Supply Train finished.

I have now finished the supply train for the armies, these added to the ones I painted earlier should be more than enough for my needs. I am now about 6 mm weary! So I will now return to 28 mm and work once again on my War of the Roses project.

All the items painted today.

The two wheeled carts with the loads come with the wheels attached, but for some reason, and there will be a good reason, the four wheeled wagons come with separate wheels, which I have to admit are a blooming nightmare to fit.

There are four bases of mule train with their handlers.

A head on view.

Looking across the supply train.

These will now take their place in the storage boxes ready for future use.

I still have about 15 units of infantry for each side to paint, also two or three units of Zouaves to paint as well. I may complete them before Christmas if I get the urge back again. Next on the painting board is a box of Perry 28 mm War of the Roses Infantry, they will make up into a unit of Bill men and two units of archers. That is twelve figures per unit also the box contains four fully armoured command figures, However, I may join them to a unit of Foot knights of which I have a couple of boxes to paint.

High Command now ready to lead the troops.

I have now completed all the generals to lead the armies. Each army now has two army commanders, they are on 60 x 30 mm bases, each consisting of three figures, the general and two aides as well as two flag bearers. One of the Confederate bases actually has a representation of Robert E. Lee mounted on Traveler. Next up are some Corps commanders based on 30 x 30 mm bases, each has two figures plus one flag bearer. Divisional commanders are a single figure with a flag bearer and finally, the Brigade commanders are mounted as single figures on a penny.

Here you can see the high command of both armies on the painting board, hopefully you can see how easy it is to identify the different ranks. I needed a system to show quickly the four levels of high command and I am quite pleased with the result.

General Lee mounted on Traveler at front left, with Corps and Divisional commanders in view. The Union commanders at the rear. I have painted two army commander stands for each army.

This shot mainly shows the Brigadier Generals, these will feature in greater numbers on the table top. Their round bases being particularly easy to spot.

On the painting board now are a number of supply wagons and horse teams, the covered wagons have separate wheels which, as you can imagine, are very tiny and extremely fiddly to glue onto the wagon chassis. I intend to actually fix them in place before starting to paint as the last time, I have already built two, it was a nightmare trying to fix on the painted wheels, the superglue just took off all the paint and made a right mess, it required the whole thing to be repainted, I shan't make that mistake again.

Continuing to bring you all up to date.

With my English Civil War armies in 28mm I soon realised that even an 8 x 4 foot table was only really going to allow me to fight small type battles, a unit of infantry with its pike block and two wings of shot, take up 12 inches (30cm) of space, so it would be a squeeze to fit eight units on the table in a line even along the longest edge.

I wanted to be able to fight large battles and so was attracted to 6mm for that very reason, now I didn't want to replicate what I already had in other scales, so that counted out Napoleonic's, War of the Roses, Hundred Years War so my attention turned to the American Civil War. This had small skirmishes through to huge engagements such as Gettysburg, was it possible to recreate such a battle on my table? I intended to try.

Having always being fascinated by that conflict and already quite well read on the subject, I basically knew what I wanted to do. A few rule sets have been read including, Polemos (provided by Baccus with their starter box set), Altar of Freedom and its supplements (my current favourite) plus I am also play testing a set of rules written by a fellow You Tuber, 'Officer Commanding.' These were written with 2mm in mind, the aim being to be able to re fight the largest battles on a board measuring just one foot square! Amazing, but true. I scaled up the battle area to 2 x 2 feet for use with my 6mm troops and the game played really well. A set of videos showing the battle from start to finish is available on my YT Channel.

After a comment regarding the 6mm buildings laid out as a small town, I have posted a few more photos to show what can be achieved. They are laid out on a Cigar Box Battle Mat with a few trees from 4Ground and others dotted about too.

I think you will agree the town looks quite impressive if a little bereft of town folk, but I am hoping to change that, the back scene is a model railway poster of English countryside but I hopefully I manage to get away with it.

Work commenced on the mountain of metal purchased at Sheffield, the whole painting job laid out in the first photograph.

I needed some more units of cavalry as the starter box only came with two for each side.

 I painted up three more for each side giving me a total of five now for both forces.

More units of infantry were also started to bolster my forces.

Also an experimental casualty marker, made from a cut down lollipop stick and I used Polyfilla (Spackle?) to create a small cradle for the tiny 5mm die, you only have to look at one and it rolls away. A confederate infantryman lies where he fell!

More casualties, both infantry and cavalry followed and they will get similar bases.

Started also to paint up a test piece of the artillery limber and horse teams to go with my guns provided in the starter set without limbers.

Once the limbers and teams were completed I married them up with their respective artillery pieces.

Next up was the start of a baggage train, consisting of two wheel carts with loads, a pair of covered wagons and mule teams.

The air turned blue on a couple of occasions whilst trying to glue on those tiny wagon wheels!

Happily the carts came with wheels already moulded on.

Mule teams came with some drovers to keep them moving.

Finally for today's post, the first unit of archers and bill men for the 28mm WotR project are almost complete. I have based them on the Renedra plastic bases that come in the box set. The archers in on block of four, one block of two, and two single bases. This will allow for figure removal if the rule set calls for it.

The bill men are in a block of two and two singles.

OK, I shall leave it there for today, I am aware it is quite a long post and I don't wish to bore you. More tomorrow...Ian

The spare room was redecorated and turned into a man cave as had been planned. The war gaming table was extended by adding a one foot wide flap to both parts of the table, it was originally two pieces measuring four feet by three feet. The two bolted together gave me eight feet by three feet, however I found the narrowness quite restricting in 28mm scale but a permanent four feet wide board would have taken up too much space in the room. The compromise was the one foot extensions in the form of two flaps, one on each section of table giving me the much better eight feet by four feet. That of course can be folded down out of the way when not in use.

The N Gauge layout will still be built around the perimeter of the room but work on that will now start in the early new year, it will give me a run of about 40+ feet, and the main board containing the station will be some 14 feet long and will be the first section constructed and worked on. The other modules, each only some four inches wide can be added as and when, to give me a full run around the room.

Why the delay until the new year? I suffered a minor heart attack in April this year, it was enough to scare the pants off me. Sat in the back of an ambulance with severe chest pains thinking is this it, is this how it is all going to end? Fortunately, it wasn't the end but the upshot is that two of the four arteries into the heart are next to useless and it may require bypass surgery in the near future. Therefore strenuous work like building and fitting baseboards are off the agenda at present. A very good friend has offered to make the baseboards for me, he retires at Christmas and is prepared to build them in the new year with the measurements I provide. Thank you so much Graham.

I am still a devotee to 28mm war gaming and it associated figures, my English Civil War armies are almost complete, Highland clansmen, Montrose Irish and casualty figures plus one or two other bits and pieces still need finishing off. I have now embarked on another 28mm project, this time the War of the Roses and have just begun to collect and paint the figures.

Four test figures, archers from the Perry War of the Roses Infantry box set, plastic figures but beautifully sculpted as you would expect from Perry. Bases still need flocking and I was going to give them a sepia wash as I normally do with all my figures, but I really like the bright colours and toy soldier look of the figures. I have an idea for a campaign in the North of England set during the period of the war between the Yorkist and Lancastrian forces, Barons/knights/lords with their retinues based in a home territory, with a leaning toward one or other of the main protagonists. These will attempt to dominate, bully or capture neighbouring lands/estates and so gain favour and position with the current king, be he of the red rose or white. Still in embryonic planning stages at the moment but will not require huge armies and so should be ready in an acceptable time frame.

I attended the 'Joy of Six' convention/show in Sheffield England in July. It catered solely for 6mm war gaming and was my first ever visit, lots of tables and trade stands made it a very enjoyable, if expensive day out!

First up some flexible resin river and road sections, about six feet of each plus some bends and crossroads etc. Just bought one pack of each to try them out.

I then picked up a selection of building suitable for the ACW all in resin by various companies.

Next up were some horse teams and limbers for my artillery, I had already painted up a number of artillery pieces that came with the starter set I had bought a month or so earlier, but they came without limbers and teams.

I then selected a baggage train consisting of various covered wagons, two wheel carts, mule train and drovers to control them.

Next was some casualty figures both infantry and cavalry.

More scenic items included a ford and a couple of stone bridges, all resin.

Tents and the requirements of a camp came next on the list. I now have enough to make a substantial camp for the army.

Camp followers and wagons etc, to populate the camp.

Bags of cavalry, generals, artillery etc. for both sides.

Then bags of infantry for all the units I am ever likely to need, a mountain of metal to paint.

Finally, MDF bases to mount them all on.

The only thing non ACW related I picked up was a rule set for Ancient/Medieval Warfare. I had heard good reviews about L'Art de la Guerre so snapped up a copy, it may see action with the War of the Roses figures.

So all in all, a good haul of 6mm goodness, more than enough for my ACW project, but more of that in my next post...Ian