Iron Brigade(15mm)

I finished this unit a couple months ago and now have finally got around to posting them. They are part of the famous Iron Brigade easily identifiable by their frock coats and tall Hardee hats. They were arguably the best brigade in the union army in the east and maybe even the west until Gettysburg were they suffered catastrophic losses in this battle losing most of their mid western veterans that were later replaced by able, but not quite as good replacements. By proportion the Iron Brigade suffered the most losses of any brigade in the war. The brigade was so tough rebels were recorded as saying something to the effect of "Here comes those damn black hats again!" as they new they were in for a brawl. I like the brigade so much the 28mm version I painted awhile back is my blog header.:-)

I still have a backlog of ACW to go through so more on the way eventually.

Thanks for viewing.:-)
Miniature Company-Old Glory 15's

   

Lee's Legion Horse

I've had this unit sitting on my shelf all painted up ready to be based for months now and finally decided to finish them off. The hold up was a mix of deciding if I should paint a up a flag or wait until somebody does one commercially and just generally running out of motivational juice. As you can see I couldn't decide and went ahead and finished them until I can make up my mind on the flag situation before they collect more dust.

Lee's Legion (2nd Partisan Corps) was raised by Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee (father of Robert E. Lee) on June 8 1776. It briefly served with the First Continental Light Dragoons before forming it's own separate body of Horse and infantry called Lee's Legion. The unit first saw action in 1778 and was very active in the field in particular the Southern campaigns in both battles and raiding/guarding actions. They gained a reputation for ruthless efficiency and bravery throughout. They were disbanded on November 15, 1783.

The Legion horse is often depicted in the green short jacket and white linen leggings like their rivals Tarelton's Legion, but they also for a period had a cream/buff coloured jacket w/green trim and doe skinned leggings which I quite liked and opted to go with. Each cavalry troop within the Legion would also try to have their horses all of the same type  and I decided on "Dun " coloured for this particular troop.

The figures are from the new Perry cavalry releases and sculpting is excellent, but........the casting is well .....pretty sub par to be honest. I'm sorry folks but I feel compelled to say the Perry's need to have a little chat with their casters about the downward spiral of their metal casting process and insist on tighter quality control. The figures were noticeably thinner, plenty of flash and spiders, bent legs and swords requiring quite a bit of filing,bending,flattening and cutting. The figures are so well sculpted they deserve better casting. I bought these close to when they were first released so maybe this issue has been addressed?

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Perry Miniatures

A lovely holiday in Scotland!

The amazing Eilean Donan castle.

Well actually I've been back for several weeks or so, but I've been quite busy with work leaving me a bit tired for postings and commenting plus I just wanted to relax, paint, and catch up on some Netflix. However, I'm now ready to get back in the swing of things and I will over the next few days do my best to catch up on what everyone has been doing on their blogs and do a few more posts of my own. Scotland was fantastic and we enjoyed ourselves very much! Truly stunning landscapes that had us snapping pictures left and right and the people were so very kind. I would have liked to meet up with some of the follow wargamers who live in Scotland, but with the family and so much to see and do I really had no chance to even attempt this. However, we will for sure visit Scotland again as we so enjoyed the experience and this time I'll make sure to meet up with as many wargamers as possible.

No question this visit has really perked my interest in Scotland's history and has me thinking of going back to my Montrose army or even starting a new period with Claymore Castings excellent range, but I'll need to think it over as I already have several projects on the go and I don't want these to fall at the wayside.... ahhh decisions.......

We took a lot of pictures, but this post would be become ridiculously long if I filled it with all the ones I liked so I'll limit it to just a few highlights.

Looking at one of the lovely Loch's from inside Eilean Donan castle.

Culloden Battlefield is beautiful and a bit eerie. I highly recommend a visit as the visitor centre and  battlefield are very well done.

    

My daughter enjoying the fantastic Tattoo Military parade

To hear all those bagpipes playing at once was a moving experience.

The impressive Edinburgh castle with Tattoo parade set up next to it.

A panoramic view of Edinburgh from Edinburgh Castle

A typical lovely view of many places in Scotland

Aboard the majestic Royal Yacht Britannia

Inside the ruins of Urquhart Castle overlooking Loch Ness.

A perfect picture of Scotland imho with my daughter next to a gentlemen bagpiper in Urquhart Castle with Loch Ness in the background and rolling mountains completing the picture.:-)

Stopping to enjoy yet another beautiful view.

Come here daddy I need a hand rest.

Stunning isn't it.

My better half very happy with what she is seeing.

The very cool Stalker Castle.

Always wanted to see a Claymore up close and now I have. I can well understand why it has a fearsome reputation. Interesting thing is they labelled the Claymore simply as "Two handed weapon" and called the basket hilted broadswords "Claymore's"? I assume this was a overlooked mistake or am I wrong? 

Had to have a picture with Robert the Bruce of course, but as you can see my daughter is less interested.

My daughter getting into the spirit of things at the Bannockburn Visitor Centre. I was a bit surprised to find out the actual battlefield is still a mystery and a matter of debate.

Old Stirling bridge near the original Stirling Bridge which is actually underwater.

Wallace Monument.

Game of golf anyone?

From one of the several wildlife parks we visited.

Yep, it really is that pretty.

Approaching Dunstaffnage Castle.

Inside Dunstaffnage Castle ruins.

Enjoying a boat ride while viewing a map.

On top of a boat having fun!

One of the many Loch's and all are lovely to one degree or another.

Couldn't resist adding another picture of Eilean Donan castle.:-)