Fife & Drum Miniatures is a range of 1/56 scale figures (approximately 30mm in height) sculpted by Richard Ansell, and is devoted to the American War of Independence. The figures may be purchased from Der Alte Fritz through this blog, using Paypal for payment. Click on the page tabs for Crown Forces, American forces and artillery equipment to see pictures of the individual figures.

Winner of the "Best Historical Miniatures Range of 2011" by The Miniatures Page.

Monday, September 17, 2012

British Infantry on Campaign

5th Regiment (Northumberland) - click pix to enlarge.

A side view of the 5th. Note the difference in the original red coat compared to the faded rose colored coat.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

3 Pound Galloper Gun

3 Pound Galloper Gun (AE-4)
The picture shows a painted sample of the Galloper Gun set in the Fife & Drum Miniatures range, consisting of the horse, the limber frame that converts the cannon to a "galloper", and the 3 pound Verbruggen cannon on a Pattison carriage.

The stock number for the galloper  is AE-4 and is priced at $8.50 for the set.

The mounted officer is actually the Continental mounted officer, painted in a red coat. The officer on foot comes from the British artillery crew (firing) and is painted as an infantry officer in red coat.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Artillery Equipment - Painted Pix

British 6-pounder (AE3) battery in action (Firing AE12 and loading AE13 sets)
I have been busy painting samples of every figure in the Fife & Drum range so that we can get the figures photographed and loaded onto our new web site. I expect to launch the Fife & Drum web site towards the end of October 2012, so keep checking back on this blog for updates on our progress.

I like the way the artillery sets turned out - they have a lot of action to them, as they are available in loading sets and firing sets for each army. Eventually, each gun section will have a limber set attached to it.  See picture below for a sample of the limber set painted. Each set includes one limber, two horses and one drover. Cannon are purchased separately.

Limber set (AE-5) shown with the British 6-pounder in tow.

Continental Artillery Crew (AE13) loading a Swedish 4-Pdr (AE2)

I recently discovered that the cannon model that I had labeled as an American-cast 6-pdr (AE2) was actually the Swedish 4-pdr, which was part of the French Valliere system of artillery. This model can be used for both the Seven Years War and the American War of Independence.

Continental Artillery Crew (AE14) Firing a French 4-Pdr Valliere (AE1)
The French Valliere 4-pounder, or Long 4-pounder, is probably my favorite piece in our nascent Fife & Drum artillery offerings so far. I like it so much that I plan to add the French 8-pounder and 12-pounder cannon in the future. The long 4-pounder can be used in both SYW and AWI period armies.