Late Roman Cataphracts

Decided to finish up this unit for my Impetus Late Roman army. Cataphracts(cataphractarii) of any kind are one of my favourite troop types of ancient armies so it comes as no surprise I enjoyed doing this unit. I based them up pretty tight with six to the base as I wanted to give a solid impression like an armoured steam roller.

I painted them up in violet colour as it accentuates their elite status and kept the armour low key as I didn't want it shiny bright, but still a little flashy with a mix of bronze and metal. The figures are done with ap and added highlights and shields are hand painted. The figures themselves are Foundry and still among some of the best cataphracts IMHO. More of this army to come.

If your thinking I've switched off AWI well I haven't as a unit is on my desk, but the problem is I have few other projects as well that I want to do too like these Late Romans for example! I usually prefer to do one unit at a time, but it seems I'm painting several at the moment! I'm just going with the flow and seeing where my paint brush takes me rather then over thinking it.:-)

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Foundry Miniatures

2nd Maryland Regiment 1781

Just recently finished this regiment of American Continentals the 2nd Maryland Regiment 1781 formed soon before the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. The original 2nd Maryland had been amalgamated into the 1st Maryland sometime after Camden.  The performance of the reformed 2nd Maryland at Guilford Courthouse was pretty awful and exactly the opposite of the 1st Maryland who performed outstanding. However, to be fair the 1st Maryland was composed of hardened veterans and the 2nd Maryland at the time of the battle was raw troops. So, why did I do the 2nd Maryland 1781 and not an earlier version you may ask, well the answer is simple in I wanted to do a regiment in brown with red facing. Anyhow, I wouldn't get overly concerned about unit titles as my figures serve for various regiments as needed and I only give names to units as it sounds better then "more
Continentals".:-)   I don't get to concerned if I make mistakes as they often are not used as the regiment in question, but unit histories can help in creating credible uniforms instead of winging it.

The figures are another thing I'd like to talk about in that they are a mixture of Perry metal and the new plastic. I won't discuss the Perry metal as I have done this before so on to the plastic. The ones in coats are the new Perry plastic Continentals btw. Generally speaking I'm a "metal head" and will likely always be so for various reasons, but I am warming up to plastics especially as the quality continues to make leaps and bounds and of course the big savings one gets in the pocket book. I also like the fact that they are reducing the amount of components to make a standard figure as I hate the assembly process. However, for those wanting extra bits they have plenty to make individuals of your troops. The figures are a bit slender making painting a little trickier, but the casting is very smooth with little flash and in terms of clean up better then the metals.The detail is pretty impressive and the figures take the paint quite well. The posing is somewhat limited, but with enough variation to keep it interesting for marching troops and I really like the natural positioning they did use. If you want firing then you will need to get metal or try some of the new WGF AWI plastics which has firing poses. I suppose my only major complaint is it only has 4 of the 38 figures in the box with hunting shirts and that is way to few IMHO. First off hunting shirts are my favourite uniform of the war and second they were an extremely popular uniform of regulars and not just militia or riflemen. Even taking into account you can not please everybody I believe 16 of the 38 should have been in hunting shirts just because it was so common. This of course can be fixed by buying metals and WGF in hunting shirts, but it still would have been nice if this was already solved by including enough in the first place. With everything said I think the Perry plastic Continentals are well worth the buy and I really do recommend them for building up your forces.The lovely flag is GMB designs.

Usually by this time my butterfly habits kick in and I need to do something else, but in fact my enthusiasm still remains very high and so if you like AWI I think you will continue to enjoy the posts as I have a lot more planned to do.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Perry Miniatures

British Royal Artillery Southern Dress 6 pounder

I'll go back to my summer vacation pictures soon, but for now it's a return to AWI miniatures. This is a British Royal Artillery crew in Southern campaign dress loading a 6 pounder cannon. I really like the British Southern campaign uniforms and so plan on doing some more in the future both artillery and infantry. The uniform wasn't to complex so the crew painted up fairly quickly, but the artillery piece itself took longer as all the bits just take time to do as I've found to be the case with all artillery.

After visiting Brandywine plus reading through the scenario's in the BP Rebellion supplement sure has motivated me to continue on with my AWI project so expect more of this period to follow....as a matter of fact I have an almost completed American regiment that will feature some of the new plastics where I give my opinion on it for those interested soon.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Perry Miniatures