Colonel MacPhee, ACW

Mike from Minuteman Miniatures sent me a package with my head on several ACW miniatures!  Pictured below are two versions of me in 28mm, one Confederate and one Union.  

The Confederate colors are from GMB Designs.  The Union colors are from Old Gunny.  I asked him to do the 17th Vermont, in which my ancestor, Private Henry M. Winsor, served.

The miniatures are from Raven Banner Games.  They make a nice match with the Minuteman sculpt!

I tried a different basing scheme for these winter attired troops.  Instead of bright green grass, I went with a dead brown.  I added a few patches of snow.

I have a couple of mounted me left to paint.

A Few 28mm Ancients

While rebasing my Gallic army last month, I realized that I could use some more command stands.  These twelve Old Glory figures came off the painting desk last week.

I also needed two more German cavalry to make up a full twelve man unit.  These are from Gripping Beast, I think.  Has Gripping Beast retired a bunch of their ancients ranges?  I looked for their Germans, Celts, and Romans, but I could not find them on the Gripping Beast website.

Gettysburg Game

It's not too often that I serve up a stinker of a scenario, but that is exactly what happened last weekend.  Jon and Kevin joined me to game the first infantry action at McPherson's Ridge on July 1st, 1863.  I took the Union forces, and Jon and Kevin took the Confederates.

Looking east from the Confederate lines

Archer's brigade in McPherson's woods.

Davis's brigade ready to sweep in on the flank.

The Iron Brigade and Cutler's brigade defend Seminary Ridge.

Jon's artillery cut Cutler to pieces.

The Iron Brigade inflicted heavy losses on Archer.

Davis's brigade was unstoppable.

By the end of the game, Cutler's brigade was gone.

The entire action took us an hour to play.  Archer (Jon) came straight on and fixed the Iron Brigade in place.  Pegram's artillery battalion pounded the Union positions, knocking off a couple of stands each turn.  Davis (Kevin) kept up the pressure on the right.  Three Union regiments simply melted away under all that fire.  Reynolds and Cutler were both killed.  It looks as though the Union army will have to pull back to Mine Run.

More 6mm Gettysburg Buildings

I'm plugging away at my Leven buildings.  Up today are two bank barns and one farmhouse.

McPherson's Barn

Trostle House and Barn

These will be on the table for tomorrow's Gettysburg game!

6mm Waterloo Buildings

My first two Waterloo buildings are done.  Both are from Leven Miniatures, and I am very pleased with how they turned out!

La Haie Farm

La Haye Sainte

I am working on a few more ACW buildings now.

Rebasing 28mm Gauls

I have sizable ancients armies in 28mm, with almost everything based for Warhammer Ancient Battles.  I used to run a wargaming club at my school, but eleven years have passed since then, and these figures have never hit the table during all that time.

Some of these armies are pretty large, with a few hundred figures.  I have Carthaginians, mid-republican Romans, late republican Romans, early imperial Romans, Macedonians, and Gauls.  Everything is based singly, as WAB required, and that really doesn't work for the big battle games I enjoy.

I was thinking about selling off those armies, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to keep them.  These were some of the first 28mm I ever painted, and they have some sentimental value to me.  I also thought it might be fun to play a game with them again!

This week I rebased my Gauls.  I used 60mm by 30mm bases for the foot and 60mm square bases for the horse.  I have six chariots, but I did not rebase them yet, as the reins will surely break if I pry them from their current bases.

Rebased Gallic Foot

Rebased Gallic Mounted

Cavalry Unit 1

Cavalry Unit 2

Warband 1

Warband 2

Warband 3

Warband 4

Warband 5

Gaisatoi (Naked Fanatics)

Slingers

Chariots

The grand total for this army is 194 foot, 27 mounted, and six chariots with 12 crew.  I'm not at all sure what rules I could use them for, but I am glad I went to the trouble to rebase them.  The army looks pretty good!  I have been moving away from 28mm figures for a while, but maybe I will add to this force in the future.

6mm Gettysburg Buildings

I have been working on my 6mm buildings from Leven Miniatures, and these three Gettysburg buildings have me very happy with Leven's line!

Probably the most recognizable building at Gettysburg is the Evergreen Cemetery gatehouse.  The model is darned near perfect.

Meade made his headquarters behind Cemetery Hill at the Leister farm.  It is tough from contemporary photographs to see exactly how the fences were situated, and this may not be quite right.  It's close, anyway.

I have probably fought the first day at Gettysburg more than any other scenario.  Something about Buford's delaying action appeals to all gamers, and Gettysburg remains the classic meeting engagement.  Buford made his headquarters in the Lutheran seminary, using the cupola to survey the field.

I have another dozen Civil War buildings to paint.  I also have two Waterloo buildings nearly complete!