"A Bridge Not Too Far"

Several weeks ago a small group of the Jackson Gamers joined in a Wings of War/Wings of Glory WW1 aerial game.  I decided to give one of my newly acquired "giants" an outing.  A Caproni bomber, escorted by two SPAD XIIIs was to bomb a bridge behind German lines to disrupt the flow of enemy reinforcements and supplies to a crucial section of the front.  The Germans spotted the approaching giant and scrambled four Albatross D-Vs to engage the bomber.  The ensuing action was captured by an Allied photo reconnaissance aircraft.

The Caproni and one of its SPAD XIII escorts in the foreground and the four German Albatross in the background.

As an Albatross draws a bead on the Caproni, so does its rear gunner on the Albatross.  Unfortunately the Albatross' machine guns jam!

And down the Albatross goes under the deadly fire from the Caproni's rear gunner.  Unfortunately the Caproni took some hits from another Albatross which wounded its rear gunner.

The SPADs engage the Albatrosses as the Caproni lumbers toward the target,

Reaching the bridge, the Caproni releases its bomb load, but its aim was a little off and it only crated the far side approaches to the bridge.  By this time the front gunner had also been wounded and the Caproni couldn't return any fire on the annoying Albatrosses.

One of the SPADs shoots down another Albatross as the Caproni, with an engine on fire, returns to the dubious safety of the Allied lines.

This was the first outing with a heavy bomber.  Although the target was missed, at least two of the German fighters were shot down.  I think that with more "practice" the bomb aimer can do a better job.

August American Revolution Painting

Three more units joined my American Revolution armies during August, two American and one Hessian.

Please click on the pictures for an enlarged image.

This is the Hessian Grenadier Battalion von Lengerke, composed of the grenadier companies from the regiments Prinz Karl, Wutginau, von Donop, and von Trumbach.  They will join the Grenadier Battalion von Linsingen (see July painting post) and two yet to be painted British grenadier battalions to form the Grenadier Brigade commanded by British Colonel O'Hara.
They are a combination of Miniature Figurines, Custom Cast, and Grenadier figures.

This is the 14th Continental Regiment, originally organized by John Glover of Massachusetts as "Glover's Marbelheaders."  Although they didn't last long in reality (summer 1775 until December 1776), they will form part of the regular core of my Continental army.  The hand-painted Pine Tree flag is speculative for this unit.
They are Miniature Figurines "Marblehead" figures, except for the officer which is a standard MiniFig AWI officer.

And finally, this unit replicates my interpretation of Smallwood's Maryland Regiment.  Although for most of their active service they were clad in hunting smocks, I'm showing them in their Continental best.  The flag is purely speculative, based on some images of surviving Maryland revolutionary flags and the heraldic colors of the Calvert family.  Before and during the Revolutionary War, the Calvert heraldic colors were associated with Maryland.  The stripes are hand-painted while the central blazon was printed, sized, and glued on the flag.
They are Custom Cast figures, 15 metal and 3 plastic.  Yes, I said Custom Cast plastic figures.

These are two of the Custom Cast figures I used.  Can you tell which is plastic and which is metal?

Well, the one on the left is plastic while the one on the right is metal.  Both bear the Custom Cast imprint on the base.

I do not know who actually made the plastic copies of the Custom Cast metal figures.  I got them as part of a large acquisition of figures from a well-known miniature gamer.  The others included gunners and various poses of regular and militia infantry, all matching metal Custom Cast figures.

Only two more units to paint, the 3rd Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers (Loyalist) and the 6th Virginia State Line (American, with speculative unit designation).  After that I'll take a break from the American Revolution and either get back to my Seven Years War imagi-nation 28mm figures or my American Civil War 15mm figures.