American War of Independence - Will McNally's rules - 2nd Canadian Regiment at Brandywine, 1777

With another rainy day I managed another quick unit finished. The 2nd Canadian Regiment was one of the best units General Washington had at Brandywine. They were one of the few units who stood firm while the Continental line at Birmingham Hill evaporated, including De Borre brigade to which the Canadians belonged.

Because of this bravery I modelled them with charging positions using Airfix, Revell and Italeri figures.

As most of the figures have one foot in the air I glued it with  hot glue to the stand making the figures more solidly fixed to the base.



American War of Independence - Will Mcnally's rules - 24 hour units(sort of British Minutemen quickly arriving at the shelves)

                        

These two British regiments - the 37th and 46th line regiments - are probably my fastest build ever. I started to glue heads and drilling the hands of the colour bearers yesterday around mid afternoon and finished everything today around dinner time.

 

 

What is necessary for this fast built and paint:

 

- A very cloudy easter day;

 

- The kid on a friend's house;

 

- Wife entertaining herself while making home made soap;

 

- Lunch and dinner magically on the table, well, like everyday.

 

(they are not really finished, as you can see from the wet paste I use as foliage and non existant final varnish spray, but of course no one needs to know that, right?)

                           

                                

The only changes in the figures are the fur bonnets from the Airfix grenadiers on the Revell sapper and  drummer.

 

The two regiments have yellow facings which also speeded up painting. Once again these are the Austrian Revell 7YW figures. They make nice British for AWI in a classic pose contrasting with the Revell figures for the conflict which have a more dynamic look.

 

 

American war of Independence- Will McNally's rules- 4th VirginiaBrigade at Brandywine 1777.

The Virginian uniforms for the AWI are not the most well documented. Sometimes this lack of information is good as you are allowed a broader range of paints for your units. After some research the most logical option would be blue uniforms with red facings. Instead, I used mostly grey, with green facings for the 4th Virginia and red for the 8th Virginia regiment. Some figures use the hunting shirt while others use a blue surcoat for some 'american' colour.

I also painted some more Brigade and Division (with extra ADC on foot) commanders for both sides. You can also recognize the Austrian and Prussian Revell officer figures as well as the drivers of the Austrian artillery train here promoted to the rank of General. Not bad as a career!!

American war of Independence- Will McNally's rules- British LightInfantry

For the Brandywine battle the British light infantry is seen apparently sporting some closed jackets with short tails. From illustrations of the time, 1777 seems to be the year from which the tricorne was also transformed into slouch hats with a pinned side and feather in true jäger style.


No such figures in plastic exist so some more transformations were necessary.


The basic models came from the old Esci Napoleonic British infantry. The figures were scalped from the shako up and a hat from the Revell AWI americans was glued. The feather was a bit enlarged with GreenStuff and after a proper paint job (necessary to hide small flaws) they are ready to help Cornwallys win the Birmingham heights.

American War of Independence - Will McNally's rules - 3rd VirginiaBrigade at Brandywine, 1777

Stephen's division formed the first line at Birmingham hill when this all Virginian division rushed there to stop Cornwally's flanking manoeuvre.

Top: 11th and 15th regiments. 

Bottom: 3rd and 7th Virginia regiments. 

They are mostly the usual Revell and Airfix with some changes. The 11th regiment are those bold middle age guys and other with raccoon head dress from Revell wearing hunting shirts. All of them received hats and tricornes and are ready to face the British light infantry which are next in this blog.

The flag bearer and drummer from the 11th Virginia are made out of the same figure, the Revell British figure standing casually.

American War of Independence - Will McNally's rules - British 33rd infantry line regiment and some commanders.

This regiment is made almost entirely from figures out of the Revell 7WY Austrian infantry box. The poses are quite "regular" and I think they suit the British nicely. The figure biting the cartridge is one of the best ever! The cuffs are a bit too large for 1777 British infantry but the figures represent well most of the armies of the period.


The pioneer on the second row has its mitre cap enlarged with GreenStuff and the drummer is from G.Washington Airfix box with a grenadier head. The officer  is from the  Revell 7YW artillery box. There is also one Airfix kneeling firer per stand.

The officers are again a mix pot you can probably recognize from Airfix, Revell and Imex. The British officer from Airfix has a body from the infantry box and a grenadier head. The bigger base represent G. Washington itself while all others are Brigade commanders.


The Divisional commanders will have an officer on horse and another on foot.

American War of Independence - Will McNally's rules - Brandywine historical houses

Now for some freshly painted Brandywine houses. The Gettysburg houses still on the wargame table can finally be replaced. From left to right. Chad's House (opposing Knyphausen division), Birmingham Meeting house (place for the local Quaker meetings and of the most furious fighting of the day) and Benjamin Ring's House (Washington HQ).

I also painted the Hessian Jägers just to keep pace with the many units yet to be built. These are Revell Prussian and Austrian SYW with muskets shortened to look like rifles and the cartridge pouch moved from the back to the waist.

  

Benjamin Ring's house from the back with a view to the well.

The way my houses are built: just card, wood from icecream sticks and Styrofoam. Some basic calculations and good and plenty Internet pictures makes the rest.