A Revolution in Contrast: Getting Continental Army on the Table Fast! [How I Paint Things]

And don't forget that the more models you field, the more you benefit from "platoon effect", which is when you see the models as a team that's all uniformly painted instead of a single, sad, quickly painted mini.

It's crazy how old some Perry miniatures sculpts are and yet, for my money, they haven't been bested. Maybe it's just because I like the true scale more than heroic, but they also just have such lovely details, poses, and faces.

You're right about the different facings' colours, f.e. New Yorkers had buff ones. The hunting shirts were very popular in the continental army, whole units, expecially riflemen, were equipped with them, the last mini is surely from one of these, given the lack of a bayonet. These minis, as usual, are really well painted, it's incredible how the infantryman remember an early french revolutionary soldier.

As someone who used to study this stuff professionally, uniformity of Continental troops really depended on the year, the unit, and the theatre. Some troops were very well equipped and others weren't--some southern colonies, for example, could not adequately outfit their troops during the fall and winter months, whereas mid-Atlantic and New England colonies had more success with uniformity. Pennsylvania Line soldiers also were typically (not always) well uniformed (though you get the odd new recruits or British deserters who were pressed into service without proper continentals--the coats with the different facings). After the 1779 reforms, you do tend to see greater uniformity as well as supplies from France started to trickle in more steadily. Prior to this, quite a few bolts of fabric were taken off in a raid by Loyalist troops during the winter of 1777-1778 outside Philadelphia (some of this cloth was meant to refit soldiers at Valley Forge). Of course militia, Associators, and Flying Camps were different beasts entirely. With the exception of Flying Camps, uniformity amongst these units was rare and also widely depended upon the colony and location at the time. Deserter reports offer some clues but these aren't always reliable on the whole (however sometimes you get four or five deserters from the same unit in the same listing at the same time that give clues to the kit of the regiment as a whole). Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Anyway, fun video as always!

#2's uniform looks surprisingly camouflaged. Those Perry minis are wonderfully naturalistic. Silver Bayonet during the War of Independence could make for a nice variant setting.

The 1779 Continental Army Uniform soldier is my favorite. Well done. 👍

It's ironic that you put this out when I am painting Prussians with contrast. Contrast on 15mm is challenging.

Nice work Troy, however I'm one of those people who just don't like the effect of contrast paints, but I can see how for some people it can really work for them.

Nice work; It took me forever to stop defaulting to how I painted RPG characters and focus instead on the appearance of the entire unit, to complete an army to a tabletop standard with less time and effort

They look really good! I like the variation in the unform styles and colors as it looks more realistic. Thanks for sharing this.

Loved this vid!

They would make great Imagination’s Light and Line infantry, as Spencer-Smiths infantry were AWI figures.

Your videos and painting style are amazing! thank you for all this content. It really helps me as I am starting with the hobby!! :D

Terrific "How to" Video! Have to paint a lot of Anglo-Zulu War Brits and this was really helpful. This was a terrific result too! Cheers

I don't know if you've read the book 1776 but it's a great history book about the American Revolutionary war.

Another good informative painting tutorial mate yes I'm slowly getting through alot of boxes of the AWI era for myself I'm using more of original paints not contrast but I still like the way the contrast gets you a good result and very fast I'm currently on a regiment of the British and man yes alot of buttons etc on them my figures are from wargames factory but also have some Perry miniatures always enjoy the look of rank and file of the musket era 👍

I quite like them. Sonic, out of curiosity: you often discuss how models painted like these would "look on the table", and I have to wonder... which games with massed armies do you play? I imagine not for every game and period, because you simply wouldn't have the time to paint armies for all of them! So which ones do you play? :)

While to corrax primer may be gone. Ill still take the time to thin it out for base coats. As its to good not to use for clone and storm trooper armor.

as always, a great tutoriol. would you be able to paint up some British and Zulus in contrast as a guide ? :)

Informative and entertaining as always! Slightly off topic but what basing material did you use for these?