Army Review - ACW Union

Following yesterday's post it was only fitting that the Union troops got their own parade. Like the Rebels they are based for Fire and Fury and cover a few different manufacturers from Peter Pig, Warrior, Essex, Old Glory, Tabletop and Minifigs. I will do a separate post for the cavalry for both sides, simply because they didn't fit on the table.

Birney's Divion III Corps

Humphrey's Division III Corps

Wadsworth's Division I Corps

Robinson's Division I Corps

Doubleday's Division I Corps

Caldwell's Division II Corps

Gibbon's Division II Corps

Hay's Division II Corps

Geary's Division XII Corps

William's Division XII Corps

The army so far is 3 complete Corps. I still need to finish William's Division, Lockwood's brigade is missing. I do have 5 spare stands paint so just need another 4 and the Corps is done. On another note I did find the missing 3 Divisional Commanders for the Confederates.

Army Review - ACW Confederates

I thought I would put together a review of some of the armies in my collection. It may inspire me to paint more up and put the finishing touches to each army. So first up is my Confederates for the ACW. The figures are a mix of Warriot, Peter Pig, Old Glory, Essex and Minifigs. I did notice I have 2 brigadiers missing and also have 4 artillery pieces and 6 infantry stands spare. I didn't put our Stuarts'cavalry division as they need a couple more brigades added.

Anderson's Division III Corps

Pender's Division III Corps

Heth's Division III Corps

Early's Division II Corps

Johnson's Division II Corps

Rodes' Division II Corps

Didn't realise I had done as many as this. Still that's 2 full Corps for Gettysburg, based upon the Fire and Fury rules. Union next

Battle of Fredericksburg the refight

Over the weekend I finally got up to Micks fir the refight. Myself and Dave were given the command of the Union forces while Mick and Tom took the Confederates. As C in C, Dave decided that he would demonstrate in front of the stonewall on ST. Marys heights, while I would detach a Corps yo try and hold Jacksons Corps while using the others to storm the Confederate positions. It was going to be a blood bath and so it proved.

Early doors Dave managed to get some union guns into Fredericksburg and concentrated on counter battery fire. This proved very effective, knocking out 3 guns early on.

My advance began very slowly. With only 2 pontoons I was struggling to cross the river. Dave also tried to cross with another Corps, but with only 1 pontoon he also struggled. Mick decided to take advantage of the situation and committed a division to try and push the union troops back. After a couple of rounds of heavy fighting his assault was checked with heavy losses. He was to rue these losses later in the game.

Eventually on my flank, my first Division faced off against Jackson trading Artillery fire at range. Meanwhile my first 2 Corps gnarly got across and organised ready for my assault.

With my troops in position we began to advance into some murderous Artillery fire. Still we advanced as Artillery then hit the flanks causing yet more casualties. But still my brave lads continued. I also managed to get more Artillery of my own into position and began to silence the Confederate guns. Eventually we reached the heights and I threw them in only to be bloody repulsed. Tom and Myself then began trading assaults as I struggled to get up onto the heights. However I was drawing in the Confederate reserves from Jacksons Corps.

Over on the Union right, Dave realised that with thinning Confederate reserves he could begin a major assault against the wall. It took some bitter and protracted assaults to finally break the Confederate position and get over the wall. At this point Mick Bemoaned the loss of his division from the early counterattack. With pressure beginning to build all across the Rebel line, cracks were beginning to show. But time and again they threw back our assaults. Now though our numbers finally began to tell as first Longstreets Corps began to fall back, while A number of Jacksons divisions were fought out. It was pretty much the same on the union side with a large number of divisions out of action.

Well after approximately 12 hours of gaming we finally called it a day. Longstreets Corps had been pushed back and Jackson was fought out. The union troops had finally gained the hieghts above Fredericksburg. While on the left another assault would probably have broken through the Confederate defence. All in all a great and hard fought game, very enjoyable.

Fredericksburg update IV

With the big game this weekend I have finally finished all of the extra figures I need for the game. Though I do have 1 Artillery piece currently being based. First up is the union brigade I needed with its bases all finished. I'll be adding one of my spare command stands for the game.

Union brigade

I also completed all of the Artillery for Jackson's II Corps. The models were all from Warrior. I went with grey gun carriages on a whim. I know the confederates were nor as uniform as the union, also helps me to identify corps and divisional guns during a game.

Rebel artillery

All in all, I'm a happy chap that I've managed to complete 12 guns and 59 infantry stands in little over 2 weeks. Now just the game to look forward to.

Fredericksburg update III

Further progress has now been made on the troops I need for next week. I've also decided that I would try and complete the Artillery for Jackson's II Corps, just a further 8 models. So another order was made to Warrior for the 8 guns and crew that I need. I already have 4 of these on the painting table.

First up is the completed Confederate infantry, which worked out at 19 bases or 57 figures.

1st Brigade

2nd Brigade

I have also finished the Union brigade of 9 stands and the Artillery piece that I needed. These still need the bases finished, so should be complete by tomorrow.

Union Brigade

Overall not bad for just over a weeks work. Well got to get back to the Artillery.  Still got 4 models to build, though the others and all the crew are undercoated.

Fredericksburg update II

Just a quick post on the progress made so far. With getting the figures earlier than I expected I have managed to complete all of the infantry I need for the confederates as well as 2 pieces of artillery. They all still require basing, that should e done over the next couple of days.

Rebs awaiting basing

Next up I need to prep the 8 bases of figures for the union troops and then I have all of the minimum troops I will require. I have even put in another order with Warrior for some extra command stands and artillery. I'll paint the command stands for the above infantry if I have time. Just so the bases match even though I already have spare stands, The artillery though would be nice to get done as I need a further 8 pieces to represent the Corps artillery for the Rebs. Should keep me bust for the next 2 weeks

Fredericksburg update

Those nice chaps at Warrior miniatures really excelled themselves this time. As per my last post I put in an order on Saturday. The figures arrived on Tuesday. Cannot beat that for service.

Order arrives

With the figures now here I've already made a start. Both confederate brigades have been prepped, one of which I've already painted and just need basing. Now got to keep going on the others.

Battle of Fredericksburg

I have the good fortune of being invited up to Micks for a re fight of the Battle of Fredericksburg. It was fought December 11 - 15 1862 between Lee's Army of Virginia and the union forces of the Army of the Potomac under Burnside. However Mick has asked a couple of us to supply some of the troops as this is a rather larger battle. I have been asked to provide rebels for Jackson II corps and union troops for Reynolds I Corps and Smiths VI Corps. So it was on to sorting through my collection to see what I had. The brigades for this battle are much larger than those for Gettysburg, but I didn't think that would be a problem. Imagine my shock when I realised I am short of figures. I need figures for 2 rebel brigades or 19 stands and 1 union brigade of 9 stands. I need to make an order and quick as I have limited time to paint them up. My figures of choice would normally be Peter Pig, however for delivery time you cannot beat warrior miniatures, so order made, confirmation received they will be dispatched by Tuesday. Hopefully the figures should arrive by the weekend which gives me 2 weeks to get them done....sorted I think

What's worse than re-basing figures

Sorry for the lack of posts for this month but I have been busy. With Darren returning to the club and getting a taste for Napoleonics using the Black Powder rules, I had already based the British, French and Prussians he had left at the club. These were each roughly in brigade strength. Darren then subsequently went bought a full French army off another of the lads and asked if I would base it up like the rest. I agreed not knowing the actual size of the army. Lets say when it arrived in Five full boxes my first thoughts were, this won't take long. Lets just say I have been slowly making my way through them. There is all sorts in the boxes, Cuirassiers, lancers, Grenadiers et al. over 20 pieces of artillery and plenty of  Generals.

So progress so far. One box full of figures completed including his last unit of British. There are 11 infantry regiments and 4 Horse regiments completed with some officers.

Completed box

Completed box

Work is also underway on a second batch which just need some static grass added to the bases tomorrow night once the varnish has dried. This lot includes 7 artillery pieces, 2 Cuirassier regiments, 5 Dragoon regiments and a further 9 infantry battalions with sundry brigadiers and a Corps commander base.

2nd batch

In between all of this re basing I did manage to get up to Micks for a re fight of 1st Bull run. A very enjoyable game using Dave's excellent collection. A full report is available of Dave's blog here.

Border Reiver 2013

Today I attended the Border Reiver show held at the Gateshead International Stadium. It was my first attendance at the new venue and its much more spacious that the Arena, however it did get hot, though thankfully not as bad as it was last year according to others from the club.

The club put on a demonstration game for day 2 of the Battle of Gettysburg. We were using 15mm figures from my own collection as well as those from George and Neal. There was a mix of manufacturers on display from Old Glory, Warrior, Essex, Peter Pig, battle honours and Mini figs. Harry did all of the terrain boards while Neal and myself provided most of the fencing and buildings, We were going to use the Fire and Fury rules, but in the end decided to just move the figures to there position as they did historically to try and demonstrate how the battle unfolded on the day.

I did manage to take a number of photographs of the game. I was rather pleased with how it turned out and we did get quite a bit of passing traffic and people stopping for a chat which is always nice.

Initial set up

Union position on Seminary ridge

Sickles and III Corps

Behind the Union lines

The view from the Round tops

Ward's Brigade

Hood's Division begins their approach

III Corps falls back

Rebel II Corps advance through Gettysburg

II Corps falters under the Rebel assault

V Corps occupy the Round tops

VI Corps finally arrives to bolster the line

VI Corps start to deploy

Rebs assault the Round tops

Johnson's Division crosses Rock Creek

Rebel III Corps finally in to action

With running the game I didn't get much of a chance to visit the other games. I was was impressed with the Falkirk Wargmaes display for  the AWI, sorry forgot the camera here. There were a couple of 40K games on display, full of some excellent figures including Titans. The game that really caugh my breath was Blood Bowl. The Custom built stadium was awesome (sorry guys I forgot which club you were) the chaps were very friendly talking about the game and the dstadium and all the fans. Also liked the custom built Treeman for the Halfling team.

Blood Bowl

Blood Bowl

Lastly I have to mention the Wings of War/Glory participation game that was run by Neal from the club. Seems a lot of fun was had and the table was constantly busy throughout the day. Neal reckoned that thery used 35 different planes on the day. He is already talking of improvements for the next show.

Wings of Glory

Wings of Glory

For purchases I was very restrained this year, keeping to what i had made a list for. I did pick up some figures from Andy, 15mm Austrian napoleonics, some Austrian Landwher from Colonel Bill as well as assorted MDF bases and paints. There was one bargain on the Bring and buy which tempted me. A full brigade of napoleonic French nicely painted for £50.00, when I returned with the money they had already gone.

Was the show worth it, yes definatly and I will try and make it next year.