A Few 15mm Hoplites

Just for fun this week I painted up a few Old Glory Greek hoplites I had lying around.  I was able to finish a unit of 24.  I tried a raw umber oil wash on the helmet crests, and I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

This was to be just a palate cleanser between batches of ACW cavalry, but I enjoyed painting these fellows so much that I have prepped about 400 of them, waiting on good priming weather.

Blue Moon 18mm ACW Rebel Cavalry

I painted all 108 Confederate cavalry figures in one large batch, finishing in early August.  

I bought two packs each of cavalry with sabers, pistols, and carbines, and I bought one pack of command.

The flags are GMB.  I used the same sheet for mounted and dismounted command.

I tried for a mix of greys, butternuts, and browns.  The horses are in six different colors with variety added through socks, fetlocks, blazes, and mane and tail colors.

This drawer holds a 1' square linoleum tile with a magnetic sheet attached.  The metal bases keep the cavalry from slipping during transit.  I can even hold this tile upside down without the bases falling off!

Show Off the Good Stuff

The blog may have gone dead for a few months, but I have been painting quite a bit.  Since my youngest child is ready to move out of the bassinet and into a bedroom, I have lost the area where I used to take photographs.  A new area is nearly set up, so I should be able to resume posting images soon.

In early October, I entered my newly painted Confederate Army in my local IPMS club's modeling competition.  I had 1,171 total painted figures on display, every one of them from Blue Moon.

Club member Jim Davis, who is a much better photographer than I am, took a good picture of part of my entry.

I made up a card explaining my entry:

Wargame Army: Confederate States, 1862-1864

These are 18mm Blue Moon Manufacturing figures based for Regimental Fire and Fury.  The flags are all from GMB Designs.  Bases are all from Litko Aerosystems, 3mm height, with Wargames Accessories metal bases glued to their bottoms so that the bases will stick to magnetic sheets during transport.

All figures and equipment have two-tone shading.  I used craft acrylics for all the painting except the metals, which are Vallejo acrylics, except for the artillery barrels, which are Testors enamels.

I opted for a “ragged rebel” look for this army, varying the uniform colors between several grays, butternuts, and browns.  I relied heavily on the art of Don Troiani, Keith Rocco, and Mort Kunstler for my palette.  During Lee’s two invasions, Northern civilians described the Confederates as “the most filthy men I ever saw,” “no two dressed alike,” “wearing homespun butternuts and grays,” and “in no uniform dress, but all the shades of soil.”  I painted officers closer to regulation dress.

There are 1,171 total painted figures here: 893 men, 227 horses, and 51 vehicles.

Infantry, 556
Mounted Cavalry, 108 horses and riders
Dismounted Cavalry, 84 with 32 horses
Artillery, 24 guns, 72 crew, 12 limbers, 48 horses, 40 limber riders, 12 damage markers
Wagons, 3 vehicles with 3 drivers and 9 horses
Mounted generals, 30