"New to ACW gaming!" Topic

Hello everyone, I wanted to introduce myself as this seems to be the place to be for all things ACW! I'm really only getting into historics this year having played Warhammer for many years previously! I also have some Napoleonic miniatures but these haven't captured my imagination anything like the ACW stuff! I've a decent size force already, most of which is from Perry and a few bits from Foundry and Eagle miniatures. I live in Ireland and unfortunately the hobby here isn't particularly healthy, not historics anyway, or at least that's what I've found.

Anyway I look forward to getting to know you all and annoying you with many, many questions! I'm a slow painter but have finally settled on a scheme for my confederate boys (their grey at least). Here is my most recent painted miniature!

Thanks for your time,

Chris

Firstly, welcome to historical gaming. You'll love it.

There are probably more Irish gamers than you think. Gamers hide and most often hide in groups. If you find one under a stone you'll no doubt find he's hiding with friends. We're kinda like woodlice.

On painting, if you are going for army level over skirmish, you might want to start batch painting. It will speed your production rate ten fold. Personally I tend to paint (28mm) in batches of 24 to 50 figures at a time. Generally, when you finish one colour the first figure you painted is more or less ready for the next shade – speed figure painting is all about time and motion. As an example – I painted this lot in batches of 30-50 in three weeks (to more or less to the same standard as yourself):

Welcome. I am currently painting Confederates as well – I like your colour scheme. I am using speed paints/contrast paints and they are coming out OK. Look better from wargaming distance than in close up blog pics but I am happy with them.

I have a lot of Perry plastics for my union forces but am mostly using metals for my confederates. I have also got a bunch of Old Glory second edition in the marching pose you have above. Was going to put two plastics on a base of five (how I base mine) to stretch out my lead pile into a few more regiments. Also using old Elite Miniatures ACW figs – old school and fun to paint.

@olicana Those look fantastic! What colours did you use for the white robes? I've tried batch painting but honestly find myself still concentrating more on one model at a time lol. If I could get into a flow though, it would definitely be beneficial!! Yes, I just need to find that first rock to look under and I'll be fine!

@Woolshed Wargamer Thanks for the welcome! If I hadn't already got a large set of Vallejo and Citadel paints I'd definitely have tried the speed painting route! My brother who also games swears by them and his results are good! Which of your other miniatures do you find mix best size wise with your Perry's?

Welcome to TMP! It is a good place to learn and to teach. Please do both.

I use Humbrol enamels. But its 84, 84 and 34 mixed, 34. *4 is 'mid stone'?, 34 is white.

@rustymusket Thank you! I'll certainly do my best although what I have to teach is very limited just now!

@olicana Thank you very much indeed. It's a long time since I used Humbrol paints but I remember them being excellent!

The larger the scale that you want to paint means more detail needed. Back a decade or two ago, the trend was not to go full detail but to be able to distinguish forces 3 feet away.

Welcome! Your painting is very good. Keep on experimenting with various paints until you find the ones that you really like.

Which of your other miniatures do you find mix best size wise with your Perry's?

In the same unit – Old Glory Second Edition for sure. In the same army – I go for whatever manufacturer has what I want at the price I want to pay. So far in my ACW collection I have Perry, Redoubt, Elite, 1st Corps, Dixon, Foundry and Adventure Minis. Probably a few others in there as well.

Superb paintjob on that figure. If you'll permit, a couple of "pet peeves" regarding Confederate troops that I hope you'll avoid:
(1) Give your rank-and-file very few light blue trousers. Although they were part of the "official" uniform, issued trousers were nearly always various shades of grey. Nor was much use made of "captured" Federal trousers, as opposed to captured arms and equipment. I'm not saying they were never worn, but should be rare – certainly less than 10%.
(2) Confederate regiments almost always carried only a single flag, from 1862 onwards generally of a corps or army style. Also, despite what some "wargaming guides" would have you believe, most states at the time did not even have state flags.

Welcome aboard, and very nice painting.

Nice work and welcome to ACW – I do mine in 15mm largely because I started in 15mm 30 years ago and have about 3000 of them as I mostly do Grand Tactical gamine – I have some 25/28 mm as well which I use for skirmish/TSAFT

ACW gaming is great! Any at some time you should paint up the Irish brigade

link

@TimePortal I think by the time I've painted a few dozen of these I'll be going by the 3 feet rule! My patience is usually quite limited with these things.

@Perris0707 Thank you very much! I've been experimenting with all sorts of greys for obvious reasons. Butternut is tripping me up at the minute though. I know there is no specific colour that really represents butternut, but I can't seem to get a combination that works for me! I'll keep plugging away though!

@Woolshed Wargamer I love the foundry stuff I have, very nice miniatures! The horses seem a little smaller than Perry but that's no issue really. I must check out some of those other makers to see what I can get!

@Eumelus Thats very kind of you and thanks for the excellent info! I've noticed on the Warlord Games site that they paint most Confederate miniatures with blue trousers and I wasn't sure if this was accurate or not. Am I right in thinking that blue would have been much more common among officers? Also excellent information regarding the flags, that's going to make life all the easier!

Are the stories of rag tag rebels exaggerated in your opinion? I know towards the end of the war supplies were low but were whole regiments really walking around with no shoes etc?

@79thPA Thank you kindly, it's great to be here!

@Frederick Thank you! I have a few 6mm units from Baccus and honestly it's kind of a case of point the brush and hope lol! I think 15mm would be a very nice middle ground! 3000 though, are those all painted??

An Irish brigade would be an excellent idea! The scene in God's and Generals were the 2 Irish units are fighting each other gets me everything!

Re blue trousers for officers – most officer's uniforms, particularly in the beginning and for higher-ranking men, were privately purchased and so blue trousers "as per regs" were probably more common. I've seen color photos of artifact trousers in various shades of blue, but also grey (and for company- and battalion-grade officers particularly, homespun in grey or butternut would not have been uncommon). My understanding is that trousers wore out two- to three times faster than did jackets, so needed to be frequently replaced.

Re the "ragged Rebs", you are correct that modern scholarship sees that as overstated. In fact it's quite arguable that the Confederate forces in 1864 were better dressed than they had been in 1862, as the depots were well up and running churning out replacement uniforms by the tens of thousands. It is my understanding that fabric (wool or wool-cotton blend) was one of the few articles of war that the South generally had sufficient quantities of – hence the widespread use of painted cloth for belts, cartridge box straps, etc. Leather was more scarce, plus by 1864 the Confederate rail system was in shambles so even if the depot had shoes they might not have been able to get them to the troops.

Oh and on the subject of "butternut", it's important to note that true "butternut" refers to homespun cloth dyed various shades of brown with nut shells, etc. The issued grey clothing, conversely, tended to fade to a dusty greyish tan (something like oatmeal-colored) and this is frequently called "butternut" but in origin and appearance is different. On artifact jackets, etc. which have now faded to essentially a camel color you can see the original grey color inside seams or under buttons.

The Army of Northern Virginia later in the war received a lot of English cloth dyed a dark bluish grey which apparently didn't fade appreciably.

Congratulations on joining a great period. All the advice above is good but Eumelus' is particularly good.

One small comment on the infamous sky blue trousers: There are comments on the battle of Chickamauga that western Rebs often mistook the eastern Rebs for Feds because of the quantity of blue trousers in those units.

Keep up your great painting whatever colors you choose.

Talked over the ACW era situation with gamers in the Southern USA. Even though it is a couple of years old, several groups enjoy playing Gettysburg Soldier by the company of the same name. They said it was more beer and pretzels rather highly detailed. Fast play.

Gettysburg Soldiers Rules
TMP link

Available here: link

@Eumelus Thank you so much for the amazing information you've provided with those 2 posts! Time to invest in more paints! You mention English cloth, did the English favour one side over the other or was it a case of sell to anyone that's buying?

@Shagnasty That's very interesting info regarding the Eastern rebs and blue trousers! Did it ever result in friendly fire incidents I wonder?

@TimePortal Yeah fast play appeals to me greatly. The only rule sets I have at present are Black Powder ( Glory Hallelujah), Valour and Fortitude and Whipping Bobby Lee. I think V&F is the only quick paced one among them! I'll definitely check out your suggestion!

@Larry Gettysburg Soldiers Thank you Larry, that's exactly what I was looking for lol!

Thumbs up to both Larry and his rule set. It is not for button counters, but Gettysburg Soldiers is a great set for conventions, to introduce folks to historical gaming, or just a fun way to push toy soldiers around on the table.

ChrisD, if you're not already familiar with this site, it is unparalleled for accurate information on Confederate uniforms:

link

Re "English" cloth, both sides in the ACW purchased war material from British sources – it didn't indicate any official involvement of the British government.

Thank you very much, that site is a great resource, never seen it before! I enjoyed reading many of the stories that went with the uniforms I looked at! I can see me spening quite a bit of time on there!!