Onward, 2nd Wisconsin!

After seeing Alex's very nice North Carolina regiment in the last post, I knew I had to pull my finger out and get started on my Iron Brigade. Here you can see the first 12 models from the 2nd Wisconsin Regiment.

These models are the very nice, simple Perry Miniatures plastics, with a little bit of additional greenstuff from me, as you can see below.

One of the most prominent features of the appearance of the Iron Brigade was their adherence to their formal uniforms. According to quite a few sources I've looked at, and discussions with other ACW wargamers, it seems the five regiments of the Iron Brigade regularly went into battle wearing their standard issue frock coat and Hardee hats, as opposed to the more common/popular (at least amongst the Union troops) sack coats and forage caps.

I really like the Perry plastics, but only the officer model has a frock coat, so out came the greenstuff and sculpting tool. It was surprising how quickly the lower half of the coats came together. Even so, I've decided that not every model in the army will have a frock coat, as I'm sure that no matter how hard they tried, the occasional soldier would have lost his frock coat, either removed and lost on a long summer march, or torn from his wounded body by a field surgeon.

You'll also notice that I built a few Hardee hats from greenstuff on top of the standard plastic slouch hats that come with the set. Again, a little bit of quick manipulation with the sculpting tool, a slice across the top with a knife (once the putty was dry) and you have a very serviceable Hardee (check the top picture for reference).

Well, I've just completed building the next 18 models to round out the regiment. More on those guys once the paint is dry.

I hope you like them.

Cheers
Dave

26th N.C Complete!

Greetings All,

I am very happy, and rather proud, to display my first Infantry Regiment for my Brigade under the command of Gen. Johnston Pettigrew. I chose his brigade for a number of reasons, most important of which is my deep respect for Pettigrew's leadership - it also helps that my cousins share a last name (though most likely no relation). The last time I painted ACW troops they were 15mm and that was some 17 *cough*cough* I mean several years ago! When we decided that we were going to "refight" Day 1 of the bloodiest battle on American soil, I knew that I had to lay claim to Gen. Pettigrew's Brigade as not only were they really a Divison in size but they were also involved in two days of heavy fighting: the first, of course, being the first day but they also found themselves as a lead brigade in Pickett's Charge.

As I plan to increase my ACW collection exponentially after this I figured this brigade of North Carolinians was a great was to start. I only hope I do them justice.

To kick off, here is an overview shot of the regiment, 30 models strong. Now, you will notice that I haven't based these yet nor do I plan to until all the brigade is complete. That way there's less chance of any variation between them.

For the most part I loved how most of the models came out. All told there are probably 40-50 hours in the regiment in order to have lots of color variation etc. By 1863 the Confederacy had gone to Cadet Grey as it's uniform color, but most of the soliders wore whatever they could, and if they were lucky had shoes. Granted the Perrys didn't sculpt any barefoot so I didn't touch the feet... but still.

This guy in the middel is perhaps my favorite of the regiment, for some reason I just love the brown and tan colors on him - they fit well with many photos I've seen of serious re-enactors. I added a few red shirts as, so the story goes, at the beginning of the war no soldier left home without something red.

Well there it is blog readers, the first of Gen. Pettigrew's Brigade and, if I am not mistaken, the first of the Confederacys regiments complete :). Now, in fairness I ordered these as soon as I got home from Adepticon but I started them sometime last month. 

Next up is a little cavalry and then I plan to tackle a unit for my WAB tourney army of Teutonic Knights so it will most likely be another month or two until I hit up the next Southern infantry regiment, but I hope you all enjoyed the pictures and please feel free to leave some C&C. If you have any questions I am more then happy to answer them.

Until then keep painting. -Alex Akers

When are we gonna get the blue suits?

The next stage of my plastics are complete and I am not surprised on the amount of time the airbrush saved me during this step. I brought all my plastics into work and spent my hour lunch break on Tuesday airbrushing my troops in a navy blue. I have provided pictures but you may not be able to see a huge difference. I gave them 2 coats of paint and until they were fully dry they still looked black. I am hoping with my highlight it will begin to bring out the color and adding the powder blue pants, skin, etc. will bring them to life.

I also assembled a few stands of my extra troops and put a basecoat of green on them for Berdan's Sharpshooters. I think it looks good but for all you ACW experts please let me know if I picked the right color.

On a final note I provided a picture of the paint I use for my navy blue and this is my official cry for help. HELP! HELP! I am looking for anyone who might have this really old GW paint laying around and would be either willing to donate or sell me the paint. I haven't been able to find its equivalent in any paint range so again if anyone has any recommendations I am all ears.

Enjoy......

28th Mass.

88th NY 

63rd NY 

69th NY

6th NY

Berdan's Sharpshooters

2nd Brigade Plastics Ready for Warpaint!!!

Since most if not all of us are starting this project from scratch, I think it is a great opportunity to show you progress photos of how our armies are coming together and maybe even the philosophy behind each of our methods. I for one will be posting updates in batches and attempting a new procedure for painting my army. I have decided to work on my miniatures in big blocks based on the types. For my first batch I decided to fully clean and assemble all of the plastic miniatures in my 'required' brigade. I have two things to note at this time. Firstly, I went through all of my plastics and only selected the soldiers that were wearing sack coats. For me this is a big identifier with the Union army. Yes, Confederate soldiers had sack coats and yes, Union soldiers had other types of coats but I wanted a more uniform look to my brigade and something that symbolized a more organized army. On a side note, I look forward to painting my own Confederate army some time in the future because it will be so hap-hazard but for now I want organization and order. Secondly, I ended up with 18 'loading' and 'firing' soldiers that have sack coats and do not belong in my brigade so whatever will I do with them? Well, I decided if I have time I will paint them up as an under strength unit of Berdan's Sharpshooters. We may use them in the game and we may not but it will be cool to have them.

What you will see below are the pictures of my five infantry regiments and my cavalry squadron. We are fielding regiments of 30 miniatures and you will notice that I only have 24 with the exception of my Zouaves. This is because I bought metal commands for all my regiments and they will be painted at a later stage. Yes, I know these pictures are not very exciting but hopefully watching them build up to fully painted and based will be a little like those action cartoons on each page in a book and when you flip them really fast the cartoon moves. I only wish I could paint that fast. :)

28th Massachusetts

88th New York

114th Pennsylvania

63rd New York

69th New York

6th New York Cavalry (horses)

6th New York Cavalry (riders)

The South will Rise Again!

Greetings All,
           So some of you may know me and some may not. My name is Alexander Akers and I am one of the members of the Guns of April event as well as a fellow blogger and lover of history. This year I am extremely excited as to the progect that our little group will be undertaking as it is one that is very near and dear to my heart.
         I want to start off by saying what a great first post from General Pauwels of the Union forces and through respect and admiration I say "good show". When last years game ended we all sat around for about an hour or two discussing what we wanted to do for 2013 and being we had 12 months to plan/paint and prep their would be no excuse as to why we couldn't complete well anything. Through some pleasant debate the group decided upon ACW, and through a little hint and nudging from yours truely(I think as I was rather umm tired, yes lets go with tired at the time) we agreed to do a "what if" of the Battle of Gettysberg.
        Now since we didn't want to just have static forces with entrenchments and such we decided that the first day would be a great opportunity for both sides so as to have a little play with Cavalry, as well as Infantry. I knew from the start that I wanted to paint Confederates so I voiced up and the lines in the sand were drawn. Our CiC was choosen and General Delaney stepped up to lead our side to what will be our eventual victory. Knowing that I wanted to do rebs wasn't enough though and I knew of either two brigades that I would want to play as. I knew of Lou Armestads boys under Pickett, or Col.Pettigrew as he had a larger sized brigade (well more like a divison really but titled a brigade), so with that I decided on Mr. Pettigrew and began my layout.
     As per the agreement each player will have 4-5 regt's with one reg't of cavalry that we will combine into one solid formation at the outset of the battle. Will one of those Yankee's paint General Custard, well if they do this southern Gentlemen will make sure he doesn't make it to Little Big Horn, but enough for the role play as honestly this is one of my favorite time periods and I only wish I had something painted to show you all as I am chomping at the bit to get started but saddly other painting prioritys are in the way, but once July is over I will be showing a small step by step of how I paint rebs. This does not mean I will show you all of them as unlike their Northern Agressors the south didn't really have a standard uniform by this time as they lacked the ability to mass produce textiles. With that I thank you all for reading and if you have ideas toss them out there as I love getting other peoples interpetations on my work. Ones final point of note my plan is to use 100% Perry miniatures for this project and though it may cost a little more I think the final outcome will be worth the cost as I plan to hold onto these and even expand upon them in the future. With that I bid you all a fond adu and say to you "Keep Painting".
-Alex

Irish Brigade Reporting for Duty

Father Corby delivering absolution before Gettysburg.

What an excellent post by Dave P. and a great way to kick off our new project. The post is full of irony and of course we have been busily discussing details since our return from Adepticon. We locked down the time period and for the most part who was going to represent each army. You may also have noticed that we invited a new member of the Guns of April to even the sides and we also switched up the teams based on who was passionate about which army they wanted to paint. Once the sides were determined we quickly set off into our own private emails and began to discuss our Order of Battle. Starting with a similar organization of 4 infantry regiments and 1 cavalry regiment per player we began to manipulate our forces to better match the look and feel of the American Civil War. 

For the Union forces on paper an average Brigade consisted of five regiments so we immediately stepped forward to volunteer to add a fifth regiment to the painting station. We also all agreed that adding a fifth stand of troops would generate a better look for each regiment allowing us to center the command stand in the middle of the regiment. 

We also decided to base our miniatures different from our Napoleonic game and you will see those changes as we add pictures of our progress. 

The Union forces consisting of myself, Dave Taylor, David Pauwels, and Chris Ferich very quickly determined who was going to represent which brigade. This is where some of the 'what if' will play a huge role because not only did we want to represent a cool, historic scenario but we also wanted to be enthusiastic about painting our miniatures. I for one decided that the Union organization needed a few improvements and created my own brigade. Drum roll please...............Yes, I know the title ruined the surprise but let me have my fun. :) 

Irish Brigade defends Stony Hill against South Carolinians

I chooose the II Corps 2nd Brigade which is more famously known as the Irish Brigade. My slight historic altercation was to remove the 116th Pennsylvania Regiment and insert the 114th Pennsylvania Regiment. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Well........the 116th were Irish immigrants whereas the 114th were also known as a Zouave regiment. Yes, I know. There were no Zouaves in the Irish Brigade but the Perry's Zouaves are so awesome I had to bring at least one regiment. Plus it allows me to break away from painting navy blue, powder blue, and black and add some red and yellow. More details on the look of my army later......

Fight'n Irish
by Dale Gallon

So here is my current project with some more items to be added later like artillery: 

II Corps

Major General Winfield S. Hancock
Brigadier General John Gibbon
Brigadier General William Hays
 
General Headquarters:
6th New York Cavalry, Companies D and K: Cpt Riley Johnson (Escort)

First Division
Brigadier General John C. Caldwell

2nd Brigade

Colonel Patrick Kelly

28th Massachusetts: Col Richard Byrnes
63rd New York: Ltc Richard C. Bentley, Cpt Thomas Touhy
69th New York: Cpt Richard Moroney, Lt James J. Smith
88th New York: Cpt Denis F. Burke

114th Pennsylvania: Ltc Frederick F. Cavada, Cpt Edward R. Bowen

114th Pennsylvania Regiment
by George Woodbridge

So there you have for it. I am going to try something completely radical for my style of hobbying. I have decided that I will assemble and prime everything before I begin painting and I will use the mass painting process probably working on one or two regiments at a go. As of this evening I have three regiments completely assembled so I am hoping by this Fall I should be in the painting stages. Well, at least I better be. :) 

K

Year Two: Adepticon 2013 Project Announcement

"In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls.”
Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain,
Speaking at the dedication of the Monument to the 20th Maine,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

 Armistead leapt the wall and laid his hand on the gun,

The last of the three brigadiers who ordered Pickett's brigades,
He waved his hat on his sword and "Give 'em the steel!" he cried,
A few men followed him over. The rest were beaten or dead.
Stephen Vincent Benet, John Brown’s Body

We thought that today, of all days, seemed highly appropriate to announce, publically, our next club endeavor. The fact is that we were never absolutely sure we would have a second outing, but the Salamanca project developed so smoothly and the game went so well that we felt confident about making the Guns of April battle an annual event at Adepticon. We only needed to agree, as a group, what that next project would be.

I, personally, felt very strongly about the 2013 subject and I lobbied the group in a manner that would’ve impressed Jack Abramoff. By now you’ve probably guessed the conflict I pushed for. Next year, 2013, will be the 150^th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. To me, and eventually the rest of the group agreed, the only real choice for Adepticon 2013 was an American Civil War game.

So, even as I type, we’re knee deep in planning. We are, as of now, expecting to once again use the much-beloved Black Powder rules set. We’ve mixed up the sides a little, however, and I find myself in the role of Union commander this time around. We are still working out the details of the game, but Dave T. and Joe K. have suggested another “what-if” scenario, based loosely on the First Day of Gettysburg. Since Buford’s cavalry Brigade has always been my favorite ACW formation, how could I disagree? I suspect that, in our alternate refight of this famous meeting engagement, one Colonel Stuart may not be as remiss in his duties as he was previously…

Over the next nine months we’ll be updating our progress. Each commander will go into detail on their individual forces and we will hopefully see an even greater collection of WIP images this time around. I know, for my own part, I plan on starting much earlier this year. So stay tuned.

149 years ago today General George Pickett ordered his fateful charge. It is with a real sense of historical magnitude that we’re honored to commemorate this costly and epic battle at next year’s convention.

Dave Pauwels

July 3^rd, 2012