Happy New Year!

This is the last post of the year 2013. I only want to wish you all a happy new year. I am done with one more regiment for Hardee's  regimental rules but no pictures at the moment. I also manage to finish one more 25mm Dixon Miniature so now I have two of each of confederates and yankees. I have also prepared six more for moments when I need a break from the 10mm:s. At the start of the new year I will begin in earnest to make the Corinth scenario ready for GothCon 2014. It will mean that most of the other project will be at a stand still.

Here you have a picture of the new 25mm:

So again Happy New Year!

Roll Sixes/

Conny

The Library expands

It is nice with christmas. I got some new books for present off my wives parents. Oohh o well I gave them a little tip off the books but I got what I wanted at least... Anyway I got a book by Bernard Cornwell, the first book in the Starbuck Chronicles , Rebel. I like the Arthur saga from mr Cornwell and I hope this will be as good. I also got a book from Osprey about Jacksons Valley Campaign which looks really promising.

My son also got me a present. It is not from the American Civil War but it is an american thing anyway and I hope you forgive me my little detour from the subject ;).

It was fun to build and my son has it figured out since he knows that he gets to play with it!

Well I'm off to read some. But I need to finish the book about Perryville to.

Roll Sixes/

Conny

I made it

Well I managed to finish the 28mm miniatures that I had started. three miniatures are ready and I am now preparing a second confederate soldier. The goal is to have five miniatures per side so I can start playing Bonnie Blue again. My 10mm regiment are soon done to. Only some skin colour and metallics left and they are ready to base.

But now some pictures on the 28:s:

Here are also a picture of all three miniatures ready for the table. I must confess that I have put all my abilities in painting them so I can't get them any better...

Roll sixes/

Conny

A matter of scale

When I started with miniatures they were in 1/72 scale. After a while I discovered 28mm in the form of Space Marines and such things. I started buying 25mm dixon miniatures ACW. In those days 25mm was 25 and have now grown to 28 and in some cases even 30. The interesting thing here thou is that the miniatures have grown larger but I started buying smaller. I have a lot of 28mm in secret storage spaces but I don't paint them any more. Instead I started out with 15mm. Smaller scale means smaller playing area and easier to paint... Or...

I now have a lot of 15mm and I paint them much the same as I would a 28mm, buttons and three layers etc. the armies needed to be larger since the rules I was to play needed that to work. So instead of four 28mm on a base I used eight to ten miniatures on a base. Now I have gone down to 10mm and have found a system were I don't need that many miniatures on a base, Volley & Bayonet. I also started to paint for gaming instead for the cabinet! At last I could get the miniatures of the painting table and on to the board and play larger historical battles. Then I get some relapse and paint some other scales to. At the moment I am in one of those moments and I am repainting some of my old 25mm Dixon miniatures. But my 10mm for V&B and HRR gets some paint on them to but not that frequent. I have shown you one of the repainted confederates and soon to union soldiers will be done and I will show them here.

The holiday are closing in on us all and visitors, eating and gifts etc will probably delay my painting but I already know that I will get some good books... It was a long time since I was so focused on the civil war now if I also could focus on just one ruleset and one scale...

After the holiday I will order some 6mm ACW from Adler just because I have to try and paint the little buggers. What got me to this was some really nice pictures on the forum of theminiaturespage.com webbsite. I will base them for Fire & Fury, why stick to a single set of rules... But Osprey are about to give out a new ruleset "Across a deadly field" that looks really interesting so maybe they will be for that ;)

Have a merry christmas and do try to get some games going to!

Roll Sixes/

Conny

A return to the past

I was inspired when I was writing about my earlier games. I have now repainted an old Dixon miniature that I have had in my possession for a long time. So soon I have painted a 28mm ACW miniature again. I can tell you all that it was a long time since that happened last. I know, I know keep focus on the task at hand you say. But I could not resist, I had to do it. But I have also painted on my 10mm, only not so much...

Well here are a before and after picture of the miniature. He is painted as a confederate soldier.

You have seen this picture before in this blog. He was painted 20 years ago at least and I was very happy with it at the time. 

Here he is in his new colours of 2013.

He needs some more paint to be done but I could not wait to show him ;). 

Roll sixes/

Conny 

A bit of progress

Well the work goes on, at a slower pace at the moment but still forward. I have also a lot of different things at the table right now. This little comment will be about the work on the Corinth board so you all can see that I don´t have abandoned my post on this one.

I have now drawn all the hills, roads, streams etc on the board and are going to build up the hills with cardboard in layers. I am also thinking a lot about how I will do the railroads which is not an easy nut to crack. If anyone out there have a suggestion please feel free to post it in the comment field below. When all the ground work are done on the board I will paint it and I do not use flock on the board. I did it on the forrest on my Perryville board but not on my Bull Run board and I think I will leave it out this time to.

Here are a pictures on the Corinth board and also on my two other boards so you can see what I am aiming for.

Here is the Corinth board. The houses are 6mm houses witch works perfectly in this scale. The three houses shall represent the town of Corint.

This is the Perryville board. A small board, only 48x48cm and perfect for introducing new players since it is so small. There are not much movement before you begin fire away at each other. The confederates are on the offensive and the union tries to hold the line. 

This is me on Gubbspels Galore 2012 were I did a demo of the rules Volley & Bayonet road to glory with Perryville. I had a good time and played a lot :). 

Since I had made Perryville I learned how to do hills and water in a, according to me, better way. On Perryville I had used foam for hills but that was not so good. To Bull Run I used cardboard in layers which was much better. But the thing that made the biggest differens was how I painted the board. Perryville is a flat green color but on Bull Run I used a different technique and highlighted the board with lighter green and even lighter green on the top of the hills so they should stand out more. 

Here you can see me and my Bull Run Demo on GothCon 2013. The board is only 72x108cm. I could have 6 players in the demo, two confederate generals and four union. I had players the whole convention and had a lot of fun. I tried to tell the players that they could not communicate with each other so they had do plan before and then it was every general for himself. The players could talk to each other if their generals was in base to base contact. 

The one thing I don´t like with the board are the woods. But I hope I will be able to find a better solution on the Corinth board.

Here you get a different angle on the Bull Run board.

Well this was all for this time. The "little" post grew...

Roll Sixes/

Conny

Memory lane pt 2

Well it is time to tell you all about the history about the 15mm revolution. At a time I left my home town to study at the university. I was studying to be a teacher. I left my friends to break new ground  for my self. In this process my fascination for ACW was forgotten for a time and my 28mm soldiers was left in a box. My friend who had painted the union side in the conflict kept his soldiers in his home, probably in a box to... Then I saw North and South again and my interest in the conflict was woken again. But wargamer as I am I can't just dig out the old miniatures and have a go. No, no, no new scale, new rules. At this time internet started to open up international trading and small web shops started to see the day. Yes I am that old...

I found out about the rules Fire & Fury and bought them. Nice rules and well produced. Then I stumbled on Peter Pig and their range for ACW and ordered a lot of miniatures, for now it was on again. The problem was that I was all alone in the project and F&F demands many miniatures to play. I have probably painted 200-300 miniatures but that is only 4-5 brigades a side. Hardly enough for Gettysburg... I admit it, I got tired of it and put it all in a box. Not because I thought the rules was bad or anything. But the sheer weight of all that was to be done by my self was a bit to much. So now I had a lead mountain of 28mm and 15mm.

The rules and the scenario book of the eastern battles.

Some of the troops I have painted. Here are two close ups.

Roll Sixes/

Conny

Mill Springs book review

I have now read the book "The battle of Mill Springs Kentucky" written by Stuart W. Sanders. It was a good read were you got some information about some of the regiments that was involved. As a reader you get a background history about why it was a battle at all, always interesting to get to know why a battle took place. You get some information about armament and uniforms but I would have liked more of it. As a wargamer I always search for information of that sort so I can use it when I paint my miniatures. Sanders write well and it is easy to read the book. But I can't understand why he didn't include more maps were I could follow what was happening in his text. I am a sucker for maps and always have my index finger between the pages whit maps and then I flipp back and forth in the book to get a view of whats happening.

Over all a good book that would have been so much better with more maps. If you are interested in the American Civil War this is a nice book to have on the shelf and not that expensive. One thing the struck me when I read the book is how quarrelsome the generals are and how they try to manipulate so they get most of the glory.

Roll Sixes/

Conny

How to make a base...

I like to paint miniatures. The miniature mind you! Then comes the pain of making bases for the miniatures. In my time as a wargamer I don't think I have done a single base that I am satisfied with. If I could get away with not doing bases at all I would be a happier wargamer. But bases we have to our miniatures so bases we must do...

I have now done three bases in my Mill Springs project. I go with the classic darker brown base and add some grass on top. I don't like static grass, I use it but I do not like it! I tested another variant this time that was a bit easier to apply to the base. To my larger miniatures I have found the grass tuft from Army Painter and I LOVE them. Very easy to use to good effect but they are to large for 10mm. I will use them on 15mm miniatures thou. Well I will give you some pictures of the new bases. The miniatures are not yet matt varnished so they are a bit shiny. 

Please fell free to leave comments or suggestions on what you think. Cheerful yells of appreciation on the fine bases will also work ;).

Roll Sixes/

Conny

Battle at Kernstown

Today I was in Mölndal and played a game of Hardees Regimental Rules (HRR) with the authors of the rules and some friends to them. The scenario was set in the Shenandoah valley and Jackson had the orders to destroy a brigade of union troops near the town of Kernstown. Jackson had 3 brigades and some artillery at his disposal. I don't know the union orders since I played as confederate. It was a game were the authors was leading the game and units could be hidden and placed on the board when the enemy first saw them. This worked best for the union since they were defending.  It is really much more fun when you don't really know what you are facing and you need to adapt you plans by the knowledge you have of the field and what happens. My initial plan was to deploy my brigade at one place but ended up way of since union troops forced me to deploy earlier, loved it! My brigade tried to dislodge union troops on a hill and it was hard fighting for the hill. I sadly had to leave before the battle was done but I had a really great time while it lasted. I hope I can go up there again soon and have another go at it.

The rules needs getting used to since the standards like I go you go etc doesn't apply. But it is good rules that I think works really well for this scale. You can fairly easy command about 10 regiments and some artillery. The difficulty here is not to make it to rules heavy and I think that they are well on their way to that point.

Some pictures from the battle:

The battlefield.

The lead regiments of Jacksons command.

The confederates form a battle line in shelter of Kernstown.

The attack on the hill goes in with guns blazing!

Roll sixes/

Conny

Bloody lane or Memory lane?

If I may chose I will pick memory lane... I have always been interested of The American Civil War. I can't remember why but I think it have something to do with the tv show "How the west was won" and the tv show "North and South". Anyway, me and my best friend at the time ran in to some rules and miniatures set in the civil war during a convention in Borås. This was about 24 yeras ago... ;). The rules was at skirmish level and the scale 28mm. The name of the rules is "Bonnie Blue". At the time I did not really know were the name came from, but I do now. We played this game a lot in my friends basement and the armies grew larger. We lost our interest in the rules and moved on to more easy pickings like GW (Aaargghh). Many of us have done the journey down the GW highway at some point...

My fascination of the civil war never left me thou and I have tried some more rules, but more on that later. Here are some photos of the early miniatures. They are now part of my sons collection since he wanted some miniatures to. But they are painted by me for some 24 years ago.

The rules and some miniatures. You only needed about 10 miniatures per side.

This was more than enough for an evenings play!

I have rebased them a few times. The one at the top are based with the top of the art basing technics of the time. Paint green and drybrush with yellow ;).

Roll Sixes!

/Conny

Reinforcement coming up!

Well the second regiment is now done for Mill Springs. I streamlined the uniforms a bit this time to make it a little bit faster to paint. When you read painting guides almost every one says that you should start with the skin. This is a good point but I always make the skin last, except for the metal parts... Why I do this you ask? Well the miniature can look mediocre and not that good and then the skin colours comes on and POW you have miniature soldiers worth his paint!

 Here are a pictures with out skin tones.

And here they are with skin tones and starting to look the part...

I will also give you some pictures on the new regiment. The banner shall be applied tomorrow. They are very shiny since I gloss varnished them today. The matt varnish will be applied when the bases are done.

I give you the 19th Tennessee!

Here is a close up on one of the stands

Roll Sixes!

/Conny

Working 9 to 5...

Well work has taking its toll on the painting last week. I have not made it so far as I wanted but I can still finish the regiment this week. The decision to streamline a bit more gives the effect that it goes a bit faster to paint since I don't need to change colour as often as before. I still have the haversack, skin and metal to paint.

The planing of Corinth goes forward and I had all the miniatures I need in my stash so no need to order more. At least not yet... I have also read the rules "Altar of Freedom" that is a brigade level game as is Volley & Bayonet. The rules are for 6mm but I will test it with my 10mm and see how it plays. A few interesting ideas in there that should be fun to test. The major strength with the rules are the many scenarios that you can get. About 40 of them while Volley & Bayonet don't have that support, sadly, since I really like those rules.

 The troops that I need for the Union.

The battlefield for Corinth. The board is only 72x72cm so small and nice...

While I paint I like to listen to music or have a film or documentary in the background. This time I have a documentary about the Civil War, how appropriate! 

 It is an okey documentary and if anyone of you out there have a suggestion on a good documentary about the Civil War, please leave a comment below. 

Roll Sixes/

Conny

A toothpick to far...

It has not been as much painting this week as I would like. The next regiment are going to be a more streamlined regiment in regard to the uniform. More grey and butternut and not as many blue pants and kepis. I have started to think about some terrain for the battlefield and have had a go at a fence made of toothpicks. It was not that good but I learned from my mistakes and they will improve.

I have also made the ground boards for the Volley & Bayonet scenario and started to draw the map on these. But more on that later. 

Here is a picture of the fence anyway. The unit has got a flag now but I am not happy with it and will probably replace it later on.

Roll Sixes/

Conny

More projects on the horizon..

Well, like many out there I am a person that have difficulties to stay with only one project at a time. These days I am happy if I can keep the number of projects down to 4 or less… Anyway this new project are not so new and is in the same sphere as Mill Springs. For the last years I have arranged some demo games at a convention in Gothenburg called GothCon. This year I did a scenario set at Bull Run 1861 with the rules Volley & Bayonet RtG. Next year I will set up the scenario Second battle of Corinth 1862. It is in line with Mill Springs as it is on the same historical period, American Civil War. The difference between the rules are that Volley & Bayonet are at brigade level which means that a base of infantry are a brigade of infantry. The Mill Springs scenario are set at a regimental level which leaves me as a commander with other problems to solve.

The Corinth scenario will not take so much effort to complete since most of the troops already are painted and done. Some complements must be done thou. The big part is to make the battlefield.

Here are some pictures of some of the troops I will use in this scenario:

I have done the bases in a way that I can put labels on them so I can use them in different battles.

Well now I will go back to the bunker and continue to base coat the next regiment for Mill Springs and plan for how I will build the battlefield for Corinth.

Roll Sixes/

Conny

Rebel Yell!

The first regiment for Mill Springs is done, well the miniatures anyway ;). The bases need to be done but the plan is to do all the bases for a brigade as one big sweep. Now I will start on the 19th Tennessee that was the second regiment that lead the attack on the union troops along side the 15th Mississippi and was part of Zollicoffers brigade.

Here are some pictures of the regiment:

A command base

The Regiment. It was the largest regiment at the battle with about 850 men. Other sources state that the regiment only had around 500 men active at the battle but I have chosen to use the larger number at this time.

Roll sixes/

Conny

A bit of progress...

Well a week has gone by and I have had the opportunity to paint a bit on the 15th Mississippi. I am going for the ragged generic look on them so I can use them in later battles to. Here are some in progress photos.

I have left to paint the haversacks white, some leather brown, metal and flesh and they are done to base. Will try to paint the white tonight.

/Conny

Production line!

The production line is in effect! I will start with the 15th Mississippi infantry regiment of about 850 men. In the rules one base of infantry is 120 men so the regiment will be seven bases strong. I always have a base coat of brown. It gives the colours a nice tone and some shadowing.

Well back to the paint desk. Will try to post something of the progress next weekend.

To start a project

I recived an order for some books and miniatures yesterday. This was the start of a new project about recreating the battle of Mill Springs in miniatures. It will be set in a regimental scale. The idea for this came when I talked to two nice gentlemen on a conventon, Gubbspels Galore, in Gothenburg. They were there showing some rules they were writing on. I got inspired since ACW is a period I am very interested in. I all ready have a project in the period in the form of Volley & Bayonet. But this is on brigade level and I wanted to do regimental level to, hence the start of this new project.