"Command stands" Topic

After seeing the '6mm figures' on here today and also the question on 'what flag'. I thought I would share the following, I ordered extra command stands, so that I have the 1861 flags, western and the 1863 confederate flags. I done the brigade, division and corps flags for the whole army of the Potomac, so that when we play a scenario we have the right flags in the right places :).
As I had spare I painted up some 1861 Federal brigade flags and recently ordered more to finish this project.
I also put the state flag in the senior regiment of each Confederate brigade it makes for easier recognition and less base lifting.

I hope this gives you some ideas.

Wow, you're a lot more dedicated than I am on this. I decided that, with a few exceptions, a lot of the Union flags looked pretty much the same -- eagle or insignia (with two guys holding farm implements, shaking hands, etc) on a dark blue background. I used about 10 varieties, and rotated them among most of my Union army. Toss in a few green flags for Irish brigades, and a cheap, generic Union army.

The Confederate units tended to be more fun because of the variety they used. I went for eye candy instead of historical accuracy.

Not too bad for an Englishman :)

I'd probably do it in 6mm; it is not something I am inclined to do with my 25s.

I am a big fan of painting doing generic figures with multiple command stands so the same figures can represent different units.

I'm with mwindsorfw.

especially at the 15/18mm level as my troops are; all union flags look the same. I do have the iron brigade flags, which look the same as every other flag from a distance of 2 feet. for the union, get a variety of slightly different flags, all blue, with a few green ones…..

for the CSA, get the battle flags and any other that look cool.

I am considering using some flag bearers with a flag hang down to show a drop in morale, I already use 10mm stretcher bearers and ambulance to show casualties.

I used to do research for Brian Pohanka on Maine regiments and batteries, as well as other bits and bobs. A couple years before his death, Brian and I were talking about the cyclorama at Gettysburg, with it's panoramic painting of Pickett's Charge.

Brian had found an article about it's "Dress Rehearsal", when several dignitaries were invited to tour it and given a closeup inspection prior to it's unveiling to the public. Among them were General Hancock. He (Hancock) had remarked how much he liked the painting and thought it quite accurate except, he said, "We didn't yet have all those flags".

When prompted as to what he meant, he referred to the Corps and other designating flags, inferring that not all the commands had been issued theirs as yet.

Brian found it terribly frustrating, as he spent a good week combing through archives looking for requisition forms for those flags to see when they were requested and when they were shipped out to the various commands, but basically came up empty. He, like I, had believed that they had begun to be issued just before Chancellorsville, with the entire AoP being fully issued with designating colors right down to brigade level. Yet, we could find no proof of that, and there, amid all of it, was that one maddening statement by Hancock, who was an eyewitness and certainly should have known what he was talking about.

So there's that. I only throw this out for the sake of information and debate. Much of Brian's research was boxed up and disbursed after his untimely death and it's been a devil of a time trying to find this review. Hopefully someone, someday, can.

V/R

That is interesting TK thanks, but for game purpose it makes command and control a lot easer, must have been a nightmare without them on the battlefield.

Of course the drummers were right there next to the flags.