The Mad Padre's Wargames Page: Some Yanks: Vintage Old Glory 28mm ACW Figures

These eight figures are out of production Old Glory 28mm miniatures from whatever came before their Second Edition ACW line - I guess that would been, I dunno, First Edition? They came from a pack of 25 or so minis called ACW infantry advancing in slouch hat and backpack or some such title. I bought them easily ten years ago, and as I slowly work through the older seams of the lead pile, I decided to work away at them this winter as I finished my MA thesis. They’re not really great figures, but they’re useful for bulking out units. These chaps give me two bases I can use for either my Iron Brigade regiments or I can use them as troops in the Western theatre. For the federal sack coats I used a craft paint called Midnight from Folkart, thinking it was close to an indigo colour Folkart used to make and I wasn’t that impressed with the result, which looks a little purple to my taste. However, if you look at these photos of a very good reenactor unit, you see a variety of shades of blue sack coats. I quite like the scruffy, hard-marching look that these reenactors have achieved.

These sculpts are tall and thin, much scrawnier than must reenactors one sees, and they suffer from a lack of detail. There wasn’t much I could do about the faces About the only ambitiousmthing I tried to do for these chaps was to give them a bit of a suggestion of woodgrain on their muskets, as it’s a look I quite like when other painters get it right.

All but one of these sculpts have the double-bag knapsack commonly issued to Union troops. Most of the figures in the Old Glory pack came with the British Napoleonic style knapsack with the whitened straps - I used most of those for Rebel troops wearing British suplus kit brought over on blockade runners, but I had one left over so I guess he picked it up on the battlefield. I’ve worn replica double back knapsacks on long marches with about a 20 pound load (greatcoat, blanket, change of shirt, socks and underwear, and some personal items) and it is decidedly NOT ergonomic. The leather straps are unpadded and bite hard into the shoulders. I could soon see why troops often discarded items on long marches. For speed and ease of painting I gave them all the same US issue brown blanket.