The Easy Bit Done - Now for the Hard Bit

On the final stages of the painting assembly line are 3 eight man companies of the 49th Foot and one from the Glengarry Regiment Light Infantry Fencibles (GLIF).  All of these were taken straight up from the Perry Napoleonic British Infantry plastic box set.  The 49th wear the stovepipe and white trousers (grey might be more historic but less attractive) and the GLIF are the rifles figures except that I have not tried to replace the Baker rifles with muskets.  These chaps were actually pictured in an earlier post as the 60th Rifles, but have since had their red facings traded for black.

Next up the quagmire of uniforms for Yankee regulars.  Both the official regulation shakos and the jackets changed during 1813, and worse still many regiments made do with what was available.  In most cases, simple work with Xacto and brush will convert the Perry plastic Brits to US regiments.   But which particular set of uniform pieces to go with?

After some hhhmming and hawing I decided to go with Lake Ontario and the upper St Lawrence river theatres in 1813.  This lets me take in York, Sacket's Harbour, Fort George, Stoney Creek and Crysler's Farm.  That most leaves my regulars in the old (laced) jacket and stovepipe shako, meaning Xacto work is limited.  Some units will appear with a laceless jacket and/or mock-belgic shako.

So to make life even easier I went with the 13th US Infantry in laced jacket and stovepipe (although I have at least one illustration of them in the belgic).  This unit fought well and was noted as being well equipped.  Plus who can resist unlucky 13?