Perry Brothers Union Cavalry Horseholder and Confederate Officer

 Hello friends:

Taking a moment to document some small ACW painting projects.  28mm Union cavalry horseholder by Perry Brothers:  

These are the type of figures, like casualties, that might make the more practically minded ask - why?  My answer is that I have enough mounted and dismounted figures to represent a small Union cavalry brigade, so now I can represent where the horses are if the dismounted troops have moved some distance away during the fighting.  Could be an important detail.  Also, I like the aesthetic, they add a bit of a diorama feel to the table.

There was a fourth horse figure in the set, but it got misplaced in a small mound of metal horseflesh on a corner of my bench, as I am also currently working on a large unit of Canadian militia horse for my alt-ACW project.  I will find a use for this AWOL nag.

 

Mounted officer sculpt from the now-defunct French producer, Forgotten and Glorious.  I quite love their ACW line and have some in the painting queue.

This fellow was listed as a Union officer, but I need more rebs to serve as command figures in Sharpe Practice, or as Staff Officers in Pickett’s Charge, so he ended up in gray.

 

Blessings to your brushes!

MP+

 

 

 

Farewell to Forgotten and Glorious ACW ,Minis

I was saddened recently to learn that Forgotten and Glorious miniatures will soon be no more.   They are (soon were) a French-based manufacturer of 28mm figures, and had a small but lovely range of 28mm ACWs.    As their website says, they will be out of business in 5 days, on April 15, and their figures will no longer be available.   I have no idea why they are closing - perhaps it is because their figures were never cheap - a command group of 6 foot sold for 15 euros, and the postage from Europe probably didn't help.


Here are some of their figures from my collection, and some more here.

They are lovely and full of detail and great fun to paint.

I have really agonized on ordering some more before they're gone, but I think I am going to resist pulling the trigger on this one.   I have a goodly number of ACW figures to paint, including two boxes of Perry plastics, and a regiment of Renegade figures that have languished, half painted, for two years now - and that's just the ACW part of my lead and plastic mountain!


However, if 28mm ACW is your thing, I would encourage you to have a look at their website before these figures are gone.


Blessings,


MP+

Reinforcements For The Iron Brigade: 24th Michigan

My first finished project of 2016 is mustered into service.  This is the 24th Michigan of the Western Iron Brigade.   The figures are by French manufacturer Forgotten and Glorious.  I’ve talked about them previously and finished some of their brigade command stands in December.

I love the command stand.  It includes F&G’s sculpt of Colonel Henry A. Morrow, the 24th’s commanding officer at Gettysburg.

Col. Henry Morro

On the first day of Gettysburg, when  the 24th was engaged with the 26th North Carolina, Col. Morrow picked up the colours and carried them after the colour bearer was shot, as seen in this painting by Don Troiani.  Morrow received a non-fatal wound in the head during the fighting at Missionary Ridge and was taken prisoner when the Rebels captured the town of Gettysburg.

And here’s F&G’s Col. Morrow.  I really like the way the sculptor included his Hardee hat on the ground by his feet.  The flags are by GMB.

I tried to mix up firing and loading figures to show the chaos of a firefight, as opposed to the symmetry of drill. When I was a reenactor I hated two rank firing.  I was always afraid of not having my muzzle far enough in front of the face of the front rank man, and when I was in the front rank I always hated having muskets going off near my face.   And that was with no one shooting back at us.

The Colonel Morrow figure allowed me to use the officer from the command pack as a company line officer, cooly watching the effect of the men’s fire.   I rather think it would take a lot of sand to stand there with a sword and try to act cool and collected to inspire the troops.

My order from F&G also included a vignette of two privates running with an ammo crate.  I liked the pointing sergeant from the command pack so I paired him with this duo.  I hope it looks like the sergeant is directing them to the crisis point in the line where the ammo is running low.

I suppose I could use this as another regimental stand or as a marker to show low ammo or out of ammo, though I don’t think I have any rules which get that granular.

Finally my order included a set of mounted and foot officers.  Col. Morrow freed up a standard bearer from the command pack, and since I had an extra 1st Bde/1st Div/1st Corps banner I decided to make them part of brigade headquarters.  The mounted officer is getting briefed by the chap on foot, pointing to something very important.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with all these command stands.  Fortunately I’m fond of vignettes on the table top. I should say that the circular stand is the only one in this group that I made.  The square bases are all laser-cut MDF.  I’m a convert.

 

These brave sons of Michigan are now mustered into service, and bring my Iron Brigade collection to three regiments.   Sounds like a good excuse for another game of Longstreet.

Thanks for looking and blessings to your brushes!

These figures bring my 2016 totals to:

28mm:  Foot Figures: 29; Mounted Figures: 1

Paint Table Saturday

This weekend I’m trying to get the rest of my 28mm Union Iron Brigade figures from Forgotten and Glorious done.   About half way there.   These fellows will be mustered in as the 24th Michigan.

Terrific figures to paint, I’m a fan of F&G.

Blessings to your brushes!

MP+

Last Figures 0f 2015: Part Two of Two

On a somewhat more serious note, here are the last historical figures to come off the paint bench this year.  The American Civil War dominated much of my work this year.    These figures are from a batch I purchased in 2014.  It’s taken me a while to get around to them.  F&G are one of my new favourite companies.  Based in France, they do very nice work at the high-end of quality and price.  They wouldn’t be the mainstay of a miniatures army, but they do make for great accent pieces.   This is their pack depicting the command group of Brigadier General Solomon Meredith.  The flag is of the First Brigade of the First Division of the First Corps, which Meredith commanded at Fredericksburg and on the first day of Gettysburg, his last battle.

I attempted a dapple pattern for Meredith’s horse.  I’m not sure how successful I was, but it made an interesting change from brown, red brown, and black.

I decided to put the four figures on separate bases.  I tried grouping all four figures on one base, and it looked way too crowded.  With separate bases, I can either put them together to show a brigade or higher level headquarters depending on the scale of the game, 

“There, major.  That IHOP across the highway.  We’ll have breakfast there. The men fought well and they deserve pancakes.”  A lot of what aides do is look in the direction where the boss is pointing and try to look alert, while hoping that they aren’t going to have to ride through the night carrying a confusing dispatch to a grumpy general.

The group includes a corporal bugler and a sergeant guidon bearer.  The flag is from GMB.  Forgotten and Glorious has a deal with GMB allowing you to buy flags from them along with the figures.  Handy.

It’s interesting to me that the corporal and sergeant wear standard infantry accoutrements, including brogans or bootees rather than proper riding boots, and the frock coat and Hardee hat of the Iron Brigade.  I suppose this would be accurate, 

]

Coming in 2016, soon I hope, will be an entire infantry regiment of F&G minis to round out my Iron Brigade collection.  

That’s it for this year’s painting totals.

These figures bring my 2015 totals to:

28mm:  Foot Figures: 85; Mounted Figures: 19, Artillery: 2, Vehicles: 2, Scenic Pieces: 2

20mm:  Vehicles: 1; Artillery: 1, Foot Figures: 6

15mm: Armour/Vehicles: 5; 15mm Scenic Pieces: 5

6mm:  Scenic pieces:  7

Paint Table Saturday

On the painting desk today - a six figure 28mm ACW command group from French minis maker Forgotten and Glorious, from their Iron Brigade line.  In the back are some Weird War figures ready to go to the basing shop - more on them anon.

 These fellows will lead the 24th Michigan, the third regiment for my Iron Brigade project.  They are lovely sculpts, very well researched.  The quality of the gear and the accoutrements are first rate.

Blessings to your paint brushes!

MP+

Forgotten and Glorious ACW Minis Are Unforgettable AND Glorious

My order of ACW 28mm miniatures from FG Miniz Forgotten & Glorious Company of Art arrived on Monday and did not disappoint.   F&G are a relatively new French company, and seem to be additional proof that trans-Atlantic hobbyists like myself don’t just have to look to Great Britain as the centre of gravity for our hobby.   European companies like F&G and Black Hussar are doing cracking work these days, and I am sure there are many other Eur minis companies that I don’t know about.

I was considering F&G’s Kickstarter campaign for their 14th Brooklyn figures (they seem to specialize in early ACW) but when the announced a new line of Iron Brigade sculpts, I was hooked.  I have several regiments of this iconic Union brigade and thought that these F&G figures, especially the command figures, just had loads of character.  There was also the thrill of getting figures from the first production run of minis from brand new moulds.  

Here’s a command group, taking the air on my patio table.  I love the look of the colonel with sword on the right.  He seems to be saying, “Now then, Padre, you seem like a fellow with the right mettle, I’m sure you’ll move us to the front of the painting queue."

 Another thing I love about F&F is that their national standard flagpole comes with a US eagle.   I’ve never seen a company do that before, and I’ve always wanted one.

 

 These figures compare well in size with other lines of 28mm ACW figures.  Seen below on the far left is a Perry plastic figure, and on the right is one from Old Glory.  I would say that the F&G figures are slightly larger than the ACW line from Foundry, and perhaps a tiny bit smaller than the ones from Redoubt.

There is stiff competition for the painting queue, but I suspect I’ll get on to these fellows sooner rather than later.

Blessings to your dice and brushes!

MP+