American Militia Painted Examples

Fife & Drum American Militia Firing Line (click image to enlarge)

I have been busy painting some of the new American Militia figures so that everyone can see how they look once they are painted. I still have to add the ground terrain effects, but these pictures should give you an idea of how they look. For light infantry and militia, I like to make each stand (40mm x 60mm) a mini-diorama by adding tree stumps, piles of logs and stone walls etc. In my mind, the Militia would probably be seeking some kind of cover, so I picked up some small pebbles and rocks along the roadside, added some twigs, and I was ready to go.

American militia firing line using the shooting and loading poses from the Fife & Drum range.

Since there are basically four poses in "firing line" mode and four more in "advancing" mode, my plan was to paint one battalion as a firing line and one as an advancing unit. Why? Because militia clothing is not uniform, so I figured that the best way to tell the two regiments apart was to have them split into advancing and firing.

The pictures above use the following Fife & Drum figures:

A1 Militia Officer (the fellow standing bravely in front of the wall.

A2 Militia standing at the ready (1 figure in the back row, first stand on the left)

A4 Militia standing firing (cocked hat/tricorn)

A5 Militia standing firing (brimmed hat)

A6 Militia kneeling firing (brimmed hat)

A7 Militia cocking his musket (brimmed hat)

These figures, in combination, make for a nice firing line with lots of action and variety to it.

I am waiting for the white glue on the stones to dry, and then I will slather a layer of spackling compound mixed with brown paint over the stands. Then I dip the stands into a bowl of fine railroad ballast from Woodlands Scenics, and let the stands dry overnight. Tomorrow, I will add a brown ink wash over the stands, and after the ink dries, I will lightly dry brush some tan or beige paint over the surface to highlight the ground relief. Finally, I will dab some white glue onto the bases and apply static grass to finish off the base.

I hope to have a similar advancing militia regiment painted and ready to photograph by next weekend.

For those of you who have placed orders last week, your packages were mailed on Saturday and you should be getting them early next week (US residents only). The international shipments take from 6 to 10 business days to arrive.

Cheerio everyone!