American War of Independence: British

A recent Warlord Sprue sale gave the opportunity to purchase at a discount (always good) some sprues to put together a small starter force for use in Sharp Practice (an any other game set in the period).

So what follows is the Project Log….

American War of Independence -Context:

As is often the case with British Wars it often involves the French and in this case it does again….

In North America, France—which controlled the central part of the continent—sided with the Abenaki Confederacy of Native Americans against British interests: its thirteen colonies in the east, and those to the north in Canada. The colonists showed distinct loyalty to Britain by providing tens of thousands of troops to engage in the struggle (one of which was a colonial called George Washington who would put what he learnt to good use against the British).
Britain and the colonists decisively won that war, which concluded with the Treaty of Paris in 1763, out of which Britain gained control of Canada from the French and Florida from the Spanish.
The war was expensive and the British felt that the expense should be recovered from those who directly benefited but as always higher taxes never goes down well…

What developed was an escalating clash of perspectives and priorities, with the colonists increasingly feeling that their interests were not being adequately represented.

Britain tried to calm the colonist, and in 1770, Lord North in one of his first acts as Prime Minister was to remove all the recent taxes, except the one on tea. Though this was welcome to the colonists, they were boycotting goods from Britain whenever it suited them and generally refusing to cooperate with London. Lord North’s government went ahead with its plans anyway and imposed the import of large amounts of surplus tea held by the East India Company into America, but with a much lower tax rate than that imposed upon Britain. At a stroke, this was one part of the British Empire helping another part of the empire on the opposite side of the world.

But this was not how many Americans saw things. Paradoxically, tea had never been cheaper. But the East India company was given a monopoly on importing tea into America, and the ones who suffered most from this were the wealthy Boston smugglers. It was they who organised the famed Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, when people disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped 342 boxes of tea, as yet unloaded from ships, into the Boston harbour. This relatively trivial event of national resistance proved to be an incendiary moment.

Lord North’s government responded harshly with a series of Acts in 1774, collectively known by Americans as The Intolerable Acts. Boston Harbour would be closed down until adequate compensation for the lost tea was forthcoming from the townspeople. The charter of the Massachusetts colony was revoked, and the governor of Massachusetts received the authority to billet any of his troops in the homes of any settlers he chose.

In addition, Parliament agreed to preserve the French system of civil law and allow 70,000 French-speaking Catholics in Canada to practice their faith without penalties, and their church to be supported by tithes. To the majority of Protestant Americans, these developments reinforced their worst fears about rule from London.

The stage was set for the Rebellion….

Read more detail here

Hessian Figures:

Warlord Plastic:
Hessian Command Sprue: (5)
two officers, sergeant, drummer and two ensigns.

Hessian Sprues x2 (24)
Can be built as Jägers , Fusiliers or Grenadiers

Warlord Hessian Leaflet

Too Fat Lardies Hessian List for Sharp Practice

Sharp Practice (Hessians):

• Hessian Fusiliers & Musketeers  (8 figures)
• Hessian Grenadiers (8 Figures)
• Hessian Jäger Skirmishers (6 Figures)

So from my Sprue purchase I can build 1 unit of each (some might say that this is coincidence but I had a cunning plan when I saw the sprue sale!)

British Figures:

Warlord Plastic:
British Command Sprue: (5)
two officers, sergeant, drummer and two ensigns.

British Infantry Sprues x2 (24)
Can be built as Musketeers  or Light Infantry

Warlord British Infantry Leaflet

Sharp Practice (British Infantry):

• British Musketeers  (8 figures)
• British Light Infantry Skirmishers (6 Figures)

So from my Sprue purchase I can build 2 units of Musketeers and 1 Unit of Light Infantry.

An of course some support:

2 Field Artillery Sprues:

• 2 cannons (3-pdr or 6-pdr) with British Royal Artillery Crew or Continental Army gunners
• 2 ‘Molly Pitcher’ figures (for conversion as this is a Loyalist / British collection)
• 2 mounted army commanders with option of 6 heads (so now have mounted commander & Aide de camp)
• 2 casualty figures – can be made as British or Continental

Native Americans:

What of the Native Americans in this conflict?
Many Native American tribes fought in the Revolutionary War. The majority of these tribes fought for the British but a few fought for the Americans.

Many of these tribes tried to remain neutral in the early phase of the war but when some of them came under attack by American militia, they decided to join the British.

Other tribes joined the British in the hopes that if the British won, they would put a stop to colonial expansion in the west, as they had done with the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

Detail article here

Native Americans:

Warlord woodland Indian Tribes (24 Figures)

I already had this in my Plastic / Lead Mountain so it now has a home although I suspect as Sharp Practice units are so small it is likely to be split up some may find a home with the Rebellious colonials and some may time-warp into a unit for French Indian War project.

So for the moment I will allocate 12 Figures to this project….