New Miniatures, Plus a Preview

As I've recently commented, I haven't been getting a great of painting accomplished lately, but there has been progress. Fresh from the workbench (and not yet varnished or flocked) is a set of blue-coat Continentals by Peter Pig. A batch like this could serve as many different regiments on many different fields of battle, and I haven't assigned them a specific identity. I'm certain, though, that they will feature in my upcoming Spring project.

The minis are from the new Peter Pig line, which are wonderfully expressive and a joy to paint. Each set of 8 infantry includes 3 different poses, and one can create even greater variety by combining different packs to form a single unit. In this case, the privates firing muskets come from both British infantry and a Continental infantry packs (the officers and wounded private come from other packs). The British infantry are in round hats and short coats, the Continentals in cocked hats with longish coat tails. The British pack is intended to represent redcoats' campaign dress during the middle and late war period. Many Continentals would have been similarly attired.

The end result is quite good, even despite my average painterly ability.

15mm-high Peter Pig miniatures, painted as blue-coat Continentals (click to enlarge).

In December I will continue exploring the American invasion of Canada by specifically writing about the September 25, 1775, battle of Longue-Pointe, near Montreal. This battle is chiefly famous for resulting in the capture of Ethan Allen, but it also had strategic consequences that threatened to derail the American campaign. I didn't think I would have much to say about this subject, but recent research has been extremely productive, and I plan to devote three posts to the subject next much: one in which I share primary sources, another in which I write about the probable location of the battle, and a third in which I write up the battle itself.

I have also been reading up on the southern campaign of the Revolution again, and anticipate writing next month about the February 3, 1779, battle of Port Royal (also called Beaufort) in South Carolina. In brief, South Carolina militia and artillery under William Moultrie faced off against veteran British light infantry. It was a hard fought battle that ended only when both sides ran out of ammunition. This battle took place during the year-and-a-half that separated the fall of Savannah (December, 1778) to the fall of Charleston (May, 1780). It sometimes seems like military histories of the war intentionally skim over this period, as if the author is saying, "Look things were bad, alright... but look what happened afterwards -- King's Mountain! Cowpens! Yorktown!" Such a treatment seems a disservice to those that fought during this time. The Americans did not roll over and play dead before the summer of 1780, and the British had to fight hard for their gains. The obscure battle at Port Royal is, I think, a good example of the interesting and often desperate character of this period of the war.