2nd Quarter Update for 2026

Summer! Grandchildren! Travel! Oh . . . and doing some gaming and painting as well! With celebrating 250 years of Independence and freedom I've been focusing on the American War for Independence. So, how are we doing?

1. Phase 3 of the Boxer Rebellion Project for The Men Who Would be Kings. To complete my Chinese Field Force for the Boxer Rebellion I'm going to add two Boxer units of 16 figures each. The Boxers will be from Crusader Miniatures Boxer Rebellion Range. I anticipate doing this in the 3rd Quarter.

Figures from Wargames Foundry.

Kansu Braves from Crusader Miniatures.

2. The American War for Independence in the South. Wow. This was the big progress so far this this year as I jumped into the AWI again using the Epic Revolution figures from Warlord Games. I spent an inordinate amount of time pulling out my old papers and research as I purchased and designed the armies I wanted:

a. Army Commanders:

Continental Army Commander based on MG Greene.

British Army Commander based on Lord Cornwallis.

b. Other Commanders:

LTC James Webster.

Colonel late Brigadier General Daniel Morgan.

c. Units:

1st Maryland Continental Line. How can you do the Southern Campaign without the 1st Maryland?

Light Company, 71st (Frasier's Highlanders) Regiment of Foot.

Continental Artillery.

Webster and the 33rd Foot. Webster wears the uniform of a senior officer with the red facings of the 33rd Regiment.

South Carolina troops muster. This unit can represent either SC Continentals, State Troops or Militia. The mounted figure is the Daniel Morgan resin figure from Warlord Games.

Musketeer Regiment von Bose.

The 2nd Spartan Regiment of Militia.

Hessian Jägers.

In addition I have painted a Royal Artillery gun and crew plus a unit of American Rifles. Once I get some pictures, I will post them. Upcoming for the British will be the 71st (Fraser's Highlanders and the 23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers). Next up for the Americans will be a generic Continental Regiment in brown coats and some American Dragoons and Militia Cavalry.

3. Games. Listen up! Yep; played quite a few games! The next game will be on the Northwest Frontier circa 1898 with the Army of the Raj facing a (ahem) Metallic menace:

"When will they ever learn that they are no match for Doctor Fu Manchu!"

4. Terrain. When I started my AWI project I suddenly realized that I did not have any 15mm terrain. Hmmm . . . I have started some buildings and trees that I will post.

One of the pre-painted MDF buildings from Micro Art Studio and the first batch of trees.

On with the Third Quarter!

Epic Revolution Part 21: Hessian Jägers

"Rifles clean and Jägers ready for action mein Generalmajor."

The Hessians were German soldiers who served as auxiliaries to the British Army during the American Revolutionary War, primarily from the states of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Hanau. Approximately 30,000 to 37,000 Hessians fought in the war, making up about 25% of British land forces. Twenty-five percent! Why are listed as auxiliaries? The common misconception is that the Hessians were mercenaries - NO, NO, NO! (That's the Army Colonel and Military Historian in me coming out.) 

There are 5 individual hard plastic Jägers on each British Allies sprue. The horn player is a nice touch.

Hessians were legally distinguished as auxiliaries. Whereas mercenaries served a foreign government on their own accord, auxiliaries were soldiers hired out to a foreign party by their own government, to which they remained in service. Morale was generally high, and soldiers were said to take pride in their service. Officers were usually well educated, and unlike most European armies, promoted on the basis of merit. Soldiers were paid relatively high wages, and their families were exempt from certain taxes.

About 5,000 of the Hessian soldiers who survived the American Revolutionary War chose to remain in America. Many returned with their families after the war.

Hessian jägers were elite, specialized German sharpshooters who served as part of the British forces during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for their distinctive green uniforms and use of rifles, which provided greater accuracy than standard muskets.

The field Jäger Corps of Hesse-Kassel was formed as part of the Hessian contingent provided under the subsidy treaty signed at Kassel on January 15, 1776, which committed Hesse-Kassel to furnishing fifteen infantry regiments, four grenadier battalions, three artillery companies, and two companies of Jäger to British service in North America. The two initial companies proved so effective that a supplementary treaty in December 1777 expanded the Jäger establishment from 260 to a nominal 1,067 men, and by the summer of 1777 the corps had grown to five foot companies and one mounted company under Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig Johann Adolf von Wurmb. The corps returned to Hesse-Kassel in 1784, with its journal recording the end of service on April 20 of that year, after which the formation was formally disbanded. As to be expected of an elite unit, they fought in all of the theater of operation of the AWI.

The corps was organized in foot companies and one mounted company, with the riders used for rapid movement rather than cavalry combat. Each Jäger was armed with a rifled short-barreled Büchse (hunting rifle) of roughly .52 caliber, giving them significantly greater accuracy and range than line infantry armed with smoothbore muskets, and each also carried a straight-bladed short sword known as a Hirschfänger for close-quarters combat, as the rifle could not accept a standard bayonet. The corps wore distinctive green coats with red cuffs, collars, lapels, and turn backs, and black tricorne hats, setting them visually apart from the blue-coated Hessian line infantry and earning them the nickname "Grünröcke" (Green Coats) among both allies and enemies.

Other Jäger units:

1. Creuzbourg's Jäger Corps had 4 companies and served in upstate New York and Canada.

2. 2nd Anspach-Bayreuth Jäger Company served primarily in the Southern Campaign.

3. Brunswick Jäger company which served during the Saratoga Campaign.

I "lucked" into my Hessian units when I purchased The August 2025 issue of Wargames Illustrated which included one of the four Epic Revolution! sprues as a freebie. I actually had 2 sprues of the British Allies so I was able to make a two stand unit of Jägers. It was these 2 free sprues that got me started on my Epic Revolution! project.

Epic Revolution, Part 14: British Army Command Base

The British Army commander inspects the position of his light infantry.

I initially planned to have all of my commanders mounted the same and decided - nah. I now will have an army commander for the British and the Americans mounted on a circular base with some extra figures. I am really surprised at myself for not doing this earlier as I have done this will all of my other massed battle collections.

One of the nice things about the Epic Revolution range is that most of the packs and boxes come with a few extra figures which give some options of the presentation of the units. For the above I've added an extra figure from the 71st Regiment (Frasier's Highlanders) and (see below) and extra infantryman from one of the sprues. The mounted general is the Warlord resin figure of Cornwallis and was painted based on Cornwallis.

The Army commander discusses the situation with the Hessian general.

Epic Revolution, Part 11c: Heck! Designing two Armies!

Baron Friedrich Adolf Riedesel zu Eisenbach. Warlord Resin figure from the Epic Battles: Revolution Commander's pack.

On to the cavalry! Oh . . . it's the American War for Independence (AWI)! If you want to deploy a lot of cavalry for the AWI, you are better off doing some of the raids or smaller actions. My previous collections of 28mm AWI had more cavalry as I deployed Butler's Rangers, American Continental Dragoons, the British Legion and Lee's Partizan Legion (plus militia) on daring raids and actions. For the scale of battles I am doing, I will not need copious amounts of cavalry on the gaming table. But using the Warlord Games Epic Battles: Revolution range may pose a financial issue for British Cavalry.

Colonel Banastre Tarleton.

I understand the limitations and challenges in producing sprues. It is a lot easier if a period has a wide variety of figures allowing smaller sprues to be produced or more figures of 1 - 3 units on a larger sprue. With the small amounts of cavalry, and the variety of other units, the British Cavalry was relegated to the Hessian Army sprue. As a reminder, I'm planning on focusing on forces for the Southern Campaign. In order to get the mounted element of the British Legion (or paint them as the 16th Light Dragoons) and the 17th Light Dragoons I would need to buy the Hessian & Allies box or one of the larger bundle boxes. I am not prepared to do that yet and may look for alternative figures. It's not an issue for me for the Americans as there are enough figures to represent the American cavalry. My cavalry will be represented as either 1 stand of cavalry or 2 stands for a larger element. 

Head swap to give some variety to the American Cavalry.

On to what I am planning on building!

The 1st Maryland Regiment of the Continental Line.

My forces will be (for the most part) be based on the units that fought during the Southern Campaign on  the free sprues from Wargames Illustrated, the Continental and British Army Brigade Boxes, the Highlander pack and the Commanders pack all from Warlord Games.

British Army:

Commanders: 6 British Commanders and 1 Hessian.

British Line: 4 Regiments.

Highlanders: 1 Regiment.

Hessian Line: 1 Regiment.

British Light Infantry: 1 unit of Highlander light infantry.

Hessian Jägers: 1 unit.

British Grenadiers: 1 unit. (Wargames Illustrated bonus!).

Hessian Grenadiers: 1 unit (Wargames Illustrated bonus!).

Indian Warband: 1 unit (Wargames Illustrated bonus!).

Artillery: 1 gun.

Light Infantry from the 71st (Frasier's Highlanders) Regiment. Warlord Games resin. I need to repaint the leather straps black.

American Army:

Commanders: 7.

Continental Line: 2 units and maybe a third.

Militia: 4 units. One militia unit may find itself as a Loyalist unit from time to time.

Rifles: 1 unit.

Cavalry: 2 units or 1 combined unit.

Artillery: 1 gun.

I'm holding on to the British Light infantry (10 figures) for now as I am convinced that the British Legion infantry, at least at Cowpens, for light infantry caps. How I'm going to get the rest that I need I haven't figured out yet.

The technique I use when painting an army (or two) when I have all or most of the figures is adopted from Bruce Quarrie's Napoleon's Campaigns in Miniature:

1. Line Infantry.

2. Artillery, Cavalry or Specialty Unit.

3. Line Infantry.

4. Repeat.

I'll be doing the above and also alternating between the British and Americans and also other projects I am doing.

 

Epic Revolution, Part 11b: Designing an Army

Extra figure for options that came with the Warlord Games Epic AWI Highlander pack. There are extra figures which allow you to build options with your forces. I used this figure to figure out how I would paint the 71st (Frasier's Highlanders) Regiment of Foot for the Southern Campaign.

Okay! Let's dive into Converged units (British Light Infantry and Grenadiers), Rifles, Indians and Jägers. As with my previous post, I'm more concern with the footprint and impact on the battlefield. As a result, all of my Converged units, Rifles, Indians and Jägers will be two stands with the recommended 5 figures for each stand. That works out because that is what I have!

Jägers.

Let's look at some strengths of British Converged units in the Southern Campaign and the numbers can be seen as approximates;

1. At Cowpens for the British Light Infantry Battalion: 16th Regiment (41 men), 1/71st (35 men), 2/71st (34 men), and the Prince of Wales American Regiment (25 - 50 men). This will give us about 135 to 160 men.

2. At Guilford Courthouse:

    a. Jäger Company (84 men).

    b. Guards Light Infantry Company (70 - 90 men).

    c. Guards Grenadier Company (70 - 90 men).

My line battalions will be 3 stands in size and the Converged British units will be 2 stands. The light infantry and jägers will have 5 figures per stand while the grenadiers will be in close ranks (20 figures) on their stands. In addition if I decide to deploy a Hessian Converged Grenadier battalion they will be mounted just like their compatriots in the British grenadiers. The number of figures is mainly for easy identification.

The light infantry from the 71st (Frasier's Highlanders) are making progress. The challenge at this scale were the wings which are fortunately nicely sculpted on the figures.

American rifle armed infantry come in two varieties: Units that fought in line and units that fought as skirmishers. Militia can be a mix of rifles and muskets so when fighting in line, they will be 3 stands; if fighting as Rifle units and/or skirmishers they will be organized like the British light infantry.

American militia and rifles.

For the sake of simplicity and realistic foot print (and because that's how many figures I have) will be represented like the British light infantry and rifles. They will be used in fictional scenarios in the South.

The figures for the Native tribes look pretty good in this scale.

At first I was surprised with how many commanders came with the sprues and then I remembered how many commanders for my planned games I'll need. In addition to an army commander, I will need brigade (or independent commands like the British Legion or Lee's Legion) commanders. Many brigades may only be two battalion/regimental sized units. For example, let's look at Guilford Courthouse again:

1. British Army:

    a. Army Commander: Cornwallis.

    b. The Brigade of Guards.

    c. Webster's Brigade.

    d. Leslie's Brigade.

    e. British Legion and Advance Guard.

That's at least 5 mounted command figures and I might even try to add some mounted officers to the strips.

The Epic figure for Tarleton (in the middle and made from Warlord Resin) is, in my opinion the best figure in the Commander's pack.

2. American Army:

    a. Army Commander: Greene.    

    b. Maryland Continental Brigade.

    c. Virginia Continental Brigade.

    d. Lee's Partizan Legion.    

    e. Butler's North Carolina Militia.

    f. Eaton's North Carolina Militia.

    g. Stevens' Virginia Militia.

    h. Lawson's Virginia Militia.

    i. Washingon's Cavalry.

    j. Continental Light Infantry and Rifles.

That's, um, 10 commanders unless the NC and VA militias have only one commander.

American commander based on Daniel Morgan's uniform as a Colonel.

Next: Cavalry (oh boy, short and sweet), my army organizations and how I'm going to paint them.

Hessian commander.