I think I got my painting mojo back!
Finished up my wagons and a bunch of Indians and militia for King Philips War this week. Its been fun and I have enjoyed it very much. I still need to base the wagons but the Indians and Pilgrims look fine.
Now its time to put painting aside as Friday is game night for the club. I am putting on a Crimean War Russian vs British and French battle around capturing a cross road. More on this and the other game later.
Slowly getting my Wampanoag Indians painted. These are from Brigade Games and are very nice figures. But, used to painting multiple same uniforms its taking me a bit to paint these individualistic warriors. But now I have a little over half of the fifteen figures done I am starting to get the feeling of how to do them.
Bases for both these figures and the militia are in order so I will be a basing fool come the end of the month. Simple round bases for these fine fellows.
And here is the portrait figure of King Philips himself. Of course there is no picture of him from real life and most illustration of him are artist imagining. The most common illustration if him was done by Paul Revere in 1772. It appears to have been "borrowed" from an earlier portrait if some Mohawks done by another artist. Things like this did not bother Revere who freely borrowed from many people. But that could be another post some day.
Slowly putting together the wagons I bought. Little bit if a learning curve as there are no instructions and you should try fitting the pieces before gluing. But I think I figured it out. Once in did that it was fun assembling them and painting this one. I think I have to work on my shading if the canvas top so any advice would be appreciated.
I painted this one natural wood, although in the future I may paint them in a more military blue or reddish brown. I figure since wagons were hired locally not all would be the same color.
I also have to cut out a base for the entire thing. This was a piece of wood I had laying around but I think its a tad too big. I think by the end of the month I will be doing a massive basing effort with my pilgrim militia, Wampanoag Indians and wheeled transports.
Started on my first batch of militia from Warrior miniatures. These are very nice figures with lots of character and easy to paint. Because they are militia and must look non uniformed I will be working in batches of five at a time. Counting the figures I have I should be able to field three "companies" of fifteen figures each for a game when done.
I started these five fellows this morning. More to follow! They are a joy to paint and will look good on my table. My only complaint is they side tracked painting my Wampanoag warriors who are most displeased at being put in a back burner. Also in the background is the first of the six wagons I have been working on which will be adding soon. These should work for not only King Philips war but also Rev War and War of 1812.
If you are curious how these fit in with Brigade Miniature figures (Hello Ross!) the figure on the right is a Brigade miniatures and on the left Warfare miniature figure. Very different sculpting styles but they could work together on a table top.
I have mentioned before I am on the Fife and Drum Miniatures forum. This covers the wars of the 18th century and topics include history, miniatures, toy soldiers and wargaming. It is a small but enthusiastic group who are well read, knowledgeable and polite. The other day one member Chase (onefootbrush) did an outstanding review of the new Osprey Book by Robbie MacNiven, "Battle Tactics of the American Revolution."
I have curtailed my book buying as of late; but after reading his review I had to get this one. Chase's review is what a book review should be and too often are not. I was very happy he allowed me to post his review here. Thank you Chase!
"The book divides into sections based on the armies; British (with Loyalists and Native Allies), Continental (with militias and state troops), German States (sub-divided between Hesse-Cassel and the other German states), and the French Army.
The British section will be familiar to those who have read Matthew Spring's excellent With Zeal and Bayonets. Like Spring, MacNiven documents that the British army adapted into fighting in the North American theater. Famously, at the micro-tactical level the British army adopted two ranks with more spacing between each file of soldier (open order, extended order) and at the macro-tactical level the British army largely did away with having multiple lines and a reserve, usually have a small reserve if any at all and deploying their troops into a single line to maximize frontage. MacNiven emphasizes that extended frontage was very important to the often outnumbered British army but became a liability as the American rebels became more disciplined and mastered use of the bayonet (notably Cowpens). MacNiven also argues that it is an oversimplification to think of the British army as disdaining musketry and firepower for emphasis on the bayonet or to overstate that Americans focused on accuracy more than their British counterparts.
His section on Native American tactics was particularly informative to me. I was aware of the emphasis on fire and maneuver and little-war skirmishing that dominated Native tactics. However, MacNiven illustrates that Natives fighting in larger engagements preferred a "half-moon" shaped formation. This reminds me of the "Buffalo horns" favored by the Zulu impi, in that the center of the half-moon would engage and fix the enemy while the left and right wings attempted to envelop the enemy flanks. MacNiven also comments that Native commanders avoided completely encircling enemies if they could avoid it, as desperately trapped enemies could inflict heavy casualties that Native commanders attempted to avoid.
Much as in British section might reflect the work of Matthew Spring, the section covering the Continental Army is reminiscent of the work of Robert K. Wright in his book The Continental Army. (For clarification, MacNiven cites both works). MacNiven goes a step further than Wright by addressing the question of whether Patriot troops adopted open order. MacNiven argues that while American forces could and did practice open order, the Continentals in particular displayed a preference for close order formations. He reasons that the Americans, usually outnumbering their British and Loyalist opponents, didn't need the extended frontage. Additionally, Continentals were usually on the defensive and were not as much of a risk of being disrupted by using close order formations in wooded or uneven terrain. There is of course the influence of Stueben's regulations (promoting close order) as well. He also mentions Lt. Col. Mercer's criticism of this reliance on "German" close order tactics with General Wayne's brigade at Green Springs.
Organizationally, MacNiven argues that the Continental Army with permanent brigades and divisions were superior to the ad-hoc tactical brigades that the British used. I'm not sure how convincing of an argument that is, because there were some examples of almost permanent brigade structures used by the British (Webster's brigade of the 23rd and 33rd Regiments in the South comes to mind) and that brigade and division composition did change in the Continental Army. For example, for most of the war, a Continental division was two brigades. However, during the Monmouth campaign, this was changed to three brigades before reverting the following year. Additionally, Washington at Monmouth and in his battle plans for 1779 and later attempted to adopt a European-style of order of battle with multiple lines and wings rather than using the divisions as tactical units, though Washington did end up reverting to division as a combat unit by the time of Yorktown.
In his section on Patriot militia, the author describes that open order and skirmishing of the militia proved useful tactically even if their performances in linear battles were poor (this praise of militia is no doubt to trigger a certain ad nauseam discussion in a certain corner of the internet). He also talks about the legacy of Bunker Hill for both the American Patriots and the Crown troops, with the American attempting to repeat the performance of getting frontally assaulted in favorable positions while the British attempting to maneuver to avoid having to assault frontally fixed positions. Generally the British Army trended towards adopting its formations to the American theater and strategic situation (doing away with multiple lines and reserves), while the Continentals were trending the opposite, emphasizing close order and multiple lines, as they attempted to become a legitimate and respected European-style army.
The remainder of the book shifted to the European allies, the Germans and the French.
The German section breaks down into two competing schools of thought about the tactics of the American situation (and Jaegars). The first is Hesse-Cassel, stubbornly keeping close order and refusing to modify it marching pace, and as a result often being left behind by faster British troops. Conversely, Brunswick conforming to British open order and methods. MacNiven isn't entirely dismissive of Hesse-Cassel's conservativism, pointing out that Hessian commanders felt that with jaegars that the line troops didn't need to adopt open order. Additionally, the musketry of close order troop was thought to be heavier and more effective than open order troops, with MacNiven arguing that the Regiment von Trumbach's close order volley proved decisive in breaking Patriot troops at Savannah at 1778 as compared to the volleys of open order British troops. Additionally, he points out that German Grenadiers were capable of skirmishing in open order in pair with the Jaegar. This they did at Flatbush Pass during the Battle of Long Island.
The section of the French breaks down into theoretical arguments of a French establishment that was reeling from the loss of the Seven Years War. For infantry tactics, advocates of ordre profond (deep assault columns) clashed with advocates of ordre mince (thinner lines), with Rochambeau being a notable member of the latter school. A third order, ordre mixte (mix of troops in column and line) was proposed but still largely theoretical. Rochambeau demonstrated the superiority of ordre mince over ordre profond during a training exercise but was never able to use line tactics in open battle against British troops (using assault columns at Yorktown). MacNiven then illustrates that French troops largely used ordre profond assaults against fortified British positions to mixed results (defeats at Savannah and La Vigie and victories at Grenada and Yorktown). The second argument was largely in French artillery with the school of Gribeauval reforming and overhauling the older system of Valliere.
Spanish troops and their tactics are missing, but I'd imagine they would largely fall into the siege category like the French with Galvez's campaigns against British garrisons in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida and the Siege of Gibraltar.
Overall MacNiven's text provides a compact and succinct overview of the armies and their tactics and I would recommend it as a generalist work. The book is illustrated with tactical maps by Adam Hook which provide a bird eye's view of troops in formation of the battlefield and serve illustrative purposes. To that end the following plates are included:
A. The 33rd Regiment of Foot at Camden. Insets show the men of the 33rd Regiment (in campaign uniform attire) in open order as well as the colour reserve of the 33rd.
B. British Deployment at Waxhaws. Shows the tactical formation adopted by Tarleton during his rapid advance. Inset shows a British Legion infantryman riding double with a dragoon of the 17th Light Dragoons.
C. Ambush at Wyoming. Shows Butler's envelopment by loyalist and Indians against a line of militia and Continentals. Inset shows Seneca warrior and Butler's ranger skirmishing.
D. Patriot Deployments and Movements at Cowpens. Shows Morgan's three lines and the retreat and redeployment of the militia and Continental dragoons in an enveloping action. No inset.
E. Patriot militia attack at King's Mountain. Shows the envelopment and back-and-forth tactics used by the Overmountain men against Ferguson. Inset shows a Patriot militiamen loading a musket behind a tree.
F. Continental Army artillery tactics. Shows a grand battery of Continental six pounders deploying to support a line of infantry. Inset shows limbered Continental gun.
G. Hessian advance at Flatbush Pass. Shows Jaegars and grenadiers in open order screening Hessian close order troops and artillery. Inset shows jaegars operating an amusette.
H. Assault columns in siege warfare. Shows the French and American assault columns on the British redoubts at Yorktown as they approach. Inset shows grenadiers of Gatinais Regiment."
If you are interested in the 18th century I highly recommend the Fife and Drum forum. It can be found here:
https://fifeanddrumminis.proboards.com
My friend George suggested I check out the Warfare Miniatures USA put out by League of Augsburg. He felt the civilian militia would fit in well as KPW militia. He was right! They look good for the period.
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| Civilians with muskets from Warfare miniatures |
I am looking at them as local militia. They have good enough clothing for the period and have the "twelve apostles" for loading their muskets. These would carry a powder charge with balls carried separately. These are right for the period for local militia and volunteers. Flint lock muskets had replaced match lock in America by this time. Some local militia did use match locks but volunteers or men drafted for field service had to have flint locks for field use. Interestingly paper cartridges were just coming into use. The better commanders like recommended using them rather the the apostles. They made less noise (the apostles banged together) and were quicker to load with. So these figures wil represent the local militia called out for field service. The Brigade Games miniatures will be the better trained companies like those under Captain Samuel Mosley and Captain Benjamin Church.
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| Pictures of wagons from Warfare miniatures |
For a number of actions I needed wagons. Something to ambush or carry supplies. Bloody Brook is an example of a typical KPW action. These will be super useful and I am sure will be turning up in a lot of gamed.
BTW any hints on how to assemble these wagons or base them would be appreciated!
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| An important wagon. Save the beer! |
Please note that all pictures here are from Warfare Miniature USA website.
Back in day (1972-76) I eagerly awaited the arrival in my local library of the latest edition of American Heritage. This was a hard bound magazine with always interesting articles on American History. I was esp impressed by a series on battles of the American Revolution that featured a battle painting of some incident during that action as well as a couple uniform figures. These were done by a new young artist named Don Troiani. Although familiar to most of us now, back then he was the new kid on the block. His style of painting was much different then today,; less realistic but with great charm. And the uniform details were amazing to someone just studying the period and learning about it. The battles he did were outstanding. I think Fort Griswold and White Plains were my favorite.
Interestingly through my friends in a reenactment group (the 43rd Regiment/2nd Pennsylvania regiment: Hello Tom and Mark Vogley!) I not only knew people who were models for his paintings but once quickly got to met him. Since then I have always had a affection for his early work much more then his newer more realistic work. So recently it was fun to find on the internet a bunch if his uniform studies from these works. They were from a auction site (Heritage Auctions.com) and had been sold about six or more years ago. I am posting them here for mine and others enjoyment.
If anyone has copies of any of his battle studies from these American Heritage article I would love to see them.
In addition there were a number of illustrations done by Don for the National Park Service. At Saratoga a number of "waysides" (historical markers) include illustrations done by Don with research provided by Tony Tommel in the 1980's. In addition I know through the staff at Guilford Courthouse that he has done a lot of work for them. Many of his illustrations were printed in Tom Baker's book on the battle. Here are a few of these illustrations which are posted on the internet and I believe are in the public domain. If the owners of any of these pictures object to having me post their art here I will remove them right away or give then credit.
Here are some of the Saratoga and Guilford Courthouse art. First from Saratoga NHP:
Here are some from Guilford Courthouse NHP:
It was great fun to go down memory lane, and also see how a famous artist has grown and developed his talent over the years. These are great for using as uniform studies for our miniature soldier. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Again if you have any that have not shown I would love to see them.
