Bunker Hill 1775 refight

Followng Phalanx the Gentlemen Pensioners gathered in Salford to refight the battle of Bunker Hill 1775. I was Prescott, one of the rebel commanders, commanding the defence of the front and south face main redoubt. The rules used were a modified Rebels and Loyalists (?), which all of us apart from the umpires were unfamiliar with.

The British on the move

The British threatening the redoubt, my command is the front facing off a feint attack

The assault rolls in, and the British Grenadiers break in on the weaker northern side

Overall a historicl ending with the British taking Breeds Hill with heavy losses, especially on their southern flans.

An enjoyable days gaming before friends had to depart to the various poimts of the compass.

28mm Woodland Indians

It took a while, but I've now completed Warlord's plastic Woodland Indians, I tried to keep the colour scheme relatively simple.

I'm not completely happy with the final wash as I used the end of a bottle of AP Strong Tone and it dried a bit blotchy in place, but not bad enough to require repainting, phew!

At some point I will probably buy or print some American Militia to boost the limited numbers that I have at the moment

Francis Marion - The Swamp Fox

This was one of Wargame Illustrated's Giants In Miniature produced during their brief excursion into producing STL files. I printed a foot and mounted version of Francis Marion, the swamp fox in 20mm but as can be seen with the comparison with my old Airfix general I should have increase the X and Y dimension slightly. Maarion mounted is on the right dismounted on the left.

I based my colours on an image of Francis Marion in uniform , but I suspect most of the time he was not so brightly or smartly dressed

At least he adds something unique to my AWI rebel forces.

Frontiersmen rebased

Here's the reason for my distraction. I decided on a game of Rebels and Patriots covering the Northwest Indian Wars 1785-1795. It needed some mounted skirmishers (Frontiersmen) and I remembered that I had some suitable figures from the Imex Lewis and Clark set. So they have been based and a unit each of foot and mounted skirmishers created.

Eastern Friendly Indians rebased

Another distraction was rebasing these Imex Eastern Friendly Indians, very much some background props for games. There also a few extra Indians from the Lewis and Clark set.

Colonial Militia

A couple of 28mm units produced from the free sprues that came with Wargames Illustrated units.

Skirmishers mostly wearing hunting shirts
Ordinary Militis with the rear rank produced by adding AWI heads to Russian Crimean bodies
Hopefully they'll see action in the Woebetides at Crisis Point, whenever it happens, hopefully September.

AWI American Commanders

Hurrah!! The end of my Tricorne rebasing project, I have rebased all the American Rebel Commanders and added extra figures to the bases.

Most of the commanders are the old Airfix figures with a few Revell mixed in. The Infantry are Revell/ACTA


Typically I have spotted a couple of places where old paint has flaked while basing

AWI rebasing - loads of Militia

I'm behind on plan but my"background task" of working on the rebasing continues. This finished all the rebel militia, I have swapped some figures around to improve the appearance, but generally not bothered.


Just the commanders to work on now, and they will need extra figures added like all my other tricorne stands - something for next month.

AWI rebasing - additional continentals

I've rebased my additional continentals, in the front rank, plus a couple of units of militia and the remaining cavalry


From left to right the regiments of Samuel Webb, William Lee, Henry Sherburne and Thomas Hartley. The cavalry are the 2nd Dragoons (Sheldons) and 1st Dragoons (Blands)

AWI rebasing New York brigade

I'm all behind at the moment, I finished rebasing these at the end of March. They New York brigade is my original rebels painted way back in the 70s for a Saratoga campaign. The four regiments were originally either standing or kneeling firing so I had to swap some of the figures around and also repaint them as all the coats, etc. are different.


Accompanying them is a single unit of Lafayette's Light Infantry

AWI Rebasing - first batch of Americans

To start the rebasing of the army I started with the figures where just the bases needed work and there was only minor touch ups of the paintwork.


So dominantly the work was on the horde of Rifles that are in the army and each unit has been given different basing


Cavalry was simple conversions of Airfix Napoleonic British limber riders. Originally I considered basing the greatcoated infantry in snow to use them for the assault on Quebec but luckily thought better of the idea.


The artillery was originally AWI figures reworked for the SYW and then brought back to the AWI when SYW artillery became available.

AWI/SYW rebasing - British & German Commanders

The final stage of my rebasing my British and Germans for the AWI and SYW. I had already rebased most of the British officers, but I needed an extra mounted officer for the C in C plus a commander for my SYW cavalry brigade I had forgotten about. For the Germans most Brigadiers had an extra figure added. For their commander I added a suitable figure for Reidesel who commanded the Brunswick forces in the Saratoga campaign. For their SYW cavalry I added the Hessian Lieutenant-general Prince Christian Ludwig of Isenburg-Birstein in his white regimental uniform

Now onto the American Rebels

AWI rebasing - Hessian Infantry

Although in similar condition to the Brunswicks with regard to brittle plastic disease these Hessians suffered from a lot of paint flaking. It seemed that every time I thought I had touched them up another flake would appear. In fact the last occurrence was a hat flaking just as I finished the basing.


The two infantry regiments are Von Trumbach (later Von Bose) with white facings and Von Donop with straw facings. Plus some Jaegers to deal with the pesky Rebel riflemen. As all the positions were identical I had to rebase them to give the appearance of echeloned for firing, originally the rear rank were firing at the heads of the front rank!

AWI rebasing - Brunswick Infantry

Working on these has been a trip down memory lane as they are among the oldest figures still in my collection. They were originally painted in the early 70s as my contribution to the Bath Wargames Club's Saratoga campaign. No sign of the dreaded brittle plastic disease and there is still plenty of flex in them as was demonstrated by the need to repaint almost all the musket barrels and ankles.

Front to back, Light Battalion (including a Jaeger company), Regiments Von Specht and Von Rhetz . I also took the opportunity to mix up the poses between the two infantry regiments so the front ranks were kneeling and the rear standing firing.

Overall a lot of effort that might have been better spent painting some replacement figures, but the memories would have been lost.

AWI British rebasing - commanders and some lights

Continuing on with the rebasing my British command bases have had an extra figure added. In addition I painted up two new units some light infantry using the Call to Arms figures and a dismounted Light Dragoons using the Strelets British Light Infantry in Egypt. Finally a Hessian artillery guns and limber.


I thought it would add a bit of interest to add a fence to the light dragoons base.

AWI rebasing - more British

Quite a large batch of figures to rebase, but this completes all the British infantry and artillery


The artillery gunners are repainted Prussians that I had originally produced before the Revell SYW Austrian Artillery appeared, they have now replaced my old Washington's Army conversions


Just the commanders to work on, but they will need to have extra figures added

SYW/AWI rebasing - British Cavalry

The last of my SYW figures have now been rebased, now it's only the AWI to do, but that's a task for next year.

On the left SYW cavalry and on the left the AWI, although the light dragoons can be used for both.


Front to back: Royal Horse Guards, Royal Dragoon Guards and the 4th Dragoons (all Revell SYW figures)


Front to back: 16th light dragoons, 17th light dragoons (Italeri), British Legion (Airfix RHA drivers)

AWI/SYW rebasing - French Commanders

The last of the French. As with my Austrian and Prussian commanders I have added extra figures to the command bases.

SYW/AWI rebasing - Canadian Militia

Oops, this picture is a bit blurry. I have rebased my four units of Canadian militia and distinguished them by their stocking caps. The regional distinctions of red for Quebec, blue for Montreal and white for Trois Rivieres district appear to have been introduced in 1759. My fourth unit was given a green cap. I also managed to rebase my artillery, two guns from La Fère regiment and a single gun from Lauzun's Legion. Backed up with a unit of cavalry from Lauzun's Legion.

New AWI French Infantry

The three replacement infantry regiments are now complete having just missed the month end. There is Saintonge (front left), Soissonais (front right) and combined Grenadiers (rear) with a flag for Agenois. All the figures are Revell SYW Austrians.

All the units were involved at Yorktown in 1781 and replace the same regiments originally converted from Airfix AWI British Grenadiers, which have seen heavy service over the years.