Monday 25 April 2016

British/Loyalist casualties




I'm a bit behind at the moment.  So, in the absence of anything else, here are some casualty figures from the Perry plastic British infantry box, which come on the command sprue.  I've posted about such figures before - see here for Continental casualties and here for highlanders.  I put the same effort into these as "live" figures, so I might as well post them on TQ.  As I said in one of those earlier posts, I base casualty figures on small rectangular bases, so I can add hats, weapons and a bit of scenic stuff to make the figures more of an event.   These figures are painted as being from recent British and Loyalist units that I have been painting; so from left to right: 46th Foot, 44th Foot, New York Volunteers, King's Carolina Rangers. I'm currently finishing off the 46th Foot, so hopefully the full battalion will be up here in a week or so.    
 
By the way, in case anyone didn't realise it: my post of earlier in the month, "Washington's Ape", was an April Fool. That means the story wasn't real.  Its premise was taken from the strange tale of the "Hartlepool Monkey".  The story goes that some time during the Napoleonic Wars a French warship was wrecked in the seas off Hartlepool (a town on the north-east coast of England) and the only survivor washed ashore was an ape, dressed in uniform for the amusement of the ship's crew (one assumes).  The locals were concerned that the ape was a French spy, and so hanged it on the beach.  Who knows if this really happened?  To this day, the local rugby team is still nicknamed "the Monkeyhangers" and the story has passed into folklore.  As I mentioned in the post, the figure was a gift and I thought I'd transpose the story to the end of the AWI.  The point of an April Fool is to make it believable, and it occurred to me that people would be much more likely to think the story was true if the perpetrators were British or Loyalist soldiers.

It became clear from what I read elsewhere that some people didn't like my post.  I can't really help that and, while I love animals and personally would never hurt one intentionally, I don't really have a problem with models of dead animals or even of an episode of human cruelty like this.  Wargaming is a hobby that makes entertainment out of extreme violence and I'm afraid that I don't perceive any moral difference between modelling a gallows that shows a dead highwayman or pirate, for example (and there were several such vignettes on the tables at Salute this year), and one that shows a dead animal.  But that's just me - I understand others have different views and I respect that.  We all have a line that we won't cross in this hobby, and we shouldn't expect everyone else's line to be in the same place as our own.   I wasn't much impressed, however, with one suggestion that my post somehow glorifies the lynching of African-Americans - I don't have time for that sort of nonsense, to be honest. 
 
4 figures.  Painted January 2016.
 
 
 

8 comments:

Simon said...

Hello Giles,
Excellent casualty figures! I knew the post about the ape was an April Fool and said so in my comments. I think the others who have made comments such as the Afro American one need to grow up and get a life. I am sick and tired of the 'politically correct' brigade. Ignore them and keep posting on your excellent blog.

All the best
Simon

Stephen said...

Nicely done. I certainly think that casualty figures and interesting vignettes have their place.

david bromley said...

Nice work on the casualties, Giles! I plan on scenic bases for my casualties with the inclusion of slots for dice.
I for one liked your April Fools post. I found it hilarious, but being a knuckledragging, AmerInd , and soldier I probably have a warped sense of humor anywho! ;)

David said...

Fine work on the dead chaps! As for keyboard warriors, feel free to ignore them all!

airhead said...

The more monkeys you hang the better as far as I'm concerned Giles! keep up the good work.

All the best

Airhead

Neil Scott said...

Nicely done

Neil Scott said...

Nicely done

Stefan (aka. Monty) said...

Excellent work on the casualties.