My American Civil War project sneaked up on me by accident.
I originally bought a pack of Redoubt’s 20th Maine
to be Plains War infantry since there weren’t any actual Plains War figures
available. When I was younger I happily used Timpo cavalry and Britains Union
infantry together so why break a habit of a life time.
I enjoyed painting the figures so much I began to have
visions of 28mm Principles of War ACW armies marching across my tabletop.
Usually, for my ACW fix, I play Fire and Fury in 15mm at my friend Mark’s
house, he has enough for us to do Gettysburg and the games are always fun; but
I am a 28mm man at heart and yearned for armies of blue and grey (and brown) in
the one true scale.
Now, as far as the ACW goes, I’m not much interested in the
history or the politics. I involve myself enough to be a Union player since
slavery, slave owners and therefore the Confederates who supported them, are
wrong. I just like the look of it. Once again I am recreating the plastic
soldier games of my childhood in metal.
Since I wasn’t going to try to recreate historical
incidents, although some of the smaller engagements in the valley campaign are
within reach, I didn’t feel constrained by historical orders of battle. I could
happily paint up the regiments I liked and have two opposing all-star teams.
My plan was, given the size of my table, to have 10 infantry
regiments, 2 skirmisher units, 2 cavalry troops and 4 batteries per side with a
main command stand and 2 subordinate commanders per army to control it all.
Once these basics were done various other units could be
added to both sides to add flavour. More Confederate infantry and more Union
cavalry were scheduled to be first on the additions list.
I chose Principles of War for my rules because they’re a
solid set that worked well for the Franco-Prussian games I’d played and for the
Plains War. The fact that my usual opponents were familiar with them was an
added bonus. I did consider Fire and Fury but the units can be very large which
would involve too much painting and wouldn’t work too well on my smallish
table. The other option was Volley and Bayonet but we’d tried that several
times for different periods and never liked it.
Principles of War wouldn’t work as written though; I needed
more figures per unit to get the look I wanted so I changed the base sizes
accordingly. Infantry and mounted cavalry units would be made up of three 60mm
square stands with six infantry or two horses on each. Guns with their six crew
would occupy a 60mm x 120mm base. Skirmishers and dismounted cavalry would be
on a single base 180mm wide and 60mm deep. Command stands would be 60mm square
with two mounted figures and two or three foot figures depending on the
commander’s seniority.
Easy-peasy. I went off and spent a happy year buying and
painting figures.
That was in 2000. I didn’t complete the project then (it is
a big undertaking) and in subsequent years I’ve added fewer and fewer units as
my interest wanes.
I’m hoping that posting what I’ve done so far will inspire
me to get back to it. Currently (October 2007) I’m churning out various WWII
forces for Crossfire with no let up in sight and I have a Zulu War project
looming but after that, who knows?
Time will tell…
