Cornfields: WIP

"This place far excels in beauty any in the western country, and believed equalled by none in the Atlantic States.  Here are vegetables of every kind in abundance, and we have marched four or five miles in cornfields down the Oglaize, and there is not less than one thousand acres of corn around the town.(sic) "

 Lt. John Bowyer described these conditions at the Miami town of Auglaize on the march to Fallen Timbers in 1794.  The luxuriant cornfields he observed were typical of most large woodland Indian settlements encountered during campaigns on the frontier in the late 18th century. Maize in the fields were resource targets for Americans fighting those Indians.  General John Sullivan devastated the Iroquois in his summer campaign of 1779, burning thousands of acres of corn and forcing elements of the Six Nations across the Niagara and upon the kindnesses of the British for sustenance.

I decided that if I was going to do a hypothetical campaign on the Western frontier in the 1790's, I needed a big bunch of cornfields.  I didn't want to build just a big ol' cornfield to just plop down on the table and then store with difficulty.  Rather I wanted something I could morph into different shapes or scatter around, and remove bits of as it was destroyed.  I'd seen the very cool cornfields from BTC and reasoned I could make something like that for myself  at a more affordable price.

 I started with Litko bases.  I ordered fifty  40mm square bases.  These are heavy enough to hold the "corn" and not move around on the table top. $6.99, plus the ridiculous Litko shipping fee.  I also ordered ten packs of 12mm pine stems from This and That 4 Crafts.  Those are holiday craft items that look sort of cornish if you fiddle with them.  Ten packs of 15 pine stems was just over ten bucks with shipping. 

12mm pine stems from This and That 4 Crafts.  They were cheap, and the size was about right.  Also available in 20mm (refers to circumference) which seemed too large.  There would be lots of trimming. 

Litko bases and trimmed pine stem ready to go.  40mm worked for me.  That's the width of two individually mounted figures or one Regimental Fire and Fury base.

 Step one was to coat the bases with something that looked as a ground cover.  For the most part, the bases are going to be covered by the corn, so I'm mostly just after a quick cover with something that could be mistaken for earth.  I used Liquitex modeling paste because it's acrylic, dries fast, and can actually be mixed with paint in my little water cup, and easily applied to the base with a paint knife.  Because it's acrylic, I also believed it wouldn't shatter when I drilled holes in it, and I was afraid that wood putty would just disintegrate in chunks.  Can't have that. Liquitex products are available at Michaels and JoAnn fabrics.  Use their weekly coupons to cut the $12.99 bucket of modeling goo to a more reasonable cost.

I've used Liquitex modeling paste as basing material in the past.  It's easy to work with, dries fast, but isn't particularly cheap. However, I thought it was the best material for this project.

  Step two-I waited for the modeling paste to dry completely, and while I was doing so I began cutting the pine stems into lengths.  The stems have wound metal wire cores, but cut easily with hobby sized diagonal cutters.  I cut mine into 1 1/2 inch lengths.  It's best to remove some of the "corn" at the very base of your plant so the wire is completely exposed.  The stems get pressed pretty flat in storage and shipping, so it's best to twirl them in your fingers a bit and ruffle the corn, or your corn stalks will look pretty two dimensional. When you finally get around to gluing them in, you'll find some lengths are longer than other.  That's okay, not all corn stalks are equal in nature's plan. 

My first base ready to receive corn stalks. 

Step three, drill holes in your Litko bases.  I use a Dremel tool for drilling, with wee small bits, though finding the right size hole for the fairly significant sized stem wires was a trial.  I drilled nine holes in three rows and hoped the corn would literally fill the base. You might be able to do twelve stems to a base, but it would be awfully crowded.

Voila, a close up of corn fields.  There's more I could do if I wanted.  Paint some of the leaves yellow to look like corn ears, or finish the base edges with Woodland Scenics material.  I haven't decided. 

Step four, finally, glue your pine stems into the holes.  I make sure to remove some of the very bottom leaves to expose the wire and put a tiny drop of CA glue in the hole.  It usually sets up right away and you can move along.

I finished six squares of corn in a couple of hours of not very intense work.  I hope to have about forty squares or so which takes up a LOT of space on the board. This is the first of my terrain projects for Chickasaw Bluffs.

Cubbies!!

I finished up the '84 Cubs this week, just in time for our gift exchange tonight.  Again, these are the Reviresco baseball players.  I've written about them before.  I chose this team and this uniform, because I knew Tim would like them.  He's a Cubs fan, and this is the team that started him down that road I think. 

Cubbies from the front

Cubbies from the back.

 This uniform offered some challenges.  The figures come with a traditional button down uniform, some with very bloused pants and shirts, other with a very straight appearance.  Unfortunately you have to have a minimum number of players to play the game, so everyone needs to look pretty much the same. I painted over the button down detail and really tried to paint in detail needed to make the team look unique.  The Chicago logo on the front and the cub insignia on the sleeve took some doing.  I also painted in the numbers and names on the back.  They should be in red, but I just couldn't get them to stand out very well.  This is my first attempt at painting in the names.  I was only sort of successful.  Bowa was a lot easier to paint in than Sandberg because there's only so much room on the figure. Oh, well. 

On my painting table: gunners, ballplayers and Cavalcade Miniatures

Sometimes it's just hard to post.  It's not that I'm doing nothing, it's that my whole world is in process.

I've actually been painting my little (I wish) butt off.  Last weekend I finished painting up all those nice U.S. and Spanish artillerymen I wrote about.  They're finished, but the basing isn't done.  Not on all those silly American infantry either.  Why?

In the foreground are the Perry gunners.  Very nice, uncluttered figs.  In the back are the RSM Spanish artillerymen.  I'll get a final photo out when they are properly based.

Well it's the Christmas season dontcha know.  This year I've foolishly decided to paint some figures for two of my non-painting friends.  So as we hurtle toward next weeks's X-mas deadline I have to knock out twenty three 28mm figures. It's a lot but I'm making pretty good progress.

First on the list is 15 baseball players.  They are the last of my Reviresco baseball stash, and I wanted to paint them for my friend who is a big baseball fan.  He's equally divided between the Yankees of the Bronx Zoo era and those 80's Cubbies.  I decided to paint them up as the '84 Cubs that won the NL East title because I am an inveterate Yankees hater.  There was something very working class about that Cubs team, and I painted them up in their blue away pullovers.  There are some fiddly details on them that give the uniforms some character.  Should be finished with them tonight.

Tim's '84 Cubs from Reviresco.  The figs are pretty simple, and most of the detail has to be painted in.  Even so, every team I've painted has been fun. 

The other gift I'm painting is a batch of figures from Cavalcade Miniatures.  I first saw Cavalcade's French and Indian War figures on The Miniatures Page, and decided I needed an excuse to at least paint some.  I ordered a box each of the Rogers Rangers and French Marine figures.  The miniatures are all in serious winter dress and are wearing snowshoes.  The figures are quite nice with lots of detail  The muskets, in particular, are quite delicate and look very nice.  They are large and bulky in their heavy winter clothing, but anatomically consistent.  If I have a complaint it is that on a few figures the mold mark runs right down the miniatures' faces.  Though the flash is minor, on a couple of figures, removing this adequately was difficult.  They'll remain in queue behind the Cubs probably until Friday night.

In the queue are these Cavalcade French and Indian War figures on snowshoes.

The holiday vacation begins at 2:40 tomorrow.  You best believe I'll be blowing out on time and headed home to my painting table.  I have big painting plans for the break, and I'm hoping to get a lot done.

A Little of This and a Little of That

I wish I had something sexy to share like the hussars, but frankly things are going to be kind of uniform and boring for a bit.  I have painted, but not based, 18 American regulars for the project.  They were mostly figures I'd stripped and repainted.  The process was sloppy, and despite plenty of effort, I just didn't get all the gunk off from the previous paint and primer.  Thought I did . . .

OG Wayne's Legion figures.  They're awaiting basing-hopefully this weekend.  They actually look better than this-geez I hope so.

I also painted up my very last handful of usable Front Rank militia types, mostly command figures, and combined them with a couple of the Lewis and Clark figs to use with the militia masses I'll be calling into service at Chickasaw Bluffs.  I have an odd mix of figures to use for militia.  Lots of them are AWI figures from Front Rank and OG.  However, a fair number of them are from the Mountain Man range by Foundry.  I got them much cheaper than their present price, and they add some spice to volunteers out to chase off Indians and drive the Spanish of out of N'awleens. I need at least 80 figures in eight units for my planned scenario, and each unit needs command figures.  So I used the generic militia flags from Quindia studios to give them a bit of unit identification.  The flags turned out well-I really like them. Thanks Clarence.

A chance to show off my Quindia flags with my militia units.  I'll need about 80 militia figures in all for Chickasaw bluffs.

On my table right now is a bunch of artillery.  One of my purchases for this project were guns and gunners by the Perry brothers from their AWI range.  I've mostly painted the guns, and I've got to say I'm disappointed.  I've bought other guns from the same range, the six-pounders and crews for the Brits and the Americans and these were just lousy castings.  The gunners look great, but the guns look like the molds need cleaning.  These are the only disappointing miniatures I've had from them.  Just a simple Vallejo blue gray with a little gray dry-brushing before painting in the black hardware, Vallejo brass for the barrels, and then a follow up dry-brushing.  The odd gun is a Front Rank piece.  Not uniform with anything, I thought it might work as a militia-served piece.

Spanish guns in natural wood and American guns in blue-gray.  You can see the Perry gun carriage on the left is actually twisted.  Disappointing.

The other guns are from the RSM range now produced by Dayton Painting Consortium.  I can't say enough good things about these miniatures or DPC.  They were extremely easy to work with-great communicators for a small operation.  I'm really happy with the figures.  They have plenty of detail and love the elevating with the level figures.  My only beef is the figures,which came as a bagged set, create only three man crews, rather than the conventional four man crews.  I'll have to figure something out.

The RSM gunners by Dayton Painting Consortium are nice.  Not quite Perry nice, but cheaper and serviceable.

The guns, also RSM from DPC, are also nice.  The little three pounders are perfectly serviceable.  The twelve-pounders, while nicely detailed, seem undersized.  I can seem them as eight pounders, but the carriages and barrels should be larger.

More pictures when everything is done.

My Mississippi Project: Scenario One-The Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs

After a week away from the paint brush and chain, I've begun thinking about potential game topics for my Mississippi project.  One that came to mind first was the American effort to chase the Spanish out of the fortifications they were building on the east bank of the Mississippi River prior to the Louisiana Purchase (1803.) One such place was at Chickasaw Bluffs, built on a promontory at the mouth of the Yazoo River.  It was intended to command the river and control approaches to New Orleans.

I was considering a fairly terrain heavy game with some interesting game pieces.  Because the Spanish allied themselves with the Chickasaw, I am thinking about a Chickasaw village and stockade.  This reconstruction of an early 18th century village will help guide my thinking.

I generally avoid terrain-heavy games.  I know it adds a lot to the scenario, but my chief objection is the problem it creates in storage.  Even so I'm willing to take on the travails of building and tucking away the stockade, buildings and cornfields, the earthworks and encampments because it will look cool.

I've been giving some thought to the scenario itself.  The Americans will have five or so units of regulars and eight to ten units of militia troops, with artillery.  Maybe one unit of light dragoons or mounted riflemen, and some artillery  They'll be able to split their units between a direct land assault on the Chickasaw fortification and an amphibious assault with five or six units on up the bluffs on the Spanish artillery position.

The Spanish will defend with a unit of mounted cuera militia, three units of dismounted militia, and eight to ten units of Chickasaw warrior allies, plus some artillery.

Play it all on a 16 X 5 table.  It should work.  How much do I have to paint?  Not that much actually.  The Indians are already done, as are almost all the Spanish.  I need guns and gunners for both sides and the Americans are a ways away from being finished.  Plenty of time, however, to allow me to concentrate on building the terrain pieces.

From the Bookshelf: Midway and Guadalcanal

The primary activity that lured me into miniature wargaming was the reading I did as a kid.  Growing up in the 1960's, was a golden age for books about WWII and I read a lot of them.  That war seemed just a stones throw away.  The TV shows Combat and Twelve O'Clock High were drama staples.  Several of my friends had fathers who were WWII combat veterans.  And we were getting just far away from the war that we could laugh with McHale's Navy and Hogan's Heroes.

I was reading the abridged Official Marine Corps History of World War II, Incredible Victory by Walter Lord, and Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan by Mitsuo Fuchida.  These were books that revealed the disasters and triumphs of Japan and America in the Pacific and opened my eyes to the suffering and struggle of those who fought there.  Oops, left out The Two Ocean War by Samuel Eliot Morrison.  I read my little paperback so many times, it literally fell apart.

Forty years later and there are generations of new books about those same campaigns and battles, seen with new information and fresh eyes.  Neither of the books I'm about to recommend are brand new, hot off the shelf.  The Shattered Sword:  The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway was published in 2005, but does offer a completely different version of Midway than was told before.  James Hornfischer's book, Neptune's Inferno is new this year.  It's not so much that the story hasn't been told, it's the quality of the telling that makes it such a great read.

Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully's Shattered Sword is a remarkable analysis of the June 1942 carrier victory that halted Japanese expansion in the Central Pacific.  It is an interesting revision of the story that's always been told.  Parshall and Tully systematically dismantle old perceptions of the battle based, largely, on Fuchida's book, written in the 50's. Together, they submit a picture of the battle that is very Keeganesque in its approach.  In their analysis of the Japanese battle plan and its execution they examine philosophy, doctrine, and decision-making as well as a step by step look at the "battle piece."  If you read military history for analysis of those decisions, this is the book for you.

Without giving too much away, Parshall and Tully deconstruct the Fuchida story, suggesting the Japanese battle plan went way past the "victory disease" affliction he and others have attributed to Yamamoto and other planners.  He further suggests that the Americans, with their sizable air corps on unsinkable Midway Island, combined with their three carrier aircraft outnumbered the Japanese planes available.  Yamamoto's failure to include all six fleet carriers in his attack was a major failing.  Deconstructing the battle moment, by moment, they state Fuchida's contention the Japanese flight decks were full of armed planes at the time of the American attack was a fiction, that they were being armed below decks in the hangars, and were not "spotted" or being rushed to the flight deck for launch.  They devote much time at the end of the book to point fingers, and there are plenty to go around Japanese and American.  Very readable and very interesting.

Yesterday I finished reading James Hornfischer's most recent book, Neptune's Inferno.  Focused on the naval actions at Guadalcanal, the book has earned mixed reviews for offering little new on the topic.  Hornfischer's previous books were Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, on the Battle off Samar at Leyte Gulf, and Ship of Ghosts on the U.S.S. Houston.  Last Stand is one of the best books I've ever read, period.

In Neptune's Inferno, Hornfischer takes on a more expansive topic, focusing on the six month naval campaign to supply and support the Marines on Guadalcanal.  From the planning to the actions at Savo Island, the East Solomons battle, Cape Esperance, Santa Cruz, the night actions of Nov. 12-14th, and the disaster at Tassafronga, Hornfischer paints a gruesome picture of war at sea.  From both a sailor's view, and from a commander's eye, we get a look inside this desperate struggle in the Pacific as the United States wrested naval dominance from the Japanese at a terrible cost.

As a casual reader of World War II topics, I learned a lot.  The real strength of this book, however, is Hornfischer's gift for narration.  Regardless whether there is lots new here or not, the author's storytelling ability helps the reader understand the subject in bolder relief than before.

Week from hell at an end?

Some weeks are just harder than others.  Three weeks ago I saw the coincidence of two incredibly demanding activities--JagWire was going to be on deadline the same week as student conferences.  It was not a good nexus.  After the Museum of Flight get together last Saturday, I foresaw only doom. 

Deadline started last Thursday, so I was at school until 9:00.  Then this week there has been no time at school earlier than 8:30.  Combined with my usual bouts of sleeplessness, it's been a hard week.  The good news is that I picked up the paper yesterday for distribution this morning, so that's good, right?

Unfortunately I went out to get ready to come to school this morning.  My car wouldn't start.  So much for a restful evening of painting Wayne's Legion figures

Texas Hussars: Done at last

The Texas Hussars clearly showing off their shields

I guess it didn't take that long to complete them, but the Texas Hussars are finished.  I painted the adarga's black, as the Murillo prints showed, and the Spanish coat of arms as with the sabretache.  I may go with the blue on the cuera lancer.

More from the front

Frankly, I'm pleased.  They look nice and were relatively easy to build and paint.

Close up of the officer figure, clearly showing the adarga, or apple shaped shield

Texas Hussars: carbine and adarga

Well, these are almost finished.  There are only two bits left to do:  the carbine and adarga, or apple shaped shield.

View from front right quarter.  The pants are highlighted, and the sword and hands are painted.  You might be able to make out facial detail

I'm taking a quick break from cutting the shields from .010 thickness styrene because it's tedious and I'm tired of it.  It also lets me take some updated pics of the Hussars so you can see the almost finished versions.

Front view of the horsemen

Texas Hussar officer.  He has silver lace as well as trouser markings. 

 After swapping an e-mail with Doug Hamm in B.C., I decided to go ahead with the adargas.  I was up in the air at first because honestly, based on the pictures I have it wasn't clear this shield was used.  The Murillo watercolors clearly show a round shield.  Second, it was unclear I had enough room for the shields.  However, Doug was right when he said the apple shaped shield defined the appearance of this unit.  Unfortunately the location of the pelisse over the left arm precludes mounting it on the hussar, so I'll have to place it on the left sheepskin where holsters would be located.

This illustration of a cuera lancer convinced me to go ahead and paint the adarga for the hussars.  My shield will be mounted in the same position.

 Doug suggested cutting a template and tracing out the design, which I did.  I cut and filed a way a small hunk of .040 styrene and used it to trace out on the much thinner plastic.  It's done the trick, though I still have some work to do.

Shields cut from thin styrene and carbines await my attention.

The carbines are awaiting my attention, but that won't happen until the shields are cut and the backs are painted.

Texas Hussars WIP pt. 2

I've made a lot of progress on my hussars.  They are to the point now where at least they look like hussars.  The dolman was tricky with it's looped braiding.  It's possible to make those loops pretty thick, but I wanted to allow the vermillion to show through.  I did highlight the Dolman, but not light enough.  It's one of those tight-fitting pieces without a lot of folds, so there's not many natural spots to lighten.  The buttons are Natural Silver by Vallejo.  I like Vallejo's metals very much, though they can get pretty thick and goopy with age.

The hussar's belt is Vallejo Vermillion and Vallejo Dark Blue, highlighted with lightened versions of each.  I used Ceramcoat white on all the belting and lace.  It concerns me a bit, because it doesn't cover real well, but I think it looks okay.  The trousers are Vallejo Blue Gray.  I haven't highlighted them yet, but I hope to do so tonight.

According to the Murillo picture and the other photos I posted, the Texas Hussars did not have a sabretache.  I should have cut it off but I didn't, and it's a little late now. I opted instead to decorate it with the arms of Spain.  It's small and looks alright.

I don't have a ton o of things to do.  Tonight I should be able to finish highlighting the trousers, paint and detail the hands and sword, and probably paint the faces.  That leaves me two challenges:  the carbines and shields. I should have left the carbines on the sprue to paint them, but no-dopey me.  I'll probably paint the base brown before gluing them to the belt and swivel.  Then have at it.  The shields are difficult.  I don't want to cut ten round shields from sheet plastic.  I know I'll get them wrong.  I've got some ancient shields that I'll dremel the bosses from, but the hard part is sticking them to the figures.  I've thought about just gluing them to the valises on the left rear, but I doubt they'll stay.  I've also considered trying to drill in a pin, but that will make a major mess.  I've even considered leaving off the shield altogether; they aren't right, they would need some sanding to get the "apple" shape.  But the shield is part of the charm of the Texas Hussar.  You'll see what I come with in my next entry.

Taking Stock

It is the last day of October, and addition to answering the doorbells for trick or treaters, I thought it might be worthwhile to review the month just completed as well as the year in terms of projects and purchases.

 Frankly, I find this to have been a productive year for a number of reasons.  I'd just like to focus on expense for a minute.  Three or four years ago I spent money on figures like a drunken sailor.  They might have been figures I might eventually have an interest in painting, but I basically just stockpiled figs.  Mostly they were OG figures I ordered through my membership in the OG Army.  I stockpiled huge numbers of Hundred Years War figures, American Revoltion Figures, War of 1812 figures.

 Two years ago that all changed.  I stopped using credit, and began paying cash for everything.  I'm in the credit card users protection program.  This year I've bought few figures, often using Christmas and birthday cash to buy the figures I needed.  No purchases on spec, all purchases directed at a particular project.

 At the same time I've been able to reduce some of my figure stocks.  I painted all of my 15mm Jacobite project in August, with the exception of some of the very cool baggage that go with them.  I finished all of the American Revolution figures I picked up for my Hobkirk's Hill game.  Though I still have figures to paint for AWI, and will also buy minis for future battles, they can wait until I'm ready.

I've also taken on two projects this year.  The first was my Sluys battle.  I still think of this as Sluys round one.  I learned a little bit about the period-though not as much as I'd like-and put together two fairly representative fleets.  David Manley's medieval naval rules also provide for some single ship battles and I'd like to build another round of ships to make use of them effectively.  It's a low cost, high labor activity, but I think I'm up to the challenge.

Finally, there are my Mississippi projects.  This is really a labor of love that can cover the Spanish-American tensions as well as Fallen Timbers.  I've purchased a fair number of figures for this project.  The Perry hussars I'm currently working on, the cuera foot, horse and Spanish artillery from the Dayton Painting Consortium are waiting to be painted.  That's about 45 figures.  I also have American dragoons and mounted militia to paint, plus regular infantry, militia foot, and artillery to paint for about 120 figures.  I also have about 80 unpainted Indians I would love to finish, but I have 100 or so painted figures, so they aren't exactly necessary to the project.

So that means I need to paint 165ish figures with some 80 figures optional.  Plus terrain pieces, plus deciding on a set of usable rules.  I'm thinking Brother Against Brother with some modifications for cavalry.

I envision running at least one scenario using the Mississippi figures at Enfilade.  That means figures need to be pretty much wrapped up by early April in order to playtest games before the convention.

WIP: The Texas Hussars

My Mississippi Project is going to require a fair amount of painting for both side.  Foot, horse and guns-maybe 200 figures between now and Enfilade.  (Really?  What am I thinking?) Of those, 50 figures are mounted.  I've purchased all of them and they're just awaiting paint.  The Americans have twenty mounted militia from OG, and ten light dragoons also from OG.  The Spanish have ten of the mounted cuera from Dayton Painting Consortium and ten of the Texas Hussars based on the Perry Brothers plastic French Napoleonic hussars.

The Perry figures have the virtue of providing several different head choices, so it was possible to pick the mirliton shako worn by early French hussars.  The pieces fit well and and aren't ambitiously fiddly.  I've finished all the horses and am working on the riders.

I started by assembling all the bits-horses and riders and shooting them with white primer.  I chose my horse colors carefully.  All the colors are Delta Ceramcoat or Vallejo.  All colors received a drybrush highlighting followed by a dark wash.  The sheepskins are ivory washed with a grey-brown. I chose Vallejo's vermillion for the colored points and the valises, and trimmed them in Prussian blue.  The bridles, strapping etc were all in Ceramcoat black with a quick highlight of charcoal.  I found the horses to be fairly simple to do.

Right now I'm wrapped up with the riders, which are a bit more challenging.  Face it, hussars are pretty busy and the challenge is to remain patient enough to finish them.

Thus far I've focused on finishing their shakos and pelisses.  I painted the base coat of the dolman Vallejo vermillion.  Then I painted the pelisse Vallejo blue gray, highlighting with Vallejo azure.  Then I did the fur edging in Ceramcoat spice brown.  I decided to give the pelisse white lining, but because I wanted good coverage I used Vallejo foundation white. I worked for a while on the pelisses, but finding them fairly tedious I took time to do the shakos.  I stayed with a basic black, avoiding the red wing in one of the examples.

That's where they stand today.  I hope to have the pelisses finished tomorrow, and move on to the dolman.

Ramon de Murillo and the Texas Hussars

Ramon de Murillo was a citizen of New Spain.  In 1804, according to historian Jesus de la Teja, Murillo sent a letter to King Charles IV's foreign minister, Manuel de Godoy offering his analysis of Spain's frontier forces in New Spain.  Murillo claimed six years experience as a cadet at the desk of the Interior Provinces as well as service in several Indian campaigns.

De la Teja published his analysis of Murillo's letter as well as the letter itself on the web.  Those with an interest in Murillo's proposal to modernize frontier forces in the Spanish borderlands. Murillo was highly critical of the cuera horsemen, their armament, their dress and their appearance.   The lance was too easily broken, though the shield was still valuable because it protected the horse and rider from Indian arrows.  The leather jacket, literally the cuera, was unsightly and too long.

Murillo, clearly influenced by Napoleonic military fashion proposed troop types to supplant or at least bolster the cuera militia.  First he recommended the cuera reduce their leather vest from thigh length to waist length. Murillo also suggested a reorganization of the presidial units defending the Spanish frontier.

Murillo's cuera with shortened leather jacket and leather leggings.  For all his complaints, the lance  is retained.

Finally, Murillo offered two new troop types to supplant or complement the existing militia units defending the borderlands.  First he suggested the cuera companies be replaced by a chasseur unit.  Though I am unable to provide a picture of this unit, it is it is depicted in Murilla's own watercolor on pg. 507 of the Teja article. These were to be deployed in "flying companies."  However the jewel of Murilla's reorg was to be, what he described as the heavy cavalry unit, the Texas Hussars or Usares de Tejas. I've provided several pictures of the Texas Hussars from a variety of sources, including the Murillo watercolor.

54mm figure of a mounted Texas Hussar.  The base colors are in agreement with the images that follow.  Red or scarlet Dolman with light blue pelisse and light blue trouser.  Sword and shield are deployed with carbine present.

The shield is round, unlike other depictions in modern modeling examples.  They have more of the "apple" or heart shaped shield similar to the genitor light horse of the middle ages.

I am presently working on the Texas Hussar, using the Perry French Hussars.  I'll provide you more of a play by play of their painting as they near completion.  Suffice it to say I like these miniatures very much.

Murillo's own watercolor of the Texas hussars, very similar to the example above and those that follow. 

The Texas Hussar found on a Spanish web forum.  The blue is darker, the pelisse fur is black and the "wing" of the mirliton shako is red. 

Another miniaturist's version of the Texas Hussar. 

It is unclear whether the Texas Hussars ever took the field.  Some sources say they served from 1803-05, but that would be a year before Murillo's letter to Godoy.  They are, to say the least beautifully uniformed and accoutered. However, as Teja points out, under-resourced, it is likely they would have devolved into a condition similar to the cuera: practical uniforms with practical equipage and armament according to their need.

My Mississippi Project: Defending the Spanish Border

In 1783 the United States and Spain were allies, two of the signatories of the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution.  The United States won its independence and  the vast lands west of the Appalachians to the Mississippi River.  If they could wrest them from their Indian inhabitants.  Spain won the Floridas from Britain, together with its port of Pensacola.  If they could stave off their weak but potentially dynamic young ally.

The Louisiana Regiment was  one of the few regular Spanish formations in North America.

Fast forward 15 years. By 1797 thousands of settlers poured over the Appalachians into Kentucky and Tennessee.  The American army, through stumbles and disasters, conquered a peace with the Indians.  Productive farms in the Ohio valley, unable to get their goods over the Appalachians sent it by flatboat to the Mississippi and from there to New Orleans, where it was sold or trans-shipped to the Atlantic coast or Europe.   Or not.

The stumbling block was Spain.  The Spanish controlled New Orleans, the Floridas and Mexico.  They were determined to keep the Americans, rapidly expanding west, out of Spanish territory.  To do that they established military posts on the west side of the Mississippi, established posts at Natchez and Chickasaw Bluffs on the east side of the Mississippi (against the terms of the Treaty of Paris) and made peace overtures to the powerful Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians in the Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama regions. They put oared gondolas on the Great River with orders to inspect and obstruct traffic headed to New Orleans.

Chickasaw warrior.  The Spanish made alliance with many native tribes to deter invasion by the Americans.

The Spanish empire bordering American territory was enormous.  To garrison it, the Spanish depended on a few European troops augmented by colonial militias.  The system of presidios, or military posts, was systematized in New Spain by the 1770's as was the number of cuera or presidial militia.  These soldiers were intended largely to defend the frontier from Louisiana to New Mexico, chiefly against Apache and Comanche indian attacks.  Armed with the escopeta, a short musket or shotgun, sword, lance and shield, they were deemed to be effective against clubs, lances and arrows wielded by indigenous warriors. Their clothing featured a knee length leather vest, heavy enough to turn aside many of these weapons, much like the buff coats worn by Cromwell's Ironsides. As more of the indians were armed with trade muskets from English traders, they posed a greater challenge for the cuera.

In order to maximize their troop strength to deal wit a potential American conflict the Spanish made alliances with various Indian tribes.  In order to preserve approaches to New Orleans, the Spanish enlisted the aid of Chickasaw warriors.  To the west, the Spanish were on friendly terms with the Comanches, and included some of their number in the expedition to intercept Lewis and Clark.

Traditional Cuera soldier that served in the Spanish borderlands.  This  illustration  shows  the subject with lance, shield and musket.  He is equipped with a thigh-length leather jacket. 

'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'

Today is the feast of St. Crispins, the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt is 1414.  For those of us who cherish the Hundred Years War, it is a day to be remembered.  I can honestly say (and I have several times on this blog) that John Keegan's account of the battle in The Face of Battle remains one of my most important motivators to continue in miniature gaming and particularly the Hundred Years War. 

Of course another important motivator was the fine Kenneth Branagh movie version of Henry V.  The stirring St. Crispin's Day speech remains one of the finest monologues in all of Shakespeare.  You can find it here.

My Mississippi Project: American Service Dress 1792-1807

My Mississippi Project took a brief detour as I took a couple of weeks to work on figures for an upcoming Martian game. Before my trip to Mars however, I painted the fifteen unpainted Wayne's Legion figures I still had hanging around.  For some reason, I thought I had more, but no such luck.  I looked everywhere and dope-slapped myself when I realized I'd painted some of them for War of 1812 Virginia militia.  Doh!

Old Glory Wayne's Legion Line skirmishing.  Quite serviceable figures though the necks often seem a bit too long.  Posing with muskets is also a bit dicey.

A few of these figures sport the blue wool winter service trousers.  They would serve well as American infantry from 1792-1810

One might wonder why the heck Virginia militia would be dressed similar to Wayne's Legion, whose uniforms were designed in 1792.  The fact of the matter is that American uniforms changed very little from the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 up until the eve of that other great Indian fight nobody knows anything about, the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.

Though the uniform went through several permutations, the uniform of the period was adopted with Congressional authorization of the Legion of the United States in 1792. Built on the wreckage of the army butchered at the Battle of the Wabash, the Legion was composed of four sub-units, each of 1,280 composed of dragoons, artillery, light infantry, and line troops.  Wearing a distinctive round hat with bearskin crest, each of the four sub-legions wore red facings, but distinctive markings-a colored hat band and plume.

1792 Regulation Uniforms.  Note the colored plume and hat band of the sub-legion.  They would be gone with the passing of the Legion.  Note the knee length coat. Charles McBarron illustration

After the victory at Fallen Timbers in 1794 and the triumphant Treaty of Greenville in 1795, Congress downsized the army and eliminated the Legion, reducing the army from 5,120 to 3,000 troops, discarding the light troops and forming the remainder into four regiments.  These regiments dressed alike with red facing and those troops wearing white bearskin crests changed to dark crests.

Though the uniform went through the minor changes, such as the addition or subtraction of lace here and there, and the lengthening and shortening of uniform coats allowing turnbacks or not, the United States infantry changed its dress very little.  The round hat with bearskin crest became the standard headdress for infantry and artillery, with the cavalry wearing a Tarleton helmet.

Later dress.  The infantryman wears blue trousers as part of his winter dress.  The green dragoon uniform is evident.  From MAA 352 by James Kochan and David Rickman.

There was one major  change during this time and that was for dragoons.  In 1799 they adopted green uniforms, mostly through the work of a contractor waiting on authorization from the War Department.  In 1801, the dragoons were unhorsed and became foot soldiers unless mounted troops were required.  A cost saving measure.  In 1808 the dragoons received another new uniform, this time blue with white trim and a helmet similar to those worn in the War of 1812.

In 1810, with the country preparing for war, the infantry received altogether new uniforms, one familiar to War of 1812 buffs.  They would see use in the victory at Tippecanoe and the embarrassment of Queenston Heights.

Making the Most of My In Service Days: Thursday Live Blog

It's darned early, 5:03 AM.  I have today off, courtesy of my principal, the much revered Brian Lowney and the Puyallup School District.  October 6th and 7th are district and state in-service days.  In the old days we had these days off to participate in teacher trainings offered by districts state wide.  Now they're pretty much used for catching up or taking a break after the first month of school.

I plan to use my day mostly for painting little men, so I'll keep you posted throughout the day on what I get done.  Warning*: this will be live blogging, little snippets of info, hopefully accompanied by pictures as the day goes along.  It will also be largely unfiltered.  I'll mix in various other activities as the day goes along.

5:10 My day begins with our pets.  15 year old cat Daphne, mini-Australian shepherds Jack and Lucy, nine and ten respectively get fed and then I take the dogs for a walk.  Nothing long, about 15 minutes in our development.  It's been pissing rain the last 24 hours, but I managed to get them out in between most of the raindrops.  It's dark, so picture taking is out (besides my iPhone is charging and my pics will be with my phone today. Probably.) After we get back and dried off a bit, I'll settle in to read and maybe a nap until Lorri heads off to work at7:00.  I've been a bad sleeper for a number of years now and the best I can manage is 6 1/2 or so hours per night.  Last night was worse than usual.  Pretty wakeful after 2:30 and wide awake at 4:00.  Definitely a nap in the cards.

For now I'm going to read An Artist in Treason by Andro Linklater .  It's a biography of James Wilkinson, general in the American Army during the Revolutionary War, but more importantly in the period from 1784-1813 or so.  It is a 2009 biography about one of the most extraordinary rascals in American history, and covers the era of my Mississippi project.  It's a very accessible work about Wilkinson's role as a spy for the Spanish during this critical era.

7:25 Emerged from the shower to howls of protest from Daphne, the dogs had their daily savaging of her food from her dish.

Today I have two chief goals.  The first is to finish basing the Space 1889 Martian swordsmen and Wayne's Legion figures I have on my desk.  You can see them here.  I used wood putty on their washers and Litko bases respectively as build-up.  Shouldn't be a big job.  I'll write more about them later.  The Wayne's Legion figures are from Old Glory's range.  Serviceable despite some errors.  The Martians are from RAFM.

I also want to finish painting the big critters. These are Gashants, riding beasts of Mars, again from RAFM.  I really like this particular version of the Gashant.  They appear large and fierce.  They are the mounts for some Martian native light horse, er, native light gashant, um, irregular mounted forces.

10:10  I'm off to run some errands--library and a haircut.  Worked on my Gashants while watching Khartoum.  Definitely one of my favorite movies.  I worked hard to even out the color on the critters.  They've been washed at least three times now.  First with a lighter color, then a darker shade of the base color, then with a black wash.  Started on the horse furniture, er you know what I mean.

 

2:00 Got back from my errands had some lunch and plugged in The Outlaw Josey Wales.  Probably my favorite Western and definitely my favorite Eastwood.   I've worked for about an hour adding details to the Gashants.  Painted their beaks, saddles and reins, their head armor in addition to blanket rolls and strapping.  Probably another hour's worth of work to go.  Unfortunately I have to take a break to make the dog's food (long story,) and clean up the kitchen. 

5:05 I've finished the Gashants and the basing for the Martian swordsmen.  I'm getting dinner ready which will keep me busy for a while.  

 8:30  Finished basing all the figures, and I'm probably ready to call it a night.  Maybe read for a bit, and check back in with finished figures tomorrow.

Useful Blogs--or at least I think so.

I have a couple of blogs I'd like to plug.  First is the Quindia Studios blog by Clarence Harrison.  Harrison has great pics of his work, and keeps us up to date on his League of Augsburg project.  But I confess I got there for only one reason.  Flag Mondays. Each Monday Harrison posts a useful flag for the American War of Independence.  Though he has plans to do British flags, he's mostly sticking with American banners.  American flags are tough because little is know about them for certain.  He's created beautiful flags for those units he is certain about, as well as those he's hypothesized for.  He also has some gorgeous national banners.  Every Monday.  I've downloaded 21 of them, and now all I have to do is make use of them.

Clare Harrison's Stars and Stripes variants.

Another blog I've taken to following belongs to Doug Hamm.  I've written a little about Doug before.  He is my good friend from Surrey, B.C. who often prods me about my lack of blog posts.  Doug has recently introduced his own blog, Dots of Paint.  Doug is a wonderful painter, certainly the fastest painter I've ever known and he is a master of the black primer paint system.  He has some fabulous projects he's created--a mammoth War of 1812 collection, a very nice pile of figures for the First Jacobite Rebellion, some very nice French and Indian War figures and many other explorations in other periods.  I'm sure he'll have some interesting things to say and share. Yes the Battle of Smythville does seem to have borrowed my name, which I'll try to understand at a later date.

These aren't French Napoloeonics, they are Plauche's New Orleans militia battalion from the Battle of New Orleans.  Doug Hamm has cornered the market on War of 1812, the interesting and the uninteresting.