Figures for the Guards

Looking for some figures for the Guards in the Southern Campaigns. I've seen various figures (15mm) people have used/suggested included Freikorps in turned up slouch and full kit and also some Minifig marine figures. I could just do them in tricorn but fancy a more casual look. I have some Polly Oliver figures:



These are meant to be Continentals in slouch with full coats and turnbacks. I quite fancy using them for the Guards but references I've seen suggest a turned up slouch hat and/or a largish feather/decoration on one side. Not sure how fixed that is or if the British could have just worn them 'plain'? Planned to use maybe tricorns figs for command maybe?

Anyway, comments appreciated.

Update and ramble...

Well, based on recommendations and having seen the OOB I've finally ordered a copy of Cowpens Battlefield: A Walking Guide by Babit. The postage is costing more than 10 times the cost of the booklet! (£2.75 for a 20p book). There are a couple of other books out there on Cowpens that I don't have but need to do some research on whether they will really add any useful info to what I already have.

Steve, in a comment to the last post asked about figure ratios for Cowpens given the small numbers. As mentioned earlier I think, I'm doing it at 1:10. I'm also planning on doing Guilford at the same but that will need a few more figures :-)

Next up will be the 7th Fusiliers. I'd intended to do them in bearskins as I don't have any suitable figures in slouch hats (haven't ordered any Freikorps yet) and the Polly Oliver figures are rather nice. However, seaching the posts on TMP someone pointed to Troiani's painting of Cowpens showing the 7th in tricorn given their recent refit and arrival so I may just do them like that as I have a batch of suitable Polly Oliver figures prepped and ready.

The re-basing for BG is going well. Just 12 stands of militia and some skirmishers and I'm done. I still short 2-3 American command stands. Just to make the militia units more flexible. I'm also undecided about basing some of them in 6's to give more choice? May post on the BG forum for advice.

Oh, and I've the Militia/State cavalry to do as well! Only 8 figures but a mix so may take longer.

My intention is to post my final OOB along with photos of each unit.

Then I may actually get round to playing a game!

Cowpens Order of Battle

I've picked up various references for Cowpens over the years but never got round to picking up Babit's Cowpens Battlefield: A Walking Guide. I'll be remedying that soon but someone very helpfully supplied me with the Order of Battle from the booklet which I'll reproduce here and then compare with some of my other sources vefore finally committing to actual unit sizes. I've got the British Grenadier scenario for Hannah's Cowpens as well so it'll be interesting to see what comes out...

Table of Organization - American Forces
The Flying Army - Brigadier General Daniel Morgan
Headquarters Flying Army
Brigade Major - Captain Benjamin Brookes
Aide de Camp - Major Edward Giles
Baron de Glaubeck
Commissary - Captain Edward Chitty
Morgan's Life Guard (ca. 10 men)

''Regular'' Infantry - Lieutenant Colonel John Eager Howard
Continental Infantry
Delaware Company Captain Robin Kirkwood (60 men)
1/7 Maryland Company Captain Richard Anderson (60 men)
3/5 Maryland Company Lieutenant Nicolas Mangers (60 men)
2/4/6 Maryland Company Captain Henry Dobson (60 men)
Virginia Company - Captain Andrew Wallace (60 men)
North Carolina Company Captain Henry Connelly (307 men)
Virginia State Company - Captain John Lawson (50 men)
South Carolina S(ate Troops Major Samuel Hammond (ta 6O men)
Virginia Militia Major Francis Triplett
Fauquier Company Captain John Combs (40+ men)
Augusta Company - Captain James Tate (40+ men)
Rockbridge Company Captain James Gilmore (45 men)
Burke County, NC, Company ' (ca 25 men)

Militia - General Andrew Pickens
Brigade Major James Jackson
1st Spartan Regiment
1st Bn Col John Thomas (ca 150 men)
2nd Bn LtC Benjamin Ruebuck {ca 150 men)
2nd Spartan Regiment
1st Bn - Col Thomas Brandon (ca l00 men)
2nd Bn - Lt Col William Farr (ca 100 men)
Little River Regiment – Lt Col Joseph Hayes (ca 180 men)
North Carolina Battalion Lt Col Joseph McDowell (ca I80 men)
Georgia Refugees Major John Cunningham (ca 75 men)
Virginia Militia Major Thomas Posey(?) (ca 100 men)

Cavalry
Continental Light Dragoons – Lt Col William Washington (82 men)
South Carolina State Troops - Major James McCall (45 men)
Virginia State Dragoons - ? (ca 15 men)
North Carolina State Dragoons - ? (ca 15 men)
South Carolina ''Guides” - ? (ca 15 men)
Militia Volunteers - Benjamin Jolly
North Carolina Captain Mordecai Clark (ca 20 men)
South Carolina - Thomas Young (ca 25 men)

Table of Organisation - British Forces
Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton

Infantry

7th Regiment of Foot - Major Timothy Newmarsh (ca 170 men)
71st Regiment of Fool - Major Arthur MacArthur (ca 249 men)
British Legion Infantry - ? (ca 250 men)
Light Infantry
16th Foot Regiment (41 men)
1st Battalion 71st Regiment (35 men)
2nd Battalion 71st Regiment (34 men)
Prince of Wales American Regiment (ca 40 men)
Strength 150 men

Cavalry
17th Light( Dragoons - 1 Troop Lieutenant Nettles (50 men)
British Legion Dragoons - Major Ogilivy (250 men)

Tory Scouts/Guides - Alexander Chesnee (?) (ca 50 men)

Artillery
2 - 3 pounder field pieces (ca 36 men)

The detail on the makeup of the American Cavalry may make for a small but colourful and interesting unit if I can pin down the uniforms for the Militia and State troops.

New Troops added to the lists...

Have spent the last couple of weeks basing, re-basing and tweaking figures. I bought a batch of painted figures off Doug over at the WD3 Forums (http://wdlovesme.19.forumer.com/). They are a mix of Polly Oliver, Essex, Freikorps and some Old Glory which I may or may not use. I wanted to boost my British forces just to get some games going and will still be painting the main protagonists for Cowpens myself.

Anyway, the main British force consists of two battalions of regulars and some British Legion cavalry:


The Legion are AB Napoleonics in Tarletons with a paint job. The centre are a blue faced mix of Freikorps and Polly Oliver while on the right are a green faced Polly Oliver unit. I've not settled on what actual units these will be as the flags they came with are nice hand painted jobs but I'm not sure on the accuracy of them. Some details:

There was also a unit of Minifigs representing the 42nd but again I think the flags are wrong.

Despite still messing with my old camera I tried another of the 71st:

And I'm still quite pleased with how the flags came out :-)

And finally, for the King, I've redone the von Bose in correct colours and with standard. This came out well too!


On the American side there was a unit of ragged Continentals for which I still need to do a command stand:


And another of nice Polly Olivers in hunting shirts for which the photo was too blurred! There are also a few Minifigs militia which I'll mix in with mine when I re-base them, and 18 Old Glory militia types. These are nicely done but the style is different from all the others and mine so I may sell these on along with some artillery crews in similar style. For the Brits, there are 6 more of the AB "Legion" for which the horses are painted but the riders only undercoated. May finish them first.

I'm still aiming to get a better camera and some better pictures and hoepfully soon I'll set up a table and get some 'parade' shots!

That's all for now...