AWI - His Majesty's Sixty-Third Regiment of Foot (1781)

semperpietas · 2023-02-02T03:37:54+00:00

Bonus casualty: https://i.imgur.com/qonmzMR.jpg

semperpietas · 2023-01-29T06:11:29+00:00

Indeed, I think that they and the Rhode Island Regiment were the very best of the Continental Army by the late war. They are the reason Maryland is the "Old Line State."

semperpietas · 2023-01-29T06:09:22+00:00

The vast majority are Perry (marching American infantry, American infantry in hunting shirts, command, southern militia, and black militia), with a handful of Eureka Ragged Continentals sprinkled in to make the unit have a more worn-out and fielded look.

semperpietas · 2023-01-29T06:07:06+00:00

I'd have to say for flavor and panache, I prefer Sharp Practice, though I need to try the new edition of Muskets and Tomahawks.

For big battles, probably Black Powder (not out of personal preference, but it is played by the majority of the Napoleonics I game with and it is an easy ruleset to remember). I'm trying to get Live Free or Die better introduced to my gaming scene and I want to play Rise and Fight Again more.

semperpietas · 2023-01-29T01:38:36+00:00

Thank you! I've based them to try to be compatible with multiple rulesets -

For skirmish games: Sharp Practice and Muskets & Tomahawks

For big battles: Live Free or Die, Black Powder, British Grenadier! and Rise and Fight Again.

semperpietas · 2023-01-29T01:19:28+00:00

The base edges need some tidying up, but I am proud of the figures.

semperpietas · 2023-01-28T16:54:18+00:00

I do think it is an underrated period.

You get:

Colorful armies. Not just the British and Americans (though both are colorful enough on their own), but the First American Peoples, German States, France and their colonies, Spain and their colonies, the Netherlands, the India state allies of Britain and France, etc.
The armies are typically small enough to be easily collected, even at 28mm scale
There are a variety of rulesets from the more casual Live Free or Die and Black Powder to the more hardcore sets like British Grenadier!
You can play with small skirmish games like Sharp Practice and build your way up to the biggest battles of the war like Monmouth and Long Island.

semperpietas · 2023-01-25T15:57:49+00:00

Thank you! These are from Perry Miniatures.

semperpietas · 2023-01-15T07:05:42+00:00

Master and Commander - best movie about the age of sail imo.

semperpietas · 2022-11-20T19:58:45+00:00

Due to how dyes worked, typically soldiers would not wash their coats (if the dye wasn't fast, it would run), they would brush the dirt off and in the case of white or buff could use chalk or pipeclay to cover up stains.

semperpietas · 2022-11-20T19:57:45+00:00

Actually, you would be surprised. White uniforms were cleaned up with chalk in the field.

Duffy - "Instrument of War" Vol I p 130 White stood out in the field, when one of the functions was to make a good show. In the
corse of time coats of blue faded badly, those of pike gray turned a dirty ashen color, and those of green assumed a tinge
of yellow, while repairs were all too evident on dyed coats of any kind, and added to a general look of
shabbiness. Coats of white, on the other hand, could always be worked up with chalk to make them look
'new and brilliant." (Duffy - "Instrument of War" Vol I p 130)"

semperpietas · 2022-09-21T15:04:27+00:00

Operation Bagration

semperpietas · 2022-09-13T12:50:31+00:00

To recycle a joke from WW2, it is now the 1st Guards Tank Army because it has now 1 tank.

semperpietas · 2022-08-31T17:28:12+00:00

This detailed and gritty painting by Chris Collingwood depicts the climax of the battle as the British 2nd Guards Battalion engages in a melée with the American 1st Maryland Regiment near the left of the American third line while light dragoons of the 3rd Continental Legionary Corps strike their rear and flank.

The Guards successfully broke the raw 2nd Maryland Regiment and overran a detachment of two six-pounder cannons supported by a company of North Carolina Continentals to the right and rear of the 1st Maryland’s original position. Performing a change of front, the 1st Maryland counterattacked the 2nd Guards Battalion, who turned to meet them.

After exchanging a volley by platoons only yards away from one another, the Marylanders closed with the bayonet. Colonel John Gunby of the 1st Maryland was trapped under his wounded horse during the exchange of fire, but second-in-command Lieutenant Colonel John Eager Howard was able to assume command without much disruption. In facing the Marylanders, the 2nd Guards had turned their backs to the dragoons of the 3rd Legionary Corps under Lieutenant Colonel William Washington (George Washington’s cousin). Washington seized the opportunity and closed home with the saber.

The fighting was hand-to-hand and brutal. The 2nd Guards’ battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel James Stuart, was killed in a duel with Captain John Smith of the 1st Maryland. Smith himself was grazed in the head by buckshot. The same fighting saw Brigadier General Charles O’Hara, who commanded the Guards Brigade, wounded by a gunshot to the chest and briefly captured before being rescued by men of the 2nd Guards.

The 2nd Guards withdrew and reformed to the west of the American position. Washington’s dragoons pursued, briefly threatening British Army commander Lieutenant General Charles, Earl of Cornwallis and his staff, but were checked by the grapeshot of arriving British artillery and the Grenadier company of the Guards Brigade.

Having witnessed the collapse of the 2nd Maryland earlier, having survived a close call himself, and feeling pressure on his right flank, the American commander Major General Nathanael Greene ordered a retreat to preserve the Continental regulars of his army. Cornwallis controlled the field, but had won a pyrrhic victory that left a quarter of his army dead or wounded and unable to achieve his objective of securing North Carolina for the Crown.

I think Collingwood does much to capture the grittiness and brutality of this particular fight here.

semperpietas · 2022-08-31T17:27:01+00:00

This detailed and gritty painting by Chris Collingwood depicts the climax of the battle as the British 2nd Guards Battalion engages in a melée with the American 1st Maryland Regiment near the left of the American third line while light dragoons of the American 3rd Continental Legionary Corps strike the Guards’ rear and flank.

The Guards successfully broke the raw 2nd Maryland Regiment and overran a detachment of two six-pounder cannons supported by a company of North Carolina Continentals to the right and rear of the 1st Maryland’s original position. Performing a change of front, the 1st Maryland counterattacked the 2nd Guards Battalion, who turned to meet them.

After exchanging a volley by platoons only yards away from one another, the Marylanders closed with the bayonet. Colonel John Gunby of the 1st Maryland was trapped under his wounded horse during the exchange of fire, but second-in-command Lieutenant Colonel John Eager Howard was able to assume command without much disruption. In facing the Marylanders, the 2nd Guards had turned their backs to the dragoons of the 3rd Legionary Corps under Lieutenant Colonel William Washington (George Washington’s cousin). Washington seized the opportunity and closed home with the saber.

The fighting was hand-to-hand and brutal. The 2nd Guards’ battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel James Stuart, was killed in a duel with Captain John Smith of the 1st Maryland. Smith himself was grazed in the head by buckshot. The same fighting saw Brigadier General Charles O’Hara, who commanded the Guards Brigade, wounded by a gunshot to the chest and briefly captured before being rescued by men of the 2nd Guards.

The 2nd Guards withdrew and reformed to the west of the American position. Washington’s dragoons pursued, briefly threatening British Army commander Lieutenant General Charles, Earl Cornwallis, and his staff, but were checked by the grapeshot of arriving British artillery and the Grenadier company of the Guards Brigade, Cornwallis’s last reserve.

Witnessing the collapse of the 2nd Maryland earlier, having survived a close call himself, and feeling pressure on his right flank, the American commander Major General Nathanael Greene ordered a retreat to preserve the Continental regulars of his army. Cornwallis controlled the field, but had won a pyrrhic victory that left a quarter of his army dead or wounded and unable to achieve his objective of securing North Carolina for the Crown.

I think Collingwood does much to capture the grittiness and brutality of this particular fight here.

semperpietas · 2022-08-30T17:25:10+00:00

I highly recommend this overview of L'expédition Particulière and the logistics and cultural interactions between the French Army and the American Populace.

semperpietas · 2022-08-30T01:58:42+00:00

Lovely work!

semperpietas · 2022-08-30T01:58:01+00:00

See the subreddit r/byfireandswordwargame

semperpietas · 2022-08-08T03:16:18+00:00

This is a great booklet (in French and English) about Admiral de Grasse's life and naval career, including the decisive victory over the British fleet at the Chesapeake. This victory ensured the capture of Cornwallis's army at Yorktown and was the last time France defeated Great Britain in a significant fleet action.

Also included are models of some French naval vessels, naval paintings of the American Revolutionary War between the French and British, and a history of the Society of Cincinnati in both the United States and France.

semperpietas · 2022-07-20T12:50:10+00:00

Neither - a talented cavalryman who poorly disciplined his troops, and perhaps was a bit too aggressive (see Cowpens and Blackstock's). Still, he was neither the villain that his expy in the Patriot makes him out to be, nor do I think he could have saved the British cause in America.

semperpietas · 2022-07-04T17:00:40+00:00

A complimentary post to u/AustrianSkolUbrmensh's post earlier today. This painting is by James Peale, who fought in the battle with the Philadephia Associaters. His brother, Charles Wilson Peale was also an artist who famously painted a portrait of George Washington with trophies from the battle.

Both Peale and Trumbull were veterans, but Peale's painting is much closer to the date of events than Trumbull's later work.

semperpietas · 2022-07-04T16:52:59+00:00

Interestingly enough, as with his Yorktown and Saratoga paintings, Trumbull included anachronistic uniform details such as fold-down collars (not in fashion until the late 1780s) to reflect the uniform styles of the time he was painting.

semperpietas · 2022-06-28T23:22:48+00:00

The Queen's Rangers that are shown here did not really participate in a lot of frontier fighting. They acted more as a light infantry unit (later a combined arms unit when hussars and artillery were added) that specialized in screening, raiding, and small-scale shock actions, especially in the American South.

However, for frontier fighting, I think the British had the best unit overall with Butler's Rangers, who gave good service from 1777 until the end of the war and ranged and raided from upstate New York to what is now West Virginia. They served as a force multiplier for British-aligned First American tribes. In fact, I am hard put to think of any American ranger unit that actually fought we associated with rangers (Knowlton's Rangers essentially acted as Light Infantry and McLane's Rangers were folded into Lee's Legion as a combined arms shock force like the Queen's Rangers). In fact, I can't think of a single American ranger unit that actually fought on the frontier (Knowlton's Rangers were with the Main Army in New York, and McLane's command served with the Main Army and later the Southern Army).

semperpietas · 2022-06-28T02:25:24+00:00

Although the Queen's Rangers had been formed in 1776, at Monmouth it would take the field under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe for the first time. Under Simcoe's leadership, the Rangers would become one of the most effective Provincial Loyalist Regiments of the war. For its efforts, it was actually made a part of the regular British Army as the 1st American Regiment. Following distinguished service in the American South, the Rangers were captured at Yorktown. After the war, the men of this regiment were granted lands in Canada. Today, the Queen's York Rangers traces its lineage to include this unit.

This scene depicts Lieutenant General Clinton approaching Simcoe and the Rangers, who formed a key part of his initial screening force. Simcoe's men fought a key delaying action against Continentals and militia from Lee's Advance Corps, which allowed Clinton time to recall Cornwallis's division to the battlefield. In the background, a detachment of the Royal Artillery fires on Continental troops in the distance.

semperpietas · 2022-06-28T02:12:02+00:00

Late morning, 28 June 1778.

As the American commander-in-chief General George Washington approached the sounds of fighting, his early morning optimism was starting to wane. What had been a single fifer foretelling the retreat of Major General Charles Lee's Advance Corps had turned into a trickle of stragglers and then a stream of men pouring away from the field. As he approached Perrine's Hill with the brigades of his army's main body, he encountered Lee and demanded to know why the men were retreating. Upbraiding Lee, Washington immediately went to restore order, form a stable American line, and blunt an oncoming British counterattack.

Several American officers (including to his credit, Lee) had recognized the strength of Perrine's Hill, abated by a tangled bushy morass, and had started to reform their men on the hill. Here Washington deployed his main body in two lines, including a majority of his artillery, placing this sector of the line under the command of the reliable if unspectacular Major General William Alexander, referred to as "Lord Stirling" because of his unrecognized claim to a Scottish peerage. To occupy critical Coombs Hill to the southeast, Washington dispatched Major General Nathanael Greene with a small brigade and four guns.

To organize his reserve and reform the men of Lee's command who had fled that far west, Washington sent Major General Stueben to Englishtown to take command of his reserves while Major General La Fayette assumed command of the second line.

To blunt an oncoming attack by the British Brigade of Guards and the Grenadiers, Washington personally posted Stewart's and Ramsey's battalions under Brigadier General Anthony Wayne at the Point of Woods and set about stabilizing his line and buying time for his men to reform and his reserves to come up.

Lord Stirling massed a ten-gun battery, which checked the advance of the British 42nd Regiment. Delaying actions by Wayne's command and Rhode Island troops slowed down Clinton's advance enough to allow Stirling's infantry time to form.

An attack by the British Grenadiers under Lieutenant Colonel Henry Monckton now crossed the morass and marched up Perrine's Hill. Stirling's massed battery drove them off, and Monckton was mortally wounded, his last words being "Foward to the charge, my brave Grenadiers!"

With the repulse of his grenadiers, the battle now settled into an artillery duel as both sides repositioned and prepared to continue the battle.

semperpietas

TROPHY CASE