43rd Regiment of Foot

The 43rd Regiment had a very long service history in North America during the American Revolution.  Its light infantry company was a part of Pitcairn’s expedition against Concord in 1775 and the entire regiment participated in the battle of Bunker Hill.  In 1776, the 43rd participated in the Long Island expedition.  The regiment then spent a few years garrisoning Newport, Rhode Island, where they defended it against a joint French-American attack.

2 units of Dundas's Brigade.  1 more to go...

General Sir Henry Clinton evacuated Newport, bringing the 43rd back to New York.  They remained in garrison in New York until April 1781, when they were sent to reinforce General Cornwallis' army in Virginia.  They arrived in Virginia just in time to play a major part in the battle of Green Spring (July 6, 1781).  As a part of Colonel Dundas's brigade, they ambushed Anthony Wayne's advance and inflicted heavy casualties on his brigade of Pennsylvanians (including the 2nd Pennsylvania http://redcoatsandruffles.blogspot.com/2016/04/2nd-pennsylvania-regiment-by-armies-in.html).

Of course the 43rd followed Cornwallis to Yorktown, where they were forced to surrender on October 19, 1781.  At the end of the siege, Banastre Tarleton records 1 captain and 11 rank and file of the 43rd missing, along with 10 killed and 18 wounded. [1]

At Yorktown, the 43rd Regiment also surrendered its King's and Regimental colours to the Americans, the most senior regiment to do so.  The 17th, 23rd, and 33rd colours disappeared.  Tradition speaks of the escape of the 23rd and 33rd colours, but is silent on the 17th.

Commodore Norrington (find him at http://redcoatsandruffles.blogspot.com/2019/12/commodore-james-norrington.html) begs leave to mention that these soldiers can also be placed under his command as a unit of marines.  No pirates or rebels will be able to stand before them!  He is disappointed, however, that these brave soldiers have not been granted the coveted title of "Royal Marines".  (This will happen in 1799, Commodore Norrington, so keep your chin up!) 

What does Norrington think of campaign uniforms?

Figures by Accurate (British Infantry Set #2 ) and A Call to Arms (American Maryland Infantry https://www.michtoy.com/item-CTA-010-Maryland_Infantry.html).  Both mix very well together.  Since the figures from Accurate had a mix of legwear (high gaiters and half-gaiters) and accoutrements sculpted, I decided to represent a slightly more "campaign" unit than the 80th.  Some have their hats cocked on one side, and some wear gaiter-trousers.  Painted with a mix of enamel and acrylic paints.

Notes

[1] History of the Campaigns in the Southern Provinces.  Banastre Tarleton.  https://archive.org/details/historyofcampaig00tarl/page/n477/mode/2up

Mounted Militia with rifle (Accurate)

In the Southern campaigns of the American Revolution, mounted militia was an asset to the Americans.  Unfortunately, figures to cover these men are few and far between.

After a significant amount of conversion work, I finally have my first mounted militiaman.   He used parts from three different figures.  His body and head were from an Accurate militiaman, but the standing legs were removed and replaced with mounted legs from a Marx Paul Revere.  The long rifle was trimmed from a stack of such weapons and added with a little sculpting of his right hand.

His horse is an excellently sculpted one from  Classic Toy Soldiers.


The checked shirt was fun to paint and helps him stand out on the tabletop.

Ready to patrol the woods for signs of British or Loyalist troops!

Militiaman Priming

This militiaman is a conversion from Accurate's "Militia priming" figure.  The original figure had a very distinctive face with beard and balding head.  I substituted a different head from All The King's Men, and turned it so that he was looking down his gun's barrel, rather than at his priming horn.  The result is a dynamic figure (at least in my opinion!) who is keeping his eye firmly on his enemy while he is loading.  With opponents like Tarleton's Legion, this is a good idea!

Figure by Accurate; head by All the King's Men; painted with Testors paints.

Militiaman from Mollo and McGregor (Accurate)

Classic book illustration meets miniature figure.

This militiaman is based on a plate from the classic Mollo & McGregor book Uniforms of the American Revolution.  The picture shows him just to the right of his namesake.



The original figure was an Accurate militiaman.  All Accurate figures have been a joy to paint due to their incredibly detailed sculpting.  Unlike some of my more involved and complex conversions (see https://redcoatsandruffles.blogspot.com/2017/10/militiaman-loading.html), I only made a few changes to this figure.  These were shaving the engraved motto "Liberty" off his cap, leaving it plain, and removing the tops of his gaiters to paint them as striped stockings.

Is he guarding a notorious Loyalist, or a cache of supplies?

This figure gives me a wonderfully versatile militiaman who looks equally at home in the North and South, who looks well-dressed, who can easily be plugged into an urban setting, and who is professional enough to be trusted with guard duty.

Figure by Accurate; painted with Testors and Michael's "Craft Smart" paints.

Militiaman Loading

This militiaman was closely copied from a figure in one of Don Troiani's paintings. The picture on the right shows the original painting and my miniature recreation.

This figure was heavily converted from the original figure from Accurate. Originally, the militiaman was waving his hat. After painting one of these figures, I used the other one to make the loading militiaman. The hat was cut from the hand and the arm was bent into position using heat. Due to failed attempts to bend the hand into a fist, I needed to sculpt a new hand onto him. The ramrod was created from a straight pin. The photo below shows a comparison of the original figure and my conversion.

And this is the finished result!  He makes an excellent addition to my American citizen soldiers.

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.

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.

Canadian Militiaman of the French & Indian War

While most of my painted figures come from the American Revolution, I have finally taken the plunge and embarked on a small collection of painted French & Indian War figures.  The figure in the picture is the first one completed, but there will be more to come.

This figure is a French-Canadian militiaman of the French & Indian War.  He wears a light-colored shirt like his Indian allies, but dons a knitted red cap like many other Canadian militiamen.  Armed with a musket, tomahawk and three knives, this man is ready to fight les Anglois.

Figure is originally from Accurate's American Militia #1.  I converted him by shaving his bushy beard, cutting off the fringe from his shirt.  I sculpted him a knit cap and three knives, as well as changing his British musket to a French one by adding barrel bands.  This means he is likely armed with a military musket, rather than a "trade gun."  Figure painted with Testors paints.

Mr. Richard Harrison

This figure is painted up as Richard Harrison, a local Loyalist leader who appears in the Christian movie Beyond the Mask.  Beyond the Mask is set in the world of the 1770s as tumult and war erupt in Great Britain’s North American colonies.  Mr. Harrison has no love for the rebels and recruits his friends to harass them and keep Philadelphia loyal to King George III.  This figure recreates one of his outfits.  To learn more about the movie, visit www.BeyondTheMaskMovie.com



The figure on the left is the original pose that eventually
became Mr. Harrison

The original figure was made by Accurate as a militiaman standing firing musket and required heavy conversion to become Mr. Harrison.  First I cut his musket away, then cut and repositioned his arm that was originally pulling the musket’s trigger.  I bent his other arm down by holding it under hot water and bending it until it had reached the desired pose.  Then I added a pistol from another Accurate figure and with a little sculpting (including adding a pair of boots), the figure was complete.

This outfit is worn by Mr. Richard Harrison when he is confronted by the rebel vigilante William Reynolds.  It consists of a matching set of tan waistcoat and breeches with a grey overcoat worn on top.  He carries a pistol in several scenes.  The original figure wore the cartridge box and powder horn and I left them so that Mr. Harrison can reload his pistol.  His hair was interesting and enjoyable to paint because it is sandy with streaks of grey.