Salute!

I haven't posted in a while. I haven't painted in a while. However, I thought I'd do a quick update on Salute (the biggest UK Wargames show) & my thoughts on the prospect of painting the first Perry sculpted metal ACWs.

It has probably already been said that the Excel venue is like an aircraft hangar, with as much character. However, I wasn't there for the ambiance (or the £5 vege burgers!), I was there for Perry ACWs! Picking up the plastics (Infantry and Cavalry) from the Perry's themselves & delaying while I admired their demonstration game, I then went to pick up some metals from Dave Thomas. Unfortunately by the time I got there, all they had left were limbers! I picked one of those up, but then they found a Generals pack they hadn't sold. The day was saved(!)

I have seen a number of posts about the compatibility of the old Foundry range, and as I'm sure you can imagine, this was certainly an issue for me.

As you'll see, the fears were unfound(ry)ed. The Perry sculpt is on the left. I picked two similar looking miniatures to compare, and although the Foundry sculpt is slightly 'chunkier', they are by no means incompatible. The new Perry miniatures have more realistic proportions (horses do too!) and the detail if anything, is even finer than before, although this may be due to the respective ages of the moulds. Suffice to say I am very happy about these new models - and can't wait to pick up the rest of them. The artillery they had on display looked superb.

In terms of the models themselves, this pack is most suitable for the Union, due to the sculpted shoulder boards, although they were used down South (Wade Hampton for one). A needle file would sort them out, but I think I'll keep them as Blue Bellies.

Once I've painted some of the plastic horses, I'll do another side by side post, although apart from the benefit of more realistic horses, I don't see too many problems.

As for the rest of Salute, I picked up some bargains at the Foundry stall - 4 complete (and a few extras) ECW artillery crews plus guns for £5!

I also picked up the interesting Touching History terrain building guides. I'm off to Gettysburg in two weeks, so hopefully some of the tips will come in useful!

Fightin' Joe

For those Gettysburg 'what if' scenarios... Or Chancellorsville.

Currently a work in progress, I may remount him on a horse that's a better match for the one in the tintype. Correcting the relative scale of horse and rider may pose more of a challenge though...

The horse in the WIP is from the Crimean Russian Generals pack, with resculpted saddle blanket. I will use him for the General's staff when I find a better match.

Hooker himself is based on the Foundry Union mounted Infantry commander with the head from the CS Cavalry with Shotguns pack. The sideburns were added with greenstuff.

While I was on the Foundry site, I noticed the work done on Stonewall Jackson - his coat's painted grey! Jackson was wearing this coat - a black oil cloth raincoat when he received his fatal lead poisoning. It's still on display at the VMI. Their Little Sorrel looked a little off colour too :(

The start of a Roman WAB army?

This one's been in a semi painted state for a few months now, but I dug him out and finished him off today. I have a bunch of these Foundry sculpts and their Dacian adversaries, but they always seem to be on the 'to do' list.

Although they should be easy enough to paint in large batches because the colour schemes are quite basic (... by that reasoning so should the ACW...), the major problem is the shield. As this was a test piece to see whether I was inspired enough to do an army, I did this one totally freehand. The prospect of doing a hundred more is, however, enough sap my will to live. Although it looks ok, I will order some decals and paint over the top of them. Decals never look quite right on their own, but as a template they'll be fine.

It's a shame I painted this model and then attached the shield. I didn't realise the torso would be completely hidden until I attached it. I guess that would save quite a lot of painting time too ;)
Having looked at the tunic colour debate that seems to get the reenactors so animated, I was swayed by the 'undyed' option as for Trajan's army on campaign, resupply would be an issue. Just a shame you can't see it!

Sikh Wars conversions

Two Foundry Sikh Wars figures that will be painted up as part of a Union brigade. I wanted to have this unit charging forward, taking casualties as they ran. Because of the limited number of 'charging' poses in the ACW range, I have been scouring the lead pile for likely looking substitutes to add some variety.

Fortunately I found these two - the cast of the running figure was slightly misaligned, so the cap would have needed to be resculpted in any case. Easier to simply cut it off and give him a forage cap. As you can see the sack coat tails were added and the shoulders filed down. Bands were added to the rifle to make it look more like the Springfield. I'll probably paint these up over the weekend and post the results later. Yes - the rifle is on the wrong shoulder, but this is a one off, in the heat of battle.

Good news about the Perry's return to the ACW - although I have mixed feelings over their decision to use plastic. I have seen their LOTR plastics, and the horses are especially nice as horse legs can be molded to the correct thickness in this medium. However, I prefer the weight and durability of metal. I guess those 'drastic plastic' orcs put me off... The promise of metal 'extras' for this range makes up for an misgivings.

The idea of producing a 'generic' ACW soldier is great for an entry into the period, they may not satisfy the purist. Although kepis, slouches, sack coats and shell jackets were utilised by both sides in both theatres, it may be difficult to build historically correct armies from these packs in isolation. The price looks extremely competitive though, and I'm sure I'll be buying a number of packs even if they aren't all usable. The prospect of extra bits to use in conversions is an added bonus. Hopefully some separate rifles will be added to the sprue so they can be used in vignettes.

Hopefully the range will be compatible with the Foundry range - I'd be happy with the small differences observed between the respective AWI and ECW ranges. Can't wait for the release date!

The Relief of Lucknow

This one's been hanging around for a while and to celebrate our reconnection to the Internet (stupid wifi) here he is.

From the (very) old Foundry Indian Mutiny range, I think he's stood the test of time. This officer from the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders is painted in the brown 'boat jacket' they wore at Lucknow, covering their famous red tunics - they were, after all, the 'Thin Red Line' immortalised in Robert Gibbs painting.

Note the badger head sporran - worn only by the senior ranks of the 93rd.

Strangely I only saw the Osprey Indian Mutiny book (which I assume was the inspiration for this miniature) the other day, which was, more than likely itself inspired by "The Relief of Lucknow" by Ernest Ibbetson. Back to the ACW next post!

More of Buford's Boys

Again, painting time has been eroded by real life, lucky I have a number of 'nearly finished' figures to concentrate upon. This command stand from the Union Cavalry - pretty much straight out of the box - the only change was that the flag pole was removed and replaced with a thinner length of wire, with a small finial sculpted on top. The guidon itself is made from thin metal cut from an old tube of paint.

I also painted up a small backdrop - although I need to adjust the photo options - it doesn't look quite right yet. I need to finish off two more bases then the first unit will be ready to give Heth a 'boot' up the backside ;)

More Union casualties

The ACW range didn't have any Zouave casualties, this one was originally from the old Franco Prussian War range. The only thing needed was the removal of the canteen.

The other figure started life as a Boer casualty, with a poncho sculpted over the bandolier.