The rifleman standing firing is from Accurate American Militia #1, and the rifleman running is an Ideal recast. I sculpted the roundhat turned up one one side for the Accurate figure. Both are painted with Testors paints.
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Riflemen
These two figures are militia riflemen in the service of Virginia. One wears an olive-drab hunting shirt, while the other is dressed in a tan waistcoat and olive breeches. They both carry long Pennsylvania rifles. Lafayette's army during the Virginia campaign of 1781 included a unit of frontier riflemen.
Because the rifle lacked a bayonet, a rifle-armed unit was at a serious disadvantage when confronted with a musket-armed unit, which had bayonets. To overcome this difficulty, riflemen were commonly paired with bayonet-equipped troops. The riflemen could begin to inflict casualties on the enemy, while the musket-armed infantry would defend them with their bayonets against a sudden enemy rush. Both the Americans and the British used these tactics, for the British had rifle-armed German Jaegers.
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