American infantry in the War of Independence broadly fell into three categories. The first was the militia, raised by most of the colonies from the earliest days, and during the war these divided into those that fought for the revolution (the Whigs, later termed patriots) and those that fought for the crown (the Tories, i.e. loyalists). The second group were the regular troops raised and paid for by the individual states, and the third was the Continental Army, paid for and supplied (at least in theory) by Congress. This set from HaT makes no claim as to which of these groups is depicted here, but as we shall see, that presents no problems.

The classic image of the American infantryman during the revolution is pretty much what the box art for this set depicts, a man in uniform much the same as those of the British and other European armies, but with a blue coat. The reality was vastly different, particularly in the early years of the war, and indeed no standard uniform was achieved before the end of the war, even in the Continental Army. Most militias, who played a large part in the war (especially in the south), had either no uniform as such, or else a very basic requirement such as a hunting shirt, but this also applied to the regulars, and at one stage George Washington advised Congress to make the hunting shirt the recognised uniform. The figures here have a very satisfying range of clothing, and indeed it is hard to find two figures with the same clothing and kit. Several wear the hunting shirt, which could be in many styles, but all those here are authentic, with fringed edges and a cape. Some others wear a military coat with lapels and turnbacks, and with tails that are sometimes long, sometimes short. Also seen here are some civilian coats, which might be more likely to be militia, and one man wears just his waistcoat over his shirt. The command figures all wear a more formal military costume, but for the rest the variety is pleasing and properly done.

All other aspects of the costume are similarly varied, as they should be. Some wear the tricorn hat, but several wear their brimmed hat with just one side pinned up, or with no sides pinned at all, while one man wears instead a liberty cap, which was also popular. The majority seem to be wearing breeches, stockings and shoes, but some look to have trousers or leggings, and a couple of the officers wear knee-length boots. All of this works well for both militia and some regulars, so there are no problems with the clothing of these men.

As with the clothing, so weaponry and equipment varied enormously, and was often in short supply. Here again we see a variety of items of equipment, including bags, pouches, water bottles (of several designs) and powder horns, but few have all of these. If these figures are used as militia then we would also expect to see some knives and tomahawks, but there are none here. Every soldier carries a musket, and while we can’t be too specific as to the model, all look much the same and are broadly of the standard military musket of the day, so none of the hunting guns and other civilian weapons we might expect of militia. An interesting feature is that all have a bayonet fixed, which is something Whig militia were very rarely given (or trained to use, although some Tory militia were issued with them), but it is a simple process to cut this off if desired, though those who also have a bayonet scabbard will need a bit more work (in fact many regulars also lacked a bayonet).

Although it is clear that these figures were designed in a computer, their look and feel is very much like so many plastic sets of days gone by. The general proportions are very good, and the detail is good too, though not as sharp or clear as some. We were a little disappointed with the fixed bayonets, all of whom are barely offset from the barrel and look like they would obstruct it if fired. Occasionally a face gets somewhat mangled, and some finer details like lace on cuffs are difficult to make out, yet they are still very nice sculpts, and we certainly enjoyed looking at them. We did not, however, particularly enjoy putting them together, for three of these poses (ignoring the mounted officer for now) require some assembly. The first man in our top row has a separate left arm and musket, and we found the fit to be pretty vague and certainly requiring the use of glue. The plastic used for these figures is very much the traditional compound, which presents the same difficulties of gluing that most older sets do, making life more difficult. The second and third figures in our bottom row have a separate right arm, and this too is fiddley to put in place, needing gluing again. The mounted officer sits on his horse easily enough, but requires gluing to stay put. However, the feature of this man which is most striking is that he is rather smaller than those under his command. Even allowing for the fact that he is riding and his legs are not straight, he is still smaller than everyone else; not so much so as to look ridiculous, but noticeable nonetheless. What does look rather silly is his sword, which has a blade 7 mm (50 cm) in length, which is a lot shorter than it should be, and a good deal shorter than the scabbard by his side!

There are a good number of poses in this set, and the basics of marching, advancing and firing are all covered pretty well. The man about to insert his ramrod is an unusual but suitable choice, but all of the private poses are natural and appropriate, including the man with the separate arm, who certainly benefits from the extra piece once put together. The command figures include a drummer walking and holding his sticks, and he is a good figure notable for having a good-sized drum (so often they are made too small) which is moulded with him rather than separate, yet still looks natural. The man with the spontoon is a nice figure too, doing what officers usually did and watching to make sure their men perform properly. The man next to him holds a spear to his front, which we can only imagine is meant to be the staff for a standard. The staff is only 32 mm (230 cm) in total length, and above his right hand is only about 12 mm (86 cm) of room for a flag, so it must be fairly small (though such flags did exist). The next officer is a great pose, as he is drawing his sword as he walks, and while this requires a separate piece we really liked the end result. The size of the mounted officer has been noted, but he is otherwise fine. His horse is suitably equipped, and in a perfectly natural walking pose (which is much less common than it should be).

There was a vast array of uniforms and other clothing worn by the American participants in the war, and no one set could possibly cover all of it adequately. Despite the importance of this conflict, we would contend that before this set there had been only one really good set of Americans, that from Accurate, with poor efforts from Airfix and Italeri failing to impress. This HaT set finally delivers more good figures, and while it does not try to cover too much, it does deliver a lot of the basics which the subject has long needed, and it does it pretty well. We really liked all of the poses, appreciated the fact that there is practically no flash, and cannot fault the historical accuracy either. We do have some issues with certain elements like short sword and misplaced bayonets, and also with the difficulty of putting some figures together, but these are fairly minor complaints (especially as many will want to remove the bayonets anyway), and this remains a very creditable collection of figures that were sorely needed for a somewhat neglected subject.