Henry Turner Miniatures

I went ahead and purchased some models from Henry Turner on My Mini Factory. I picked up the Continetal Starter Army, the casualty pack and the Irregular Cavalry. the Cavalry pack is a bargain. There are four different poses of a number of different troop types including British Legion. He also has dead horses, hats and discarded rifles in the pack. These all could be interesting to add to various scenic bits for the table. Possibly something to decorate my rather bland shock marker dials.

I have made a few tests to try on my replacement printer. I will hope that things work well. I have a selection of British Legion casualties for my first print. We will see how it goes.

With my purchase, I will have plenty of options to round out my Mounted Militia as well. The pack comes with 45 different variations. There are poses for trotting, standing and galloping horses, each with multiple poses of riders. The Continental Dragoon pack has a similar number of poses. The artillery pack come with a 6 pounder gun. One without a base and one with. The crew has 11 different crew members including a fellow who could be a battery commander with a telescope. Of all of the artillery packs I have seen, this is the only one that has a pose with a fellow covering his ears. To me, this seems like the only sensible person in the crew.

For the Continental Infantry, there are a number of really nice options. Several different poses for each: firing, at the ready, loading, marching. Enough to make unique looking forces that look like they are moving in unison without being robots. Using the rule of threes, you can easily have one group of 8 marching, another at the ready and a third firing and loading. The foot command gives you figures for NCOs and officers. There is plenty of like here.

The starter army comes with mounted officers as well. There are multiple poses here as well. I will likely pick up the British Regulars as well. But I want to wait until I at least finish off my British Legion that I have on painting sticks now. I am interested in how these print out and if the bases will work with my new basing system that I have worked on. These may send me back to the drawing board. I sure hope not.

To keep my mind on the British Legion, I am reading an article on the Battle of Biggin Bridge - April 14, 1780. Given that the opposing forces were elements of the Continental Dragoons, that may be my next force to paint up.

3D Printing.... resumes?

Well, I have heard from Phrozen's customer support. The LCD on my Sonic Mini 4k is dead. The Sonic Mini 4k is also discontinued with no more parts available. So I have a paperweight. While this is bad news, I had a friend who has the same printer. He was looking to upgrade to a much larger printer. So he sold me his and all of his accessories. I now have a replacement. The hope is I can get it home and try it out this week. With the printer, he has included all of his accessories for the printer. Among them.... a replacement LCD! I am really looking forward to getting this up and running.

I am trying to focus on a single project for the moment. I think this will likely be things related to my British Legion AWI project. Once I get my current minis painted up for the British Legion, I will be looking into Henry Turner's miniatures to supplement out anything I am still lacking. What he does not currently offer are British Highlanders in trousers. That may be possible with the blender files he has but I lack the software to use them. What I was excited to see was his militia cavalry. I may get these sooner rather than later. The woodland Indian command is also interesting. I think it would be interesting to have some leaders to representy the Catawba (Rebel Allies) and use my existing ones to represent the Creek and Cherokee (British Allies). But first we need to see how they match up with my existing miniatures.

I am trying to work my way through Tarleton's account of the months leading up to the fall of Charleston in May of 1780. The scanned copy is not easy to read and he seems to brush over some details of actions the legion was part of but he was not directly involved in. Likely, I will need to rely on other sources for that. Most of the books I have cover the period after the fall of Charleston. I am keen to look at what the Legion was doing before.

Early Timeline

What I have seen is that the British Legion didn't fare well in the transfer from the Northern Theater to the Southern. A gale had sunk their horse transports. The British had sent 90 transports from New York to Savannah to mount operations against Charleston. Due to severe weather, the fleet was scattered. One ship transporting Hessians ended up dismasted and made landfall in England! Several ships were lost, including a vessel carrying the heavy siege artillery, Russian Merchant. Encyclopedia.com's entry for this vessel lists it at a 243 ton merchant vessel. Not only were there seige artillery, but some 4,000 muskets for arming Georgia Loyalists. This limited effective operations against fortified outposts occupied by the rebels.

On January 24th, 1780, some transports were captured by the Rebels. Aboard the transports were forty light Dragoons of the British Legion and and Bucks County Light Dragoons as well as seven or eight officers (O'Kelly, Vol 2, pg 23). There was the tack for forty horses. Aboard were also two horses. Given the lack of horses that the British Legion had, the loss of the two horses were probably felt more than the tack that was thrown overboard.

It seems that the Legion cavalry, as it was, landed near Beaufort, SC. While the Infantry had reached Savannah, GA. The two would reunite by Mid March.

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O'Kelley, Patrick. 2004. Nothing But Blood and Slaughter: The revolutionary War in the Carolinas. Volume 2. Blue House Tavern Press.

British Legion Reinforcements

I ordered two figures from Stone Mountain Miniatures to complete out the British Legion group that I bought from Old Glory 15s. The miniatures themselves are really nice. The riders are cast onto the horses. I am of two minds on this. Separate horse and rider allows you to paint them separately and I think I can do a better job that way with my painting. However, with it one piece, there is no gaps between the rider and the horse that can look strange if they don't fit correctly.

This gives me two groups of British Legion Cavalry with command elements and several big men. I will have three groups of British Legion infantry and a group of British Legion Skirmishers. I also have a light gun with British Regular artillerists for suppport. Once this force is painted, I will be looking at doing some games set in South Carolina following the British Legion in the back country. I have a copy of Tarelton's account of the Revolution somewhere. The British Legion often operated with detached groups that raided across the back country. Such as when Christian Huck's groups raided the back country until they were caught.

Hopefully, I will have a chance to paint this week. Last week was tied up with Thanksgiving festivities and a honey-do list.

Singling Revisited

My Singling book went on sale today at Wargame Vault. I am now 7 sales away from having sold 50 copies of the book. The book has not performed as well as I would have throught it would. Still, I am happy with it and it was fun to work on and playtest. I want to thank everyone who purchased a copy and those who have reviewed it. It is much appreciated. It is possible, that by days end, it may reach Copper level. I am very pleased with this.

https://www.wargamevault.com/en/product/540383/battle-for-singling-dec-6-1944

Reinforcements for the British Legion

My order from Old Gory 15s arrived. I am pleased with the miniatures with only some minor gripes. The pack of Continentals came with two miniatures with bad bayonetts. The command section is one flag bearer, one officer and one drimmer. I will get two full groups of infantry and five other troopers. With the two bad bayonetts, that leaves me with three extra figures. Still it will be the core of a force. If I can find similar miniatures from Peter Pig, I can make a group with those to round out the force.

The cavalry was much better. I will not get a full group from the pack. There are 6 troopers, an oficer and a bugler. I will need two more figures to round out the unit. These have already made their way to painting sticks.

Brookhurst Hobbies came through again and delivered my Dismounted Dragoon Command. These match well with the Legion foot command. There are three figures that can be used as big men. They strike me more as NCOs rather than officers. Then there are three buglers and two standard bearers. These are less useful. I will likely only paint up one of each of those.

Lastly, i had an eBay purchase that was rather disapointing. I found some mounted militia. There were five in the bag. I thought this would be a good start on a second group of mounted militia. But they came with one broken off its base and two more with broken rear legs. Leaving only two good figures of five. I am not sure I have the skill to fix these.

I based the two foot buglers and the two officers for the British Legion Infantry. The pictures were pretty bad so I am not including them. I am currently eyeing some other eBay auctions that may help me fill out the second group of my British Legion Cavalry. But I am holding off for now.

British Legion and base experiments

I think the 11mm square bases are working. The 15mm miniatures fit on the bases and fit well.

The infantry poses work. The concern was, will they fit in the Movement tray and if not, what do i need to change? Well, I tried them and they fit.... so far.

Depending on the pose, you may have to shift some figures to the front or back row depending on how agressively they are leaning forward. I really like the look of these miniatures in this more compact base. If you compare it with the larger US Penny bases I had been using, the miniatures have the optical illusion of being much larger. The miniatures on the penny bases below are Old Glory 15s. They are close to the same size as the Peter Pig British Legion troops.

I think I will stick with the 11mm bases for infantry going forward. Getting them printed is very cheap. Probably not as cheap as a US penny was. I am will on my way with the 2nd group of British Legion Infantry having made a bit of progress last night.

I still have a bunch to go.

Including some additional horse holders and officers.

I have yet to work on a movement tray for the British Legion Cavalry. They are still all individually based at this time. But that is for future me to worry about. I will press on and try to finish these miniatures off before the next Ohh Shiny moment strikes.

Sharp Practice - AWI British Legion

Weekend summary

I just got in my version 2 of my 3d printed bases for AWI Sharp Practice. I received 2 movement trays and about 20+ bases. I will be using this to base my British Legion infantry/Dismounted British Legion Cavalry. I messed about with these in Tinkercad. The first version was a 9.5mm square base. These proved to be too small for the miniatures. I enlarged this to 11mm square. If the miniatures fit, the next step will be getting the movement tray correct. I have a milimeter gutter between each space. This may put the miniatures too close. Still, it will give a better close order look than the existing US penny basing (19.05mm diameter base).

I think I will still base the Big Men on US pennies to set them appart from their men. The cavalry basing is still not sorted. I have some bases on the existing British Legion Cavalry group. I may make a movement tray based on the existing base.

Tuesday 11/4

The first group is now mounted on the bases that I had printed. They fit and I am very happy about that. The bases are thin at just a single milimeter in height. The trays are 2mm deep and have holes that are 1.5mm deep. That leaves room to work with. Since the glue was still drying, I have not put them into the movement trays yet. I will still need to base the Big Men for this. The second group has started to receive some paint and is going well. The pants and jackets are done. The boots, belts and hats are next. For the crest of the helmets, it is supposed to be black. What I have done is used a dark gray speed paint on it to make them stand out a bit. Probably not correct but it looks good so far.I am thinking I have about 3 more hours of work to complete out the second group.

Wedneday 11/5

Besides the one in progress, I have two other infantry groups left. In addition, I have 4 horses and two horse holders that I undercoated last night. One of the groups will be used as skirmishers. I am trying to decide what a skirmish movement tray should look like for them. I will paint the group of 8, knowing I will likely not use two of them with the skirmish group. I also undercoated the mounted officer for the force. I have a standard bearer and a bugler for the force as well. I am trying to decide if the bugler and standard bearer should be part of the group of 8 cavalary or be separate figures. It will really depend on the miniatures I am waiting for from Old Glory 15s. The pack is labeled as 8 cavalry but it does not state if there is command elements or not. If there is command elements, I will end up using a standard bearer or a bugler to fill out the group. We will have to see. I am guessing that both the OG15 and Brookhurst orders will come over the weekend.

Planning

Once the British Legion is complete, I have 2 other forces to sort out. The priority will be my militia. Currently, I have a large swarm of militia troops painted up but on various basings. None of which I like. If the British Legion project goes well, and I like that basing, I will duplicate it here. The goal of the Militia is to have 9 groups of 10 militia. Two groups of 6 militia skirmishers and two groups of 8 Mounted Militia. I currently have one group of mounted militia. I have been looking at expanding that. While the rules for the Mounted Militia do not have them needing horse holders, I thought that the Scouts Pack from Peter Pig could work well as horse holders. For mounted leaders, I have a miniature of Francis Marion as he appeared in Hillsboro, NC when he presented himself to the Continentals following the fall of Charleston. He wore his SC Continental cap and had a red coat. He made quite the impression. I would like another mounted Big Man for the Mounted Militia. For skirmishers, I bought some skirmishing militia with rifles that never made it past getting a base coat. Those will need to be painted.

The second force is some Continentals. My plan is to base them off of the Georgia Continentals under Colonel Samuel Elbert. These would be in hunting shirts. I cannot find any reference to what the regimental colors would have looked like thus far. I will likely do some variant of a liberty flag for them. I purchased a pack from Old Glory 15s that I plan on using for them. The pack should give me two groups of 8 and some command elements. Once they are painted, I will look and see if there are any additions I want to add to these men. Keeping them at just 2 groups works as they would be working in conjunction with militia.

Next, I want to revisit my Provincial troops. I have plenty more on painting sticks in addition to the ones that are painted. Again, basing is the issue. I have one unit that is based in groups of three and a few individuals. Then another based on small washers. The ones on washers look better but I don't have any movement trays for them. The goal is to make them consistent. Their upgrade will be dependent on the British Legion project.

I will try to get some pictures tonight so the next post will be less boring.

Algernon Pulls it Off - Over the Isonzo & More

Algernon

I finished with the three scenarios I was working on for February 18, 1916. These are interesting battles that are completely unfair to the Italians as they have no fighter escorts. Yet, despite being outnumbered, the Italian held their own. I decided to send these to TFL for the Christmas Special. We will see if it makes the cut. So far I have not heard back from them.

Sharp Practice

Managed to get some painting done. I have a full group of 8 British Legion Infantry done on a painting stick. That with the two buglers and two officers. I have 3 more painting sticks full of the infantry. I am going to continue to work my way through them. Once they are done, I will work on the Horse Holders, and the mounted officer that I bought (Peter Pig through Brookhurst). I am still waiting on order from Old Glory 15s.

I am debating getting some Highlanders from Peter Pig. There is really only one pack of infantry, advancing. I'd like some variation. I have been looking at the Eureka Miniatures line of AWI figures. My concern is that they would be significantly larger than the existing miniatures that I have.

Cold War

Over the weekend, I had a great conversation with a vet from Operation Golden Pheasant (March 1988). I started thinkings about how to apply this to a Cold War game. I had an idea for something like a pint sized campaign with a Sandinista patrol moving across the Rio Coco into San Andrés de Bocay. The Sandinistas begin fighting against Contra rebels and possibly some Honduran troops before US troops arrive and engage to push them back across the river. I am looking at the different militias from the Peter Pig ranges. This could be interesting. I am leaving this as a possibility as i read more up on the operation.

I have US troops and some Soviets that I can use as Cuban advisors or more regular Sandinistas. I would need some more irregular units to field as Contras and Sandinistas. Anyway, it is just a thought. I will probably stick to Europe for my Cold War efforts. But it could make for an interesting game having Sandinistas dropped off by Mi-8 helicopters to head in to attack a Contra base.

Thirty Years War

I keep looking at the thirty years war. I want to game this in a skirmish game. I have looked at the Sharp Practice variants for this but am still not certain if this is what I want. I'd like to have some pike and Shot as well as dragoons. I have some figures but have not painted anything yet.

Sharp Practice - AWI Painting

Managed to paint the two officers and two buglers for the British Legion Infantry. It took quite a bit of time to get these done. However, I am pretty happy with the job so far. I will give these an army painter wash and see how they look afterwards. This will determine how I approach the rest of the infantry. I will work in batches of 8 figures so that when one strip is done, I will have completed a group for Sharp Practice.

I am not sure if the green I am using for the jackets will match the cavalry that I already painted. I am happy with the progress so far. After taking the picture of the two officers and buglers, I realized that I am missing one of the buckles for the officer. At least that is an easy fix.

Also on that painting stick was an officer in a tricorn. I have not figured out what he will be yet. As such, his coat remains unpainted. I started on my first group of British Legion Infantry. I figure these have another hours worth of work left before they are in a similar state. The infantry is going faster than the officer and buglers were. I have hope that I can finish these troops off by the end of November.

My mounted officer for the British Legion still needs a base coat. As do the horse holders and horses. I am still waiting on my order from Old Glory 15s. I am keeping my fingers crossed that those do not have command elements to them.

Singling Scenario Release Update

The release has been going well on the Singling scenario book so far. The book is half way to copper status on WargameVault.

For whatever reason, I never posted the cover. I came up with two of them. The one above is the one I went with. The one below is the initial cover that i took from a historical photo.

As before, they are available on either PayHip at $5 and at WargameVault for $6. On the PayHip site, is also some STL files for some of the building parts in 1/100 scale. Those are pay what you want.

Thanks again, everyone for your support.