The Brigade of Guards
I have just ordered the Perry Minis for the British Brigade of Guards. I am organizing it for two 18 casting battalions, Brigade Commander Stand, 6 castings of Grenadiers and 6 of Light companies. Has anyone else completed the brigade of guards? Any tips?

I seem to recall that Eclaireur has a Composite Brigade, so he might be able to help once he's back in the UK. Not sure about Giles - I think he and I are waiting for Alan Perry to make bespoke figures (especially the flank companies). Some links which might help in the meantime:- http://www.military-historians.org/company/journal/guards/guards.htm http://footguards.tripod.com/ http://www.reenact.com/brigade.html http://www.brigadeofguards.org/ Don't forget to give one of your drummers a white coat and bearskin cap, for the 3rd Guards.

Yes, I'm waiting (probably in vain) for Perry Miniatures to release specific Guards figures. Given the 1001 other things I have to paint, I'm not really in any rush.... :? EC used the Perry standing campaign dress figures, so he paintied specific motifs on the backpacks to indicate the different regiments that made up the battalion. A very fine piece of work...GMB do a Guards flag, although it's almost certain that no flags were carried by the Guards in the field.

Thank you, Giles. I always like to have an explanation for deviations from the norm (and from the misconceptions I've accumulated over the years).

I know I am not the die hard
I selected some of the more interesting standards for my brigade. when my boys march on the table I ant the opposition to reel in horror at the bright colors and glinting bayonets of the guards. I am using the Perry's campaign mini's for my brigade. As a nod to Matthews and O'Hara my Brigadier will carry the Coldstream's Colors. I have noted the light and grenadier companies had cut down light inf style caps. Giles I blame you for all my hard earned money being absorbed into up the UK mini's economy and the Perry Brothers. Yes my Foundry paints have arrived and I am churning out the lead now....

Tarleton, There is a traditiona that the Major's and one company colour of the Third (later Scots) Foot Guards were taken to America. Edward W Richardson's "Standards & Colors of the American Revolution" (now oop, but probably available from your local library, and usually copies on Amazon) has colour plates of both flags, which are/were on display at a museum in Scotland.

Major's flag
Ronan Can you give me a description or a link to it... I am very interested in this fact that you presented.

Tarleton, Unfortunately, my copy of Richardson has gone AWOL, due to my wife "tidying up", but if you go here and click on the 3rd Foot Guards link in the right hand margin, it will show you the Major's and No.3 Company colours. http://www.fifedrum.org/crfd/BD_1R.htm I'm fairly sure these are the two supposedly taken - I do know that anyone who makes AWI flags and who does a Foot Guards set, makes this pair. That said, if any were taken to America, there is no mention of them in the 1776, 1777 or 1778 campaigns (it is highly unlikely they would have been carried on any of the raids around NYC in 1778-79). More particularly, there is no reference to them by either side in the melee with the Marylanders and Washington's cavalry at Guilford, nor of their being captured/smuggled out of Yorktown, which suggests they were almost certainly not taken into the field for the Southern campaign. RtL

Vaughan, Glad to be of help. Somewhere near you (IIRC it's the University of North Carolina at Raleigh) has a Foot Guards orderly book for this period. There's another at William L Clements / Ann Arbor in Michigan, which covers 1776/1777. The uniform changes are particularly surprising given that everyone thinks of the Foot Guards as bastions of conservatism, both social and military. However, a number of Guards officers volunteered to serve in other regiments during the French & Indian War - William Howe's older brother George in the 60th, then 55th Foot, was one example - and brought back useful experience in terms of tactics and uniforms. In fact, George Howe himself pioneered some aspects of fieldcraft and campaign dress, ordering his regiment to crop their hair and hats and travel light. The Guards themselves have a substantial number of untapped records that have never been made available to outsiders, so there is still much to be uncovered. RtL

They do have a certain something about them, don't they? They can be a little bit parochial when it comes to their history - some regiments more than others. I've been looking into a book on the Guards in the AWI for about 15 years, and there are some depressing gaps that are stopping progress, although Mark Urban's "Fusiliers" threw up a hitherto unknown (to me at least) journal by an officer named Fitzpatrick, which proved revealing.