Through some trades, I acquired a few Perry American War of Independence figures. Very nice mind you, but I did not like the style should they be combined with my existing Front Rank collection. So they sat in a box.
But today, I got window shopping on the Perry site looking for more Napoleonics to buy, (yes, yes, like the diabetic loitering in front of a candy shop...) when I again took notice of the AWI section. So I ran down to the Perry box to see exactly what I had. Not many really -- 24 Southern militia, 14 British in roundabouts, 2 artillery pieces and some limber pieces.
However, it gave me idea of the potential order of battles as I used a trip to the washroom to exam the Greg Novak order of battle book of the AWI Southern Campaigns, to see what little obscure engagement I could model this collection towards. Novak offers no battle descriptions but does have an OB for the smallest of skirmishes.
I did not want to make this project very big. Heaven knows, I have those! No, this was to be small 'fun' deal and has no need to expand, so I require a small numbers battle, to limit any thought of expansion. (this is the alcoholic saying to himself to only finish off the small bottle and not start on the 40 ouncer).
Well, low and behold, I find the Battle of Waxhaws. I run to Wikipedia. Yeah, yeah, not the most accurate but gives me an idea of the type of battle and I also found a good site on AWI battles (link: AWI battles) to try to confirm the battle details and the numbers. While these do vary, I will use 360 Virginians (my militia types) and 2 6pdr cannon (I have just those!) vs. 100 Legion infantry (my roundabout types) plus 60 British 17th Dragoons and 90 British Legion dragoons. Well I don't have the cavalry but heck, the Perrys make some nice ones and even with the 17th in 'southern dress'! A quick calculations suggests a 1:10 ratio could work. Only 7 or 8 packs should complete both sides. Not that much really......as he takes another swig.....
While the battle was very one sided and even termed a "massacre", it could well have gone differently perhaps and that is the field for the wargame. In itself, the 'campaign' is self contained and small, which is what I am looking for. Heck, the battle has some emotional historic kick as it gave ol' Tarleton his bad boy reputation as "Ban the Butcher"
I think I may go for this. What is yet another project, eh? But, as with my recently completed Spartacus Roman collection [ see:my blog entry ], the Perry sculpts and the uniform colors just scream for the wash painting technique and so I will wait until next summer to complete.
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| Banastre Tarleton himself |