the Hessians are coming! the Hessians are coming...

Individually, the BMC figures are nothing special. However, make a unit of them and they don't look too bad. In fact, I think they look better in the eyes of the painter simply because a unit--even a small one--gives one a greater sense of completion.

With the growing cost of steel, I've found myself balking at buying fender washers on which to mount figures. For my ECW project this was not an issue since I was basing the figures in groups of two. But with the AWI I wanted to mount the figures individually on round bases. I just can't accept spending more for a figure base than I paid for the figure itself! Consequently, the Hessians are mounted on plastic poker chips obtained at the grocery store. Cheap. Convenient. Just my style. (I didn't even have to go get them myself... I just added them to the weekly grocery list.) One never knows where one might find gaming supplies. Keep your eyes open!

Many of the BMC Hessian figures exhibit awkward posing. Some look as if they're stabbing at bats flying around their heads; some appear to be caught in mid-air right after tripping. Most of them just aren't inspiring. (Well, blarmey! Why don't you buy better figures, you cheapskate?!) Still, a figure not used is a figure ripe for conversion. This standard bearer on the left is actually a BMC American artillerist with his linstock cut away and his head swapped with one of the bat-stabbing Germans. The regimental colors of the Hesse-Cassel von Lossberg regiment was printed out from this French site. That page got book-marked.

And, finally, another close up of one of the Hessians. This is not a bad pose. Is there anybody out there that wants to trade for some German bat-stabbers?