One of the very best figure painters around these days is English wargamer and hobbyist Andy MacDonald-Rice, or Andy Mac as he prefers. Here are some examples of his recent entry into painting 10mm Civil War figures. This is the 1st Maryland (CSA) Infantry. Note the incredible attention to detail for 10mm figures! The wounded and dying soldiers add a vignette feel to the individual stands, and the static grass and ground basing is superbly done. Check out these closeups!
Background post: The best ACW camp band???
Related post:Background Music to Paint or Wargame by
Among my Christmas gifts I received this year was the latest CD from my favorite Civil War band, the 2nd South Carolina String Band, a Gettysburg-area group that met originally as reenactors who formed an impromptu campfire band. They have since expanded into a more formal group, with five albums and scores of personal appearances at Civil War reenactments, folk music festivals, special events, and other social gatherings.
This latest work is their first live concert CD, a collection of 28 songs on 2 CDs recorded during a concert appearance in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. As such, Lightning in a Jar has a much difference feel than the string band’s previous studio albums, although nearly all the songs have been previously recorded. This is toe-tappin’, knee-slappin’ good old-fashioned entertainment of the highest order if you enjoy the period folk music that marked the mid-19th century and the Civil War era. The majority, if not all, of these songs would have been well known to most of the common soldiers of the Rebellion / War Between the States / Civil War.
Vintage 1920s postcard
Debi and I wish all Charge! readers a very safe and happy holiday season, wherever you may be!
And, in 2009, may your dice be red hot and your Coca-Cola ice cold!
Background post: The character of the country was very rough, uneven, and heavily wooded.
Here are a few more photographs of the 15mm Battle of Utoy Creek, a fight in early August 1864 during the final weeks of the Atlanta Campaign.
Hundreds of model trees are needed to recreate the Battle of the Wilderness, parts of the Siege of Atlanta, parts of Chickamauga, Shiloh, and other prominent Civil War battles.
Background post: Creating cheap model trees for your gaming table.
The various battles and engagements of the American Civil War offer a rich diversity of options for the miniature wargamer, from the broad prairies in the Trans-Mississippi Theater to the open, rolling farmland of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Several battlefields were thickly wooded, and for the budget challenged wargamer, present a unique challenge — how to cover a 4’x6′ (or larger) table space with sufficient trees to convey the visual impression of a dense forest.
During the Atlanta Campaign in July 1864, the commander of the 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Captain T. A. Minshall, bemoaned his regiment’s route to battle. “The character of the country was very rough, uneven, and heavily wooded.” A couple weeks later, on August 5, he described an attack near Utoy Creek, “The enemy was driven about three-quarters of a mile through a thick wood of timber and underbrush, where we came upon him in his works, quietly waiting our attack.” (Quotes taken from the Official Records, Volume XXXVIII, Part 1, Pages 548 and 552.)
Ivor Janci is busy digitally printing Brothers Divided, our new book with a dozen new original scenarios for Brother Against Brother and similar skirmish-level wargaming rules. The next step will be to print the covers on a commercial offset printing press and send the text pages and the cover to the bindery. This should all be done in a couple of months! Included in the scenario book is a scenario for the June 27, 1863, Skirmish at Hanover Junction.
I took the above photograph at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, on December 13 at 10:15 a.m., looking south at what in 1863 was the John Scott Hotel, which served as an de facto HQ for the 20th Pennsylvania Militia (well, it was the local tavern / bar, and the Federal officers liked to hang out there in the days before the skirmish). This is one of the buildings needed to play this fun and interesting scenario, in which the Virginia cavalry must chase off Pennsylvania militia and then sack and burn various buildings in the junction area.
The 15mm ACW cavalry figures above were part of a very large collection I purchased many, many years ago on eBay or from Bartertown; I don’t recall which. I sold off the infantry and artillery, and kept the cavalry and several nice supply wagons, as well as marines and a naval brigade. I think these may be old Heritage Confederettes, but I really don’t know for sure. I also have cavalry from Essex and Old Glory, as well as a few scattered figures from other makers. The ones in the photo above have corresponding dismounted figures and horseholder stands.
What is your favorite ACW 15mm (or 25mm, for that matter) manufacturer of mounted cavalry figures, and why?
And, do you prefer to paint separate horses and riders and then glue them together, or do you like the kind above, where it’s all one single molded sculpture?
Do you use horseholders and horse figures? Do they play a role in your favorite rules, or are they strictly decorative?
The peaceful pastoral setting of the historic village of Mingus Mills will soon be shattered by the devastation of the hand of war, as ten of thousands of armed troops will contest these verdant, fertile fields. Crops will be ruined, fences will be destroyed, livestock taken, houses occupied, and the citizens imperiled.
The real village of Menges Mills (original German spelling) is less than a mile from my office in southern York County, Pennsylvania). When we moved here in 2001, we were stunned to find that our mythical wargaming setting was similar in name to a real location.
A few of you who read my recent post on My Wargaming Room asked for more photographs of the layout for my annual Christmas holiday season Johnny Reb 3 Civil War showdown against my two sons. Here are a few more pix from closer toward the miniature tabletop itself.
A few of you have asked to see photos of my wargaming room in our basement, adjacent to the mecca of the Johnny Reb Gaming Society (a.k.a. Debi’s office and library, and our grandson’s playroom). I particularly like the Lincoln print, which is actually a montage of 1,000 individual black-and-white photographs from the Civil War that have been arranged so that the patterns form an image of Honest Abe when seen from a distance. The two old steel chairs are from the 1920s; they graced my grandparents’ front porch in East Fultonham, Ohio, when I was a kid. I have lots of memories of playing 54mm toy army men on that old porch and munching ice cream bars while talking with my grandpa and grandma. Very nostalgic! Ah, the pleasant memories…
CHARGE! Civil War miniature wargaming and dioramas 