American artillery (6)

These are the last American artillery crews I will paint for some time. They are the 2 "standard" Continental artillery packs from Perry Miniatures (the other Perry packs can be found elsewhere in the "Artillery" label', save for the Rhode Island pack which in will worry about some other time). The figures are based on the same "dollies" that are used for the British SAratoga crews and so largely wearing gaiter trousers and carry bayonets. I thought the latter was a bit strange on American artillerymen - I'd be interested to know what readers think. None of the Foundry American artillery figures carry bayonets, incidentally. I painted the gunners themselves in standard artillery blue-faced-red coats with yellow lace on their hats. I gave a couple of the figures some buff and brown trousers to suggest that campaign dress look.

As these are my last American artillery pieces I thought I would get all the others out and see what they looked like all set up together (apologies for the unsophisticated nature of the pics). They just about fitted on the kitchen table, although I had to put the two Eureka "Molly Pitcher" guns along the flank. I have 17 artillery crews in all on the American side - this is way more than you need for most AWI engagements and, I expect, may exceed the total number of guns that were actually present in one or two of those engagements...Anyway, below are photos of my entire Continental artillery collection. Most of the guns/crew were painted a few years ago, when I first started out with the AWI; the crews are the various Foundry packs mixed together. Those earlier guns need some work and the crews are a bit glossy. But en masse I think the set-up looks ok. The Perry "add-ons", like dragrope men and the ammunition carts etc do bring the battery to life. There are a couple of Old Glory fogures too, on the battery commander command stand in the centre.


8 figures and 2 guns. Painted January 2011.