Webster's Brigade 1780

[B6GOBOS]

New posting on my rendition of Webster’s Brigade of the 23rd, 33rd and Light battalion.  Figures are the excellent Fire and Drum miniatures.

http://bravefusiliers.blogspot.com/2016/08/websters-brigade.html

 

Also post on the 71st Highlanders from Kings Mountain miniatures

http://bravefusiliers.blogspot.com/2016/08/71st-highlanders.html

 

 

[B6GOBOS]

Continue with Rev War Collection here is my Brigade of Guard c. 1781 in correct campaign uniforms.

http://bravefusiliers.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-brigade-of-guards-on-american.html

Please stop by and say hello!

[General Slade]

Hi B6GOBOS,

It’s nice to see some American War of Independence posts here on the Wargames Website.   I’ve just started to get interested in the period  – it was a toss up between the AWI and the Crimean War and so far the AWI seems to be winning.  I am planning to use the British Grenadier rules (my copy arrived this morning so I haven’t had chance to have a proper look at them yet).

I really like the look of your armies.  The main uniform reference I have got is the Mollo and McGregor Blandford book. Are there any other good books on uniforms you wold recommend?

[B6GOBOS]

Mollo and McGregor is one of my favorites!  Still have the first edition which is now falling to pieces through use.  There are some interpretations I disagree with (I.e. the guard, a n d using a 1790 portrait of a Royal Welch Fusilier officer) but on the whole enjoy it very much.  Other book suggestions?  The Osprey volume book on Washington’s army is great.  Lots of interesting stuff there.  And for pictures anything by Don Troiani is inspiring.

 

Good luck with your gaming.  I am curious how you like The British Grenadier rules.  Have hear good things about them but have not played them yet.

[General Slade]

I also love the Mollo and McGregor book (I like all the Blandford Uniform guides) but from conversations on other wargames websites I was under the impression that it contains some errors but I don’t know enough about the period to know what they are.  I’m particularly interested in the campaign uniforms worn by the British.  I’ve just finished a unit of the 23rd foot and I based the uniform on the picture on the cover of Mark Urban’s Fusiliers but I don’t really know if that is an accurate representation of what they wore in the field.

I’ll invest in the Don Troiani book.  I’ve got a couple of his Civil War books and I love his paintings.  I’ll also look out for the Ospreys.  They seem to turn up pretty cheap on eBay.

It will be a while before I try out British Grenadier as I’ve only just started painting figures for the AWI (and I always get sidetracked into doing other things) but I can tell you that the book is very nicely laid out and includes a lot of eye candy (which for a change appears to be related to the rules themselves and actually seems to follow the basing recommended in the book).  The rules also get my vote because in the section on creating your armies it suggests including the regimental goat on the command stand for the 23rd.  It hadn’t occurred to me to do this but now I feel it’s a must.

 

[B6GOBOS]

I love the idea of have the goat on my 23rd command stand!  Excellent!

Please remember no uniform book on the American Rev War is perfect.  Mollo and McGregor have some interpretations I disagree with (like on the guards campaign dress) but most of the new interpretation came from information and period sources not available when they wrote their book.  Another example is Charles Leferts uniforms book.  Written back in the 1920’s. He did wonderfully research, but time marches on and some things he guessed at turned out to be wrong.  Does not make his book terrible ungrateful how you use it.   There is still excellent material in it and I love his illustrations.

Good lunch with your project!

 

[B6GOBOS]

I was asked about my research concerning the curious hatt caps of the brigade of guards during the rev war.  Here it is….

http://bravefusiliers.blogspot.com/2016/08/guards-hatt-caps.html

[General Slade]

That’s interesting stuff about the hat caps.  They look like they were the precursors to a light infantry cap illustrated in Haythornthwaite’s ‘Uniforms of the French Revolutionary Wars’ (plate 63, Officer, Light Company, 34th Foot c.1800).  This shows a similarly shaped cap with a transverse plume (Haythornthwaite speculates on whether it is fur or feather). The big difference is that these later caps are made of leather and have an additional upright plume.

For me the good news is that  in 15mm Minifigs make a figure wearing this type of cap in their French Revolution range so I might be able to do an acceptable paint conversion to make flank companies for my own Brigade of Guards.

Apart from the LI on the front of the Light Infantry caps was there any difference between the uniforms of the grenadier and light companies?

[B6GOBOS]

I noticed the Grenadier com o any had match cases.  But at 15mms details such as this would be unnoticeable

[General Slade]

Yes, I think a match case would be a bit hard to see (even assuming I was capable of painting one!).

[Norm S]

Very nice. I like that so many AWI collectors work hard to get units historically based rather than generic.

[B6GOBOS]

To me it is one of the joys of the hobby.  I enjoy researching a time period, and study the history of it.  Finding a battle or campaign that fascinates me and then building it unit by unit is grand.

[Author]

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