Thursday, May 19, 2011

94th New York "Bells Rifles" Infantry Regiment










As I posted previously one of my friends is playing the Union while the other the Confederates and so I therefore opted for doing both sides . I was going to any ways as I like both sides. I thought I would start with a union regiment first to get the ball rolling.

Since I don't want to just call my regiment entries " Union Regiment Generic" or "Confederate Regiment Generic" I've decided to name each regiment and post a matching historical flag set if possible and give a bit of history if their is some which most do as the ACW period is remarkably well documented.

I haven't received my GMB flags yet and so with the 94th I'll use what came in the plastic box. I couldn't find their exact state flag and so thought no harm done using the box example.

This regiment is the 94th "Bells rifles" Infantry Regiment from the Army of the Potomac,I Corps,2nd Division of the I Brigade during the Gettysburg Campaign.
The 94th or "Bells Rifles" was recruited in Jefferson County and was mustered into service at Sacket's Harbor March 10th 1862 under the command of Henry K. Viele as Colonel.

It saw service in Gen. Pope's Virginia campaign and later rejoined the army of the Potomac and saw service at South Mountain, Antietam,Fredericksburg, Gettysburg where it suffered it's highest casualties from combat, Mine Run Fiasco,Wilderness campaign, Cold Harbor, Totopotomy, White Oak swamp, Weldon Railroad, Petersburg Siege, Five Forks and finally Appomattox Court House. It was mustered out of service in Washington on July 18, 1865. The regiment lost 116 KIA and 138 from other causes. In addition 37 died in imprisonment.

The regiment has a monument located at Gettysburg and for those seeking further information on the 94th I recommend this lovely site http://dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/94thInf/94thInfMain.htm .

On to the miniatures. These of course are the Perry plastic American Civil War box sets figures with the addition of a couple Foundry figures. My overall opinion is they are not bad if a bit too fine for my tastes, but are a nice way to cheaply bulk out your armies. Personally, I'll probably paint up the 2 boxes I already own and then move on to metal figures as I really do prefer that. I like dynamic figures and the Perry plastics are just a bit too stiff if you get my drift.

Some of you may have noticed that one stand has only 3 men and not 4. This is on purpose as it allows for the building of off number regiments for Guns at Gettysburg. Most units in the lists are divisible by four 12,16, 20,24 etc., but some do not and are 14,18 etc. and this allows to build for that. But, of course I can still and in most cases will still play it as a full 4 man base. Also, I went with 40x40mm bases which leaves perhaps a bit too much room for these slighter and less dynamic Perry miniatures, but when I mount my more animated and larger Redoubt I think I'll be happy with the extra room.

Right now I'm doing white backgrounds until I build up some ACW terrain and then I'll do a mix of white backgrounds and scenic shots together.

On to the second half of the box which will be a firing line.

As always, thank you for viewing.:-)

Miniature Company- Perry Miniatures