The 28th of Foot and the big bangers

The 28th was raised for the first time 1694,  arrived too late for Blenheim, in the Seven Years War it fought at Louisburg and Quebec were Mr. Wolfe choose to place himself next to this very regiment – hmm, but to be fair their fame was still far ahead to come, especially in the Napoleonic Wars at the Battle of Alexandria. In the AWI it would see the first New York campaign including White Plains.

I painted the Command for the 28th and some big guns (you always need some, in case a siege comes along, they can be handy). The other troopers are one of my oldest tin mans from the 15th (no specific rationale behind it other than yellow).

The Flags again are from Flags of War the miniatures are from Foundry (Perry, I assume) and the bases from Warbases.

Haslets chickens

The 1st Delaware Regiment was on my list since I bought the Digby Smith‘s/Kevin Kiley‘s "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Uniforms of the American War of Independence" years ago.

For the "Blue Hen‘s Chickens", I opted for grey trousers instead of the buckskin breeches, primarily just out of aesthetically reasons, really, but also because since Perry‘s got the American Light Infantry out, they came without breeches. I saw it then as an opportunity to 'dremel' myself a nice unit of the "Delaware Blues". So I got rid of the 'sun screens' of the caps and 'sharpened' the tops a bit, fully aware that the original caps were higher and more pointy, but sufficient for my purposes. I still need to order a couple of them, as they formed a large battalion.

The Haslet‘s present a formidable opportunity to give the American player a unit that is a bit better than their normal continental diet. They hold out long enough at Long Island, won some skirmishes before White Plains, hold out long enough to deal out gallantly to the British, that Washington could 'sneak' away. Again at Princeton just shortly after Mr. Haslet failed to dodge the bullet, they rallied the line and saved the day.

(Featuring the (tuned) American Light Infantry models of Perry Miniatures and an extra special request "William Dansey flag" courtesy of the marvelous Flags of War, all on sturdy footing from Warbases.)  Strangely the blue is a bit darker in the original, than in my overexposed pics apparently, must be the radiant Scottish sky. 

Camden and back again!

I needed the fix, it has been so long since the last AWI battle, I have to confess. So I just dreamed up a camden scenario (flat grass thats it), or the lack of it and off we go. Paul took the Brits and I got the Rebels. I also had a couple of new units (newly painted) hidden in the suitcase.

We tried different sizes of units for example, American line infantry 24 = Large (+2 H2H,+1 Sh, Sta 4), 20 Norm, 16 = Understrength (-1H2H,+-0 Sh, Sta 3), 12 Small (-2H2H,-1 Sh, Sta 2)

8 or less Tiny (H2H1, Sh 1, Sta 1)

which worked just fine…

my American centre attacks (Best idea ever!!)

the Brigadier ushers Militia forward

The red line cannot be thin enough, for my taste

The Grenadiers and the Northumbrian Fusiliers

The Redcoats advance

Smallwoods Line gets hammered by the LI of the Crown 

after  a blunder(!!) my militia attacked the fusiliers, yeah!

.. and survives a round, remarkable!

the attack of my galloper gun gets shot down disgracefully

The Fusiliers anihilated the rest of my centre, I think it was 1:5 units in favour of the crown...

The 3rd New York Regiment

Yeehaaww! Another Rebel unit finished, the 3rd NY Regt. 1776, (Sorry Jack)!

I painted the supposedly black hat tape white to bring out more the features and decided for the famous grey uniforms (at White Plains the probably had a mix of blue or brown with green facings). I mixed Perry miniatures with Foundry's, bayonets and no bayonets minis to give them still a bit of a scrambled look. Flag is by GMB.

The 3rd did took part in Canada 1775 (probably in their greys), then the enlistments were ending. Second try (probably in brown/green) at February 1776 for the Continentals taking part at White Plains as part of McDougal‘s Brigade. Third time it was raised (maybe blue/green??) to go with Pete Gansevoort to Fort Stanwix were they stayed until November 1778. After that they took part in the rather punitive Sullivan Expedition…

Grenadier Regiment von Rall

I was on holiday, visiting friends for a week, but armed with paints and minis, so I finished the (in-)famous Grenadier Regiment von Rall.

Von Rall had considerable battle experience from previous engagements and European wars, but still got caught in his socks (playing cards and drinking desert wine, like we all do) by Washington at Trenton. He didn‘t read the letter/warning, the rebels would join in for a late visit, from a loyalist and regretted this on his death-bed, you know the story…

That he was turned into some sort of an anti-hero post hum (probably due to the need to distance oneself from disaster by some British officers) makes him just the more interesting for me. But never the less, as  I need the chap and his "Long Fellows" for the White Plains. The minis are purchased from the inevitable Perrys Miniatures and the flags are from the respectable Flags of War from Glasgow.

Enjoy!

5th Fusiliers

Yeahss! And another piece of red. the 5th Northumbrian Fusiliers in their Sunday gown. 
I just maltreated some of the Perry Grenadiers and "dremeled" the wings and grenades off … still  - bearcaps are a bit too high, but that‘s for the pedestrians … :)

Smallwoods Regiment

O joy, I'm painting AWI again! I got a couple of regiments on my list: The Blue Hens Chickens (Haslet‘s Delawares), the beautiful New York 3rd regiment and of course ...

...my interpretation of Smallwood‘s Marylanders, which I finished yesterday!!

Figures are from Perry and the deluxe flag is from GMB Designs, which do a very good service and I should mention them more often.

Copied history blurp:

" ...The first company to be organized was recruited in Baltimore, in December, 1774, and was known as the Baltimore Independent Cadets, under Captain Mordecai Gist. They were dressed and equipped as shown in the drawing. This uniform of red faced with buff was also adopted by the other companies formed in Baltimore. The Annapolis companies were not all uniformed as given above, but when the state called for troops, and these companies from both Baltimore and Annapolis were formed into the Maryland regiment under Colonel William Smallwood, the dress adopted for both officers and men was the well known hunting frock of the period, and they were not all required to be of the same color. 

It was in these hunting frocks that they joined the Army at New York in 1776. There is no question but that some of the officers had their scarlet uniforms with them in the campaign of 1776, but it is very doubtful if they were worn in the field..."