Finished at last:: Coffin's Provincial Light Dragoons and Other Hangers On

Actually I'm showing off three units.  The first is the light dragoon regiment.  Like most cavalry units in the southern AWI, it's a small unit.  It represents 80 men, which is pretty typical for the war in general and the campaign in particular.  Horses were hard to come by, and once procured, i.e. stolen from a partisan for the opposite side, they could be difficult to feed.  Both Americans and British complained about shortages of horses and keeping adequate mounts.

 Coffin's light dragoon unit is a loyalist formation.  I've painted these figures based on the notion they were actually a South Carolina loyalist unit, perhaps raised from the South Carolina Royalist infantry regiment.  There seems to be little or no information about the unit on line.  However, after I inquired on TMP, the most reliable information was that they were red, faced yellow.  They wore light dragoon caps, beyond that not much is known.  I used figures I got in a trade from Doug Hamm.  The riders are Front Rank, and they are very nice figures. The horses are a bit of a mix.  Some Front Rank and maybe some Dixon mounts.

I've had these on my mostly cluttered painting table for two months.  I like 'em but I'm sure glad their done.

The flag is totally apocryphal.  Flags, as you know, for AWI are bit of a hit and miss effort.  Brits we usually know pretty well because, well, they're British with a long regimental history in most cases, and there is a clear record of their standards.  Provincial units, unless they were taken on the British rolls after the war are pretty dicey.  I chose the yellow standard to match the facings and gave them a GR cypher inside the gartered emblem.  I added simple crescent and palmetto devices.  I also chose a standard over a cavalry banner because many irregular units-militia and yeomanry in Great Britain-seemed to have small (32" square) banners.

Coffin's regiment was present at Hobkirk's Hill and Eutaw Springs.  They did some fighting at Hobkirk's, trying in vain to capture the American artillery when Greene's infantry broke.  They were charged by William Washington's dragoons and driven off.  At Eutaw Springs Coffin's cavalry led the British counter-attack when all American troops fell into confusion as they looted the British camp.

 The second unit is the battalion of convalescents at Hobkirk's Hill.  It was a temporary formation composed of invalids in the hospital at Camden but were well enough to fight. The invalid battalion was in Rawdon's second rank at the battle, and little is said of their specific performance at the battle.

 My unit is composed of Perry figures in southern dress, but retain their cuffs and facings colors.  This actually works for them because they would have been composed by men from many different units.  Their flag is simple union standard with no regimental designations.  Simply a flag to align themselves on.

 The last unit is the Queens Rangers.  I've actually photographed these before.  Doug Hamm painted these, and I acquired some from him last year in our Enfilade deal.  However, over the summer he painted up a few more bases and now my Q.R. unit is a more useful six stands of troops.

 I'm taking a bit of a break from AWI and will painting about 50 figures for my Space 1889 project.  I'll show the painted Indians and Martian askaris over on my Shastapsh blog when they are done.  Should go fast.  How long does it take to paint and wash a bunch of khaki?  After these are done, however, I'm kind of up in the air about what comes next.  I have just the New York Volunteers and some artillery to paint for Hobkirk's Hill, and then I'd also like to paint up the South Carolina Royalist Dragoons that defended Charleston.  Maybe them, but we'll see.

All pictures were taken with my silly phone camera, 'cause honestly it's just a lot easier to work with it. Rumor has it Santa is bringing me photographic reinforcements.