From BenF - It's highlanders laddie, the Campbells are coming (48 Points)

Well, the weather is still sweltering here just north of Sydney, Australia, but despite the rolling heatwaves I've managed to get some painting done. These are the first of my major project for 2017, American Revolutionary War era British and Patriot forces for Sharp Practice 2. While my force will be designed around the Philadelphia campaign of 1777 (Including the battles of Brandywine, Paoli, White Horse Tavern, and Germantown), my interest in the period was piqued by reading Bernard Cornwell's 'The Fort'. This book is based around the surprising victory at Penobscot Bay and Bagaduce of a tiny British force under Brigadier Francis MacLean in 1777. 

The narrative follows a number of characters, including the young John Moore who commands a scratch skirmish company tasked with defending Fort George and the town of Bagaduce (now Castine, Maine) against Patriot Massachusetts Militia and Continental Marines. The British forces in this battle were drawn from the 74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot and the 82nd (Duke of Hamilton's) Regiment - both drawn from Scotland. I wanted to paint up Moore as a Leader for my Sharp Practice force and a couple of units of skirmishing Scots. 

Now, all good historical gamers know the value of research. Moore served in the 82nd, which I discovered was not a 'kilted' Highland regiment, but was instead a lowland regiment equipped as regular British troops. Unfortunately I discovered this only after purchasing some of the lovely Perry and Kings Mountain highland figures. So, these are all painted up NOT as Moore's skirmishers, but instead as men from the 74th Regiment.

So, below we have two officers, one a line company man and one a flank officer with a rifle. In the novel, Brigadier MacLean comments on the prevalence of officers called Campbell in the 74th, so for my SP2 games, these officers have been dubbed Archie and Angus Campbell  (no relation). 

It just wouldn't be right to paint up highlanders without having a crack at a piper, so I decided to do one of them as well. These Perry figures are lovely a sculpts. This was also my first crack at tartan, and I followed Giles Allison of Tarleton's Quarter's excellent tutorial on how to paint government sett, the standard AWI tartan.  

Finally, the chaps who will actually do most of the fighting, six hat company men serving as a skirmish group.  I painted the officer's tunics in a bright scarlet, and the men's in a more faded brick red. Apparently at Breeds Hill, the Patriots aimed for the brighter tunics through the smoke, knowing that only officers would be wearing such fine quality material. I'll be painting up Moore and his skirmishers in the correct lowland uniforms, along with a two groups of 74th hatmen in line formation for good old Angus Campbell to command  in the game.

As I mentioned at the outset, my goal with this challenge has been to speed up my painting without losing too much of the quality. I completed this lot using a basecoat/wash/highlight method, and with the exceptions of the eyes (on some of the figures -the piper particularly) and flesh, I'm very happy with the result. My plan from now on is to paint the faces using my older technique of layering, and then paint everything else using the much faster wash/highlight method. For a glacially slow painter, I'm very happy to have taken this unit from bare metal to finished figure in one week.

For the basing, I went for a rather bleak, Autumnal look, which for me works for the battles around Philadelphia and in New England in 1777 and 1779.

I've actually played a few games of Sharp Practice 2 this past week, using my Peninsular war kit. I've noticed a few odds and sods which my forces could benefit from, so next week's  entry will be a mixed bag of Napoleonic Peninsular Brits, French, and civilians.

Well, that lot should be a couple more points towards my goal. Also, if possible, could these be added as an entry for me to the Sharp Practice side challenge?

Alan and Paul: Coincidentally, I am re-reading Bernard Cornwell's 'The Fort' at the moment. Great book - one of Cornwell's best, in my view. Wonderful work on these challenging figures. I think you have nailed the wash and highlight approach - if you can produce figures of this standard at a pace you are happy with, you are doing very well. Congratulations on the dicing around the cap bands, and great effort on the dreaded tartan. The leaves on the bases are a very nice finishing touch. That's 45 points for the figures, with a couple extra for the tartan.