I've recently managed to hornswaggle a Warhammer-centric friend into trying historicals—AWI Sharp Practice, to be precise—and to my immense gratification he's decided to go all in on collecting a force of his own.

I've been doing my best to pass on my accumulated knowledge vis a vis manufacturers, historical details, units, etc., and (having settled on a collection of Queen's Rangers) we are now at the "oh, sorry, forgot to mention that you have to buy your own bases" phase of the indoctrination process.

Accordingly, I put together a little buying guide, based on my own aesthetic preferences. He suggested I post it to this very blog, as he felt others might find it as useful as he, and so here we are!

Without further ado...

Sharp Practice Bases: A Buying Guide

Regular infantry are 8 figures, ranked 4x2

Militia are 10 figures, ranked 5x2

Skirmishers are 6 figures, clustered

Tribal bands are 12 figures, clustered

Cavalry are 8 figures, ranked 4x2

Artillery are a single gun with 4-5 crew

For most bases and trays, I recommend Warbases.

Pick up 20mm circular bases for all infantry figures—your choice of 2mm or 3mm thickness (depends on how thicc you like it):

https://warbases.co.uk/product/circular-bases/

For infantry leaders, you could put them on square bases, or 25mm bases, or pick up these custom sabots from Lasercast in Oz:

https://lasercast.bigcartel.com/product/command-trays

For cavalry of all types, go with 50x25mm bases:

https://warbases.co.uk/product/25mm-premier-bases/

For artillery, I found these guys in the US:

https://www.greenstuffindustries.com/store/p120/Sharp_Practice_Artillery_Crew_Tray.html

Or just a nice slap o’ plastic or basswood would do too. :P

For movement trays, we return once again to Warbases…

You’ll need to make sure the “thickness” of the recess on the tray matches the thickness of the base you’ve chosen. Once you’ve done that, just select the appropriate dimensions (4x2 or 5x2 for infantry units, 100mmx100mm for cavalry) and you’re good to go!

Formed infantry (2mm depth): https://warbases.co.uk/product/regiment-tray-20mm-slots-2mm-top-layer/ 

Formed infantry (3mm depth): https://warbases.co.uk/product/regiment-tray-20mm-slots-3mm-top-layer/ 

Skirmishers: https://warbases.co.uk/product/dux-britzombie-tray-20mm-slots/ 

Cavalry: https://warbases.co.uk/product/close-order-tray-20mm-2/ 

Hobby Streak Progress Report

It's been a little over a month since my last post, when I was just getting under way with my "hobby streak" project. As of this writing, I'm coming up on seven weeks of managing some kind of hobby-related work each and every night, without a break. Even though I've fallen off my initial projected pace, I'm really pleased with my progress and seem to have found a rhythm that works well for me.

Partly this is because I reorganized my display shelves and projects, consolidating my plans. I'll be painting fewer figures, which keeps me on pace to hit my goal. Even better, by pacing myself I've managed to heal up from the incipient carpal tunnel pain that had started plaguing my painting hand, as discussed in a previous post. Phew!

So what do I have to show for my seven weeks of work? Oh...nothing much...except for two full Sharp Practice American War for Independence (AWI) forces, that's all!

The Continental and British forces are each straight out of their respective sections in the rulebook, the "Sundry Rebels" and the "Mixed Regular Force" lists, respectively.

Both forces are loosely based, in terms of units modeled, on the orders of battle from Brandywine, 1777. I selected from the list based on some of my own family history—the colonies my ancestors were living in during the war, and the regions of Britain they'd come from, as the case may be.

The Continentals

The list calls for two Rebel Militia units and two State Line Troops as the core companies. The Militia hail from Maryland, while the State Line are from Pennsylvania. Joining them are two units of Riflemen.

Supporting units include a light cannon and a company from the 4th Continental Light Dragoons; this latter unit was a must-have, as my direct patrilineal ancestor James Larkins rode with them! Unfortunately, as I got started painting, I realized I'd ordered the wrong type of model. The 4th Dragoons were still wearing confiscated British infantry jackets in 1777, and wouldn't switch to green jackets and Tarleton helmets until 1780 at the earliest. So it goes. These will do for now.

Here's the complete force, by regiment group:

Weirdly, two of the figures do bear the earlier uniform. I think I ordered all at the same time? Anyway, it would be perfect for representing the unit during the transitional period of 1780–81, when not everyone had the new kit, and it means I only have to order and paint six of the older uniforms when I get around to it.

The Hated British

The core mixed British force consists of companies drawn from the 1st Light Infantry Battalion (painted as elements of the Royal Welch Fusiliers) and Fraser's Highlanders of the 71st Foot. In support is a medium artillery piece, a company of Hessian Grenadiers, and a unit of the Queen's Rangers Hussar (Loyalist) cavalry. There's also a unit of Woodland Indians I painted up to either serve as allies or in special scenarios and that I'm quite happy with.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to seeing how these forces play out on the table. If everything goes well, I should be getting a game in by mid-January; I might do a solo test game before then to really nail down the rules, too.

I'll also hopefully (finally) get around to that long-delayed Malifaux game mentioned in the last post and that got repeatedly put off due to holiday scheduling conflicts. Might even get my Epic Titans on the table for a game of Adeptus Titanicus before the next couple weeks are out. We shall see.

As always, if anything comes of these plans, I'll be sure to post pictures and summaries of the games here!