AWI Painting, Grid-based WW1 and next project

This week I have been able to really focus on painting my Peter Laing American War of Independence (AWI) miniatures. They are based so they can be used in either with one-hour war-game style rules or Volley and Bayonet rules. My original target I had set for Christmas was to complete 6 line infantry units, 2 artillery and 3 light infantry per side. Plus 1 grenadier unit for the British and 2 militia for the Americans. Based on this week's progress I'm hoping to exceed that, but there are always distractions. I'm finding Peter Laing miniatures straight forward to paint as they don't have excessive detail and are not "chunky". So far most figures only have 5 colours to paint, and no dry-brushing or washes to slow down the process. The quick painting time helps with a feeling of momentum and an enjoyment of painting.

British AWI - Peter Laing miniatures

All the AWI completed so far

While painting away this week I've been thinking about how to convert my Machine Age (WW1) house rules to work on a 6" grid. I really like the variable movement the rules have and want to  somehow incorporate that variability into a grid movement system. I tried about a month ago, but I was not satisfied about the changes. The movement was the sticking point and I ended up staying with what I had. My revised thinking to date is:

Infantry
Movement is for the most part not variable and is a constant 1 square move (my grid is 6" squares on  6'x4' table).  Variability only comes in with poor visibility when a D6 is rolled and any 1's and the unit does not move.

Heavy Tanks
Roll a D6 and on a 2+ move 1 square. This represents the unreliability of tanks during this period. In poor visibility tanks do not move if a 1 or 2 is rolled.

Light/Medium Tanks (e.g. Whippet)
Roll a D6 and on a 2+ moves 1 square, on a 5+ moves 2 squares. A roll of 1 indicates a breakdown and no move. In poor visibility tanks do not move if a 1 or 2 is rolled.

Armoured Cars

Roll a D6 and on a 5+ score move 3 squares, otherwise move 2 squares. A roll of 1 indicates a breakdown and no move. In poor visibility tanks do not move if a 1 or 2 is rolled.

Cavalry

Roll a D6 and on a 5+ score move 3 squares, otherwise move 2 squares. In poor visibility do not move if a 1 is rolled.

Assaults

For units that can assault, they must be in an adjacent square to the unit they are assaulting. They then roll a D6. If the score is 4+ the assault had an element of surprise and they roll two D6 for combat and select the highest score for hits. Otherwise, the assault lacked surprise and they roll two D6 for combat and select the lowest score for hits.

There will be other rules needing modification for use with a grid. So I'm hoping in the next couple of days to set up a game and try these rules and address other changes.

Getting ready for the next project - WW2

I have decided my next project will be building up forces for a WW2 game maybe based around the one-hour wargaming rules (by Neil Thomas) as a starting point. As with my WW1 games I'll have 10-15 units in a game on the usual 4' x 6' table. I have already started my purchases with mostly ArmourFast kits plus some Airfix kits which I remember from youth and many happy memories. Unfortunately, I never kept any of these kits only some of my metal miniatures.