A figure painting therapy project.: Commands & Colors for the American War Of Independence.

I've had this in my mind for ages now, and as I said before, the final push came from seeing a post on TMP using figures on a game board to replace wooden blocks. C&C N are prefect for adapting to the American War of Independence, (unlike any other Napoleonic set I can think of), because they take little account of 'order' of units, a 4 block unit is a 4 block unit, but light infantry (as opposed to 'skirmishers' ) are well catered for, and individual types such as riflemen and militia are recognised. I started by seeing if I could fit the various troop types of the AWI roughly into the C&C troop categories, maybe slightly adjusting where necessary. I had to make a few decisions about levels of training etc, some of which I'll record here. Please bear in mind that my goal here is to be able to play some typically fast and fun C&CN style games with minimum set up time. But that said I DO want the game to have a realistic AWI feel.

Firslty, I decided to place British Regular line troops on a par with Continental line troops where fire combat and melee are concerned. I just felt that to do otherwise would tip the advantage too far in the favour of the British, given the number of other 'specialised troops' such as converged Grenadier and light infantry battalions and the inevitable Brigade of Guards, a formation comprising individual companies sent over from the Guards. I also needed to 'mark down' most militia battalions, and these fit well into the C&C 'Militia' category. I bear in mind a unit such as rifle armed crack shots are still classified as militia, but will be adjusted up for ranged shooting of course, and I feel that a 'retreat 2 hexes per 'flag' thrown is about right, 3 for standard militia and the usual 1 for line troops. Those militia units became pretty good shooters as things progressed, so things can be adjusted where required quite simply. I will see how all this goes down in practice.

Loyalist troops, Rangers etc will also be classified according to historical quality when I get to that bit! Cavalry are more of a challenge, for a start there were so few of them, and they were used mainly in harassment and pursuit roles as opposed to head on charges against infantry formations, and so the 'form square' rule is of no value for the AWI. On the subject of troop formations I'm assuming here that all troops are fighting in the more typical 'loose order' formations of the war. British light infantry are also considered to be fighting in the same 'loose order' as opposed to full skirmish order, they being mainly deployed together as elite line troops, which I think is correct.

I only need to paint a few more 'blocks' and a few generals up before I'm ready for a test game, hopefully next weekend.

'Victory Point' Vignettes.
I plan to make the VP tokens, which are a central part of C&CN a bit special. Plan is to produce 6 per side of small (2p coin base) vignettes each featuring 2 or 3 figures including a standard bearer, and utilising some of the 'character' packs from the Peter Pig range. I hope this will add to the visual appeal of the game as well as a touch of historical pathos. As I want these to look as good as possible I plan to use Maverick Models again for the flags, I was very impressed by the 15mm Napoleonic flags I ordered, superb print quality with high definition of fine detail on good heavy paper, and you can have them re-sized to just your requirements.Very reasonably priced too.

I put everything painted so far (in about two weeks!) on the C&C board for a few pics. I love that board and setting up the terrain tiles etc, can't wait to try a test game. Any comments on the above, especially troop classifications most welcome, but please keep in mind that I'm looking for a fun and balanced game overall, so some compromise might be required.

Finally.
I'm going to spend some time on the blog layout as I want to make projects such as the original 6mm C&C Napoleonics board more accessible to new followers. I also plan a couple more step by step painting guides, maybe in 15mm this time. I'm using more inks and different undercoat methods now, as well as incorporating a 'magic wash' at about mid stage, so it might be useful to demonstrate these.

The pictures - taken from various angles (light could have been better!) to show figures painted so far. I'm really pleased with the overall effect of combining the boardgame/figures. American artillery are just awaiting basing and I hope to add a further 30 to 40 this coming week including Generals for both sides and some Loyalists. I also plan to add battalion guns which will be subject to special rules.