[alasdair]

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Hi there guys.
I am embarking on somewhat of a new venture for me. I have always focussed on Fantasy miniatures and wargames (mainly Warhammer and Warmachine) with a bit of sci-fi thrown in, however recently I have greatly grown interested in Historicals. I am a history fan, delving into a few eras including the 100 Years War, the Mongol Empire and The American Civil War.
My newest venture is that of the American War of Independence, or the American Revolutionary War. This is slightly ironic as I am a Brit, and it seems we want to forget everything that ever happened over in the colonies to the point that no regiments were ever given honours for even major victories that occurred in the Revolutionary War.

Anyway, I have also grown a massive interest in historical wargames and their miniatures in particular (I don’t even think there would be anyone local interested in this kind of thing). I know the Perry’s from their Games Workshop stuff and after looking through their catalogue I was very excited. I decided to order up a fair amount of 1775–1783 British, and significantly Hesse-Cassel mercenaries (although technically Hessian soldiers and their officers were not actually mercenaries in business for themselves, but were regular troops in the service of the very small Germanic principality of Hesse-Cassel). At the moment I am going to be focussing on the British side of things solely but in the future I may expand to their Continental enemies, as you can’t have an American Revolution without some Americans to revolt.

While this project is not aimed to fit a certain battle in particular, my favourite setting is the New York and New Jersey campaign. The most significant battle of this of course is the Battle of Trenton, in which George Washington famously sailed his army across the icy Delaware on Christmas morning (1776) to surprise the Hessian encampment who were engaged in revelry at the time. It was a critical loss for the Hessians and boosted continental morale in a major way.

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So indeed, while this force is fairly generic it is themed slightly around this battle and this part of the campaign. For that reason I will include a few important regiments and contingents noted in this part of the campaign. This is also convenient as I am a fan of snowy bases.
My initial order contains a box of generic British Infantry and 6 British Dragoons belonging to the 16th Regiment. There is also 10 Hesse-Cassel Grenadiers with their lovely mitre caps as well as a 4 Pounder artillery piece crewed by Hessians.

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I am excited to get building and painting these boys, so I hope you stay tuned for next time where I will be going over uniforms and colour schemes!

 

[Viscount Vash]

Sweeet..

Always cool to see some Historicals, never see enough of them in my neck of the woods so I've not tried since my old Napoleonic opponent moved on.

Look forward to seeing the paint.



Hmm, now where did I put those minis I bought to use as Royal Navy in Pirate games...

 

[alasdair]

Thanks Vash!

I have had little time to work on these guys with exams and the like but I have done some assembly so far.

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The Dragoons are all on their horses and bases. These are maybe my favourite sculpts of the bunch. Very nice.

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I have also made a third of the line infantry. The back ranks are are at ease and the front rank are in firing stance. My only problem with this kit is the hats. They are attached to the sprue by the edge, and since it is so thin it is hard to chop off the little bit of plastic without taking a chunk out the brim.

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I have also put the hessian artillery crew on their base. Since I forgot to buy a 60mm long base I just combined a 45 with a 15 and strengthened it with a single infantry base. The 4 pounder is seperate at the moment.

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It would be best if I explained how these bases are gonna work now: To cover up the edges of the model platform lines and other bits such as the line on the cannon base, I am going to use milliput and add undulation and texture. I will then use standard basing sand and paint it.

I don't know if I explained that very well, but it leaves me with a problem. I am used to doing basing before priming so I can paint it along with the miniature. This is all well and good on the cavalry and the cannon as they are on singe bases and have space respectively (since I am gluing the cannon on afterwards) but on the infantry bases, where there are as many as 6 guys crammed on to a base, how do I go about this? I can't milliput and base with them glued to the base since then I would have extreme difficulty painting them. Do I risk milliputting, basing and painting after painting the guys?

I would love to hear your suggestions.

 

[Viscount Vash]

Forming up nicely Alasdair.

As to your basing Dilemma I had a similar one with Napoleonics years back, as well as the old metal Snotlings and Nurglings, the closest thing I came up with to a satisfactory solution was as follows.

I'll explain in full even the more obvious bits just for clarity.

Glue on how ever many you can whilst leaving gaps for the others that allow easy painting access. On a six wide by two deep I found center front and left and right rear was ok.

Then Milliput the base including the areas that the missing chaps would be on. Go make a brew, have a smoke whatever....

Wet (thoroughly) the metal bases of the 3 missing chaps then carefully press into the Milliput, squidge the Milliput as close to neat on the metal base edge as you dare then gently remove him again leaving a neat 'socket' for him to return to later. ( water still sticking, switch to oil but you will have to clean up after with some washing up detergent). If you are feeling really brave cutting or filing the metal bases into an 'undercut' makes it a lot easier \___/ .

Sand the 3 chaps and the base leaving the sockets clear of sand. Sand the metal bases of the 3 unstuck chaps too.

Now undercoat and paint. the individual 3 I normally Blu tack onto a paint pot to paint and the base of 3 onto a block of wood slightly bigger than the base so I don't paw the edge too much.

When all painted glue in the lose chaps (as yours are in different poses it's easy to keep track of who goes where, if it wasn't I'd suggest marking them at an earlier stage so you can keep track of it all), if you're lucky or just damn good there shouldn't be too much of a visible gap around the later additions and their sockets, if there is, a little PVA on a small brush and careful dabbing can be used to add a little more sand in those areas and they can be touched up with paint to your satisfaction.

 

[alasdair]

Hi guys
I'm not dead I promise! I have had very little time to workom the Brits lately but have made some progress.

I have started basing so I can prime and paint soon. The dragoons and the artillery were very straightforward. I just heaped on the green stuff, pushed it around a bit and made it look natural. Once this was dry I roughened the surface by stippling liquid green stuff and once that was dry, sand.

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The effect is exactly what I was going for. Should look great painted muddy with patches of snow.

I have also started the basing process for the British line infantry? Thanks to Vash for the help on this one. I have glued the from middle and back side troops on, added the green stuff then pressed the guys (after cutting an angle into the bottom of the bases) into it and forming. I have also added small bits of greenstuff which will overlap and make it a bit more natural. Should be great!

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I promise I will try and get some paint down by next post!