May Day & the AWI Project hits the paint table.

May Day and whether that is the Celebration of Spring or International Workers Day it's a day on the brushes and the start of the American War of Independence project, still plenty to do with the Crusades but I set myself the goal of starting this in the Spring.

 Chatting through with a number of gamers in particular Steve over at Wargames With Toy Soldiers: 1685 - 1985 (wargameswithtoysoldier1685-1985.blogspot.com) I opted for Rebels and Patriots as a rule set and Pendraken Miniatures in 10mm

The American War of Independence has been on my wish list since I first got into gaming, back in the 1980's and saw AL Pacino's Revolution. I had a bunch of Front Rank Figures but never enough for a full game and at that age limited funds to complete the project. 

In recent moths the hankering for 'bigger' games lead me to look for something else beyond large skirmishes. Rebels & Patriots seems to hit the mark my plan is to break the units down into various bases types, Regular line spread across 3 square bases for a unit, skirmish units on pill bases and command/officers on a circular base.

Lots of chatter on various forums about how to paint them, with gamers painting them on lolly sticks or on their terrain base. I opted for basing first my concern being that once painted trying to get the basing done afterwards might land on the completed figures.... Let's see

On the Pendraken site their is a usual paint guide for the British Line, my painting guide is here.

Tunic - Foundry Scarlet/Scarlet Light

Trousers/Webbing - White

Cartridge Pouch - Black

Boots/Hat - Black

Cuffs - Yellow Ochre

Musket - Chestnut/Silver/Brass

Flesh - Foundry Palomino

Soft Tone - Army Painter Wash.

The Soft Tone wash really brings out the base colours, followed by a touch of highlighting to the whites and yellows.

The first two units should clear the paint table over the next couple of days just in time for the flags to arrive from Maverick Models - maverick-models.com/default.html

I am quickly learning to take a step back and to not look to closely at the detail as it's the unit effect that will have the impact, the prep takes longer than the actual painting of the units which makes for a refreshing change.