Friday 30 September 2011

Union OOB

I've just updated my union OOB with the latest painted figures, namely the brigades of Willard, Carroll and Hall. I'll try to get out tomorrow and get some photos done of the latest units. I just need to finish 1 more artillery piece and II Corps will be finished, giving me 3 full infantry corps.

To help speed this project along a couple of the lads at r=the club have agreed to contribute some troops. Paul is going to do AP Hill's Corps for the confederated, meaning once I finish I Corps that is them completed. Bayley is going to do the union VI and XI Corps, this leaves only I and XII Corps to finish. These should definitely be done in time for the anniversary of Gettysburg.

Sunday 25 September 2011

Battle of Antietam

I had the good fortune yesterday to do a re-fight of the battle of Antietam at Mick's on his rather large wargames table. I was given the role of fightin' Joe hooker with the Corps of Sumner in support, while Dave took on the role of Meade with the rest of the Corps. Facing us were Mike as Longstreet and Mick as Jackson.

The early stages of the battle were a bit slow form me with my Corps struggling to get over the creek. Dave on the other hand seemed to be motoring across and quickly began pushing back the forward elements of Jackson's corps. Eventually I managed to get Hooker advancing from the North moving and it was great relief that the Cavalry under Pleasenton discovered the Division of McLaws hidden in the woods. To say my cavalry would get a honourable mention in dispatched would be an understatement. They continually harassed the confederate infantry allowing valuable time to get my infantry brigades into position and launch their attack. My first attack went in against the confederate redoubts which had been slightly softened up by the artillery. This took about 2 hours of bitter fighting with the redoubts changing hands at least 4 times before the confederates were overwhelmed by superior numbers. With the redoubt captured Hooker launched a devastating attack against McLaws which saw the confederate line collapsed against overwhelming odds.


On the other flank Jackson was struggling to hold back the union advance, even the arrival of Stuart's cavalry and DH Hills' division could not stem the advance. Despite a number of successful counter atttacks the rebels were forced back. Eventually we all shook hands on what was a decisive union victory. Below are some photos that I did manage to take of the battle.















Wednesday 21 September 2011

Painting table

I've just updated the Union page for some completed troops. I've just finished the stand for Hancock, Division leader hay as well as Hall's brigade and 3 pieces of artillery. Just got to get the bases finished on them.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Pictures at last

Finally managed to take some photos of the latest additions to my union forces. First up the Iron Brigade. These figures are all original tabletop miniatures.



Next up is Smyth's brigade. The figures are all from Peter Pig.



And finally my Zouaves that I'll be using to represent Webb's brigade. Again the figures are all from Peter Pig.


Sunday 18 September 2011

Progress update

No pictures today as I have run out of static grass to finish my units. So far I have managed to finish 3 more Union brigades from II Corps. Cross's 4 stand brigade to complete the 1st Division, Webb's brigade from the 2nd division and Smyth's brigade from the 3rd division. This only leaves 4 brigades, 3 artillery pieces, 1 Corps leader stand and a division leader stand to complete the Corps. Hopefully I should finish these by the end of this month.

I have painted up one of the brigades as Zouaves, because I wanted to. They are painted up as the 9th New York or Hawkin's Zouaves. I will post some pictures once the static grass arrives.

SAGA

I've taken the plunge and decided to by the SAGA rules from Gripping Beast along with the Viking dice set. Looking forward to receiving these as I already have quite a few left over plastic vikings that I can use. Of the vikings I already have painted these are based for WAB and can easily stand in during practice games.

Saturday 17 September 2011

V Corps

Thought it was about time I posted a picture of this completed Corps. It was commanded by Sykes and consisted of 3 divisions.


The majority of the figures are old glory, though some are also from Warrior miniatures, Peter Pig, Essex and a couple of Mini figs. Now to get cracking on II corps.

Undead Cavalry

I haven't made much progress lately, but did manage to finish 2 more of my undead cavalry. That only leaves 1 more and a mounted vampire to lead them. I am considering adding a flag to one of the lances but still a bit undecided on how I want it to look.



Now apart from my ACW side project which you can follow on my other blog, I'm at a bit of a loose end for what to do next. The options are as follows

1. Greek Hoplites. Got some figures from 1st Corps and Immortal miniatures just sitting in a box. Always had a soft spot for hoplites but undecided which game to base them for. I've got plenty of WAB armies already and fancy something a bit different.

2. Viking Age. I already have some of these done from the Border Reiver show last year, along with a long ship and buildings. With the release of the new SAGA rules I may give these a bit of a dust off.

3. French Indian War. Always fancied gaming this period in 28mm. It lends itself well to small tables, plenty of terrain and some quite colourful troops. The downside is I would be starting from scratch and that means money.

4. Complete my Sci-fi and Undead troops. the difficulty with these is that they lend themselves more to a small side project. Adding a bit f variety to the painting table.

Still I've got plenty of time to decide.

Thursday 15 September 2011

Orders arrived

Just received another batch of figures from Peter Pig in the post today. Now that is excellent service as I only ordered them on Sunday. I've also got a slip from the postman yesterday for a package that needs to be collected from the sorting office. I'm assuming these are the figures from Warrior Miniatures, also ordered on Sunday. Must say that I cannot fault both companies for both the quality of the products and the promptness of their service.

With these figures I will have more than enough to be able to finish the Union II Corps under Hancock as well as add another brigade to I Corps. I did though get enough figure to do 2 units of Zouaves, now these won't be historically accurate at a brigade level game, but what the hell I want to paint some and add a bit of colour to the game. Besides 2 Zouave brigades out of about 20+ is not OTT.
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Neil at the club has also agreed to complete 2 further union Corps while another player has some confederates to paint up as III Corps. With luck the club should be able to put on a re-fight of Gettysburg next year.

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Quick update

Just up dated my two pages with the latest figures to be completed, namely the Union Division leader Gibbon from II Corps and Robertson's cavalry brigade as part of Stuart's division. No pictures at this time as been feeling a bit under the weather and just don't have the energy.

Friday 9 September 2011

Battle of Antietam

Well just got back from my holidays and now look forward at a re-fight of the battle of Antietam (bloodiest day of the civil war) at the end of the month at Mick's. Looking forward to this as never re fought this battle before, in fact only know a little about it i.e bloody lane. I'll be taking my current union troops and getting them re-organised into the Corps of Hooker and Mansfield. I've also purchased some extra figures from Peter Pig, namely Zoauves to add some more colour to the union ranks.

Back from Holiday

Well just got back from 11 days in the sun. Nicely refreshed and ready to get going again on the numerous unfinished projects that I have on the go. I did manage to sneak away a couple of planes for Wings of War in the cases. Even got in 2 games with my daughter, using the wife's emery board as a range ruler. The result 2-0 to the girl. Going to have to stop taking it easy on her, though she does have a knack of pulling off some unexpected moves.


Here she is with me once again in her sights. 2 damage cards resulted in 8 points of damage and set me on fire. Now how jammy is that!