Casting Out Temptation

I don't do this sort of thing in order to make people mutter, roll their eyes or have fits, honest. It's just that 1759 Brit was putting evil thoughts in my head and I'm not good at resisting Temptation.

A new batch of PA Hessians primed and ready.(PA Prussians technically).
Pay no attention to the red coated lad.

But let me go back a bit. Rather surprisingly I did manage to get enough cleanup and rearranging done to get a casting corner set up again and so I cast a small batch of Prussians for use as Hessians as well as some Zinnbrigade fellows in shako since I vaguely remembered feeling that I should cast more of them. The officer's sword was still giving me trouble so I drilled through the tip to the outside and that did the trick. I have to say that these new PA molds do cast up easily.

But what to do with them? Every time I looked at that 1759 Brit conversion I would get an overwhelming urge to do the Plains of Abraham and Louisburg, not to mention Fort Beausejour, something not helped by me looking at the summer uniform Russians who would make such good Compagnies Franches. But to go that route would be just wrong, esp right now. Not only have I had and sold off 15mm armies and still have the 1/2 finished 30mm ones I started in '73, but PA is expecting to add British molds to their catalog. So to stop the evil voices in my head, I grabbed the tempter and a paintbrush and turned him into a more or less regulation 1770 Brit.  Not nearly as attractive but more useful and less dangerous right now.

I turned my mind back to the other options. The simplest, most logical and least likely option would be to paint up a Charge! regiment of Hessians, mounted on washers and capable of being used for either NQSYW or AWI games. Since I'm undecided I am going to paint these 8 up and just leave them on their native bases for now. The idea of massed HofT 18thC armies is probably out though. I have a good start on just such early/mid 19th Century armies and in a fictional setting only the uniforms would set them apart.

A gratuitous shot of the climax of the 1/2 distance Charge! game. The King's Carabiners sweep over the Rebel guns clinching a victory.

The reduced range and movement Charge! game worked well but scalewise even a single company was wide for a battalion compared to musket ranges. With a front of 15mm per figure they would be about right though. In any case, with 3 companies (1 Grenadier) , 1 squadron and a battery vs 2 companies, 2 squadrons and a battery, the game was too small for regimental morale so I used the companies as units.
It was too small a force for 2 guns though, they dominated the field.

 Since I was championing the King's forces in this game it was a bit annoying (in a good, tension/excitement way) that the Rebels kept pulling chestnuts out of the fire and it was still a toss up after 9 turns. The last Royal gun managed a hit at long range though and finally broke the Rebel cavalry allowing the Royal cavalry to ride down the Rebel guns from the flank and ending the game. The Royals were on the edge themselves and a 3rd cavalry melee and a few more hits from the Rebel guns might have reversed the decision.

What the end looked like elsewhere.

Before I make any decisions game wise or shelfspace wise (the 2 critical elements) I really ought to talk myself into playing a low density, single figure, skirmishy sort of game, in theory the table would be a good size for that as well.