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.

British Legion Continued

I spent a few minutes last night working on my british legion miniatures. I just received my Peter Pig order from Bookhurst Hobbies. These added horse holders (2 mounted men and four horses without riders), officers (one with a Tarleton Helmet) and a pack of standards and buglers mounted. This really gave me two more standards and buglers than I actually need. These made it to be glued on painting sticks last night. I also finished painting the jackets and pants of my foot officers and buglers. I painted some boots and the helmet. Then I was done for the night.

I suspect that it will take a while to get these finished but I am very happy with the progress.

This week, I should received my order from Old Glory 15s. I ordered a British Legion Cavalry pack. I am uncertain how this will go. I am hoping that it will provide a full group of cavalry. They are not advertized as having command elements. I am hoping they will match up well with my Peter Pig miniatures cavalry. If it comes with command figures, I will have to order some additional Peter Pig packs top complete out the second group of cavalry.

Also from OG15s, I placed an order for Continentals in hunting shirts. This is a pack of 24 miniatures that includes command figures. I am hoping to get two groups of 8 out of this plus some big men. These will be used to model Colonel Samuel Elbert's Georgia Continentals for the Battle of Briar Creek.

In looking at the Battle of Briar Creek, I was wondering if this could be broken into 3 separate actions for Sharp Practice. Each side had three columns that faced off against one another. Elbert's Continentals and some Georgia Militia stood their ground in the center and were faced by the 71st Regt of Foot (Frasier's Highlanders). Elbert had North Carolina Militia to either flank. Some of the militia was steadier than others.

The scenario that I had just uploaded on the PayHip store for the House on Horseshoe Bend, the commander of the Rebel Militia there was one Colonel Philip Alston. He was one of the Regimental commanders at Briar Creek. His men broke and run very early in the battle. He was captured and later paroled. He would be captured again at the action at the House on Horseshoe Bend.

Anyway, this is getting me excited about Sharp Practice again.

Sharp Practice - Painting

I managed some work over the weekend. I managed to base coat all of my British Legion infantry, a group of militia rifle armed skirmishers and a militia artillery piece and crew. I also had three mounted figures that I undercoated that I have not figured out what I will do with. On Saturday, I had just a few minutes and started to paint the green jackets of a couple of the British Legion figures.

I also painted the horses of the mounted figures. Using the Army Painter speed paint on the horses is really working out for me. I like how the horses look and hate painting them much less. So much so, that I am looking forward to the Old Glory British Legion mounted figures that I have ordered.

I also managed to base coat a Caproni Ca.3 bomber and a another Italian aircraft. At least I am getting some progress here.

I also received my new hill material that I will use going forward. I purchased some exersize mats. There are four 6' x 4' mats. They come in 2' x 2' squares. My original ones were 1' x 1' squares. I should be able to mix and match them and have at least 3 large mats that can be cut up for different shapes. I am looking forward to using these.

There is some brand new resin that i need to try out as well and see if i can print the bases that I was working on. That is it for today.

Algernon - Over The Italian Front and More

Algernon

I spent some time on the scenarios for the Italian front. I think I have them the way I want them. Three separate sscenarios for historical actions all around the Italian bombing effort on February 18, 1916. The Italians are attempting to bomb a factory in what is now modern Croatia. Researching these proved a challenge as there is contradictory information on-line and the books I have are sparse with information. Overall, it shows my need to get more miniatures. I still need at least two more Caproni Ca.1/3s and another pair of Fokker A.IIIs. Before I do that, I want to paint my pair of Hansa-Brandenburg C.Is and the two Italian Bombers that I have. I also have two Neiuport 10s and a Neiuport 11 to paint. These are now back out on the painting table.

Sharp Practice

I also have my AWI back out on the painting table. While i look for a better movement tray and Basing set up, I decided that I will also finish off some troops. I am starting on my British forces first. Namely finishing a complete force of British Legion troops. I have 1 group of 8 British Legion cavaly that is painted and based. I do not have a movement tray done for these. I also own a large number of infantry/dismounted dragoons. This is four groups of 8 men. I have glued these to painting sticks so far. I also have two leaders and a trumpeter. But the force still lacked a mounted leader and the force lacked some figures. Last week, I bought the Peter Pig Standards and Buglers pack, the British Mounted Generals and the Dragoon Horse Holders. This will give me the mounted officer that I need. And it will give horse holders for when the cavalry dismounts. That should arrive next week sometime.

That still left the force light on cavalry when the cavalry was the main feature of that unit. With the War in the Americas sale from Old Glory 15s, I made a purchase of a pack of British Legion Cavalry today. Based on the description, this should give me another 8 figure cavalry group. While having a 3rd cavalry group would meet with the rule of 3s from Rich, I will make due with this. Once painted (my guess is 2030 or there about), I will have 3 groups of 8 infantry with two big men and two groups of cavalry with one big man and a single group of skirmishers. Also some horseholders, a musician and a standard bearer. That works well.

But the sale had me look to model Colonel Samuel Elbert's Georgia Continentals from the Battle of Briar Creek, March 3, 1779. From what I have found, these men wore hunting shirts. Old Glroy 15s had a pack with command. If I am right, this will give me two groups of 8 men and some big men. This will be perfect. I already have plenty of militia. Elbert's Continentals and McIntosh's Georgia Militia held on long after the surrounding North Carolina Militia had fled the field. Those that were not killed were captured.

Once I have these painted, I will be looking into getting some Highlanders to represent the 71st Rgt of Foot. That is a future item at this point. I do want some other Regulars for the British to serve as the 60th Regiment of Foot. I want to round off my existing miniatures first. Also on the future buy list, are some Contientals for the Southern Campaign. Specifically the Maryland Line troops.

I also am taking a look at my old Camden campaign that I wrote for the first edition of Sharp Practice and redoing it for SP2. As well as my Augusta campaign. Both would be fun to revisit. Anyway, good to stay busy.

Sharp Practice Rebasing Continued - Crown Forces

Instead of cleaning my resin vat and printing some samples to play with, I picked up some glue and fixed all of my British Legion Infantry to painting sticks. I have a single group of 8 cavalry painted so far but no big men for the cavalry. All of the figures are Peter Pig. this will provide 3 groups of 8 infantry and one group of 6 skirmishers (or an additional group of infantry). I have two figures for big men (both waving pistols) and two trumpeters. I also found a milita gun team and a group of militia riflemen that I need to paint up.

On the old TwoFatLardies site, Rich once talked about his imaginations force for the Seven Years War forces. This set of articles was an excellent primer on how he intended for forces to be set up a Dawns and Departures campaign. While I could always choose from the options in the Core rulebook, I really wanted to have something that fit the campaign between Augusta and Savannah from January to March 1779. I am having trouble finding it on Archive.org. The date range is April-May 2016. Rich talks about the rule of 3s. This includes infantry groups and their leaders. He notes that having 3 leaders is a little overboard but the reasoning is to give variety.

So for my British Legion force, I have with the miniatures above 3 groups of 8 Provincial Infantry and 1 group of 6 Provincial skirmishers. What is missing for the force? Well, in looking at my British Legion Cavalry, I have no leaders.

Appologies for the poor overhead picture. It was cut out from a larger image of the Provincials that I had painted up. I would love to have two more groups of British Legion Cavalry. That would be an ideal. But for the moment, I will just have them as a support option. What I need is a mounted Cavalary leader. There is a suitable figure in the British Generals pack of a fellow in a tarleton helmet. Or at least it looks that way to me. Next is a horse holder. Peter Pig just so happens to have a Dragoon Horse holder that should do. Brookhurst Hobbies in Califormia has a stock list of Peter Pig miniatures and into the cart they went.

This gives me a British Legion Force of 3 groups of 8 Infantry with 2 leaders, 1 group of 6 skirmishers, and 1 group of 8 cavalry with one leader. The bugler and standard bearer are probably not too useful other than something colorful to have around. Since the British Legion rarely fought alone, I would likely supplement them with either two groups of militia or two groups of Provincial Infantry.

For my Georgia Campaign, I am looking at the forces that were raised on the British Side. At the battle of Briar Creek, there were several regular Army units such as 16th Regiment of Foot (at least a light company), 60th Regiment of Foot and the 71st Regiment of Foot (Highlanders). Of the regular units, I really want to model the highlanders. Peter Pig does some highlanders in trousers which was more likely to have been seen in the Georgia winter. This is on the future list. As part of Prevost's army, elements of the 4th Battalion, Royal Artillery Regiment were present. I have a single gun and crew painted up for the Royal Artillery. Unfortunately, I only have four crew for it. I do have a fifth crewmen that is only undercoated.

For Provincials, there was elements of both the New York Volunteers and Delancey's Brigade. I have suitable miniatures for both of these. Especially since both were operating in South Carolina in 1780. Of painted miniatures, I have four groups of 8 infantry for the New York Volunteers. Three of these are Lancashire miniatures in marching pose. One is Old Glory (i think). For them, I have a color party, two officers, two drummers and a mounted officer. Some are based on small washers and others are based in groups of three. All of which I want to change. Delancey's Brigade has two groups of 8 infantry with a bugler and an officer.

For both of the provincial units, I have plenty of spare figures on painting sticks to make skirmishers and additional infantry groups. I also have some spare officer figures that I can use. Three of which I have on painting sticks already. I probably have enought to add three more groups to both units. So some skirmishers will likely happen at somepoint.

For Loyalist Militia, this is more interesting. The militia can go for either side in the conflict. I have six groups of 10 militia painted and based on pennies. I also have an additional two groups of 8 long service militia painted up. There are four big men miniatures as well. In addition, I have two drummers and a fifer for the militia. I also have a single unit of 8 mounted militia. On painting sticks, there is so much more. I have a group of 6 rifle armed skirmishers. I have a militia gun and gun crew and plenty more militia that are primed on painting sticks. Since the militia is shared between both Crown and Rebel forces, I never can have enough.

So a plan is forming. Now to see if I get get my printer going and make the movement trays and bases that I need.

Sharp Practice - 15mm Basing

I really like my 15mm AWI collection. I have a large number of painted militia figures and a decent sized force of Provincials. I started to make some Continentals but never completed them. what I have never been happy with was how they were based. I have most of them based on US pennies. I have some movement trays that I have purchased (possibly warbases?) that are nice, but the miniatures are spread out and don't have the look of formed ranks of infantry that I am looking for. Not knowing what I really want, I decided to jump on to Tinkercad and play around with the bases. THe US penny is somewhere around 18mm wide. Once the figure is based on the penny, the width may be different depending on how careful I am with the basing job. The movement trays match the group sizes of 8 or 10. I didn't have any skirmish trays. Nor have I figured out any suitable basing for cavalry.

So I started to play in tinkercad. looking at my miniatures, I think I can get a standing infantry figure on a base that is just a bit under 10mm x10mm. Then create a tray with holes that will fix a 10mm x 10mm base. I am going to attempt to print these bases off and see what it looks like. The Regular infantry trays are 4x2 and the Militia trays are 5x2. This gives each group its own tray, I also made an experimental skirmish tray assuming the skirmishers are using the same basing. Instead of a rectangle like the others, this is on an oval with the figures placed irregularly so they didn't look to be in formation. I continued on and made an artillery tray as well to keep the gunners on the same base as the gun as well.

Cavalry I still need to sort out. I tried something similar just bigger for the cavalry. These are 4x2 trays. I have no idea if i will like this experiment or not.

I just purchased some new resin in the hopes I can get the printer up and running again. I have no idea if I will be able to work on this and I need to clean my resin vat before anything can happen. Hopefully it will be back up and running in short order. If I can get that up and running, I am eyeing some Henry Turner figures to round out some holes in my collection. I am trying to get this sorted out to game Briar Creek (March 3rd 1779). Lets see how this goes.