British Grenadiers, American Revolutionary War

Gepost op door JurjenB in Internetblog

Certainly the Grenadiers sport one of the most iconic British uniforms of this era.

My unit is made up of one stand each from the  21st (dark blue facings), 24th (willow green), 47th (white), and 62nd (yellow/buff) regiments.
They probably left their bearskins behind, but that would be unacceptable in this man’s army. 
Similarly, they are carrying the King’s color of the21st regiment, because, as previously established, flags are a must!  🙂

The finial of the flagpole has since been trimmed and gilded!

Charge!
A little mood music: “The British Grenadiers”.

I first heard the tune in grade school in the US, when we taught to sing a number of patriotic songs, which is relatively out of fashion these days. It is currently known as “Free America”, and is set to the music of “The British Grenadier”

The text of this song is attributed to Dr. Joseph Warren (1741–75), a soldier and leader in the war for independence. It was Warren who, on April 18, 1775, sent Paul Revere and William Dawes to Lexington and Concord on their famous ride to warn local patriots that British troops were being sent against them. This song appears in different versions and may have appeared in print as early as February of 1770, which was some time before the movement to free America was popular. It appeared in the Massachusetts Spy on May 26, 1774, and in the Connecticut Courant on May 8, 1775. It was originally known in some colonies as “A New Massachusetts Liberty Song.” In the song, “America” is pronounced “Americay” to fit the riming scheme. I think we only ever learned a modified version of the first verse in school, as is often the case with such things:

That seat of Science, Athens,

And earth’s proud mistress, Rome;

Where now are all their glories?

We scarce can find a tomb.

Then guard your rights, Americans,

Nor stoop to lawless sway;

Oppose, oppose, oppose, oppose,

For North America.

We led fair Freedom hither,

And lo, the desert smiled!

A paradise of pleasure

Was opened in the wild!

Your harvest, bold Americans,

No power shall snatch away!

Huzza, huzza, huzza, huzza,

For free America.

Torn from a world of tyrants,

Beneath this western sky,

We formed a new dominion,

A land of liberty:

The world shall own we’re masters here;

Then hasten on the day:

Huzza, huzza, huzza, huzza,

For free America.

Proud Albion bowed to Caesar,

And numerous lords before;

To Picts, to Danes, to Normans,

And many masters more:

But we can boast, Americans,

We’ve never fallen a prey;

Huzza, huzza, huzza, huzza,

For free America.

God bless this maiden climate,

And through its vast domain

May hosts of heroes cluster,

Who scorn to wear a chain:

And blast the venal sycophant

That dares our rights betray;

Huzza, huzza, huzza, huzza,

For free America.

Lift up your hands, ye heroes,

And swear with proud disdain,

The wretch that would ensnare you,

Shall lay his snares in vain:

Should Europe empty all her force,

We’ll meet her in array,

And fight and shout, and shout and fight

For North America.

Some future day shall crown us,

The masters of the main,

Our fleets shall speak in thunder

To England, France, and Spain;

And the nations over the ocean spread

Shall tremble and obey

The sons, the sons, the sons, the sons

Of brave America.

Baden Army Kickstarter by Piano Wargames

Gepost op door JurjenB in Internetblog

Lucas Luber launched his Baden Napoleonic Army Kickstarter yesterday

As regular readers will know, I am a huge fan of his work; this Kickstarter reached all of its stretch goals within 8 hours! These are superbly sculpted and cast 28 mm figures. The price of the sets (tariffs excluded, ahem) has not changed over the past several years. They are available as STL files for digital printing as well. 

I have found the army of Baden the least well documented of the larger German minor states, but they saw plenty of action in 1809, in Spain, and in the Russian campaign.

There are limited manufacturers for Baden figures as well, Murawski being the main other option in 25/28 mm

Unfortunately, I already have a large (for Baden) army myself – 4 Line Infantry, 1 Jager, the Light Dragoons, artillery and command. Unfortunate because these figures are awesome, right?

Of course the superb painting by Stephen Huber shows them to the best possible advantage!

Although there was only the one battalion, this is such a cool unit!

As he usually does, Lucas has covered the entire army, including command and artillery; Limbers are the only thing he hasn’t done with his Kickstarters

Great selection of foot and mounted ADC’s!

More Baden goodness!

I especially love this famous unit, having done it with  the Murawski figures several years ago. 

Different pose options. 

Now these guys I want… may be enough tp break down and support this KS!

They arer most famous for there actions at the battle of the Berezina crossing in 1812, but evidently did see action in the Tyrol and Voralberg in 1809 as well. 

Yeah, I am feeling my resistance weakening here!

Two different crew sets

Lucas even did the Horse artillery. Another image on the Kickstarter shows amazing details on the canon barrel!

The Howitzer…

Like all the stretch goals, the casualties were already unlocked yesterday within hours of the KS opening.

Great skirmish gaming options!

Lucas gets great photos of his work too, doesn’t he?!

Now these fellows saw little action, but did fight in the Vorarlberg in 1809, so I don’t relly “need” them.
 

They look pretty awesome though. Hmm, I do have a strong collector streak!  🙂

Shots like this are just cruel, eh?

Another unit I don’t “need”, and which saw little action, but looks so impressive!

Yeah, definite eye candy!
As always, Lucas provides some freebies.. including free flags!

This fellow is free with pledges of 75 euros or more

Along with French General Kister at 150 euros.  Hmm, we’ll see if my resistance to this one can hold up for the next 15 days. Delivery is anticipated circa January 2026; Lucas has consistently delivered on time or early. What’s Lucas’ next project? The 1806 Saxon Army is on tap for 2026! That one I’ll go for hook, line, and sinker for sure, LOL!

I’ve seen examples of Lucas’ figures printed at anywhere from 13 mm to 90 mm, and the look fantastic in all of them!

21st “Royal North British Fusiliers” in Saratoga Uniforms

Gepost op door JurjenB in Internetblog

This venerable regiment was another key element of the British forces during the Saratoga campaign. 

As a “Royal” regiment, the regimental facings were dark blue. 

As for all “Royal” regiments, its drummers did not wear the usual “reversed colors”. 

These are Perry figures once again, with Adolfo Ramos flags

The flaps of the haversacks were often painted in the regimental facing color, and might bear a regimental device as well. 

They probably left their colors behind, but what self respecting wargamer would forgo the flags?  Certainly not I!

62nd Regiment of Foot

Gepost op door JurjenB in Internetblog

First raised in 1756, this regiment spent the vast majority of its time in North America, the Caribbean, and Ireland.

During the 7 Years War (French and Indian War in the British North American colonies, it fought at Louisburg and Quebec. 

4 companies were sent to Canada in April 1776, and it was a key part of the force invading upstate New York from Canada under General Johnny Burgoyne. 

It surrendered as a result of the Saratoga campaign, and the rank and file were imprisoned until 1782. Shortly thereafter it was named the Wiltshire regiment. 

The regiment fought in Spain and Portugal during the Napoleonic wars. Flag is by Adolfo Ramos. 

Its facings are described as yellowish buff, usually illustrated as pretty much yellow. I decided to forgo the buff accoutrements. The are Perry figures wearing the “Saratoga” uniforms. They probably left their colors behind, but my unit bears the regimental colors proudly!  The Union lacks the red saltire cross of St. Patrick, which was added upon the incorp[oration of Ireland in 1801. 

A Revolutionary Project!

Gepost op door JurjenB in Internetblog
Battle of Freemans Farm near Saratoga
Back at the beginning of this year I mused about future projects, having two different ideas in mine. One was Dark Ages: The Last Kingdom, 1066 and all that – Normans, Saxons, and Vikings, etc. The other was the American War of Independence. Obviously, the Revolution won out. There were a number of factors contributing to that, but with the 250th Anniversary of the Revolution, starting this year, it won out. Destiny is all!  🙂
Having decided that, the next question was the organization of the units. I wanted to keep the units small (the actual units in the AWI *were* small anyway), to keep the cost, painting time, and storage space needed for the project manageable (famous last words, right?). I settled on 12 figures for most infantry units, 6 figures for the very little cavalry that fought in the war, and 1 gun with crew for the Artillery units. 2″ square bases will be used for most (already obtained from Litko).  I decided to shoot for about 18 Infantry units, 3-4 Cavalry units, and 4 Artillery units a side – with command and sundry, on the order of about 300 figures a side. I also decided that the focus would be on the war in New England, and the mid Atlantic, at least initially, especially the Saratoga Campaign of 1777. Reference materials began being delivered to my door on a regular basis, as well as cataloguing available online resources. 
The figure scale would be 25/28 mm; that was a given from the start. Then there was the matter of which manufacturer(s) to use. The main candidates were the extensive range by Perry, Brigade games, and Fife & Drum, all of which seemed like they would be reasonably compatible. I considered Old Glory as well, but I wasn’t sure they had an AWI range, and for once I wouldn’t be fielding enormous armies. The Old Glory AWI is rather obscure in its placement in their on line catalogue (I just found them last month, and are not well illustrated. Alas, Old Glory has stopped attending Historicon, so an in person. The Fife and Drum figures look great, but their AWI range is small. Complicating this was the whole Tariff nonsense (don’t get me started!). I wound up getting a test order from Perry  in May (see the Q2 expense report earlier this month), and a selection of figures from Brigade Games when I was at Historicon in July. That was quickly followed by the decision that I would use Perry for all or most of the British infantry (and Hessians and Indians), plus the cavalry and Artillery, whilst Brigade Games would be used for most of the American infantry. Orders went out in August just under the wire for the tariff nightmare to both manufacturers, and also Adolfo Ramos for the flags. Whew!
How about rules? My preferred Field of Battle rules will work just fine for this era, with some nice period wrinkles; Jared and I played the Battle of White Plains with FoB2 (very near the site of the actual battle) ? 10 years ago.  The planned organization would work perfectly for those rules, too. I enjoyed Chris Parker’s “Big Battle” Lion Rampant battle at HAVOC, and doing much the same thing with Rebels and Patriots should work with this organization, too. I also have Eric Burgess’ Guns of Liberty, and there is also Live Free or Die from the little Wars TV guys, among others.  Plenty of viable choices!
The first few units are preparing to march off the painting table shortly. The tea has been dumped in Boston harbor, and chapters of the Sons of Liberty are springing up all over the 13 colonies!