Saturday 31 March 2007

American rout marker




In "British Grenadier!" units can rout as a result of losing a melee or failing a morale test when being charged. Routing units retreat back towards their own side and can cause trouble if they collide with other formations. Turning a battalion around and making it face the other way can look a bit odd, particularly if the battalion is made up of figures in a "firing" pose, so I made this vignette to represent a unit in flight. I have not actually used it in a game yet, but what I have in mind is to temporarily replace a routing unit with this marker, replacing it with the original figures once the unit has rallied. I think it would just look a bit more appealing.

The running figures are skirmishers from Eureka's "Ragged Continentals" range and the wounded figure is a Perry miniature (as are the other casualties in the first picture). The discarded musket is from Redoubt. Painted November 2005.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I dunno, Giles.....

I've driven quite a lot in the US and all the route markers I saw were large green things with white lettering.

RtL

Anonymous said...

Giles, ever since I heard of your blogspot on tmp, I have been coming back to view your marvellous figures. I am a huge fan of the AWI and I love the units that you portray. These routed Continentals look great.

Cheers, Nolan

Anonymous said...

At some point, Alan is going to produce a "routing militia" pack. A British re-enactor acquaintance once endeared himself to his US hosts (who were kindly putting him up for free having never met him before) by telling them that colonial militia were called "Minutemen" because that was how long they usually hung around.

Oooh, dear......

RtL

Giles said...

Ronan - a Perry Miniatures routing militia pack would be a mouth-watering prospect. However, I suspect from the date of your comment that a leg is being pulled and that such a pack will remain a Perry AWI myth, alongside mounted jaegers and the pack of Hessian looters....!

Giles

Anonymous said...

Hi Giles, i too have been watching/drooling from the wings for some time.Have finally got round to starting my own AWI project.Thanks for the inspiration!

p.s If i only buy two books on the period which ?

Cheers
Paul

Anonymous said...

Paul,
I assume you're talking from a wargaming perspective, rather than actual histories of the war? If so....

1) Greg Novak's orders-of-battle (actually 2 volumes - Northern and Southern theatres). Should still be available from Old Glory (US) or Caliver Books (UK).

2) Mollo & McGregor is still good for uniforms - turns up on Amazon and EBay from time to time. Dated, but still a good basis.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Giles,
Any advice on building armies for BG.Anything you would do differently if you could.Do you find the figure ratio ok for the visual aspect?
Cheers
Paul

Giles said...

Paul

Those recommendations were from someone else, but I endorse them. If you want a general history, then Hibbert's "Redcoats and Rebels" is good, and Robert Harvey's "A Few Bloody Noses" (which is very good on the economic causes of the war).

I think 1:20 is just right for the AWI in 25mm. It provides a decent number of figures but without making you spend years painting before you have enought troops for a game. I find that 16-20 figures is perfect for each regiment: anything over 20 figures and I find I quickly get bored.

If I started over again I'm sure there are plenty of things I would do differently, but a couple spring to mind: (1) use Perry figures rather than Foundry for the Brits; the campaign look is the new orthodoxy (unless you specifically want full-dress figures for 1775/6); (2) I would model my militia units differently. I haven't posted pics of those yet because I'm a bit embarrassed - they are a mixture of all kinds of different coats, uniforms etc, which is fine for the 1780s (when men who were discharged from various regiments signed up again) but not for the early war where regimental coats would be few and far between.

Giles

Anonymous said...

> At some point, Alan is going to produce a "routing militia" pack.
>

I talked to Alan before last GW games day. I was asking about Perry lines that I was interested in (AWI and Sudan for Michael.) My memory may be incorrect, but I thought he said he was going to be doing redoing militia...though I can't say that they would be routing. I could be way off base too, as I have had 2 football concussions since the chat and I didn't take notes.

The Perry's do some interesting miscellaenous packs. I know in Mike's Sudan line, he has produced a heliograph section, stretcher bearers, and sitting camels with a minder. Not exactly typical wargaming pieces but very nice additions. If Alan does redo the milita, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to see routing militia. He has done caualty packs...and both the Perry do many different poses of troops for the same troop type: charging, advancing, skirmishing, marching, firing, etc. & etc. There are lots of choices for customising the look of ones forces. Adding a pack of routers on top of 2-3 poses may happen. It's just a matter of if it strikes his fancy and time. The Perrys are busy fellows with lots of interests.

>I would model my militia units differently. I haven't posted pics of those yet because I'm a bit embarrassed ...>

I for one would LOVE to see figures that embarrass you. Any of the figures you posted so far, if they were in my collection, would be my pride and joy. I wager that those embarrassing figures would be too.


David S
Minnesota, USA