Thursday, June 19, 2014

Prototype Continental Infantry and Militia

Progress continues on my starter armies for my American Revolution forces. I have been doing research and trying to find some unusual uniforms for my Continental force. Every force needs a handful of militia so one of the first elements I painted was a 3 stand element of militia.


For games that I plan on running using the Land of the Free rules, a 3-stand element will represent a medium element.
 

Here is the front and back view of my prototype for my 2nd Maryland Regiment. I saw a few drawings of the 2nd MD in brownish colored  'small clothes' so I opted for an ochre color. It may not be 100% accurate but I think it looks good.


 Another test miniature representing the 9th Virginia Regiment. I have always been a fan of Continental Regiments in the brown coats so I wanted at least one element of these.


I am hoping to do some real painting damage this weekend and get a few stands of infantry completed. I plan on gluing 4 miniatures per base hence the reason why the bases on the single miniatures above aren't done.

4 comments:

  1. Joe, they're all looking very well done!

    I suppose you wouldn't always need to have exactly four figures for these LOTF bases you're making......possibly 3 at a time, to free up room for a bit of "wavering" in the ranks (especially for the militia elements and their less-ordered to downright ragged lines)?

    Dave

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  2. Thanks Dave. Well, I have two motivations to my progress on my forces.

    First, is I am trying to show everyone how to best utilize the box contents of the Wargames Factory plastics. I think we can all agree that the freedom of movement in the rank and file of an American Revolution unit was very limited. The poses you get in the Wargames Factory plastics are great but for me I want all my soldiers in an element doing the same thing (firing, reloading, marching, etc.) So, I assembled a full box and began to lay out how I wanted my elements to look. The end result is I can create a 7 stand element from one box with one officer and one sergeant left over for my group commanders and force commander stands.

    Second, I want to show everyone that players can buy a box of 30 plastic soldiers from Wargames Factory and create a legal army to start playing. So the entry point for this game can be very inexpensive and players can continue to build and play games as their forces grow.

    Make sense?

    All the elements in the 'basic' game are generic so players can concentrate on the rules mechanics. In the Advanced Rules section their are special rules covering things like militia, grenadiers, light infantry, riflemen, Indians, Hessians, etc. so once players have a grasp of the rules they can make their games play more historically accurate. Well, I guess my impression of historical accuracy. :)

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  3. Joe, this makes lots of sense - maximum utilization of the boxed sets, and a way to display how the figures can be based and used directly with your rules.

    It's all impressions anyway, in what we want to capture with figures that are frozen in time - still, the Wargames Factory do allow some latitude with their posing, head dress, and weaponry, as your militia unit displays above (that's a plus with the plastics).

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  4. I agree. I worked closely with WF on the project and although I prefer marching poses in my armies I like the firing and loading poses that WF offers. They are different compared to other miniatures in the market and they give the flexibility for players wanting to play skirmish games. There is enough variety to have a dynamic looking game at smaller scales and the box set satisfies my need for uniformity so everyone wins. :)

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