More ACW: Semmes' brigade and Union artillery

Now I've started on the Georgian brigade of Brigadier General P.J.Semmes, photo position one and his metal representation below. The third picture is of the 51st Georgia and I've used metal Perry figures (for a change)wearing frock coats as I read somewhere that Georgia issued this type of coat in 1861.

The last picture is of the first Union battery ( Battery K, 1st Ohio Lights with 6 x 12pdr Napoleons) completed from a total of four planned. The central gun and crew are Perry figures and the ones on either side by Sash & Saber; they are quite compatible size-wise.

ACW: 134th and 136th New York

Two new Union regiments are finished.

(TOP)134th New York
(BOTTOM) 136th New York

Both contain Sash & Saber figures. I'm currently re-doing all my Union regiments to have two flags per unit. Current total, on the Union side, is 10 battalions done and, on the Confederate side, just the four done. I'm turning them out slowly but surely.

Easy Rebels: Kershaw's Brigade

My plan is to have McLaws Confederate Division (part of Longstreet's 1st Corps at Gettysburg) finished and ready to take on Howard's XI Corps by October.

When I have painted Confederates in the past they have taken longer to complete than the Yankees and with time pressing, I have gone the easy route using the Army Painter product mentioned in previous posts.

Finished is Kershaw's Brigade. At the top, a photo of the man himself and underneath, my figure (a Perry metal). One of the pleasures of painting ACW is the ability to select a wargames figure that looks vaguely like the real thing. Wilkopedia serves the purpose here as almost every general has a photograph lurking somewhere. Of course this will also increase my workload as I will have to match up Union generals as well.

(3rd picture) The brigade assembled together under their smart GMB flags.

(4th to 7th pictures) Each unit is shown in line. I have changed the basing (again!) and now have 4 figures to a base. I also plan to re base my Union forces and give each regiment a second standard bearer. Most of these figures are Perry's plastics but I've also bought some drummers from Dixons (who sell figures individually) and though they are not great figures (strange over sized heads)it allows me to give each unit an officer, standard bearer and drummer.

Lastly, a word on Army Painter. I know its a complete contradiction in terms but I treat Army Painter as a demi-purist! A purist could get a similar effect with a one-tone paint job across the board and leave all the 'character' to the Army Painter.
I can't depart from the habits of a lifetime and still use, mostly, my two-tone painting system underneath the coat of Army Painter. Whatever system you use, I think this product really does the job and turns pristine clean soldiers into dour, weathered veterans ready for anything.

PS I've been waiting ages for my Victrix order and plan to paint up some French Napoleonics as Italians when they eventually arrive.

PPS SAVORY - an announcement is a couple of weeks away at the latest. Everything is GO.

More ACW

(Top picture) This is the new Perry's plastic ACW house and its a gem. Not cheap at £15 but probably cheaper than buying a resin version by the time you add postage on. I prefer plastic kits to their resin bretheren as the detailing is crisper and its possible to add ' clear plastic' in the windows to give the illusion of glass. The kit comes with fences too but they are still in my in-tray. I used a black undercoat, two dry-brushed coats of grey and a final coat of Army Painter to give it that extra weathered look.

(Remaining Pictures) In my last post I pictured the 9th New York cavalry regiment (plastics) and this time they are in metal - the dismounted regiment with horse-holders. I suppose I should really do three sets of horse-holders (one for each squadron) but life is too short for that level of detail so I'm content with what is done. That means a 12 figure cavalry regiment will dismount to 9 active guys and one mounted holding three nags. Each army will have a small brigade of two cavalry regiments.

Meanwhile my Confederates move on apace but I'm waiting for flags from GMB before I picture them. Confederates always take me more time to paint than their northern brothers because each figure has a different colour scheme. Still, I am enjoying doing them and Kershaw's brigade is almost finished.

Perry Plastic ACW Cavalry

These twelve figures are the contents of a box of Perry's Plastic ACW cavalry. I have painted them up as the 9th New York.

The horses are particularly impressive and come in halves. Twelve halves come with heads, 2 legs and tails (and half body of course), then other twelve come with two legs and half body. This allows any combination so no two horses need look the same.
The riders are slightly wooden with the heads attached (you choose what sort of hat to give them) and, while they are fine, I think the Perrys have moved on with their later British infantry (separate heads) and I expect the soon-to-be-released French cavalry to reflect these improvements. One other thing - the plastic horses are big and certainly a couple of millimetres bigger in height than the metal horses from the Perry's ACW list. Besides the small height difference, these horses are very muscular and are the closest I have seen to real horses. I don't hesitate to say that to me, these are the best miniature horses available but the box as a whole scores only 8 out of 10 for the weaknesses of the riders.

I've experimented with wider, deaper bases so I'd appreciate your comments if you like or hate them or even if you are agog with indifference!

My painting target is now set for October when I hope to arrange an ACW game here. It will be the first game I have had in six years! So, week by week, I will be building on the painted Union Division I have already and aim to have two Union Divisions done by then as well as a large Confederate Division. I'll keep posting pictures as these two armies grow and I will be breaking up the monotony by throwing in some surprises.

SAVORY Update: It is being printed at the moment. I expect to go live with the website towards the end of May.

Perry Plastic British Napoleonics

Painted up as the 45th Foot (Nottinghamshire), in Peninsular uniform, this is an entire box (36 figures) of Perry’s Plastic Napoleonic British.

I decided not to follow the recommendations within the box for companies of three figures and instead to do four figure companies. So these 36 figures represent the eight centre companies and the grenadier company. For the light company I’ll use metals or Victrix. Additionally, I have not used the plastic bases they supplied as they are the same as for the French (i.e. 45mm x 40mm) and while the French deployed in three ranks, the British used two ranks and so a British battalion in line should be about 50% longer than a French one. My British bases therefore are 35mm x 40mm (one base per company).
The French battalion in line (minus the light company) is 225mm long and this British one (again minus the light company) is 315mm long.

As for the figures, they are no less than MAGNIFICENT. A bit time consuming to assemble but worth it! Over the years I have painted this range from many manufacturers and not only are these the cheapest but they are by far the best. I have decided to start scoring figures out of ten on a none-too-subtle system that I’ll keep to myself. These get 10 out of ten.

Obviously there are no flags – I’m waiting until I can place my next order with GMB.
I’ll retake the pictures when the units is flagged and I’ve done the light company. I don’t think I’ll duplicate the light company in close and open order (as I did with the French) as I can’t really see much likelihood of them not being out skirmishing.

Foundry 25mm SYW French List

On TMP a number of people wanted a list of the Foundry SYW range, which does not yet feature on their website, so here it is:

Infantry
SYWF2 Fusiliers command
SYWF3 Fusiliers
SYWF4 Fusilier characters
SYWF5 Fusiliers in camp
SYWF6 Garde francais command
SYWF7 Garde francais characters
SYWF8 Garde francais
SYWF18 Grenadier command
SYWF19 Grenadier characters
SYWF20 Grenadiers
SYWF26 Piquet party

Generals
SYWF1 Generals
SYWF25 Mounted Officers

Cavalry
SYWF9 Chevaux-legers command
SYWF10 Chevaux-legers charging
SYWF11 Chevaux-legers
SYWF12 Chevaux-legers characters
SYWF13 Dragoon command
SYWF14 Dragoon characters
SYWF15 Dragoons shouldered sword
SYWF16 Dragoons charging
SYWF29 Cuirassier command
SYWF30 Cuirassier characters
SYWF31 Cuirassiers shouldered sword
SYWF32 Cuirassier charging

Artillery
SYWF27 Artillery crew
SYWF28 Cannon

COMMENTS:
Fusiliers: not too bad a range but a little bit of a disappointment as I said back in September 2008 of this blog when I painted up an Irish battalion using these figures.
Main problem is the horrible faces and the fact that the infantry are not totally upright (metal wise, not character wise!)Fusiliers in camp are shown in March 2008.
Garde francais: shown painted March 2008. Beautifully detailed coats but some individuals don't have necks!
Grenadiers (Grenadiers de France): shown painted June 2008. My least favourite.
Chevaux-legers: When I first saw these I wrote to Foundry to say I thought these must be Gendarmes because of a) lace on the seams of the coats and b) absence of turnbacks but I did not receive a satisfactory reply. I plan to use these for Gendarmes only.
Dragoons: I have not painted these yet but they don't look bad.
Cuirassiers (du Roi): illustrated in the last post.
Artillery I have not painted these yet so no comment but the gun, one in a blister, is an outrageous price so I'd skip this. To bring it in line with the cost of other manufacturers Foundry would need to put two guns in the blister!
Generals From the poses its quite clear they are stright from Mollo. Poor old Chevert gets that same pose again (looking over his shoulder) and this is the same pose as Front Rank's figure.

Last comment. SYWF26 Piquet party is a very useful pack of 6 figures in skirmish order, not a group having a fête.

PS I also have some dismounted dragoons but I don't have the code for these.