A lone Sharpshooter...

This is not a tale of a lone sharpshooter, this is just to show what happens when one gets tired of waiting for some new paints to arrive and when one gets bored of painting SS Oak Leaf uniforms...

I was really fed up with painting those little 15mm guys in those annoying-to-paint uniforms so i took a small break. Since we decided to postpone our first 28mm ACW battle again, i'm gonna try to squeeze in my skirmishers. 14 figures to paint, one done, which was more of a tester.

The most famous of Union Sharpshooters is of course the 2nd US Sharpshooter Regiment led by Colonel Hiram Berdan. They had all green uniforms payed for by Hiram Berdan and the rifles they used was the Sharps Rifle. Some men brought their personal rifle with them. They fought on almost every field of battle in the East and became famous while defending Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Enjoy my little "tester" :-)

Bring out the guns!

It's been a while since my last post. Alot of stuff going on... My ACW is finished for the time being. Flames of War version 3 is out and we had our second Battledays @ Winxel. Normally we had to play our first game of ACW but due to circumstances we postponed it until mid-april, but i'm still looking forward to it! We played some v3 FoW instead :-)

Another thing to look forward to; Action 2012 @ Rheindahlen Wargames Club. A small but oh-so nice wargaming event. Lots of nice tables and traders. Click here to go to the homepage. I have some small purchases to do; Pickup some Dystopian War, possibly the v1.1 rulebook. Buy some Plastic Soldier Company Half-tracks for my SS-Panzergrenadiers and i need a Jagdpanther Platoon. 

Next to these upcoming purchases i also had some other Flames of War purchases a couple of weeks ago. SS-Mortar Platoon and a complete SS-Panzergrenadier Company. I'm gonna use them for 2 Late War armies. One for the West and the other for the East. My collegue from work is almost done with painting his 101st Airborne. Fearless Vets against Fearless Vets, it's gonna be awesome! We also played our first v3 game last week. It was a crushing defeat for the Soviets. My Grenadier Company massacred 2 Soviet infantry Battalions and we managed to kill 5 tanks in one turn! So far i'm liking the new rules.

Painting is going steady, i'm having an Airbrush-a-thon. Currently painting 5 Panthers (which i will complete today, pictures up soon. I promise!), on the waiting bench are 5 Tigers & 5 Stug III's. The Stug's are for the LW-list. The Tigers are just for fun, maybe i'll need them one day ;-)

Black Powder ACW Casualty Markers

In glades they meet skull after skull
Where pine cones lay - the rusted gun,
Green shoes full of bones, the mouldering coat
And cuddled up skeleton;
And scores of such. Some start as in dreams,
And comrades lost bemoan;
By the edge of those wilds Stonewall had charged-
But the year and the Man were gone.

by Herman Melville, "The Armies of the Wilderness"

As promised, some pictures from my ACW casualty markers. I got the idea from some pictures on the Warlord Games forum. Some guy did the same for his 28mm Romans.

I hope i will not be needing them much :-) They're all wearing the regular blue suit. No zouave or greatcoat models yet. I still need to order those from Redoubt. I just gotta make sure that my zouaves and my boys from ireland leave the battlefield unharmed.

Models are from Perry, colours by Vallejo and tufts and flowers are from Silflor. The dices are from some cheap vendor on ebay.

Winfield Scott Hancock

"No other Union general at Gettysburg dominated men by the sheer force of their presence more completely than Hancock."

We're almost there.

My commanding officer is done, Winfield Scott Hancock. One of my favorite, if you can call it that, Generals of the Union Army. One that didn't screw up like the ones commanding him. He played a big roll in the Battle of Gettysburg, holding the centre...

You can read alot about him on Wikipedia .

Also done are my casualty markers, later this week i'll post some pics, and 1 of my 12-pdr Napoleon's. Only 1 of those 12-pdr's to go and i'm finished for our first battle. It's gonna be awesome, i'm so looking forward to it!

Still have alot of work to do; need to read trough the Black Powder rulebook, paint some snake-fences and base some trees. I'll have to decide with my gaming buddy on the table-size. He has some nice 50x50cm tiles perfect for 28mm games. I think 200x150 should do the trick. The gaming setup will be 4 large infantry regiments, 1 cavalry regiment, 1 Commander & 2 guns.

On a personal note, got a dentist appointement next week, i'm so NOT looking forward to that!

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 ;-)

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.

Faugh a Ballagh!

“Your soldier’s heart almost stood still as he watched those sons of Erin fearlessly rush to their deaths. The brilliant assault on Marye’s Heights of their Irish brigade was beyond description. We forgot they were fighting us and cheer after cheer at their fearlessness went up all along our lines!”

General George Pickett, writing to his Fiancée.

"The boys that wore the green" was their nickname, the famed Irish Brigade. Part of this brigade was the 69th, or as General Robert E. Lee nicknamed them during the fighting at Fredericksburg; "The Fighting 69th".

I modelled them after the scenes from the movies Gods & Generals, in greatcoats assaulting the Confederate defences at Fredericksburg. The regiment was almost annihilated during this assault. The figures from Redoubt Enterprises are hell to work with, but after cleaning and of course, painting i think they look alright! Not all negative, a good thing about these Redoubt figures is that they come with seperate heads, so you can add some variation to them.

The grass tufts are late fall tufts from Silflor.

Currently i'm working on the 2nd Wisconsin Regiment, part of the Iron Brigade. Another positive thing about those Redoubt figures is that they paint nicely and pretty fast. Also, the casting of those Iron Brigade models is alot better then the ones with overcoats. Probably a popularity thing ...

Oh yeah, before i forget. Merry Christmas and of course ... a happy newyear. Don't drink and drive.

Advance the colors! Advance the colors! Charge!

"I doubt whether it had an equal, and certainly no superior among all the regiments of the Army of the Potomac."

The next regiment is ready... The 5th New York, one of the most famous units of the American Civil War.

  I've done the basing and tufts the same way as the previous regiment, only for the flags I tried some tips from one of my followers. To be honest, it didn't work out like I have hoped :-( But many thanks for the tips, MiniMike!

  They turned out pretty good i think, while finishing these i had some ideas for the 6th (and probably last) regiment. I'm thinking to go with the 1st Minnesota Volunteers. They entered hell at Gettysburg and few returned from it, only to receive eternal glory.

"Not only were men wounded, or killed, they were riddled."

  For some good history on the 5th NY, check out this site. It has everything you need to know about these colourful troops. Here are some more picies, enjoy!

20th Maine to the front!

  Finally! My first 100% completed ACW 28mm regiment! Remember when i said that i still needed to flag and base all my figures? It's an ongoing process at the moment...

  Part of V Corps, Army of the Potomac. These guys became famous during the Battle of Gettysburg, defending Little Round Top and finally charging down the hill almost destroying the 15th Alabama. Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain became famous after the charge. Historians are still arguing whether he ordered the charge not.

  Anyway, here are some pictures of the entire completed regiment. I'm not to happy with the flags to be honest, you can see some parts of the flag not being glued well together. If somebody has some tips how to do this properly, let me know! Otherwise, all in all, i'm pretty proud of myself. Never tought that i could paint like this...

 

Marching through the fields of glory...

  I really got to make some kind of schedule because my initial planning always seem to get fubar'ed. I was hoping to start my Berdan Sharpshooters or my Iron Brigade but thanks to an eager gaming buddy I started basing my first 3 ACW-regiments. He really wants to play some ACW and I still have so much work to do... I need to paint up one more regiment, base about 30 trees, alot of Renedra worm fences need some paint and what's a battle without artillery... right, i need to do those too. 

  I'm quite happy with the basing of my figures. Working in a lab has some advantages, like... sieving sand to different fractions. 1mm, 0.5mm, etc... no need to buy those overprices basing grit packages! I use Vallejo White Pumice flocked with some small and medium sized grit. Basecoat is Vallejo 872, Chocolat Brown, then a heavy drybrush of Flat Earth 983, a medium drybrush of Light Brown 929, light drybrush of 914 Green Ochre and then some touches of Iraqi Sand.

  The Grass Tufts are from Silfor, they are summer tufts. The single colored ones and the 2-color ones. I also used some summer-flowers. For my Irish Brigade at Fredericksburg i'm gonna use Late Fall tufts, long and medium sized ones. A pictures of that one will be up shortly.

Black Hats

I needed a break from painting the 'Boys That Wore The Green' so i painted a trooper from the famous 2nd Wisconsin, part of the Iron Brigade.

The casting of these models is alot better than the Irish with overcoats. They're only a bit harder to paint; more colours and detail, but i don't mind... I hope i got this one right, painted as the 2nd Wisconsin at Gettysburg.

I'm also gonna try something new, a quick painting guide for this one. Stay tuned for Irish Brigade painting guide once i got them all finished. All colours are from the Vallejo Model Colour range except the metal parts on the rifle. Here goes...

Undercoat - Black Spray
Uniform - 899 Dark Prussian Blue + Drybrush  865 Prussian Blue
Trousers - 901 Pastel Blue
Leggings - 951 White
Hat, Feather, Shoes, Belt, Ammo bag, Bread bag & Backpack - 950 Black + Drybrush 862 Black Grey
Blanket in Backpack - 992 Neutral grey
Canteen - 821 German Camo Beige
Canteen straps - 826 German Camo Medium Brown
Belt buckle, Buttons & Hardee Hat symbols - 801 Brass
Hands & Face - 955 Flat Flesh
Musket Wood - 872 Chocolat Brown + Highlight 875 Beige Brown
Metal parts - GW Chainmail

All washes are also from the Vallejo range, i use Winsor & Newton Flow Improver to dilute my washes. I had a problem with my black wash (diluted with demineralised water) turning grey when drying. Flow Improver solved my problem for 90%. I blame our government for the 10% that fails...

Hands & Face - 204 Fleshtone Wash (not diluted)
Leggings -  201 Black Wash + (2x) 202 Grey Wash (diluted 25%)
Trousers - 207 Blue Wash (diluted 50%)
Uniform, Backpack, Canteen, Rifle & Hat - 201 Black (diluted 50%)

After that it's varnish time, i don't Gloss Varnish before Matt Varnish. I just give it 3 to 4 thin layers of Vallejo Matt Varnish Spray.

5th New York, Duryee's Zouaves

 

"Where the Regiment stood that day was the very vortex of Hell"

 Pvt. Andrew Coats, 5th New York, Second Bull Run.

I finally finished my Zouaves a couple of days ago. Took a few pictures while moving them upstairs to the glass closet. Still to do is the flags & basing ... like all the rest of my units.

Also working on my 69th Irish guys, they are steadily moving forward. After that i'll have to base some trees and paint some fences and after that it's Berdan Sharpshooters time. I'm really looking forward to painting those guys. I still have to decide which famous regiment to paint next.. either the 54th (cliché, i know) or 2nd Wisconsin. The voting opened up! :-)

Enjoy a few more pics from my Zouaves!

 

Crazy weekend and other things...

Well, what can i say? Crisis was ... crazy! it was great & awesome, it was spectacular and most of all, it was good. I had a small budget to spend on mini's. The list was long but i got most things that i wanted.

First off, i bought me a new can of Vallejo Matt varnish! Yay! Second, bought 2 second-hand Osprey books about Trench Warfare in World War One. Hoorah! Third, i bought some Battlefield-in-a-box desert hills for FoW and after that ... i payed a visit to the Redoubt Enterprises booth to pick up my order :-)

Irish Brigade, Iron Brigade, Garibaldi Guard, Berdan Sharpshooters, 54th Massachusetts, 13inch Mortar, limbers for my 'Napoleons' and an Ammunition caisson. Also on the list was a Union artillery command. I was in heaven (for a while)!

To be honest, i was a bit disappointed when i checked the Redoubt miniatures in close-up. After reading alot of positive posts on tmp about their ACW range i have to say they have good detail but are so badly casted they will need hours of trim-and-file work. I think they really need to check their moulds. But maybe i'm just spoiled after painting those Perry Zouaves, which, too say again, are absolutely beautifully casted!

I finished 4 of the Irish soldiers already, i couldn't wait to see them painted. They turned out nice i think, but again, they could have been alot better if it weren't for the bad castings.

On a funny note, i was checking the Irish regiment in the display case at the booth and told the vendor that after seeing the movie 'Gods & Generals' and seeing the pictures on the website i just gotta have those, he told me with a big smile that he modeled them after seeing the movie.

My Perry zouaves are half done, 16 more to go. But here for your viewing pleasure (ahum) are some hardened 69th Irishmen in overcoats advancing on the stone wall at Marye's Height, Fredericksburg. Maybe they have more 'luck' in our future wargames then they had back there!

The Red Devils

"I consider it an honor to belong to this regiment," Lt. Charles Montgomery wrote; "The regular officers cannot speak too highly of us." One Southern soldier told a captive Zouave, "they never had seen the superiors of the red legs for unflinching courage and coolness."

I painted a tester for my Zouave regiment, the first of my 5th New Yorkers. These Perry Zouaves are fantastic & beautifully sculpted! More difficult to paint properly then plastic infantry box from Perry Miniatures tough. These fellows will take some time to complete, but of course, it will all be worth it.

I followed drawings from Don Troiani to paint this one up, i think i got everything right. Maybe those knee-pads should be a little more yellow-ish but i can live with that. Enjoy!