Some projects never get old; they just never get finished. Here infront of me I have an article from Military Modelling magazine dated April 1983. Where do the years go???

I was sixteen when I started planning to recreate this battle in miniature. The author Stuart Asquith had done a great job of getting me interested in this most exciting of battles. There in pencil on the side are my pencil calculations; if the South Carolina Volunteers were 270 strong on the day of battle, why then I needed 27 miniatures. Forty one years later I have the minis, but unprepared and unpainted.

So, it’s been forty odd years and it’s now time to get moving. Mr Churchill has been badgering me to collect Americans so I shall. What follows is a brief literature review of what I have to hand.

The book above is where it all started. Inspiring photos of miniatures with incisive text. C. Johnson has Cowpens included; short on details but good on pre- battle manoeuvring.

The magazine contains images of the fighting men from Guildford Courthouse but these illustrations by Richard Scollins are exactly as I imagined them.

The Krone book is a good straight forward refight but a little short on the terrain details. For the most comprehensive details I have consulted the Black Powder Rebellion book and that is especially strong on unit statistics and uses a much reduced scale than most AWI battles in the book.

Newly arrived today is last month’s VaeVictis which focuses on our battle. If you haven’t discovered this magazine yet then you need to search it out. It is available from the Littlecorporal webstore. For sixteen pounds you get a really good magazine and a high quality game.

Like all the ancient and black powder era games it uses the same easy to understand common rules set ( published separately too). The map was a gem and the best yet for detail.

If your French is as poor as mine then the VaeVictis website has English translations of all the battles in the magazines. Make sure you buy the magazine with the game though- it is possible to just buy the magazine.

One last purchase is the Osprey book on Cowpens that I look forward to smuggling into the house in a few days! Back soon with a progress report!

I’ve just realised I may not have another forty years!

Happy Christmas!

Michael