Baron Friedrich Adolf Riedesel zu Eisenbach leads the Musketeer Regiment von Bose forward.
For me, half the fun of doing a new project is designing army or armies that I am going to paint and game. Warlord Games did a good job of hooking me in to doing the American War of Independence (AWI) again with their Epic Revolution range of figures. As a Military Historian, Infantry officer and hobbyist, I've had a personal and professional interest in the AWI and especially the Southern Campaign.
Major General Nathaniel Greene.
To help build my armies, I was "hooked" into buying two copies of Wargames Illustrated that came with a free Epic Sprue (marketing works!) and they were both the Hessian sprue. In addition I have the Continental Army Brigade and British Army Brigade boxes, the Highlander blister pack and the Commanders box.
Lieutenant Colonel John Howard prepares to lead the 1st Maryland in a dramatic charge.
Always a good idea is to figure out rules you are going to use. I am not a fan of rebasing figures, so I like to have various rules that I can use with the same units or use rules that have no requirement to rebase figures. The rules I'll be using for the AWI will be WoFun Minatures (download link) free American Revolution rules based on the time tested Warmaster system. In addition I will be using one of my favorites One-Hour Wargames. I may purchase the rules Black Powder Epic Battles: Revolution! Rulebook but that's a decision for the future.
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For gaming these days I am more interested in the unit performance than actual stats of muzzle velocity, how quickly and formation could move or how much water a canteen can hold and how much tobacco and rum was issued. As a historian it provides insight for gaming but minutia and details like that slow down a game. And it is a game! So . . .
I get a movement bonus of 4 inches since my horse has iron shoes and my Sword of Justice (given to me by the King) makes militia wet their pants.
For the historically based battles I'll be gaming, most Regular British Regiments/Battalions, Continental Line Regiments/Battalions, Loyalist and grouping of Militia will have the same "footprint" as they all more or less performed the same way and had the same function on the battlefield. Except at the start of the war, realistically on the Hessians regiments and the 71st (Frasier's Highlanders) were anywhere near to full strength. For example, referencing Appendix A, Order of Battle from Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse, by Lawrence E. Babits and Joshua B. Howard:
Some British Line strengths:
1st Battalion Guards: 160 to 180 men
2nd Battalion Guards: 160 to180 men
23rd Foot: 238 men
33rd Foot: 234 men
Von Bose: 321 men
Some Continental Line/States Troops/Militia:
1st Maryland: 350 to 400 men
2nd Virginia: 400 to 450 men
BG Butler's NC militia: 500 - 600 men from 10 County militias
Pittsylvania County Militia: 150 to 200 men
Amelia, Cumberland, and Powhatan (VA militia) County Militias: 200 to 250 men
For all intents in purposes, all of the above will be represented by 3 stands of infantry and only the quality of the units will be different.
For artillery, the British had 6 guns operating in 3 sections of 2 guns each and the Americans had 4 guns operation in 2 sections of 2 guns each. I figure one stand of artillery will represent 2 guns.
Continental Artillery.
Next: Light Infantry and Rifles, Cavalry, Commanders and what and which units I'm painting and how I determine which unit to paint next.
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