71st Foot (2)

The 71st Foot was one of the first regiments I painted for the AWI, over 10 years ago now - those earlier efforts can be seen here.  The 71st raised 2 battalions and both were present at the battles of Long Island and Brandywine - for the "British Grenadier!" orbats the units are 18 figures each - so I painted both battalions.  For Cowpens and Stono Ferry (the latter being in the forthcoming 4th scenario book) you need one battalion of 24 figures.  That was no problem, as I could take one of the 18-figure battalions and add another stand of 6 figures from the second battalion.  However, my 71st are in a marching pose and at Stono Ferry the regiment defended its camp against an American assault.  I played a test game of Stono Ferry with Eclaireur a while ago and used my existing marching figures - the report on that is here.  Bill Nevins has since released firing line highlanders in his excellent King's Mountain Miniatures range and so I decided to paint up a new unit in firing line poses to use in this particular scenario.  This now brings the number of highlanders in my British collection to 124 figures!

There are a couple of things to note about this unit.  First, I wanted the unit to look like one that had assembled quickly to react to a surprise attack.  That explains why I've used a variety of poses.  Yes, I know that British regulars didn't usually kneel to shoot; but I think the irregular look of the line is suitable for this kind of engagement.  The men are defending a camp which has some abatis protection - why wouldn't they kneel to take advantage of that cover?  Secondly, the sharp eyed will notice that some of the bases are larger than others.  That's simply a mistake - I didn't notice until I'd finished the basing, and what had happened was that I hadn't realised I'd run out of my standard 4-figure infantry bases and was using ones I assumed were the correct size.  I'm not too sure what they are, but then I suppose this adds to the irregular look of the unit.  Thirdly, I decided not to have flags.  I don't think there were flags with the detachment at Stono Ferry and I thought the unit would look more authentic without them.  Lastly, given that my existing 71st are all in tartan trews, I gave these chaps some trews as well.  But I couldn't face painting 24 pairs of them so the others are in standard brown and tan overalls.  If you ever paint highlanders don't forget that the belts, equipment etc were usually black.

24 figures.  Painted over the summer, 2014.  The buildings in the background are custom-made by Tablescape.