Saturday 30 August 2014

American Militia (8)

This is a unit of militia that consists of Galloping Major F&IW figures.  I first started working on it in June last year, having picked up a couple of packs of "skirmishing settlers" at Salute.  GM announced shortly afterwards that they were working on more militia figures so I waited for those to be released to complete the unit.  Those figures came out earlier this year and so this unit contains a mix of lightly-armed settler types and more heavily equipped militia.  I thik the mix works well, although some might quibble whether you'd find men in shirtsleeves and coats at the same time - it would be either too cold to be in shirtsleeves or too warm to need a coat!  The GM packs don't contain a standard bearer figure.  I suppose it might be possible to convert one, but I don't mind and I'm quite happy to have one militia unit that doesn't carry a flag as it can be used as Loyalists or Rebels.  

In fact, when painting these figures I had them in mind as being used primarily for Loyalists - rightly or not, the more old-fashioned nature of the clothing (bearing in mind that these figures are designed for used in the 1750s) suggested to me men of a more conservative nature.  I also had an eye on the Savannah scenario, which I've been working at on-and-off over the past couple of years - this requires a 20-figure unit of Tory militia.  Other scenarios which feature units of loyalist militia are Camden (20 figures) and Hobkirk's Hill (16 figures).  The poses of some figures would be good for smirmishers.  If I'd started work on this unit once all the figures had been released I'd probably have saved some of the kneeling and running figures back and put those on some special skirmish bases.  Perhaps I should have reversed the chap who is holding onto his hat and running so that it looked like he'd lost his bottle and was making a run for it.  There is no standard bearer in the command packs, but that's not a problem unless you feel you really must have a standard in every unit - most militia didn't carry standard or flags, I suspect.


The figures are on the large side of 25/28mm.  Being F&IW figures their reference point in terms of size is more Redoubt Miniatures than Conquest; the latter would look rather puny in comparison.  So I'd suggest keeping these figures in their own units and not mix them with other standard AWI ranges.  They are, however, a very good fit for the new(ish) King's Mountain Miniatures over mountain men, which Bill Nevins tells me were designed with more than one eye on the F&IW.  The figures are easy to paint - the surface detail is crisp and accessible and the various straps are clearly set out.

You can't have too many militiamen for the AIW, so I recommend these figures, which come from a mixture of "settlers" and "un-uniformed militia" packs.  Galloping Major have some sailors n the pipeline which will also be very useful for the AWI - the Savannah scenario, for example, requires a unit of 8 sailors.  So it's worth putting this company on your AWI radar.

24 figures.  Painted June 2013-June 2014.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

17 comments:

David said...

I like those very much, Giles. Super work!

Black Powder said...

Beautiful unit - I really like that you've mixed in some kneeling figures to give it animation and a nice skirmish line feeling!

LittleArmies said...

Really nice painting - and I love the variety in this unit. Very nice stuff. Oh, and we've taken on Kilikanoon from Bibendum - stock is now in!

Matt said...

All that is needed is a bible thumping vicar exhorting the cause from the rear ranks! The civilian garb looks suitably AWI to me.

Chris Stoesen said...

Those look fantastic. Well done with the miniatures.

In the reading I have done on militia units, many did have standards. In some cases they had them down at the company level as well.

Have you see the http://www.royalprovincial.com site before? It has some great information on Loyalist units. Definitely plenty of information to sift through.

Bedford said...

Fabulous stuff Giles and great to see you blogging again (hopefully with a vengeance) :>)

The unit looks fab and I hope to see it on a table near me one day.

Darrell.

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Agreed! The mix of different coats, knickerbockers, and shirtsleeves gives a really pleasant effect.

Best Regards,

Stokes

Simmy said...

Very beautiful figures and great painting!
The pieces of the Galloping Major are very interesting.
See you soon and a greeting
Simmy

Iowa Grognard said...

Fantastic looking group of militia. Well done!

Rodger said...

Great looking unit of Militia Giles!

Glenn said...

Super high quality work!

Moiterei_1984 said...

Very nice work on some awesome figures! They seem to be packed full of character.

Simon said...

These are fantastic Giles. I have to look at getting some of these figures......more to add to the lead pile.
Simon

Vinnie said...

Beautiful figures

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

Excellent work Giles!! Militia are some of the most fun units to paint and you have done a lovely job.

Christopher

Phil said...

Great work on these militias!

Vinnie said...

Fantastic painting and figures