Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Painting Challenge - Incorporated Militia Battalion of Upper Canada



It's been awhile since my last submission but I've had several units on the go.  These are a 24 man unit from the Incorporated Militia Battalion of Upper Canada.  However, only 8 count towards the challenge as I had painted the original 16 last year.   The  unit is mostly made up of Perry plastics with with a few exceptions as follows (all in the 8 new additions):

  • the two kneeling figures are Victrix plastics, but with Perry packs so as to have the same kit as the rest of the unit;
  • the officer with the round hat is from Brigade (ex Victrix) and comes in a pack with 3 metal command figures and 30 heads to turn Victrix British infantry into Royal Marines.  Apparently round hats were all the rage among the young Canadian officer corps during the war.

My old gaming buddy Ross had noted that my American infantry regiments gave the look of individual figures firing at will.  With this unit I tried to get the impression of platoon fire by completing the new 8 figures in firing poses and basing them together.  The remaining 4 bases hold figures in the process of reloading and readying to fire.

The Incorporated Militia Battalion was formed as a permanent standing force from men in the existing militia units of Upper Canada (now Ontario).  They were well trained and pretty much as good as regulars and fought well during the War of 1812.  Members of the unit served all along the frontier and fought in many of the battles.

The original plan was for red uniforms, but supply issues led to them getting green faced red for a time.  This makes a nice contrast in the thin red line.  Officers apparently got scarlet coats faced blue, and darned if I can find any reference to the musicians. In the end I decided that they got the regular green faced red with extra lace.


1 comment: