A big gun salute

I just hit a milestone of 200 followers today and I would sincerely like to express my gratitude in following my blog. I read every post and really appreciate the time you the reader take from your lives to support my fascination in painting and wargaming miniature soldiers. I'll be off the net for a couple days so please don't think I'm ignoring any comments or other folks blog entries as I'll answer as soon as I can which will be shortly.
Until then happy wargaming, painting and of course blogging.:-))

All the best
Christopher

GMB Designs

Well I just got my first 20 or so packs of GMB designs flags for my ACW project and let me say they are stunningly beautiful flags and well worth the 3.75€ I paid for each pack. Yes, they are expensive, but for their quality I really don't mind paying the price as they are easily worth that in my opinion. No question they live up to and exceed the hype. They will be my go to flags of the future for sure. Here's the link:

http://www.salespartners.co.uk/

Also on the hobby front I just placed an order from a company I stopped buying from directly years ago, that being........Wargames Foundry. Up until just this order I've been buying my Foundry stuff from other retailers, Forums or e-bay.
Many may ask why did you break your wallet this time? They answer is they finally pitched a deal I could accept in which I got 30% off a discontinued series with a further 20% off of figures online rebate giving a total of 50% off! I bought the "Dashing Confederate cavalry regiment" that I've had my eye on for awhile as I really like the figures. I also really like Foundry's detail brushes, but never wanted to pay their ridiculous P&P charges for items under 70pounds! Since buying the regiment at such a reduced cost still put my order at free shipping I treated myself to the brushes and some paint pots too.
This time I feel I got my moneys worth as the figures under the deal are more in line with other companies current figure prices and their brushes and paints are IMHO excellent and worth what they charge without a mark down and so don't mind paying full price on these. :-)

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

American Civil War picking up steam

Just to give an update. The American Civil War is picking up steam at our club with two club members joining me in gaming the period. Since it's my favourite period I'm very happy! One will be collecting Confederates and the other will be collecting Union. I prefer rebels, but also like the Union so I'll be collecting for both sides. I'm almost finished with my first regiment and will post when finished. More coming soon!

Rolling up the Stick (DH's AAR)

Last Saturday a friend and myself played a game of Disposable Heroes.I must apologize for the bad pictures and not having more close ups which is my fault. Of course I also forgot to take more pictures after the game got started which is again my fault. Also, as you can see we need to work on our terrain some more as the road we have just isn't up to snuff and our buildings just to generic.
He played an elite German Grenadier platoon composed roughly of:

HQ
2 full rifle squads
Sdkfz 222
Mortar squad

vs my elite US Para platoon:

HQ
extra Machine gun team
2 full rifle squads

The scenario we played was titled "rolling up the stick" which is para drop scenario somewhere in Normandy. The scenario starts with the para's landing their team sections through a dice attempt for on target. Then the Germans enter on 3 board edges. The goal of the game is for the paras to reach a rally point and survive 6 turns, the Germans attempt to block this by capturing the rally point or wiping out the para's.
I won't describe each turn but give a few highlights.The para's managed to land 3 out 5 sections on target which was great, but after that things just went down hill for my valiant, but doomed para's as one of my sections landed off table causing half to be casualties. My bazooka never hit his sdkz 222 which in turn wiped out the depleted squad. I did manage to take out a few Germans, but more less my para's got shredded and pushed off the objective by the very determined Germans. Not a successful para drop in results, but no question a lot of fun in terms of a game!
My impression of Disposable is that it's easy to understand and flows very nice. We still need to work on the vehicle rules, but that shouldn't be to hard. I'm really looking forward to my next game and getting my para's back into action.

Some battlefield pics

One of my platoons that landed in a wheat field

My friend's Germans cowering...errr taking up position behind a wall that is

His German command moving to occupy the building

 Perfect landing

My para's holding the rally point..... temporarily

Airborne Command and Mortar Squad

Just finished my command and mortar squad a few days ago and now getting around to posting them. At this point I'm ahead of my friend on points and so I'll take a  break and paint some of my other back logged stuff while he catches up to me. We also managed to get a game in of Disposable Heroes. I'll post some pictures of that if the pics come out.
As always thank you for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Artizan Miniatures

Command

1st LT.(Platoon Leader)w/ Thomson, 2nd LT. w/ Thomson, Platoon Sergeant w/Greasegun, Radio man w/carbine

Platoon Guide w/M1 Gerand, Trooper w/M1 Gerand, Sniper w/scoped Rifle, Attached 30. cal MG Team

Mortar Squad

Sergeant w/Thomson and radio, Trooper w/M1 Gerand, Trooper w/M1 Gerand, Trooper w/M1 Gerand, M60 Mortar operator and assistant

M60 Mortar operator and assistant close ups