First foray into the American Revolution Updated 20 12 21

[TacticalPainter]

A friend introduced me to Sharp Practice last year and I really enjoyed the mechanics. Firstly, though a confession, I know very little about warfare during the black powder era so despite enjoying the game I grappled with the idea of getting into a new period, reading about it and collecting the figures.  I think it was Matthew Spring's book "With zeal and with bayonets only" that convinced me that the American Revolution opened up a rich vein of military history with lots of interest.

So I've taken the plunge and started putting together a British and Continental force.  Here's the first batch and there's a bit more about it on my blog if that's of interest https://thetacticalpainter.blogspot.com.au/2018/04/the-redcoats-are-coming.html

[OSHIROmodels]

They look great 

[SABOT]

Lovely job.

[Jeff965]

Nice clean painting style 👍

[Anderson Collection]

Very nice👍

[Arthur]

Indeed. Those reds and blues are quite vibrant.

[TacticalPainter]

Indeed. Those reds and blues are quite vibrant.

Actually they are not that vibrant, I used the 'enhance' feature in iPhoto and it has made the colours more saturated than they actually are, particularly the blue.  While the feature does a good job of brightening up pictures, it can over do the colours some times, as happened here.

This picture is without the enhance feature:

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Blue can be a very difficult colour to photograph and rarely comes out the way it is on the actual figure.  Very nice job, though.

[Jabba]

Great looking figures. I'm supposed to be doing something similar when the other projects are "finished".

[TacticalPainter]

Some groups of light infantry now very close to completion, mostly just needing their bases properly flocked.  All figures are Foundry Perry sculpts, except for the casualties which are Perry plastics from their AWI box set.  Odd really, but I'm finding I'm painting these figures quicker than 20mm WWII, must be something to do with the size.  No complaints, painting quickly has to be a good thing!

[FifteensAway]

Did those casualties flunk out of the Potsdam Grenadiers?  Look large.  But fine painting.

[TacticalPainter]

They are not as big as they look, the lens has distorted them.  If anything the Perry plastics are slimmer than their Foundry metals.  Same height, but slightly less bulky.  To the naked eye they all blend well together though, the differences are marginal.

[OSHIROmodels]

Splendid 

[TacticalPainter]

Bases all flocked and finished and the same done for the sabot bases I intend to use.  A big thanks to Brendan Morrissey (aka Baron von Wreckedoften) for pointing out that my light infantry in uncocked hats and roundabouts would not have been seen at the same time as those in helmets (and doing it without shooting me down publicly!).  I was hoping to use the former as my skirmishers and the latter as my lights in line (and to be honest, I will just to get these on the table), but will sort this out in due course.   I've also made up a few markers for casualties, shock etc.  There's a bit more on my blog if you're interested https://thetacticalpainter.blogspot.com.au/2018/05/sharp-practice-awi-british-progress.html

[TacticalPainter]

Working on the Americans now and trying to come to terms with painting blue uniforms.  I'd heard it was tricky, but this has been a nightmare.  I was aware the blue on my British facings was on the bright side, so tried ways to mute this for my Continentals.  In the end I've settled for a base of Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue with a highlight of Prussian Blue.  In photographs this still tends to come out on the bright side, not nearly so bad to the naked eye however.





Here are the same figures just with natural light and more how they look to the naked eye:



Here they are at the head of the queue with more of the half painted groups behind them. 



A Perry 6 pounder and crew on the way to join my British force:



The Warbases water and ammunition carts:



Last but not least some of the very lovely Perry skirmishers.  The muted colours are a nice change after the more decorative formal uniforms: