and Etruscan) - both companies' figures mixing seamlessly. To go with the Hastati commander done previously, I've made up a cavalry division command (far left), Princeps commander (left) and two consuls for generals (right).

I figure for large, "Oh the gods! The Carthaginians are going to whip our asses again", kind of battles, while one consul is overall commander for the day, it's not out of the question to have both of them in the field.

I also continued on with the theme of having the Latin divisions made up of two legions (10th and 13th), hence why there's two eagles for the main consul (right). Also love the Etruscan foot command as it comes with trumpeters and Lictors (administrators/servile aides), which probably originated with Etruscans but were adopted by Rome.

Carts

Also got a couple of Lybian spear units done from the HaT Set 8020, Hannibal's Carthaginians - African Infantry

The LBM shield decals really make these units come alive. Would share a link to them but I see they're no longer listed on their website 😞

Got some more Princeps on the go, two units of Triarii to finish off, and some cavalry to rebase and that will be the Latin Romans completed.

AWI: Grenadiers

A quick post for the last unit of British grenadiers for the Black Powder collection.

These are from BnB Miniatures and rank up nicely next to other manufacturers covering the period. Like the last unit, painted as combined grenadiers from different units in the field - hence different coloured facings and cuffs.

Also a small unit of (using what's left in the box) of French, Bourbonnais grenadiers from the Revell, Set 02574, Austrian Infantry. Another unit who were allowed to ware their Bearskins on campaign, despite the 1779 uniform ordonnance requiring grenadiers to wear tricorns.

AWI: 5th/14th Continental, Green Mountain Boys, Grenadier Guards

 
After a 12 month hiatus due to a chronic illness that kicked my arse, a few more units for Black Powder AWI. Can't believe its been 12 years since I started the collection, now with over 46 standard infantry units completed. I reckon I've got another 12 or so units to go plus a few bits and (light) bobs.

Uniforms are again from multiple references, mostly the Black Powder: Rebellion supplement, Osprey references, and internet searches.

5th/14th Continental

Another continental unit from the Italeri Set 6060 American Infantry set. Brown/tan jackets with red facings, tan breeches and waistcoats, and a generic flag.

Still love the command and musicians, have reversed the museos coat just for giggles.

Warner's - Green Mountain Boys

Another iconic unit of renown, this time made up of the slightly smaller IMEX Set 511, George Washington's Army (and a redcoat thrown in from their British set for a standard bearer).

Have done a mix of green hunting shirts, and shirts, with green coats and red facings for the officers. Also a number of hat swaps so that most are wearing the tricorn... with varying success.

Combined British Grenadiers - Guards

A small unit of grenadiers from BnB Miniatures, painted as if units of guards and blue facings have combined during a battle.

Go to admit after 12 years, I'm kinda over painting these guys, especially with the fantastic 28mm ranges now available. But think I'll persist, with a standard unit of combined grenadiers up next, along with a small unit of French, Bourbonnais, grenadiers to boot.

AWI: Lauzun's Legion

 

I still have a thing for the legions of this period, producing a brigade of horse, foot, and gun that's complete in itself. More so when it's Lauzun's Legion with their sky blue coats and yellow facings (and grey turnbacks). So I've gone for it and produced several units for Black Powder... which might be a disproportionate amount for the rest of the American allied army...

For the uniforms there were several searches on Google and a huge call out to Baccus 6mm Miniatures, Scenery, & Rules for producing their uniform guides - much used for this and many other units in this collection.

Fusiliers

There's two standard BP units of fusiliers, Volontaires-étrangers de Lauzun and Volontaires étrangers de la Marine. Its pretty hard to tell the difference at this scale as only the collar colours differ so most have either white or yellow collars per unit.

These are made up from Italeri Set 6043 French Infantry and the detail is good for 20mm. They were from the Lot 4 commission that Spiro Dotgeek completed, the final figures of that commission, and another joint effort to finish - adding shading.

The flags are the official flag from the Lauzun's reenactment group in the states, not sure if they're historically accurate though - but they look cool.

Chasseurs

I added a small BP unit of chasseurs mostly because it used the advancing figures left once all the standard fusilier units had been assigned to regiments and painted. Also from the Italeri box and Lot 4 mentioned above - but I changed my mind when shading and the original white and red Viennois chasseurs became Lauzun's 😁

Grenadiers

Probably the single biggest stretch of the imagination when using figures of a different period and nationality, to form AWI regiments from 1/72 scale figures. These are from the Revell Set 02574 

Austrian Infantry. The detail was pretty grim from the 30-year-old casting and I'm pretty sure its the wrong bearskin-covered grenadier cap. But it seems the foreign volunteers weren't covered by the 1779 uniform ordonnance so got to wear their bearskins.

Hussars

Continuing on with the craziness, a couple of units of hussars and a command element for the brigade. These are from the SYW Revell Set 02575 Prussian Hussars and are a close approximation of the uniform (pretty close except for the mirliton decoration and chaps).

First there's the 2nd Volontaires etrangers de la Marine and I'm not sure I've painted figures with so many different colours before.

Next there's 1st Volontaires etrangers de la Marine which, I'm pretty sure, only served in what was the West Indies at the time, although different pictorial sources conflict here. So, good for the collection but perhaps not once setting foot on American soil 😀

Then there's a close approximation of Lauzun himself in Hussar uniform. The mirliton is definitely incorrect as he's depicted with a giant bearskin. But a clearly identifiable command unit for a clearly identifiable BP brigade.

And of course there was this guy. This poor horse is going down. There's no other movement it can complete to recover, its front legs won't be able to take the weight of the rider and equipment, given the force of movement, and its back legs won't get underneath it in time - I've been exactly here when I missed a jump coming off another jump and tried to correct - result - eating dirt for horse and rider (and the rider goes over the top of the horse and flies - I can actually remember the wind whistling past and thinking it was going to hurt when I hit the ground, which it did)... either that or its bucking, see 'rider goes flying' comment.

So, cut the thing off the base at the grassy stump and carve a hole in the base, then insert grassy stump and cover with glue 😂, now it looks like its kicking out 👍

But that's the French completely finished. A brigade of Duc de Lauzun and a brigade of units that could feasibly be found at Yorktown. Onwards!

2nd Punic War: Late Etruscans

First lot of Newline Design figures since everything was heartlessly put into storage nearly a year ago. Some Etruscans for the Hail Caesar ruleset and massive shift from old DMA/M basing. But these are new figures straight out of the bag.

First up some Etruscan Class III and IV Advancing based together to act as Italian Hastati or light infantry. I'd forgotten just how hard it is to get pure white shields to behave.

Next up are some Etruscan Class I and II Standing based together and re-shielded with Scutums from the Roman HaT range to act as Principes.

I've probably been too literal in my interpretation of how the Italian tribes morphed into Hastati and Principes as they were Romanized. But I figure its late in the war, somewhere between Cannae and Zama, and they've been given or taken some of the huge surplus of Roman weaponry and armor left over from previous battles. There's certainly some good detail on these Newline figures.All the shield designs were a transfer commission by a local printer that I sourced off of Google and rescaled/touched up - at this scale the individual dolphins and wreathes were a little fiddly to position correctly.