Purchase Number 1: Long Awaited Xmas present - Epic Waterloo Collection

January seems to be becoming a month of deliveries for me - this first one comes from a long standing Xmas present pre-order (see below, Warlord Games Epic Waterloo collection, British and French Starter Armies):

Seeing as I did not possess anything like an existing large collection of Napoleonics  in 15mm, the Epic scale was OK for me (I was also sold on the ease for the "hard of thinking" assembling a large collection at one go, aka the Warlord Games "Army in a Box Special straight off the shelf",  jump-starting into a period which I have long been thinking about). To be honest the only other viable alternative for a Napoleonic project would probably have been a 6mm for me - too small for these tired eyes. If it just starts and ends at Waterloo, then that is fine by me!

My first though is even not to bother with any form of fancy painting but to go retro with the Airfix Waterloo Wargame of yesterday - simply Red fighting Blue. I am thinking along the lines of a "condensed form" of DBA representing a Napoleonic battle with a Left, Centre, Right and Reserve perhaps on a table four foot wide by two-three foot deep.

ACW Musings and Distractions

My recent wargaming discovery is that of the late Paddy Griffith, his literature and his life's work in games (courtesy of the gentlemen of Wargames Developments and The History of Wargaming Project) (see below, two of his most inspirational books, let the reading begin):  

On the back of this inspirational reading I decided to finally try and paint up some of the Warlord Games ACW (Epic Scale) ACW I had purchased over the last year of lock-down. To help me I followed the following painting tutorial for inspiration (there are tons available, not even sure the one I ended up using is in amongst this lot:

Confederate: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMQ3GAt546o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrnemzCAXxs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VPdrB094go

Union: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e28316C7S4g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZNgX3-8zhc

And in Spanish: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsVKxVMXTFU

Yes, the first pilot was significantly over painted (as is always the case)! So it is one ten man sprue down only 239 to go (gulp)! Time to have a look at the Union troops now ;) 

Oh When The Saints .. EPIC Warlord Games ACW .. "off the sprue"

Well there certainly is a lot of them (see below, but the nice thing about the stands is that they seem to have an amount of "gravity" and "believability" about them - they are "marching into battle"): 

The three pieces of the sprue - infantry, artillery and a commander - look good next to each other (see below, I do want to see how "good" they look "in mass" together):  

From one sprue .. this is a lot (see below, five infantry regiments, one artillery and a commander per sprue - and there was twelve sprues a side [Union/Confederate]): 

These look perfect for Bob Cordery's "The Portable Wargame" rule set and Neil Thomas' "One Hour Wargame" rules. I am putting off painting them and concentrating on getting them cleanly off the sprues (they come off really cleanly but I am trying to be patient, the only issue I have hit is with the artillery and my "fat fingers"), I keep getting this heretical thought - "Do I really need to paint them?" Even if I do "paint them" - then to what degree? A spray can, a wash and a little bit of flock. I know the artists at Warlord Games have done some fine painting - but why wait, through these chaps into a game asap? Black Powder does not look like a simple set of rules to pick up .. why not throw them at a simpler set? 

And it came to pass that "A very BIG box of EPIC scale ACW came from Warlord Games" arrived with a 'thud' on my doorstep!

Yes, I am one of those "happy mad ones" who pre-ordered at Xmas. There was a knock at the door (see below, spare a thought for the Postie - if there were two or more wargamers on his beat or street they were doomed):   

It was then opened (see below, layers of "epic scale" stuff - as it said on the tin over 2,500 figures): 

Both armies albeit looking very similar apart from the colour of the sprue (see below, it also has to be said that figures for General Meade and General Robert E Lee also came in the box):  

Exciting as this was, the "bonus" was the A5 Black Powder Rules Book which means I can justify other Powder Era (Napoleonics, AWI, Malburian, Colonial) 28mm long standing purchases as "waiting for this time"! Ancients and Pike and Shot are still slightly awkward to justify .. but I have "adaptable" rules for those.