Sunday 23 August 2009

4th July Parade (2)


It's been a while coming, but this is the British half of the AWI army parade that I posted back in July 2008 (see here). I realised that if I didn't do it today, I probably wouldn't do it this year, as the conditions were perfect: the hottest day of summer so far; a rather strong bottle of Spanish rose over lunch, which put paid to the hope of any painting this afternoon; and the pleasure of listening to England see off some other upstart colonials in the cricket (with all due respect to my Australian readers - you know that Australia is only behind England and New Zealand in my affections....). So here are the forces of King George, an army that did its best in difficult circumstances and, though it probably didn't realise it at the time, ultimately produced by far the better historical outcome by losing. [Incidentally, I note from a comparison of last year's photos with today's that my gardening skills clearly need improvement.]

First, some general views. i brigades most of the line regiments into brigades of 3-4, but this is not historical. However, all units are "at strength" at 1:20 and based for relevant "British Grenadier!" scenarios



Burgoyne's force: This is minus grenadiers, Brunswickers and specific artillery figures, but you can get a sense of how small the line regiments are in 1:20 (2 foot regiments are only 12 figures). For more on the Burgoyne expedition, please see the Saratoga posts label here.







British artillery, with various orders of dress all massed together:





The Hess-Kassel contingent. This is only about a quarter of the regiments supplied:

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Highlanders, Grenadiers and elites:







It's worth pointing out that, even more so than with the American parade, this collection reflects the work of Alan Perry. A few of the indians are by Conquest Minatures, and the Queen's Rangers Highlanders are from Eureka, but everything else is sculpted by Alan, for either Foundry or Perry Miniatures. If Paul Collingwood can get an MBE for a handful of runs in test cricket, then surely.....

18 comments:

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Hello Giles,

What an impressive collection you've amassed there. The redcoats are lovely indeed, but I'm especially partial to the Hessian contingent (Germanist that I am by virtue of marriage). ;-)

Best Regards,

Stokes

AJ (Allan) Wright said...

Damn! I thought my collection was big. That's a LOT of troops. I can start to understand now why you're venturing off in other periods for a change of pace.

Fire at Will said...

Excellent, a really inspiring sight and frightening with all that artillery.

Will

Anonymous said...

Incredible stuff !

Phil said...

A really impressive array Giles. Well done indeed. You are right to be proud.
Phil

painterman said...

A truly phenomenal achievement Giles - pure dedication to produce an army that has to be admired.
Must keep my modest Southern-theatre stuff going, before Alan P gets back to sculpting AWI figures again.

The Dale Wardens said...

Bravo Giles! What a wonderful parade. I don't know if you know that you have a WORLD class collection of AWI figures.

This should be playing in the background as this post is being read:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLc-bvcdNTw

Any idea how many figures your total AWI collection is?

Thank you for letting us in on your passion through the blog.

David S.
Minnesota USA

Anonymous said...

quite fantastic, wonderful collection

Nigel B

GreenmanTim said...

Breathtaking!

Did I miss the post about the farm outbuildings behind the Right Wing? They look quite fine as well.

RTB said...

Pah! If I knew evil Tory solicitors could paint that well I'd become one!

Author said...

YAY!!!

Been waiting for this FOREVER! Thanks so much, your collection is just about the nicest I've ever seen. Thanks for sharing!!

Gunfreak said...

Now thats what a 28mm collection should look like, I hope you got a big ass table

Sire Godefroy said...

Absolutely fabulous. You're the one & only master of wargaming the AWI. Congrats to your collection - again.

Cheers
SG

Der Alte Fritz said...

The next step in your journey is to upsize the ratio to 1:10 so that you can paint more figures. Come on Giles, you know that you want to do it.

Der Alte Fritz said...

Actually 1:10 is very doable for the AWI period. I based my army on the Brandywine OOB for both sides and I had a lot of 30 and 40 figure British, 50-60 Hessian and 20 to 30 Continental regiments.

airhead said...

Spiffing in the extreme Giles, more power to your elbow.

All the best Airhead

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Just like your American collection,it's absolutely stunning in it's size and very inspiring!

Best Regards
Christopher

MurdocK said...

Outstanding!