American Civil War Week

It's American Civil War week at Tarleton's Quarter!  For the next 6-8 days I'm going to aim to make one post each day on a project I spent the first half of 2012 working on, namely creating a brigade of troops from Stonewall Jackson's command of 1862 and some other ACW bits and bobs.  I had intended to run this series of posts back in 2012/3.  Why I failed to do so is anyone's guess now - I think because I was waiting to paint up my Jackson command stand and that fell by the wayside (even now it's still not quite finished....).  I can't believe it's taken me four years to do these posts, although it does explain why this blog was so quiet in 2012.  I did just one teaser post and then forgot all about it...Anyway, I'm planning on posting photos of one regiment a day until they are all finished.  I'll probably not do complete battle histories for each unit, as my knowledge of the ACW is still pretty weak and so that would take a lot of time and research.  It's more about posting some photos I enjoyed taking in the garden the other week and rediscovering these figures.  Like 'em or loathe 'em, you can't deny that the Dixon figures for this period have character.

First, some project history.  I spent much of March to May 2012 painting 25mm ACW Confederates.  Almost exactly 18 years ago I bought a whole load of Dixon ACW figures.  I remember the date because I'd just finished my law school exams and I decided to treat myself to a new period; I recall Dixon were offering a discount on a "Jackson's Foot Cavalry" deal, or something like that.  I haven't ever counted them all, but I suspect there were about 100 infantry figures, plus some artillery and Stonewall himself.  I painted 40-odd figures that summer, before I started work in September.  I was still living "at home" back then, and somewhere I have a couple of photos of me painting these figures which were taken by my parents' 20-something Hungarian cleaner, who appeared to be fascinated by either these figures or my painting of them (there's more to that story, but as this isn't Legatus Hedlius' blog I'm not going any further!).  However, after painting those initial figures my ACW interest waned and I moved on to other things (Darkest Africa and SYW, I think) and never returned to Jackson, although several times over the intervening years I have finished off the odd ACW infantry figure that I'd part painted.  I also didn't base any of the figures I had painted - probably because I didn't know what rules I wanted to use and back in those days I had very limited experience of wargaming anyway and tended not to base anything I'd painted until I'd met someone else who was into the period and could advise how I should approach it.

Anyway, for reasons I cannot explain at all, four years ago I decided to get stuck into these Dixon figures.  Sometimes one just gets an "urge", and if it's to paint figures that have been in the leadpile for over a decade then it's best to give into the urge.  I suspect that Dave Brown's "Guns at Gettysburg" rules and the excellent scenario books by Paul Stevenson (all published by Caliver) had been sending me subliminal messages.  (My ACW project has taken so long that in the intervening years Dave Brown has released a new edition of GaG and has been developing an entirely different set of ACW rules.)  The figures I painted in 1998 formed elements of 4 regiments; 2 charging and one each of firing and marching.  All the figures needed sprucing up and basing and I had to add new figures to bring them up to strengths of either 20 or 24 figures.  I realised I was having so much fun that I painted another couple of regiments from scratch and started work on a couple of vignettes.  I still have enough figures for about 3 more regiments, I think, so I may turn to those later this year.  I then bought a few packs of the Perry "Bull Run" infantry, which had just been released and got stuck into those; I have two regiments finished and another on the way. 

So there's a lot to come over the next few days.   I've used this post to show all the regiment together, in something approaching a game situation.  Incidentally, I do have some Union troops as well, although most of those are very badly painted (the shades of blue I used were far too bright).   Normal AWI service will resume in a couple of weeks.  Currently on the workbench are Butler's Rangers, Highland colonels and Pulaski's Legion, and I see that almost by accident I've undercoated some more Dixon rebs...

Eureka Miniatures AWI Cavalry

I've been snowed under at work recently - hence the lack of posts in almost a month.  But today the sun was shining, the boys were pretending to be Jedi Knights out in the garden, and I thought I'd get the troops and camera out.  I've been meaning to set out the cavalry units I've put together using the Eureka Miniatures "Continental" cavalry range for a while, and I was prompted to do so today for two reasons: (1) I've just finished basing Dabney's Virginia Legion, and (2) Eureka are coming to Salute and the last day for show pre-orders is Wednesday.


You don't need much cavalry for the AWI.  One of the features of the period is that there are a lot of units which appear in the scenarios, but (by and large) do so only once or twice.  This is particularly true of American and Loyalist cavalry.  On the Patriot side, the 3rd Continental Dragoons top the list with 6 appearances (with a top strength of 8 figures), while Lee's Legion appear in 5 scenarios (with a top strength of 10).  Other units have fleeting appearances, and a "southern militia" unit of 8 figures will get you through most other scenarios.  But the Eureka range, with its separate hat system and its mix of figures of uniform coats and hunting shirts, can be used to model all those small units of state and militia cavalry that appear in the scenarios.  This is what I've been trying to do over the past couple of years, and have painted up some figures as Loyalists as well.  So here's a chance to see them all out in the open - the individual unit entries are on the Eureka label.   I bought all these figures in two batches, the first in Australia back in 2011, the second at Salute a couple of years later.   I always felt guilty that having raved about these figures when first released, I then didn't really paint them as quickly as I might have done (I had over 50 of them, which seemed quite daunting).  But now they are all finished and I need to buy some more to finish off Pulaski's Legion and more southern militia.  I love these figures and can't recommend them too highly.

Armand's Legion

2nd Continental Dragoons, with Dabney's Virginians behind them

South Carolina militia/dragoons

More South Carolina state/militia troops

Some of the Loyalists - the East Florida Rangers

A trio of hand-made flags.  Dabney's Virginians, on the left, will be in a future post.

They mix fine with Perry/Foundry figures

Coming next - Pulaski's Legion

   

Bastille Day

14 July is Bastille Day in France - happy felicitations to any French reraders.  So it seems appropriate to post some photos of my AWI French troops.  These photos were originally taken last summer as part of a potential project with a wargames company; but my 10-year camera lacks sufficient resolution (or whatever the technical term is) for the photos to be of top-notch publication quality and so they didn't make the cut.  But it seems a shame to waste them and I enjoy seeing the troops out of their boxes.  I've had photos published before - notably the deluxe "British Grenadier!" rule book, the third AWI scenario book from Caliver and a couple of  issues of "Battlegames".  I quite like the shots - it is supposed to be a French camp somewhere in the South.  The infantry are mainly by Perry Miniatures.  The camp followers etc are from Eureka's Revolutionary Wars range.  The buildings are by Tablescape and the flags from GMB.

You can see the individual units under the French label.  It's been a while since I painted French troops and I'm keen to do more, as they are very pretty troops.  I have a half-finished unit of chasseurs that needs polishing off (this is the unit above flanked by two individually based Eureka Miniatures officers).  The unit stalled because I lost one figure and it wasn't until Salute earlier this year that I finally decided that I'd never find this figure and so bought a whole pack just to replace it.  I'm intending to finish painting this unit next month.  I'll then do a unit of grenadiers and some more line infantry, and I have in the lead pile the various command figures that Perry released.  So at the moment I have 3.5 battalions of infantry and several skirmishers (who aren't shown here).  The figures are mainly from Perry Miniatures.  The singly-based officers, as mentioned, are from Eureka Miniatures' Revolutionary Wars range, as are the various camp follower sets. 

I've also added another label for the various "parades" I occasionally have of my collections.  The original AWI parades are some years old now so I should have a go at re-doing those, although I suspect each side no longer fits onto 1 table - the American forces in particular are much larger now than they were in 2008.  I did a parade of my 1815 French collection last year, but I seem not to have posted about it then for some reason; given everything I've painted since I'll have another session with my 1815 stuff at a later stage.

Was there a direct causal link between France's involvement in the American Revolution and the fall of the Bastille?  The cost of the war was one of the contributing factors to France's economic problems, which were a major cause of the French Revolution.  It is also sometimes said that men who fought in American returned home with new-found revolutionary fervour, but I expect it's easy to overplay that.  As it happens, I'm currently painting the Perry Miniatures sculpt of General Marcognet, a soldier who fought in America as a very young junior officer in the final stages of the AWI and by 1815 had risen to command a division in d'Erlon's I Corps.  I wonder how many other soldiers were present at Waterloo who had also been in the AWI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Carlist War: Isabelino parade (2)

Here are some photos of the "foreign" element of my Isabelino army: the British Auxiliary Legion and the French Foreign Legion.  There was a Portuguese force as well, and hopefully at some stage Perry Miniatures will release figures for that.  The BAL started off with 10 line infantry battalions, a rifles corps of about 500 men, 2 regiments of cavalry and an artillery corps.  This volunteer force was paid directly by the Spanish crown and was not the responsibility of the British government, which was reluctant to commit regular troops to the conflict.  As it happened, units of the Royal Navy, the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers did participate in the war.

To date I have 3 of the infantry battalions, the 7th, 9th and 10th, together with the rifle unit, a battalion of Royal Marines and some artillery.  I recently finished a lancer cavalry unit which I'll post about next week.  From what I can tell, the BAL tended to fight its battles without much Isabelino army support, so I'll need to bulk the force up to 8 infantry battalions and a full artillery compliment.  With hindsight, I should have painted the artillery in uniforms that are a much darker blue; I might see if I can remedy this when I next paint some.

10th Regiment, "Munster Light Infantry"

7th Regiment, "Irish Light Infantry"

 

Royal Marine rocket troop

Royal Marines

I blogged about the the FFL recently, so won't do so again here.  I plan on raising 2 infantry battalions to start with (I have 1 and a bit), and some cavalry.

 

 

PS. I meant to post the grand total for the Isabelino army.  It's 166 infantry and 12 artillery crew with 3 guns for the Spanish regulars; 126 infantry, 12 cavalry and 11 artillery crew and 3 guns for the 2 legions.  I reckon that's just over half of what I want to do.  And here's a taster of the BAL lancers:

 



First Carlist War: Isabelino parade (1)

The last "parade" I photographed over the summer was my Isabelino army for the First Carlist War.  At that time (August) it was one unit short of where it is now (I painted a regiment  of lancers for the British Legion in September), but it has everything I've painted since I first fell for this period at Salute in 2009.  This doesn't seem much for almost 4 years' work, but then I have painted a decent amount of AWI and Napoleonics in the meantime as well.  The progress of the Isabelino collection can be followed here.  On the Carlist/rebel side, I only have a handful of units as yet, so they will be the main focus over the next 4 years.  For the Isabelinos, I need to do some cavalry, light infantry and finish off the British and French Foreign Legions, as well as a couple of line infantry units.  So I'm not quite done yet.

The backbone of the army is formed of 6 battalions of regular infantry: 5 line and 1 of marines.  There are two battalions of each of the Regiment Princessa (tunics) and the Regiment Borbon (greatcoats).  I have 1 battalion of the Regiment de la Constitution, and intend to add a second in due course.  The marines are a favourite unit, because of their deep blue uniforms and beautiful pink flag.  The infantry are painted in a mix of white summer trousers and grey winter ones.  There is nothing scientific behind this; I just wanted some differentiation between the units.  I don't yet have any light infantry, which wear rather smart dark green piped/faced yellow uniforms.  There's also the Guard, in snazzy scarlet trousers, that I would like to do one day.  

Marines

La Princessa

Regiment de la Constitution

After the regular army units are the provincial militia regiments.  These were smaller units raised on a city by city basis and which supplemented the regular army.  I have two of these, the Madrid and Pentevedra militia, or 12 figures each (the flank companies would have been detached to form the Royal Guard).  Finally, there is the Zaragosa National Militia.  The national militia was different to the provincial militia, and was more like an urban-based paramilitary and police force.  Their primary function seems to have been to defend the cities from Carlist attack and sedition.  I chose the Zaragosa because of its attractice uniform of sky-blue trousers and yellow piping.  These units add some colour to what would otherwise be a largely over-coated army.


Pontevedra Provincial Militia

Zaragosa National Militia

Madrid Provincial Militia

I don't have many guns as yet: 2 foot artillery crews and 1 horse artillery.

All the buildings are made by Paul Darnell/Touching History.  Flags are from Adolfo Ramos and the figures are, of course, from the Perry Miniatures range.  I hope these photos show what a colourful period the First Carlist War can be.  Over the next couple of days I'll post the remaining photos on the foreign auxiliary troops. 

Bastille Day Parade

It's been a busy past couple of months and I've neglected this blog appallingly.  I am sorry.  However, I'm pleased to say that recently I've managed to photograph everything I've been painting over the past .4 months and this means I'll be able to post regular updates from now on.  For various reasons I've been finding it difficult to take satisfactory photographs.  I don't claim that I've resolved the best place and time in which to take them, either in my garden or the kitchen, but at least I have somethig I feel able to post.  Painting has proceeded apace - my ACW Reb army now stands at 6 completed and based regiments and I have lots of First Carlist War stuff finished and on the workbench.


Something I've been meaning to do for a while is take a look at my 25mm French Napoleonic collection.  This is something on which I have been working sporadically since early 2007, when I painted various French and Dutch-Belgians things for Loughton Strike Force's Waterloo game at Salute.  The nature of 25mm Napoleonics has bene revolutionised since then by the introduction of hard plastic figures.  That makes it cheaper to build large forces in 25mm, but of course the time required to paint figures is the same irrespective of whether they are made of plastic or metal.  Seeing all these figures together made me realise what an undertaking it is to collect Napoleonics in 25mm.  Whilst appreciating that I've painted lots of other things over the past 5 years, a total of 8 infantry battalions, 1 cavalry regiment, 1 gun and a few command stands is not particularly impressive.  But it's a start.  In orbat terms, what we have here is Bachelu's 5th division from II Corps with some other bits and bobs.  And Napoleon, of course.  Most of this collection has never seen a dice rolled in anger, so it was fun to set them all up.  All the figures are from Perry Miniatures save for the gun and crew, which are Foundry.  

 
Incidentally, the equivalent AWI parades I did a few years ago (and which are both rather out of date now, given the AWI stuff I've painted since) can be found here and here.  Over the next few weeks I'll post some First Carlist War and Napoleonic items.  I've delayed "ACW week" a bit while I finish off a couple of "extras".  I'm also pleased to say that I've started painting AWI again :^)

PS: Photobucket continues to be most irritating and it's way of dealing with photos is rubbish.

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