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 😀

6th Maryland, Patterson’s Massachusetts, 7th Pennsylvania, and Virginia Light Horse

 

Another push to get this entire collection painted, with only another 6 standard Black Powder units worth left to go now. This time its three standard infantry units for the American's plus a small unit of light horse.

The flags were from a random search on Mr. Google and the uniforms are once again, straight from Baccus' excellent uniform guide.

Patterson’s Massachusetts Battalion

This is one of the last two units, from the 8 boxes of Italeri American Infantry, which I bought back in ~2014. Not sure if the drummers wore reversed coats but for ascetics I thought they'd look cooler in buff coats.

7th Pennsylvania Regiment

The last unit from the Italeri boxes, I couldn't go past the 7th Penn as a unit. 

I've issued these guys a BPL MkII (Bush, Portable, Low) for the same reasons as I did for the 2nd Canadian, just a fact of life for these aging 1/72 scale figures and the varying pose quality you get in the sets.

6th Maryland Regiment

A few years back I could be heard saying that I'd never buy any more 1/72 scale stuff. For the most part I've stuck to that focusing on 15mm and 28mm. But then earlier this year HaT Industrie released their American Infantry set.

So this is the first unit from the box I bought (😆) but in my defense, I'm not going to be using the IMEX stuff as I wasn't happy with the Green Mountain Boys unit I made using them, as I didn't really like their poses.

The same can't be said for this HaT box though. You get enough figures (96) to make 4 standard BP units, with great poses (marching, firing, loading, and ready).

Virginia Light Horse

Another light cavalry unit made up from the old Revell, Set 02573, Austrian Dragoons, with head conversions from the A Call to Arms, Set 65, British Infantry 1775. As per previous units, some of the detail had to be 'assumed' and painted on, so these don't bare close inspection.

Only a couple more standard infantry units to go, along with a small unit of light infantry, and a few artillery crews left for the Americans.

AWI: Queen's and Butler's Rangers, 16th Light Dragoons, Artillery Crew

Back in the dark depths of 2013 or 2014, I sent a batch of AWI figures off to Shri Lanka to get painted. Then I started collecting more and more boxes of AWI, discovered Black Powder and started painting up an army for each side myself. There's been a few more commissions since then, and even a spread sheet to cope with colours and units.

More recently, a crazy thing happened. 

Because I'm a total geek, I colour-coded units in the sheet to show whether they were painted or not.

I'd been doing a fair effort of getting units done over the years and a couple of weeks back I opened the sheet and realised there was hardly anything left to paint (about 12 standard BP units).

Never one to shy away from a challenge I started a serious effort to finish the collection of about 6 BP brigades a side (of approx. 4-6 standard infantry, and supporting cavalry, light infantry, and cannon). I now only have about 9 units left to do of the entire mountain of AWI shame. Here's one of the first batches done recently.

Queen's Rangers

I've based these as two small units of light infantry in skirmish formation, which can be lined up to represent them going into line.

Bases compressed into line so that the BP frontage is correct.

The figures are Queen's Rangers from B and B Miniatures (which I couldn't link to at the time of writing as their website was down) and are some of my favorites from the manufacturer.

I'd started off the collection by individually mounting skirmishers but after a couple of games, it really hasn't mattered that they were on individual bases and it was a pain moving them round the table.

The flags were from warflag.com but that seems to have disappeared now as well.

Butler's Rangers

More B and B Miniatures, this time Butler's Rangers in hunting shirts. Suffice to say that their blue tassels over green hunting shirts didn't take an hour to highlight... 😡

But there's some good detail on these figs, like the Queen's Rangers above.

As per those QRs, I went for a regiment made up of two small BP units in skirmish formation.

Also as per QRs, they've been based some that they can also be compressed into line, producing the right frontage for a BP small line unit.

16th Light Dragoons

Another small unit of cavalry for the support of a BP brigade, the famous 16th Light Dragoons. These are from Strelets Set 119 British Cavalry (Egypt) and a dismounted, light infantry option from Set M071 British Light Infantry in Egypt.

Like other units painted previously, at this scale, using early Napoleonic sets as proxies works well and you'd have to look close to see the differences in uniforms. 

Artillery Crew

Finally for the Brits, another round of artillerymen from the IMEX, Set 554 American Artillery. I've used American because for some reason the American and British sets were swapped around during conversation from 1/32 to 1/72 scale, and the water bottles are a closer match for the Brits. 

Also, a big shout out Monty my stepson for helping light the figures and for providing some of the Gaslands photos on a previous post👍.

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.