The Hessians are coming!
The number of troops that the British felt were needed to quash the rebellion of he 13 colonies exceeded what they were capable of fielding without excessively draining the defenses of its other territories. Hence the contract with Hesse-Cassel to provide 12,000 men for service in North America, concluded January 15, 1776.
The troops to be provided were 4 Grenadier battalions, 15 Line Infantry battalions (each with two 3 lber guns and crew), 2 Jager companies, along with supporting Generals and staff.
The first wave of Hessian troops, 8,000+ men strong, arrived in New York on August 12, 1776. Troops contracted from several other German principalities also participated in the American Revolutionary War, most notably about 4,00 men from Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel, which formed almost half of General Burgoyone's army in 1776.
These men are from the Von Wutingau Musketeer regiment, which arrived in the second wave of Hessian troops in October, 1776. It became the Landgraf regiment in late 1776, and then the Leib infantry regiment in 1783.
It participated in fighting at Fort Washington, Rhode Island, Tyron's Raid, Connecticut Farms, and Springfield. These are Perry figures with a flag from Flags of War.
Lots of tape and lace on display, Peter! The Hessian troops are always interesting to see on the field.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joe. Along with other Germans, they made up roughly 1/3 of the British forces during the Revolution, so they appear on almost every battlefield.
DeleteGreat work. Looking forward to some Revolutionary action.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I will be running the Battle of White Plains, October 1776, at the HAVOC convention outside of Boston in 4 weeks. I plan to set up the table this weekend and do a solo playtest thereafter (with modified R&P - I find the Boston crew aren't really fans of FoB, so you gotta give the people what they want, right?)
DeleteLovely stuff once again Peter and the flag is outstanding!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Keith! This flag and several more Hessian flags to come are from Flags of War in the UK; there are some Hessian units that Adolfo Ramos hasn't done flags for, such as this one.
DeleteLovely stuff Peter. How much further do you have to go with the project? By my reckoning you still have at least a few Hessian units in the queue.
ReplyDeleteI have quite a lot of Hessians in the queue; 3 more painted units to post and another 5-6 to paint. I'm working on 6 more Patriot units right now that should be finished within a week or so, and there are still several more British and Patriot units painted that have yet to be posted. I also decided to add another British Grenadier and British Light Infantry unit to the mix, so they will see paint eventually, and a few more Native American units as well. There's also a few Southern Militia to paint, too. Finally, I have lead for a French contingent to paint as well - 1 Light, 1 Grenadier, 4 Line, plus a gun and a cavalry unit. I may not get to them until 2027,as they don't appear until 1778/2028 anyway. Oh, and I will eventually add a few Brunswick units, which are needed for the Saratoga campaign.
DeleteShort version - there are lost more units for the AWI to come. The collection is up to 400 figures so far.
Marvellous looking Hessians. You production rate is staggering.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Richard. Having a gam planned 4 weeks from now and then more in July is a big motivator!
DeleteAnother super looking unit
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gary!
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