Loyalist Legion for the AWI

I've been way behind with the blog but here are some pictures from a fairly recent Rebels and Patriots game.

The basic idea behind the game was a Loyalist force (Tories) have been returning from a raid in New Jersey. A Patriot force of militia has been tasked with stopping them.

The Patriots won a narrow victory as the Tories could not break through. The key fighting took place around the farmstead.

Some of the pictures were posed prior to the game.

Tory Dragoons (Tarleton's) and Emmerich's Mounted Chasseurs.The figures are a mixed bag from  Irregular Miniatures, Historifigs (formerly Scuby) and Airfix

Patriot Militia, figures by Accurate.

Tarleton's Legion Cavalry as Shock in Rebels and Patriots. Figures are 20mm Irregular Miniatures from the UK.

Patriot Militia again.

Emmerich's Chasseurs

Patriot Militia, all Airfix!

The collection of Patriot Militia was painted over 40 years ago. All Airfix! They have stood the test of time.

Airfix conversions. In Rebels and Patriots a unit like this represent mounted skirmishers.

Irregular Miniatures dismounted Dragoons attempt to hold the farmhouse against Rebel militia.

Tory Dragoons in the lead folioed by Tory military followed by the Volunteers of Ireland (Loyalists is red coats) All are Irregular Miniatures. 

The Queen's Rangers. The figures are Historifgs (formerly Jack Scruby. The scale is 25mm but they fit well with Airfix or 20mm figures.

The Royal Regiment of New York or Johnson's Royal Breens. Figures by Airfix.

Patriot militia. The flags are hand painted. Figures by Airfix

Virginia Patriot rifle regiment

The Volunteers of Ireland get in front of the Tory Militia.

The Queen's Rangers and dismounted dragoons hold part of the farmstead but can advance no further as just about everything else has collapsed.

A saber charge by the Tory Dragoons almost turned the tide but they stalled and were shot up beyond repair.

British Foraging Raid Comes to Nought!

I was perusing through my blogs and noticed I had one sitting in "draft mode." Oops!

The game was actually played in late June and published today.

This scenario was adapted from Neil Thomas's One-Hour-Wargames. Instead of the 6 units per side in One-Hour-Wargames we went with 32 point armies in Rebels and Patriots. The idea was to field typical forces from the period 1777-78 in the area around Philedelphia.

We each came up with seven units. The Americans (the rebels) were to hold a small farming area tucked into a corner of the table. On the first turn they would have two units to do it with. Two more units would arrive on turn 3 and a further three units arriving on turn nine.

The British (Loyal subjects of KG3) had the advantage of having all seven of their units to start.
 as per the scenario.

The American initial advantage was holding the victory condition and the fact the British had to advance through a bottleneck as per One-Hour-Wargames.

The American Order of Battle was as follows:

2nd Canadian Congress' Own, 18 figs, veteran
2nd Canadian Light Company, 6 figs
3rd Pennsylvania Continental Line, 12 figs
11th Virginia Continental Line, 12 figures, good shooters
New York Militia, 18 figures, poor shooters
2nd Continental Dragoons, 6 figs, aggressive
Rhode Island Train of Artillery, one medium gun.

The British Order of Battle was as follows:

20th Foot, 12 figs
21st Foot, 18 figs
24th Foot, 12 figs
Combined Grenadiers, 6 figs
Combined Light "Bobs", 6 figs
Emmerich's Mtd Chasseurs, 6 figs, green
Anspach Jaegers, 6 figs, good shooters

We both came up with a character and background for that character.

Although it was intimidating to see the British advantage with all seven units while defending with only two, the American artillery was effective in slowing down the advantage by causing disorder.

The American player elected to hold only one of the two farm building sections with his two units; the artillery and Pennsylvania Line. He conceded the other area to the Anspach Jaegers.

The figures used in the this game were almost all Airfix on the American side. They were painted over 40 years ago and have not seen a game until recently.

On the British side the figures are Airfix (painted recently), Irregular Miniatures and Scruby Miniatures (now Historifigs). The Jaegers are BandBMiniatures.

Nice shot of part of the British initial advance. The 21st Foot in front of the Grenadiers would become disordered on the very first turn despite having the force leader attached. In the background you can see the obstacle the British had to overcome.

Pennsylvania Continentals occupy one set of buildings.

The Rhode Island Artillery deploys adjacent to the Continentals in the buildings.

At this stage two of three British foot units have advanced while the Grenadiers advance through the stalled 21st Foot.

The Anspach Jaegers move swiftly through the woods to get to the other built up area before American reinforcements arrive.

The composite Light Bob's. They would be decimated by artillery fire but did their job screening part of the British advance.

Emmerich's Mtd Chasseurs also served as part of the screen and were quickly reduced to 1\2 strength.

The Jaegers get to the built up area and one nasty Jaeger kicks the dog. Nasty Germans.

The 21st Foot fails to activate creating even more of a space between them and the grenadiers.

The artillery section from hell.

The 2nd Canadian arrives to bolster the defending Americans. The light company out front would do it's job but would be the only American unit to be destroyed.

The Jaegers would somehow hold on to this built up area literally fighting to the last man. They might be nasty Germans but they did well.

The British foot is finally coming together. The idea was to launch all three foot units plus the grenadiers against the built up area held by the American artillery and Pennsylvania Continentals. It never quite happened.

The 20th Foot did the best of the three British foot. They delivered two effective volleys against the fortified Pennsylvanians but they Pennsylvanians held without disorder.

Remnants of the 25th Foot. The 2nd Canadian Light Company, the artillery and Pennsylvania Continentals all combined to make short work of the unit. The purple die tells me they are in permanent disorder. They would rout on the next turn.

The 21st Foot was a hard luck unit despite having the leader attached.  Here they are disordered for at least the second time. They would rout as well. The 20th Foot to their right would be the only British Foot unit to survive the debacle.

The late arriving Virginia Continentals. The American collection was painted over 40 years ago and features many conversions of the Airfix figures from the Washington's Army set.

Fantastic flag. I think I'll change sides and be a patriot after all. Down with KG3!

Nice shot of the 2nd Canadian Congress' Own

2nd Continental Dragoons. They are Airfix conversions from the French Cuirassier Set.

The last shot before the final collapse. All units in the picture would rout leaving the Americans in control of the built up area. 

Feature Figures Jack Scruby 21st Foot AWI

Like many war-gamers in my age group I started out with plastic Airfix figures and Roco Minitanks. It was all we had and for a long time we would be unaware of war-game figures made in metal.

Perhaps the first clue was when we transitioned into Napoleonic games. We became aware of a line of metal figures called Der Kreigspielers. Our plastic Airfix armies quickly became supplemented by the huge variety of nations represented by Der Kreigspielers.

The discovery of metal war game figures led to a search for others through ads found in various magazines of the time. We suddenly became aware of British manufacturers such as Miniature Figurines (known as Minifigs), Hinchcliffe, Lamming, and Garrison (all 25mm). 

At the time there were not many American manufacturers that covered the range of periods that the British covered. One exception was Jack Scruby. His historical lines came in various scales. 

I was a bit of dabbler in the 1970's. In my AWI army I had Airfix plastics, 1st and 2nd generation Minifigs, Hinchcliffe, Garrison (SYW Prussians for Hessians) and one or two units of Jack Scruby's 25mm AWI.

I personally think that Jack's figures were cutting edge in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. Reading about him much later showed me he was a pioneer in American wargaming. By the 70's  other companies surpassed Scruby in terms of quality and at least matched Scruby in terms of the wide range of periods\figures available.

My Scruby figures slowly lost their luster when placed next to second generation Minifigs and the other "large" British figures. Although I was a dabbler at the time I did not consider myself a collector. What I mean by that is that I never thought of having a collection just to have a collection. Scruby figures and the plastic Airfix soon became obsolete in my mind and were regulated to a box while I chased the newer ever expanding ranges of better quality figures available.

Eventually and sadly I may add, I sold all my collections and withdrew from the hobby for about 25 years. 

During the dark years as I call them I did try to continue to paint. I reverted to plastics (in ancients) and some metal ACW from Musket Miniatures. I even purchased some excellent 28mm figures from Dixon. I was not on fire but there was a spark of desire to paint and maybe war-game again some day

In 2014 things changed. I reconnected with two friends from the old days who were still gaming. in the case of one of them I recalled a conversation we had back in the early 90's shortly before I dropped out.

We discussed how much the plastic figure market had expanded since our Airfix days and how we both had a desire to return to simpler (and less expensive) days. We considered doing the Battle of Waterloo entirely with plastic figures. 

When we reconnected in 2014 it did not take long to resurrect old dreams. The wide range of plastic figures available spurred a lot of interest in a lot of periods and I re-entered the hobby with gusto.

For me, much of the joy was nostalgic. I realized that while I was not a collector per se back in the day I had become one now. Since our scale was 20-24mm plastics I began to fish around for 20-24mm metal figures to supplement my growing collections.

In the process I discovered HistoriFigs. HistoriFigs is Jack Scruby. The company is located in Baraboo, WI, not all that far from where I live. 

To make a long story short I got the itch to do some AWI Scubys. I ordered enough for a couple of units and they arrived in some of the fastest service I've ever received.

I recently finished one of the units. They are painted in what I would call the old minimalist style of toy metal soldiers. What I mean by that is there is little shading. The figures do not lend themselves to that style so I thought to paint them in the old style which meant solid colors with multiple coats\shades to give them a classical toy soldier look. 

Below are the pictures I took featuring my Scruby AWI unit. They are painted as the 21st Foot, a unit that participated in the Saratoga Campaign of 1777. 

I made one concession to what's available now. The flag bearer figure came with a a very thick flag pole and even thicker metal flag. Back in the day you painted your own flags and Jack Scruby apparently wanted to make sure you had a great unfurled thick surface to do your work!

I cut off the pole and flag and drilled a hole for brass. I then ordered flags from a little company in Great Britain called Maverick Models. Maverick will scale his flags to whatever dimension you desire and he is economical. I highly recommend Maverick for flags.

The unit was produced for the  Rebels and Patriots rule set. It is a large unit at 18 figures.

So, here are my Scruby's painted in the old style by an old guy!

I like the classic advancing pose with bayonets out and meaning business!

Yes, that is one grenadier in the rear rank!

The fence is from the Imex sets of accessories.

The cabin on the left is a Pegasus "Russian" hut but with a North American roof. Conversion by my friend Jim.

Simple figures with the old toy soldier look. I love um!

3d printed "cabin" but I like it as chicken coop. The chickens are old Airfix. I managed to get a old box of their farm animals on eBay that were not expensive.

Maverick Model flags for the 21st Foot AWI