Wednesday, 3 November 2021

"Those are Regulars, by God!"

This famous phrase was supposedly uttered by British Major General Phineas Riall at the Battle of Chippewa in 1814, after realising that the grey clad US troops of Andrew Jackson were not the half trained militia he had supposed them to be.

As such, its not entirely appropriate for my latest additions to the US 1812 collection, as these Regulars are in the more common dark blue faced red, but its a nice quote!

Only half of the 18 man unit has been completed but I felt in need of a post, so here they are. The remainder are underway and hopefully will be completed in a couple of days time. 


The Old Glory officers pose is a bit OTT but has a certain charm I think!


The marching figures are in three or four poses, with head variants



Close ups of the three completed elements




Rear view showing the "US" on the haversacks


Inspiration for these figures came from the excellent War of 1812 blog and the numerous uniform plates available there, a very few of which are shown below:

1812 Uniforms


1813 Uniforms


1814 Uniforms

30 comments:

  1. Well done rross, and I do like the officier's pose!

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    1. Thank you Phil - some OG poses are quite idiosyncratic...this one is a bit odd to my eye but I can live with it!

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  2. Nice work a smart looking unit on the way 👍

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    1. Thank you Matt - there is a simple elegance about the US army uniform of this era. Far preferable to the scruffy militia bunch from my previous post!

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    1. Dziękuję mój przyjacielu (thank you Google!)

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  4. Nice work there Kieth- I take it that the castings are by Old Glory. Stay well and safe there in NZ. Cheers. KEV.

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    1. Thanks Kev - yes, they are Old Flory figures.

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  5. They look great Keith and should be a fine looking bunch when fully completed and on the table. I loved the quote by the way!

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    1. Cheers Steve - according to my in depth research (a minute in Wikipedia) there is no evidence he actually said this - the only person who ever quoted it is Gen Andrew Jackson, the US Commander, and he probably wasnt close enough to be able to hear, what with all the musketry and cannon fire etc...no one on the British side ever said Riall made this comment - but it is a nice story!

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  6. They look good! A good many Old Glory figures are sculpted in more "dynamic" poses. We often refer to some of these poses as "Hey, Steve!" poses where the figure is advancing in one direction while the head is turned off to the side shouting.

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    1. Thanks Jon - yes OG have some odd poses and sculpting can vary between ranges (First Edition British Napoleonic were a great disappointment to me when I first bought a batch years ago) but overall, I think they work pretty well and I like the guy with his mouth open, yelling out!

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  7. The Old Glory lines present better when painted and arranged as units, appropriate for what they were really sculpted for at the time. I reckon. You've certainly done them proud.

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    1. Thank you Ed. OG are a mixed bag (pun intended) I find but as I have said to Jon above, on average, they provide good value for money and allow one to build up a reasonable sized force economically, what with their bags of 30 infantry and the Army Card giving a 40% discount! Its just a shame they stopped adding to their ranges about 10 years ago - the last new Second Edition figures.....

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  8. They look great Keith. Nice uniform plates as well. It is amazing what you can find online nowadays, rather than having to rely on the colour plates in a couple of Osprey books.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence - yes indeed, with all the negative side of the Net, its easy to forget all the advantages - hell, we would not even have been able to communicate with a disparate group of gamers like this a few years ago! The resources are great and the ability to see figures before purchasing, paying direct online without having to use cheques or go to a bank to get an international transfer or whatever (I was in the UK so didnt have to worry about buying from overseas!) - all these things we take for granted now! There are about twenty colour plates similar to this on the War of 1812 alone - who needs to buy books any more - even though occasionally I still do!

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  9. The officer is just excited. Really excited. 😀
    Nice job all around on the Regs.

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    1. I think he has had some pre combat benzedrine Stew!

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  10. Like ‘em. Can’t help thinking that the officer is in fact disco dancing!

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    1. Thanks JBM - I can hear his Colonel shouting out "Watch what you are doing man, you will have someones eye out with that sword!" :)

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  11. Nice work, can tell you are happier with the regulars!

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  12. Great looking Regulars, Keith. I do like the clean and crisp look of their uniforms - and the painted backpacks too.

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    1. Thank you Dean - yes its a bit odd that they painted the backpacks pale blue in real life - I forgot about that detail in the first of the recent additions but I dont think it will matter too much if there is some variety!

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  13. A cracking start to the new unit Keith…
    The officer looks like he is shouting out “surprise!” or “check out my new regiment”
    I like him…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you Aly - the consensus seems to be in favour of the officers "dramatic" posture! The sculpting is a bit dodgy - his sword arm in particular is enormously thick - like its his thigh or something - but you cant tell once he is painted and on a base with the other figures! Looking forward to seeing what you do next in this era too.

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  14. Good looking regulars, by God!
    Best Iain

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