That d*mned Black Hat brigade!

...1863, sometime before Gettysburg. Most of them are wearing their gaiters for the last time. All of them are to gain eternal glory for what they did on that field in 1863. They lost 77% of their men on that 1st July.

Finally finished, my 2nd Wisconsin. Like written above, they all have their Sack Coats & gaiters. By the time around the battle of Gettysburg they didn't have look-a-like uniforms like in the picture. Some wore their Gaiters, some wearing Sack Coats and some Frock Coats but they all wore the Hardee Hat proudly. The Confederates all yelled out when confronted by this Brigade; "That d*mned Black Hat brigade!"

I was thinking of representing this regiment more like a mixed regiment with all kinds of uniforms in it. It should show the diversity of the Iron Brigade's uniform around 1863 but hearing all kinds of delivery-problems with Redoubt Enterprises, and of course the bad moulds, I have skipped that tought. The 'Bad mould problem' should be fixed by now, at least that's what they are claiming on TMP.

I like the look of these soldiers so much that i'm trying to find a decent reproduction Hardee Hat on the net. If anybody has some tips about this, with some decent shippping costs to Europe, let me know!

On to some pictures, I hope you like them, I do ;-)

The wonderful world of ... reading.

Indeed, some new purchases from Osprey Publishing...

They had (still have it seems) a Christmas sale with 45% discount on lots of interesting books. As a gold member i already had 30% discount which meant that for some books I payed no more then 5€! Be sure to check this deal out. Sometimes it pays off just to become a gold member and you get the one-month membership payed back in discounts!

Anyway, a full shot of all my books, enough to keep me busy for a couple of months.

Also, the recent releases from Battlefront's Flames of War titled Grey Wolf and Hellfire & Back sparked my interest in FoW again. To be honest i'm a bit dissapointed by the cost of the Panther in Grey Wolf. Fielding a descent SS-Army with Artillery, Panthers and some Infantry is kinda hard! A friend of mine bought some 1500 points of Late War Americans for the West Front so i will buy Earth & Steel in the future... 2012 is off to a good but expensive start!

Progress on my Iron Brigade

Just a quick update on my painting, it's going a bit slow... too slow to be honest.

But there is light at the tunnel, only need to give them a wash and paint the heads, glue them on and do the bases and flag them.

Oh yeah, Tactica in Hamburg next month (25th & 26th February), i'm going to drive 600km to pay a visit and of course... to visit Panzermuseum Munster. I only read/watch/hear excellent things about this museum. At Tactica i'm finally gonna pick up my British Napoleonic Fleet for the Trafalgar ruleset.