American Civil War 28mm Union Infantry Skirmishing

 Hello There. After spending some extra time at work I have made steady progress on a couplr of projects. Here are the offerings from Steve Barber Models who supplies a number of Union and Confederat sculpts in metal which are suitable for camp scenes and the skirmish rules project. They can also be used for representing skirmish oder for larger battles.

A couple of these figures came with separtae arms and muskets as casting metal cannot encompass all possible figure poses. On the back row there is also an errant Perry cavalryman who absconded from the last photo shoot of ACW cavalry.

Here are the close ups. Both of these figures had separate arms. Both of these figures are very well suited to skirmish games. This is the first time I have painted any items from Steve Barber but they suit very well with Perrys, Forgotten and Glourious and Foundry.

Steve also includes a number of figures at various stages of loading a musket. Again this looks very dynamic and well thought out.

The errant cavalryman appears and the nealing figures in the pack. I think the seated man is foundry and is looking at he hole in the sole of his shoe so Union supplies have let him down here!

Steve Barbers ACW infantry figures can be found here.

American Civil War Dismounted Union Cavalry, 28mm

 Hello Again! This is the latest addition to my ACW cavalry forces. They will go towards the forces I will use for the skirmish rules I am writing and for the larger 28mm games I usually take around a wargaming friends, (when Covid-19 does not get in the way!).

These are Redoubt 28mm figures. I bought these as at the time the command figures from the Perrys range was somewhat limited. Typically by the time I had started to paint these then they released a second set of Union command, almost as if they were watching what I was doing!

Here are the other figures to substantiate that comment. I realised that the officers hat had a bugle on it too late so he will go into the infantry! The flags for the standard bearers are from GMB.

Here are some close ups of some of the command. The casting of the bugle held by the musician leaves a little to be desired but unless you get really close up it is not too obvious.

I like to provide close ups of finished figures as one of my gripes about pictures of figures I see on the internet are that they are at such a  distance you cannot see much of them at all. I do not mind cutting and cropping photographs to show them 'Warts and all' as I hope it helps other painters to realise that not everything looks that great close up but these do look very good overall.

Lastly the corporal is also ready for the table. All these figures are multi part and can be a bit frustrating to assemble but once done they are a unique model for the table.

Steve Barber Models 28mm American Civil War Skirmish Figures

 Hello There! Among the many projects I have running similtaneously, (yes I know, just don't go there!), I bought some Union troops for the Horse and Musket period skirmish rules I have been working on

The rules are being cobbled together from a number of sources and are intended for a game I hope to play round a wargaming friends, when this coronavirus silliness is over and done.

I have some cavalry, for both sides based singularly, more suitable for skirmish gaming but I still required some infantry. While looking at the Steve Barber website I came across his ACW range and these figures fitted the bill perfectly!

The botton right hand figure is the only figure that came as a two piece casting but it was an easy and clean fit. I did use a brass wire as a pin just to be sure but with the pose of this figure it must have been impossible to do as a single casting.

The faces are full of character but are not over exagerrated, like Dixon or Redoubt. They are clean and with enough detail so it is easy to paint the faces by following the detail on the casting. You did not have to add painted feature which you have to do with some poor castings or older figures.

There is adequate creases on the jacket and trousers to shade the creases along the arms of the jacket and creases on the egs of the trousers. This detail is not a pronounced as a Perry figure but is still enough to assist you painting shading on them.

They are based on two pence pieces with a circle of magnabase below that. The grey stones are road chippings which the council uses to resurface roads. This has led to a number of bald' roads around where I live but this is a small sacrifice for decent basing material besides I do pay my Council Tax! No not really. When the road is resurfaced the layer of bitumen which is used to  stick these stones down does not 'catch all' the stones. As traffic uses the newly 'layered' road the loose stones get kicked to the side of the road near the kerb or across any entrances and exits to the road. You just pop along one day with a dustpan and brush. If the Police see you mdoing this they do detain you for a while as they obviously believe you are totally mad!

The stones are painted and dry brushed but they are very effective. The rest of the basing is simply flock and static grass with tufts.

There are more figures in the pipeline which will be appearing on here soon but I must really get on with the rules!

Some More Casualities

Hello There! I have a number of projects and written features I am working on at the moment which has meant I am working a lot but not completing much at the moment.

Here are some casualty markers for the American Civil War. I saw these in the 'Great Escape Games' 'Dead Mans Hand' range.

I intended to make these horses either piebald or skewbald but after painting them white I felt they looked so good I did not want to change them from how they looked.

To cut down on the glare from the direct sun and show the subjects up a bit clearer I placed the subjects on a sheet of blue paper.

I have something a little different planned for the next few posts and if I have the time I will be able to start that soon.

Dismounted Confederate Cavalry

Hello There! The lock down goes on and the weather has taken a turn for the worse as grey clouds and rain have turned up.

I have completed the latest American Civil War recruits for the skirmish project and here are the newest finished models.

This is the last figure from the Confederate infantry figures that I had shown in a recent post. He was missed out during the painting and is now shown here. I like to show the completed figures close up as a photo of a group of figures from a distance shows very little detail. It is also handy because you can see any mistakes or pieces of flock that need to be trimmed! 

After having a shortage of flag bearers and buglers I turned to Redoubt to fill the gap. Typically after I purchased these Perry Miniatures released a further set of command figures for their range! Oh well not to worry .

As it has been an overcast day I had to use a light box and internal lighting for the photography but it came out to an acceptable level. Here is one of the flag bearers. I have used the GMB flags sheet. These supply a number of variations of cavalry flag and I have used all that were available so there are three different types.

I have used a number of various shades of grey and brown to break up any monotony of the same colour. I have used a number of paint triads to provide shading and highlights.

Some of the flag bearers poses are quite dynamic and a few are charging forward as seen here. 

I have replaced used either brass wire or cut down metal pikes for the flag poles. These already have a point at the top which also acts as a reminder to be careful when moving figures!

It  is useful to have some figures with clear corporal or sergeant stripes for a skirmish games as the more figures that are used in the game the easier it is to confuse which figure is which as different figures have different characteristics on their respective stats.

This is the only bugler in this set. I used Vallejo 856 ochre brown as an undercoat and then a brass on to of that.

This last flag bearer is charging forward with  great elan! It was actually the last torso and legs left after I had paired up all the other figures.

After doing so many greys and browns I took a look at a different colour to finish off this guy. It also helps to identify different figures again as well.

28mm Confederate Infantry

Hello There!  Here are some more additions to the Confederate skirmish forces.

These are the Wargames Foundry CWH010 Infantry in hats and shell jacket firing line. When I saw the pack I realised these would be suitable for my ACW project. There is one other figure which is kneeling firing and he shall be appearing in the next paint.

The two prone figures in the pack are a bit limited for a skirmish game but still useful. I tried to position the tufts to provide some cover.

I tried to brighten up the remainder by adding a few lighter colours to the blanket rolls. The last figure came with a separate hand and musket but was a easy glue on.

I have the equivalent in the Union infantry from the same range coming along as well.

American Civil War Confederate Colonels and Casualties

Hello There! Well while the 'lock down' continues and work does not call upon my time, I have been completing some more American Civil War bits and pieces. First up are a couple of Wargames Foundry cavalry which will be passing for Infantry colonels. As I continue with these 'targets for my Union sharpshooters' I shall also be introducing sharpshooter rules into the ACW rules I use for games.

I put both riders on skewbald horses as you normally see officers on fine roan or dun horses, which was not always the case. Officers had to ride what they could get hold of and so for a difference these are as you see them.

I believe I used Vallejo 921 English Uniform with highlights for the riders coat and the gloves are 858 Ice Yellow with a wash of Army Painter of soft tone or mid brown. This picks out the moulding of the fingers on the gloves nicely.

Here is used a triad of 868 dark sea blue, 904 dark blue grey and 905 blue grey pale, for the trousers and 866 grey green, 869 basalt grey and 991 dark sea grey for the coat. To represent infantry I added a sky blue collar

Next up are some casualties. These are from the Redoubt range. As you mix the heads there are many different possibilities for each figure. I have not placed them on an MDF counter as these are intended for use for the ACW skirmish project but they can still be used in larger games for casualties or 'fluff'

28mm American Civil War Dismounted Union Cavalry

Hello There! Although this post is made during the Coronavirus outbreak 'Stay at Home' period I have had these figures finished for a while. These figures are a mix of Perrys, (ACW123) and some spare Wargames Foundry, (CWC002).

Some of these figures had neck scarves on  and instead of sticking to the normal yellow I decided to make a small change and chose orange. I did this because I remembered reading in the Blandford book on the 'Uniforms of the American Civil War' that the first and second US cavalry were formerly the first and second US Dragoons. These units had orange trim and some men retained this trim as long as possible. I retained this idea in painting orange scarves.

These are the figures from the Perrys pack. They are still in the sack coat but are in 'skirmishing' mode. They have a various poses which will fit well with the ACW skirmish project I am doing.

Here are those ex dragoons.

Here is a close up. The picture appears a little bit grainy as I took this picture from a distance and cropped it on the computer. Fortunately there is plenty of sunshine today but a little too much at this time.

This one was a little better exposure wise.

I have heard of complaints of too much 'flash' on the Perry figures recently' I bought these from Hammerhead last year and there were fine. They needed attention from a sharp scalpel  and a rats tail file but nothing excessive and did not take long.

These were enjoyable to paint and unlike the many colours of jackets and trousers of the Confederate cavalry, these were a lot quicker to complete.

The coloured tufts made a big difference to the basing and were obtained from here.