Kentucky Mounted Rifles

Another unit I finished painting but didn't get mounted before I left on vacation was a pack of ten Kentucky mounted rifles from Old Glory.  These are from the Mad Anthony Wayne's Legion range, and featured prominently in Wayne's campaign that ended at Fallen Timbers.  However, these troop types likely would have featured prominently in any late 18-early 19th century conflict in the American west.  Offering the advantages of speed and dismounted rifle fire, they would have appeared in a conflict with Spain, or if there had been some kind of military action tied to the Burr Conspiracy.

The Old Glory figures aren't special.  The riders are relatively simple and easy to paint.  They do have the virtue of sitting their horses properly without a lot of filing, sanding or drilling, which is not true of many OG mounted miniatures.  The horse are adequate.  While this doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, they do fit the bill and at a per figure cost of $3.50 are quite reasonable.

At the present time, I am wrapping up some more Wayne's Legion infantry, but I've written about them before.  These are mainly unit fillers for my Mississippi project.  Ideally I'd like three companies or twelve 12 figure units.  This brings me up to about seven and a half.

Also on my painting table are a couple of Knuckleduster War of 1812 units.  First up, and currently underway is the U.S. Marines at Bladensburg.  I hope to have something up about these guys by early next week if not earlier.  The second unit is the Knuckleduster version of the Maryland militia.  I will paint them as Annapolis militia, not that I know what Annapolis militia looks like or how it's different from the 5th Maryland.

Mindless painting

I have a couple different units-er, perhaps groupings of figures would be more accurate-on my painting table.  I'm presently actively painting some Hundred Years War French.  They are just your basic Old Glory French from their Crecy/Poitiers range.  Unfortunately, unlike my good friend Dean Motoyama, I am unable to paint 90 figures in a week, let alone 90 in a day.  Not only that, I'm on deadline, the last of the year, so I'm just picking at what I can.  They may be done this weekend, or maybe not.

The other unit on my table is mounted Kentucky militia from the Old Glory Wayne's Legion range.  These Kentuckians were an important part of Wayne's army and performed the valuable mission of drawing fire away from the advancing Legion at Fallen Timbers.  Any frontier army from the late 18th or early 19th century would have mounted militia.  I have a couple of bags of these figures and I'd like to have them done by the end of the summer.

The figures I'd really like to move on to are my Victrix Napoleonics.  It's time to get serious about my War of 1812 project.  The deal with my colleagues, Mark Waddington and Doug Hamm, was that I'd be responsible for the units at Bladensburg.  The British have two small brigades there.  I have a lot of the American militia units, but need more.  It's a tough call because I'll have to justify building dozens more stands for what amounts to a one off engagement, unless I do something hypothetical around the siege of Baltimore.  Further complicating things are the new figures constantly added to the War of 1812 range by Knuckleduster.  They seem really nice, and they've recently added U.S. Marines and Joshua Barney's bluejackets are coming. I have some ersatz Marines as well as 24 sailors, but the miniatures aren't great.  In any case, I still have something on the order of 200+ Brits to paint before I have to get serious about a decision.

A cornfield wrap up

A frontal look, on my dining room table, of cornfield with 28mm infantry and a Hovels log cabin in background.

More of a top view.  The cornfield is 10 bases X 5 bases, 40mm square.

Another comparison shot of the cornfields with 28mm Mexican Presidial cavalry

I've made all the cornfields I have bases for, but would still like to make more.  I may even resort to something other 40mm square. Or I could just buy more, but I'm getting cheap in my old age.   I feel good about these. 

I actually have a bit more bases than I've shown.  Total of 64 bases.  The cornfield pictured is 15" X 7 1/2 "

Chickasaw Bluffs: an outline

I've been trying to put together my plans for Chickasaw Bluffs as part of my Enfilade projects.  I'm thinking seriously about what I want the game to look like.  It might be complicated but should be fun.  So here it is in a nutshell.

The Layout

There are two 8' X 5' game tables separated by space to move between them.  The left table is an all land table, at relatively equal elevation.  The terrain will consist of an Indian village represented by four or five small buildings and a defensive stockade, plus a large cornfield. The rest of the terrain will be some medium sized hills and a fair number of trees.

Yes, it's crude, but I'm thinking the board will look something like this. 

The right table is partly river, with a with an irregular shoreline roughly bisecting the table lengthwise. The shoreline rises quickly to an impassable height with a steep, but passable grade near the board edge.  At the top of the hill is a Spanish battery defended by an earthwork.    At the top of the table is a Spanish encampment.

 The Forces

American Forces: The Americans will have a combination of regular and militia troops.  There are six American units (half companies) of 12 figures each.  In addition there are eight militia units (half companies) of 10 figures each.  To support the foot forces will be at least one (perhaps two) mounted militia companies of ten figures each, and an artillery detachment two-three guns (there will be choices to make.)  Last, but not least, the Americans will have a keelboat and four armed pirogues.  The priogues can each carry a half company (one unit.)  The keelboat can carry a complete company (two units)

Spanish Forces: The Spanish will also have a combination of regular and frontier militia (cuera) troops.  There are two half companies of Spanish regulars, 10 figures each.  The three militia half companies are also of ten figures each.  One of the Cuera companies may also mount as lancers.  Finally, the Spaniards will also have three artillery crews.  They will be able to apply these to the three pounders in their camp, or the twelve-pounders in their earthwork.

Indian Forces: The Indians, Chickasaw warriors, will defend their homes with eight ten man units, all dismounted.

The Scenario  

A combined army of American regulars and militia are making their way down the Mississippi to capture New Orleans.  The Spanish are fortifying the west bank of the Mississippi and providing anchorages for river galleys in order to control Mississippi traffic.  The Americans force is intended to capture  the Spanish battery commanding the river from the bluffs.  

The Spanish have paid the Chickasaw (and other tribes) to fight the Americans, who menace their homelands.  The Chickasaw also provide some much needed to manpower to augment the small and dispersed Spanish Army in America.  

Particulars

The American forces are divided between a force marching overland toward the Chickasaw village, and an amphibious force aimed at ascending the bluffs from the river .  The Indians may begin in the cornfield or the stockade to defend their village.  The Spanish begin in their encampment, ready to move, having been given the alarm by their Chickasaw allies. 

Units can move freely between the two tables, being separated only by convenience.  I'd be interested to hear, dear readers, what you think. 

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Do Overs

I don't know about you, but I'm contemplating re-painting some figures.  Twenty years ago I painted in a completely different style.  I was a paint stainer.  It was a style I learned from a friend of mine, Bill Stewart.  He was, and remains very good at it, is highly productive with this technique, and continues to produce lots of beautiful  figures with it.  I had some success with that technique, but I also produced some very light colored figures I no longer like, and I'm thinking about repainting them.

The two figures in the middle are painted for the Legion system in the Fallen Timbers campaign.  The two outside figures are in the later 1797 regulations.  The figure on the right is in the all-blue winter dress.

With the Jacobites and their enemies finished, I'm beginning work on my next project-my hypothetical war on the Mississippi River between the U.S. and Spain.  Many of the American figures will come from the Old Glory  Mad Anthony Wayne range.  I painted figures for the Fallen Timbers campaign many years ago, staining them.  Today my technique is more of a block color with highlighting way of painting.  I like it better because the colors look more, well, colorful.  I've include some of my old figures, along with some of my newer figures from my Lewis and Clark project as comparison. The other reason for re-painting was that the U.S. uniform regulations changed in 1796 with the reorganization of the Legion of the United States and the end of its odd color-coded style.  With the reorganization of the Legions into four regiments, the army retained many of the features of the previous uniform, but with simple red facings for all units, the colored bands on the round hat were eleminated, and everyone had a black bearskin crest on their headgear, rather than white for some.

These are the same uniforms the Lewis and Clark Expedition wore on dress occasions, and were in service from 1796-1804, and the figures could do double-duty for L and C and my Mississippi campaign.  So I'm likely going to do the repaint.  The alternative would be to buy more of the Anthony Wayne figures.  To be truthful, I have a lot of these figures painted, together with bazillions of OG Woodland Indians, but I've never played a game with them.  They've lived in their box for years!  That is a shame.  With lots of excitement about my project, which could become a nice weekend mini-campaign, I'm leaning toward the repaint.

I've also included a poll.  The question is would you consider re-painting some of your figures?