Union Artillery (15mm)

It's been really hot lately plus a busy life has interfered with my posting and commenting, but I hope to get back on track now that all of this looks to improve. The good thing is I have plenty of units waiting for photo's and posting so at least that's not an issue.

Continuing on with my Union army in the form of some artillery which is a mix of guns from rifles to smooth bores of various calibres. The guys were fun to paint, but let's face it artillery pieces themselves are bit of a pain so I was happy when finished.

For those of you wondering where the rebels are they will be coming soon and in fact I already have several regiments finished, but I first want get the union forces I've completed up first before moving on to the confederates.

If anyone is curious where my 28mm material is gone then no need to worry as I'm working on that as well and have things to post, but first want to get through posting some of 15mm ACW material.

Also of note we have playing Piquet Field of Battle2 within our group to run our ACW/SYW games and it's been a smashing success! Even Nick who is a skirmish player by and large likes the rules and is even considering collecting Franco/Prussian war to fight with these rules. It's highly likely these will become our Horse and Musket/Black Powder standard rule set.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company-Old Glory 15's

Union Firing(15mm)

Posting up some more of my re-worked 15mm Old Glory ACW collection. It's moving along at a pretty decent pace and I have more waiting to be posted up. It's mostly union at the moment that's finished and being posted, but I am working on some confederates, but they of course take much longer to do with the constant colour changes. Anyhow, I'm having some fun since I don't have to start from scratch making things move along pretty quick compared to my normal tortoise speed. Stay tuned more on the way!

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Old Glory

ACW Union(15mm)

Perhaps some of you remember when I mentioned overhauling my 15mm ACW collection awhile back which was in desperate need of this(follow the Link). Errr.... it only took me a few years to finally start! Anyhow, I finally have some results to show in a few union regiments. Well.... actually I have more already completed, but I'll break it all down by posting a few regiments at a time to keep things neat and tidy so to speak.

The figures are all Old Glory 15mm and are still good sculpts after all these years with some having odd positions, but I can live with that. At one point a thought about selling it all and switching to either 10mm or starting the excellent Blue Moon 18mm, but realized that would be a fools errand for me when I already have so many Old Glory figures at least with a basic paint job to work from and many more in bags which made doing it in another range/scale both time and cost prohibitive. 

These were the first figures I collected for historical wargaming way back in the day and so one can imagine they needed a painting update and complete new basing! However the figures were at least neatly block painted, but that was about it folks. Needless to say nowadays I need a more depth to my figures then that so I decided to simply give them a wash and add a highlight and I must say I'm pleased with the results. The basing was awful which consisted of green flock and reddish brown paint. Of course that too had to change and I decided to go for a light summer day basing and again I'm pleased with how that came out as well. I then replaced the tattered flags I had with some lovely GMB  designs flags which really helps the collection to shine. I decided that my goal with 15mm ACW was to achieve tabletop effect rather then glass case painting so I skipped a middle tone and used a base darker tone followed by a wash and then a bright/brighter highlight. Viewed up close it doesn't look grade A+, however when viewed from the tabletop looks quite good as the stronger contrasts help them stand out from the terrain. I feel at smaller scales you have to paint in higher contrasts or the figures fade into the table. I also believe lighter coloured bases and tabletops are needed at smaller scales then 28mm, but even there lighter is generally better as well. So far, I'm quite pleased with how things are turning out and to tell the truth better then I expected. The reason is simple in that when I was painting them I was always looking up close seeing the flaws and it wasn't until I was finished and looking at them from a gaming distance before I could see the effect they really gave. This of course has given me motivation to plough on with the overhaul which is always a good thing.:-)

Does this mean the end of 28mmACW?.....No not a chance! I'm simply a ACW nutter and feel compelled to do it in two scales. I plan on using 15mm ACW for F&F and RF&F to fight historical battles and with the high base count it makes sense to do this in 15mm and the fact that I've been playing it using this system and at this scale for more years then I care to count! For 28mm ACW I'll be using Longstreet, Black Powder etc. Stay tuned for more to follow!

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Old Glory

Confederates

These are from the Perry plastic confederate box set that I picked up last year and started, but just got around to adding the highlights a couple weeks ago. These are done with ap then with highlights added. I have the other half of the box mostly finished which I'll post up at a latter point.

As far as the figures go they are very nicely sculpted with very good detail and probably the best plastics Perry have done. My complaints are the usual with plastics in that I hate the assembly process, plus some positions are a bit stiff and they are just too light in heft so I doubt I'll ever collect a lot, but I do like trying a few out here and there.

The basing I used is my experimental 2 figures on a 40 x 20mm base which is useful for RFF to get the base count up, but kind of a pain as they don't sit even and I have to pick up too many pieces when moving them around. Since I've decided to move my RFF games back down to 15mm as the scenario's are too large for 28mm I'll start basing my 28mm ACW back on a more manageable 40 x 40mm base for games of Longstreet, GaG, FoB2 etc. Speaking of Longstreet I had a chance to play the game and I think it's just fantastic! Longstreet isn't another grand tactical game which I'm grateful for as I already have systems I like for that, but rather a game set in the ACW period that tells a story while wargaming at the same time. Quite similar to Maurice, but with differences to keep it in period. If you like Maurice which I do very much then you will like Longstreet. Oh, when playing Longstreet I highly recommend playing the campaign as that is where these rules really shine. While it plays at any scale I think it's ideal for 28mm and is where I'll focus my 28mm ACW collection on.

As for painting I've been getting things done and now have a backlog of things to post up which I'll try and get up to date on.

Thanks for viewing!
Miniature Company- Perry Miniatures

A quick update

Confederate view of Burnsides Bridge at Antietam from last summer.

Wow! This month just blew right by. Well just a quick update in that I have been painting, but just haven't posted anything yet. I'll for sure have some things up next month. 

More M4A1 Shermans

Slowly getting back into things. While 15mm isn't the easiest to paint it is very practical scale in that it paints a bit quicker then 28mm and you can see the figures better then 10mm plus gives you a large army effect. It's also a very popular scale making finding players easier and uses up less space. Anyhow I will be doing more 15mm in the future for my small scale stuff. Most of my terrain is all 15mm and 28mm so it's not surprising I would prefer things to stay that way, but things can always change.

These are some Sherman tanks I did a little while ago for my FOW American Tank Company, but just couldn't get the energy up to photograph and post it up. Americans are fun and easy to paint which is a good way to get going again after you have been in a major slump like I have just been through. Probably the worst slump I've been in and happy I seem to be getting going. I'm sad it happened in the Analogue Painting challenge where I basically really wasn't a participant at all.

 I also plan on having less presence on forums and more on activities and the painting desk, but I will try and keep up on blogs, but if I fall behind it's because frankly something has to give of which I'm sure many fully understand that being the same situation.

My painting ambitions are pretty modest at the moment and just simply painting whatever I want to and trying not to over think things. Currently I'm re-doing some 15 ACW figures I'd like to game with as they are in such sorry condition and really need some tlc. I'm also doing some more FOW Americans. I do have some 28mm in the painting line up, but again just taking it moment to moment and letting the mood control what I do so I don't re-lapse.

Thank for viewing!
Miniature Company- Battlefront

  

Having problems with Mojo aka the dreaded painters block

Hi everyone just thought I throw out that I've been having issues with painters block for a few months that has progressively gotten worse. I think it has more to do with a lack of direction then it does with actually painting plus irritating low level flu's that keep cropping up, lack of energy and a stiff neck are not helping much either. This is effecting my painting output, blogging both writing and reading pretty dramatically. It's also come at the worst time right in the middle of the Analogue Painting challenge which I've been reduced to more of a spectator then participant.

The lack of direction is I can longer decide how to base my figures or in what scale to do them or what rules to play them for. I don't have this issue with strictly skirmish games like WWII etc. or F&IW etc., but rather large or army based games.

I'm trying to decide what periods I want to do in 28mm, 15mm and what I want to do in 10mm which I happen to think is great for mass battles and if I want to do a period in more then one scale.

For 28mm Ancients/Mediaevals I cannot decide if I want to have more figures per base giving a better visual, but extremely time consuming with a much higher probability of the project never getting finished or go with fewer figures per base which is less impressive visually, but greatly increases the chances of seeing the project completed. It looks like an easy answer and say go with the one you'll finish, but one must factor in you'll always wish it was bigger! F**king conundrum!!

Also with some of my 28mm I'm a bit tired of sabot basing which I don't like all that much, but find it necessary with some periods as doing the same period twice in 28mm is impossible for me, but I'm still not happy I'm pushed into a corner like that.

Oh now lets talk about a scale that has caught my eye which is 10mm which looks great for mass battle btw! However then in creeps the problem of number of figures per base and how big a base to use. A big base crammed full of figures looks the best, but costs more time in painting, money and more importantly flexibility in terms of gaming. Smaller bases look less impressive and are more time consuming to move, but are more flexible for gaming. So again what the heck to do!

15mm is flat out annoying to paint! You have to paint all the bells and whistles you do at 28mm, but just smaller so takes to much time for the effort and result. However, it is a very popular scale making getting games easier and has a very large selection of figures to choose from. Basing issues are just as much a pain as the other scales.

I'm not having these issues with 28mm ACW/AWI as those projects are so far along that those decisions have already been made and are pretty much set in stone, but sadly I'm just not in the mood for them right now.

With a dozen projects all wanting my attention, but with no real plan  has pretty much frozen my brush in place.

On the positive front I've lost none of my mojo for wargaming and enjoying myself quite a bit. I would say the biggest impact has been my introduction to Piquet's Field of Battle2 series which is awesome! I promptly ordered Field of Battle2 and Pulse of battle which I'll go into at a later date.

Well, I hope to make some decisions soon and get back on track and give all of you something to read.