The 24th Michigan, ready for basing.

Another unit bites the dust, so to speak. I'm another 30 models closer to completing the Iron Brigade, and feeling better for getting past this "hump" unit (this was the middle infantry unit of five).

I know I'm going to be swamped with other painting tasks and so on during January, so I'm looking towards February to convert and paint the 7th Wisconsin, and then March for the 19th Indiana. If that goes smoothly, I'll be able to finish off my command, artillery, and assorted markers in April, all ready for their big debut on the tabletop at Adepticon.

I hope you like them, and I hope we'll see some more Union regiments march onto these pages soon.

Cheers

Dave

Heth's Brigade Forms

Although I'm late to the posting party going on here at The Guns of April blog, I have been watching the blog and working hard to get into the action.  The fun thing about a group project is the motivation and inspiration you get from your fellow hobbyists.  Over the past month, as I worked on my first regiment, I spent a lot of time looking at the various posts here to ensure my regiments were up to snuff with the great work already presented here.

So without further ado, here are the boys of the 40th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, proud soldiers of Heth's Brigade and the Army of Northern Virginia. 

 As you can see I'm not quite finished yet as the 40th still need their colours but other than this I can call this regiment done!  I chose Heth's Brigade as I thought it was a solid representation of the stereotypical soldiers of the Confederacy and especially the Army of Northern Virginia.  I'm often more interested in the historical flavor of a period then the gritty details so you'll have to excuse any historical inaccuracies in my Rebs.

So one regiment down, three to go.  That's only another 90 infantry figures not to mention the Cavalry, Cannon, Wound and Disruption Markers I need to paint.

Paint on the 6th Wisconsin

It has been great to see a nice little surge from the Guns of April team members of late, post pics of their WIP and finished units. I'm sure as things get closer to April we'll see an even bigger increase in the quantity of posts!

Anyway, on the Union front I've finished putting paint to model for my 6th Wisconsin unit (pictured above) and painting up a firing line was a nice change from the marching pose of the 2nd Wisconsin. I'll be doing all the basing once I've completed the two units pictured below.

Here is the first shot of the 24th Michigan regiment. For this unit I used a mix of Perry miniatures, almost all of them wearing frock coats (so there was no need to sculpt them). The models were lacking, however, the Hardee hat made famous by the Iron Brigade (aka the Black Hat Brigade), so a solid number of this unit are now wearing them. I decided these boys would be the 24th Michigan as I think the mixture of heads and the variety of equipment gives them the feel of a rough and ready unit a bit late to the game, fitting the regiment from the wilds of the hand-shaped state that was the last to join the brigade.

And here are my 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry unit dismounted. I've modeled them so they will be behind a white, picket fence (from the Perry/Renedra sprue), but I've left it off for ease of painting.

Hopefully my fellow Union players are cranking out their models and will have something to show us very soon.

Cheers

Dave

1st NC Cav

Greetings,
         While over the holiday season I decided that it was high time I finished my Cav reg't for my Confederates and GOA brigade. I had these guys sitting on my TV stand primed, just staring me down to paint them so I decided it was high time to get those little buggers done. Now the fun thing about the Cavalry models is most of us are using the exact same ones, which are the Perry Plastics, and it just goes to show how similar uniforms were that with a little change in paint you can make a very distinct uniform.

As usual my Photography is not amazing, but it also doesn't help tha tone of my lights broke:( so I am left with one. Anyways as was seen on my infantry reg't they are still unbased as I plan to do them all in one go so as to not mess up and misshade the army. As is also the case I have no standard atm :( (big frowny face) as I can't seem to find any that match the reg't! I contacted Flag Dude and with no response I looked at GMB but they don't have the ones I need. Rumor mill has it though that they are about to add a bunch more for the ACW so here's to keep my fingers crossed as I think they have some of the best flags on the market.

A side view of a few of my riders, one of the reason I love the Confederate Uniforms is because of the versatility of them. They would brush up their clothes and that could be the dress uniform, also color wise you get to have a lot of fun because after 1861 their was really no standard as they didn't have the industrial abilities as the North.

I love this model with the black hat here as he screams classic reb, the downside was I dropped him while painting so he pistol broke so he is just mimicking his cohorts. Had I though about it I would have converted some of them with their rifles but I will save that for the rest of the brigade that I do after Adepticon.

Finally a close up of one of the faces. I used GW paints for the skin as I enjoy the end result and they don't come out too cartoony for my liking. I did eyes on everything(which I hate) and even did one highlight to all of the blacks. All in all I am happy with the result as I enjoy the look so far of the army as a whole. Everything has around 5-6 layers on it to achieve the effect minus say a few items as I didn't want to go to light. I am doing this so as to have a smoother contrast to the models...plus I all around enjoy the ACW period. If you are at Adepticon stop on by and check all of the guys armies out as I garuntee it will be a show unto itself:)! Finally next up is the brigade commander Gen. Pettigrew and the brigades artillery as well as limbers. Until then thanks for reading and keep painting..oh ya DAVID PAUWELS LETS SEE SOME UPDATES SLACKER!!!!
-Alex

Game Markers Done!!!

Well, before I moved forward with my army I wanted to get the approval of those thread counters on color choices for the coats, trousers and canteens. So, Don, I guess this is where you come in and comment on my base colors and highlights for those items. :)  If you notice anything else please let me know so I can correct it for the rest of my army. Thanks guys.

 I used the same basing colors that Dave T. suggested but I don't have any flowers. I am also trying to decide if the skin could use one more highlight to bring out the cheek bones, nose, chin, etc.

69th New York - One Step Closer

They may not be much to look at right now but hopefully in the next few weeks they will be completely done and based. I just bought one of those simple photography booths and I am still working out the kinks so the pictures may be a little suspect for the next post or two.

Here is the 69th in all its glory. Soon they will get some highlights and their colors.

Here is the Perry Miniatures metal command to accompany the plastics above. I ended up buying the metal command for each of my regiments for two reasons. First, the plastic command are not wearing sack coats and second I wanted the actions of my command to match what the regiment was doing. 

Stay tuned for more exciting action from the soldiers north of the border........

Double Canister Casualties

Well, here are some pictures of casualty markers that I hope I don't have to use but I know I am not that good of a general. These are Perry Miniatures casualties and the miniatures on hex bases will be used to mark Disorder and the miniatures on the 60mm round are going to be used to track hits on regiments. The miniatures are merely basecoated and dipped (Army Painter) at this stage and once I have some more stuff painted to this point I will begin some final highlights. 

I decided to create a wood lined box for the die to rest in. This way the die isn't accidently  picked up and the wood makes it  seem like a little trench. 

Here you can see the die all snug in its new home. Hopefully no regiment under my command will ever suffer that many hits but you never know what will happen.