Show your armies.

Currently running on You Tube is a challenge to show your armies, so accepting the challenge, I offered my 6mm American Civil War armies, the only complete armies I have with me at the moment. So whilst the video is loading up, I thought I would add these photographs to my blog.

The table is pretty much covered, Confederate to the left, Union to the right.

Union infantry regiments, 36 men to a stand in three ranks on the right. Skirmishers, artillery and cavalry also in view.

Centre of the table shows all the commanders, Army, Corps, Divisional and Brigade.

Same with the Confederate units, 36 men to a stand for infantry. 

Looking across the table. At the very back are tents and supply wagons.

Closer view of the Union infantry, note some zouave units left, front.

Artillery with limbers and cavalry, both mounted and dismounted with horse holders.

The army commanders are at the front and are represented by three command figures and two standard bearers. Corps Commanders are two command figures and a single flag bearer, whilst Divisional Commanders are a single command figure and a flag bearer. At the rear on round bases are a gaggle of Brigade Commanders.

Confederate zouave regiments to the front right of the infantry and the Rebel artillery and cavalry.

A little closer look at the zouaves.

Confederate mounted cavalry and horse holders.

The head honcho's

Union cavalry and horse holders.

Artillery and limbers.

Union zouaves.

Union infantry ready for action.

Woodland Indians - WIP

I have managed to do a little bit of work on the Woodland Indians. These guys are test figures to try out various techniques, some successful others not. Base colours are on and they have been washed, however, my skin highlights are not to my liking, so it is back to the drawing board with that. Still a lot of work to be done on them as you will see in the following photographs.

Move completed, so back to the projects.

Now nicely settled into our new home, just about everything is in its place, it all went really well, no major hiccups at all. So it is back to the hobby for me. I had to leave the majority of my 28 mm figures behind, until I can sort out some kind of storage shed for the new place, I hope to have that in place within the next week, and they can be transported here.

I did however, have the AWI project with me, it has been here for a couple of weeks before the move, so they will be what I shall be working on initially, though I do intend to mix and match with Vikings, English Civil War and Imperial Romans, to give some variety to what I am painting. I have always in the past, stuck to one project and virtually seen it through to the end, but that can be very monotonous at times. I then get sick to the teeth of seeing the same figures and so they get set aside, that is the reason I have been working my way through them all this year. I am pleased to say, I am well on the way to completing all that I have.

Six test figures, the base coats were done before they moved to the new location, so it was just a case of highlighting and fine detail. A little touching up is also needed. They still require a coat of varnish and the bases, though painted with a textured paint, also need to be finished. That will be done when I have enough figures painted up to make it worth my while.

Six private soldiers of the 33rd Regiment of Foot (West Riding of Yorkshire)

Next up on the bench are the Woodland Indians from the Liberty or Death box set, it only contained a single sprue of eight warriors, I have since added a further box from Warlord, containing a further 24. They are mostly built, still need pouches, powder horns etc. and are now awaiting a coat of primer.

Some great action poses. This sprue and the three in the box are identical, but being plastic, it will be easy to create individual looking figures.

The wargaming press.

Due to an impending move to a smaller home, this coming Saturday, all painting and wargaming has come to a temporary halt. As you can imagine I have lots of other things to sort out and organise over the next few days. Consequently all the troops and paints have been carefully stored away in boxes in preparation for the move.

I have however, been reading back issues of Wargames Illustrated, I have a subscription that allows access to the vault, which in essence is being able to read every issue back to number one published in 1987. I have currently read up to issue 36 and have found some fascinating articles on all manner of subjects for every period in history.

An article in issue 31 dated March 1990, really grabbed my attention. Written by Paul Wood, it describes the first day at Gettysburg as well as giving an excellent account of the action, it contains a number of hand drawn maps, that can easily be created on the wargame table and a full OOB.

When I decided to collect 6 mm ACW figures from Baccus, it was always my intention to fight the large battles of the war, hence the small scale. This article has rekindled that desire. I will no longer have a wargaming room or even a large table to battle on, but will have to make do with a small kitchen table, when it is not in use of course. By fighting the battle, day by day, and section by section, I will still be able to fight the whole battle.

Seminary Ridge, with what appears to be 28 mm figures.

I do have in 6 mm, the Lutheran Seminary building and Cemetery Gates, both iconic landmarks of the battle. I also have plans to play out Jackson's Shenandoah Valley campaign too, the planning for that is quite well advanced. So even though the painting and gaming has come to a short halt, the research goes on.