Scenery in the period is really easy to find, In fact in 6mm a lot of items can be used in different periods like Trees, Bridges, Fences, Fields (ploughed or not), trenches, tents etc.
I wanted to explain -yet again- why I find so interesting the ACW. A quite modern Republic, with a great Constitution and not even a Century of existence torn apart by a political argument (and two very different ways of life). Was a State paramount in legislation inside his border limits? or do the Central U.S.A administration superseded those and could prevail over the State decisions?… in fact that was the original dispute brewing for years until it exploded. Of course the matter of slavery was a very important issue but it was “used politically later on” because the Constitution allowed it! Of course it was also the time of abolition everywhere around the world and the Confederacy “way of living” or economy if you prefer was doomed as it was.
Stonewall Jackson Foundry 28mm.
You have a war to wargame that starts at Bull Run / First Manassas with similarly clad (some Union Regiments wore grey and some Confederacy wore Blue) amateur Armies. And from then on until Appomattox you have practically all, Attacks, Defenses, Infantry entrenching, Sieges, Cavalry Raids, Cavalry Battles, Mini-Campaigns as Jackson’s Valley one!, Outflanking moves by whole Armies… the change from Napoleonic Warfare to nearly WWI tactics and above all a list of colorful characters, General Lee, who was offered command -and refused loyal to Virginia- of the Union Armies at the beginning of the crisis -tell me which other war has that characteristic- General Grant who understood modern war and was all business, Sherman (a total war believer), Sheridan, Longstreet, Beauregard, JEB Stuart, Custer, Kilpatrick, Gregg, Buford, Meade, Picket, Hood, Johnston… I could go on and on. Even fanatics of naval warfare can have their day. Railways, Telegraph, Balloons, Ironclads, it is really a fascinating period…
U.S.Grant, same as above.
Rules aplenty exist -I work my own as usual- but some commercial one’s are very good, I used Fire&Fury with great satisfaction. You will pay your money and get your choice. I am quite liberally minded and do not preach or ask for proselytes -perish the thought- One of the FUN of the period is the sheer incompetence of generalship -not exclusively in the Union side- political appointed Generals who could not command a corporal’s guard. I love chance cards in my games, you know what I mean, you throw a six and have to turn a card… lol… The First division has lost its way and would not come at all; The ADC with the orders has been shot and you know nothing of the change of plans; A fall from a horse has injured and incapacitated the leader of your Cavalry; and so on… but all this is not “original”.
Been solo has its rewards too. But a multiplayer game is real fun.
I fondly remember a Napoleonic game (Yes I was a Napoleonic geek for thirty years) I staged for several people -my brother and his friends from Barcelona- a long time ago… Aspern-Essling it was (but the players did not knew)… As the umpire I decided (or ruled) that commander and sub-commanders could only speak to each other when in base contact… all other communications where via couriers galloping with written messages!… I nearly died laughing seen the expressions on the faces of the Generals when reading messages!… puzzled does not even begin to describe it! long time friends did not understood the written instructions!… we had FUN!… lots of FUN and that is what is all about.
Confederacy Division advancing. Note the General of Division with Colours)
Finally found a way to post my last ACW parcel to Greg (Mersey Painting services)… hopefully its gone today… and I have seen in FaceBook that Peter is probably opening the cart for orders next friday, that way Greg can get bases and the last pack needed!… ACW01 if you want to know. So with a little luck and in due time I will complete that period to satisfaction… meaning 50 infantry Union Brigades etc. Will post pics when I get them by summer’s end… In the post “New” in this hereby blog I explained how to add variety to the LOOK of the minis in them stands… I will not repeat myself. As usual I will add some finishing touches and the flags.
I am not going to tire you endlessly with the permutations I do in my head with Baccus minis projects. I buy one thing having in mind doing for example ACW Division Generals (I know Polemos and Altar of Freedom do not use them but… I do what I want as everybody else!)… and then I get nagging doubts and decide to use the minis as brigade commanders of Infantry Units… Mounted standard-bearers have been considered for Rush’s lancers… even tempted by 60×60 stands to speed movement… I think that the Polemos approach is very well suited to the ACW even if I write and play by my own rules… the Tempo bidding is probably OK for those who like it… but for solo playing I prefer the “turn of a friendly card”… after all IMHO when two armies met on the field specially in 1862-1863 they meant business… aka friction/attrition until they called the thing of… war is mainly throwing things at the enemy and be brave enough to stand in the receiving end of what he throws at you (from the beginning of times I guess). So my ACW Armies do not need to be “motivated” they know what are expected from them… but of course they are subject to fog of war and the unexpected… the “chance of war”.
What follows I do not delete just to show you the mental processes I am going through. Take care.
Monday the shop at Baccus opened again. I could not resist buying some ACW stuff to polish my Armies even more… What “polish” means?… I am never 100% satisfied with my collections… so I want to try a new approach on some units. That means the cumbersome task (FUN!) that the minis will fly to me in Andorra… I will convert, organize and even paint some details I can not do once finished and based by the painters… and then send to MERSEY WARGAMES PAINTING SERVICE to be properly finished. After a deep thought about it I am going to rearrange the units of the Union Army and a bit of shaking the Rebs too… just for the ultimate search of perfection, if that exists mind…
I have bought three packs of ACW07 and one each of Generals (USA and CSA). Five packs in all. I asked for strips with mounted standard-bearers first and foremost on those two last packs! Still not sure how I am going to base them so I did not bought the bases… that Greg can do once I have organized the troops (well, Brigades).
updated 14-March-2020: Well, got the minis at last!… in fact I have had them for a couple of weeks by now… useful information: If you buy three packs of ACW07 you will be able to cut from the strips the minis with kepi and blanket across chest in a way as to get two complete brigades of them!… of course that will leave you with 8 extra brigades of infantry with hat!… but THAT is what I wanted… The 2 kepi+blanket with 4 hat+blanket will make the six brigades (Union) needed to substitue the one’s I got with Rapier’s minis… they are not bad mind… but I prefer Baccus… I still do not know what to do with the old six… but something would be devised… still six brigades left that I would probably ask the painters to glue in column instead of in line… Another thing I did was buying packs of generals… some would go to the Pony Wars proxies… and I am still doubting if Division Generals would be a good move or addition… even if Polemos rules says no need for them… Also under the influence of magazine Battlegames number 15 full of cavalry eye candy pics I am considering a bit more of Cavalry for my Armies… East Cavalry Field at Gettysburg and Brandy Station (in inverse order of course)… so… waiting for the Postman again… and the reopening of another window in that flickering shopcart at Baccus!
Of course the current pandemic has also disturbed my projects, including the pics making and the ability of sending minis to the painters… hope all ends well yourselves included. Take care.
That’s it DHL collected the parcel with my last ACW Brigades… hopefully not long now… will take pics and show you what is the end of my ACW collection in 6mm.
Updated 26th October. Parcel from Mersey Wargames Painting Service arrived with my last Brigades (ACW), have to put the flags etc. EXCELLENT! Have a couple of pics.
The whole lot. Union and Confederates.
A close up.
1st November 2020. Have added the flags (some from Baccus some from Stone Mountain) and now I am going to check the paint and add little details. Will add some real close ups when finished.
Here are some pics after last “touchs”.
Dismounted Cavalry on the flank.Louisiana Tigers (Confederacy)Grierson’s Raid in 6mm.Close up of a grand Union advance.Another view.And another one.
Ok. Having really finished the ACW project. I am writing my own personal SOLO ACW 6mm rules, have no intention to publish them, but I am going to do the effort of putting them down as if that was the purpose. Of course the alternative of playing with others will be in mind… But first things first. I have discovered that it is over easy to complicate them enough for SOLO playing. The idea is that the mechanisms of resolving combat are well explained with diagrams and pics. After that it is more easy to introduce “fog of war” for various players and other imponderables. I have used Fire&Fury, POLEMOS and Altar of Freedom as guides but “biding” against oneself playing solo does not work of course, and also the idea of a “clock” is very alien to my playing. Of course there would be “chance cards” and other issues introduced to make for different alternative scenarios to develop. I have always ranted against commercial sets of rules and now it is my time to be criticized… LOL.
The Seminary at Gettysburg (LEVEN painted by REVEILLE). 6mmChancellorsville (same as above)Dunker Church – Antietam (same as above)HQ Command Post (Army)And finally the caissons from Reveille /Thank you Dan).
As with your real life -I know we all have one!- experience modifies the approach. Many people have uttered the nonsense sentence: “I wish I was twenty-something again”, it is understandable… but I must add please let me take with me all that I have learned!, and that is valid both for your real life and your miniature fictional one.
My oldest game with a grid (the original plastic Romans and Carthaginians have long dissapeared from view) here using 28mm Foundry Greeks. Now the figures used are Baccus 6mm. (Second Punic War again)
Not going to bother you much with reminiscences but let me say that if I could go back in time I would have gone Heroics&Ros in the seventies, but with big bases as POLEMOS suggests, my mistake back then was to try to base them in twos or threes… what a mess it was! If the idea of basing Regiments or Brigades in a single base had occurred to me I would have enjoyed my games much more and saved a lot of cash!. Many projects I had in mind could have been done easily and simultaneously… All of this is of course an anachronism and wishful thinking. On those days, not so much today, I was obsessed to conform to the rules, and THE RULES (popular at the time!), how to play with them model soldiers without a decent set of Rules!. An Orthodox view was a necessity to me in those days…
Well, if you have read some of this Posts or my previous adventures in the Baccus Forum, you know I collect Toy Soldiers in 54mm, I buy, I sell (not much nowadays), I found new interests, I change direction, whatever, but this is a cabinet display affair… “decoration” perish the thought!… they are decorative but the collection in itself is a way of gaming too… a Post someday will be done. But my main interest since a child was playing at war -aka wargames- and if a bit chivalrous the better, I loved gaudy uniforms and commanders leading from the front. I firmly put the stop or limit at 1900 for obvious reasons to me (Boer women and children concentration camps is a no go zone for me… and I know the Spaniards did it in Cuba before too!). My brother is a WWII nerd and I can accept that without problem but no thank you the XXth or XXIth century are not for me. But let’s go to the point, what did I learn in all those years?… not much I can hear you say… but one or two things are probably useful. See if it helps:
Plan ahead. In a way I tried hard to do it but mistakes did occur nevertheless. You will have to choose a period (or several); Scale (or several even if that means multiplying gear&scenery), I am a firm believer in sticking to a scale no matter what.
Choosing a period is a matter of taste and affinity, it helps a lot that a good or several ranges of minis do exist to begin with. At that point the Napoleonic trap is already looming on the horizon. If ever a mini is overproduced and available readily is a grognard of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard… Manufacturers know it and it is their bread&butter… anybody in the hobby, those who remain in it -and those who have tried and gone to do other things- have bought an Imperial Guardsman with Bonnet a Poil. Enough of that… of course I did it too! Go for a period (or several).
Sticking to a Scale has the immense BONUS of not duplicating scenery, terrain, and equipment!… how many wagons, pontoon trains, tents, buildings, tress and what not are you going to get if you go for several scales? Specially if you are a solo wargamer -in the back of beyond as me- for those with Club facilities the matter is quite different.
With the same stands you can play Free Kriegspiel or in a grid. Do what you like. I particularly hate metric rulers and the notion of measuring things on the tabletop… -probably a consequence of my profession in real life- and “counting stores” every half hour. Removing casualties is another thing to avoid in my experience.
If megalomaniac, meaning you go for it BIG in scope even in the smaller scales, consider the multipurpose units, a simple exchange of the Command&Colours stand and you have a double or triple unit, but that is a useful concept only if you have planned that ahead. In the Napoleonic period it was useful, but I am talking 25mm here.
I will have to edit heavily this Post once I remember other useful things, but for the sake of it I have given you food for thought.
A paradigmatic multipurpose unit, I had 4 different command stands, one British as you can see, one ACW Union, one ACW Rebel, one French… and what not… it was useful to balance particular games changing sides as it was necessary. In fact all the figures are conversions with new heads. In Napoleonic period the Swiss and the Danes are particularly able to be used changing command stands. And not the only nationalities you can tamper with.I guess you dig the thing. In 6mm it would mean breaking in three parts that beautiful concept of Brigade stand… but only for a few units… and you avoid the repetitive process and cash inversion.Playmobil 75mm paranoia… ok… it was just a different thing for fun!… I am over it now!A “thing” you can do with Playmobils that you can not do in lead… specially useful in skirmish games. It was fun for a decade or so. I am cured now (LOL)
Now, this could possibly go under “Collecting Toy Soldiers” or even “Conversions” alone… a post I deleted once… and going to use in part to show what I mean for conversions.
Life is not perfect sometimes (we all learn to live with that), and mistakes or omissions appear in your collecting hobby. For example on my last order to Andrew (REPLICA METAL SOLDIERS&MODELS 54mm) I did not specify that I wanted my 92nd Highlanders pipers 1878 with pith helmet (Khaki)… to my surprise they come with a different headgear… a bit out of place when campaigning in Afghanistan… but not historically imposible… anyway after much thinking about it I have decided to change those heads. Andrew did loyally commented that they were (and are) one-piece castings, so the process would be “cutting off” and drilling a new hole on the neck to acomodate the new head (painted and supplied by Andrew) which of course implies the use of special tools I did buy long time ago for doing the same thing in 25/28 mm scale. Finally I did NOT convert those I love them as they are!
Here are some of my OLD conversions of Foundry 28mm figures for the Crimean War, I still have in my possesion a Nolan figure (left of pic) for sentimental reasons. Do not ask for them and pester FOUNDRY, they are not in the catalogue, I wanted a mounted Highlander officer, a mounted colonel of Rifles, a general based on Raglan (the one wawing sword and some other assorted pieces. I used horses from their range and some heads from REDOUBT (those with havelock).My most “convoluted conversions” Tim Tyler’s Ivory Patrol minis in 28mm. Maybe too long to explain how I did them because the use of parts was really complicated.A very simple swap of headgear and another general (it was a Turk originally) added to my collection (now sold out). FOUNDRY 28mm.I was really obssesed with doing “conversions” at that stage of my wargaming life.And for RolePlay and skirmish games I did make a lot of versions of mounted and dismounted pairs of characters in 28mm.See what I mean?… the sky is the limit…Another example… the RED CAVALIER…Another mixed lot… in 28mm. It shows on the right the Swedish mounted chap that started the obsession originally…A sample of the scales I messed up with in my wargaming life… and a couple of my childhood toy soldiers… the one in the bike and the mounted RCMP. Both from Spanish manufacture in some kind of cautxuc or rubber composition. (REAMSA and JECSAN)
With Cavalry and Mounted Companies support. Some Dorset some REPLICA.Dorset Soldiers 54mm Toy Soldier Collection displayed in Cabinets in Pal.
Yesterday, and the day before, I included some pics of the French Foreign Legion in my post, well, let’s go through with it, I am a fan of this elite corps since I read the novel –Beau Geste– when a child, in fact I read the whole trilogy -which is not a trilogy- Beau Geste – Beau Sabreur – Beau Ideal (connoisseurs know there are two more books about the Geste brothers Good Gestes and Spanish Maine*). Ever since I have not resisted the impulse to buy minis related to it and that’s that. Whatever my main wargame interest or collector fancy, there are always FFL soldiers in it. *The Desert Heritage in the USA.
So to make a clean sweep of this particular topic I will give you today the pics that shows my love for it -Legio Patria Nostra- a very particular elite mercenary unit which incidentally serves under the French Flag of Madame la Republique.
I have had Rubber India 54mm soldiers, 25mm Minifigs proxies, 28mm To The Redoubt, 54mm Dorset Soldiers, never got the Airfix box because I did not found it in the shops when visiting England, 54mm Military Modelling stuff from Andrea Miniatures, and I had to build them in GodsOwnScale (6mm) using proxies (see other posts), and of course customized Playmobils!
Some Conversions… Havelock heads from To The Redoubt ACW range…That was more complicated… but the FFL is always “capable de se debrouiller”.
Too many pics probably… but this takes out of the way a personal passion (mania) which would have appeared recurrently on the blog. This is it and we forget about the FFL. Curiously enough I did my own compulsory military service in Spain in the (then) Spanish Sahara… so I know a bit about the desert myself. Always have tried that my sons and grandsons did not get the chance to repeat such a silly ordeal… and I still like P.C.Wren.
Lets depart from the theme with a pic showing the separation of the brothers Geste… Digby is going to Tokotu with the their Americans friends Hank and Buddy to train on the Mule Mounted Companies. Playmobil 75mm customized.And finally 6mm Baccus -proxies-Captain Danjou FFL Companie on the road to Camerone*, for once 1/1 scale (all are there represented by a mini) . Foundry 28mm. It includes some “conversions”. *Hacienda de Camaron.
Unexpected maybe by you… and needed or not, I am going to elaborate a bit with my Baccus experience for your profit. If someone has read all the posts in this present blog it would not be much surprised by it but I have always indulged in summing up. As it is, I would arrange in chronological order my interest in the Baccus ranges, but you must understand the “context”, if instead of being nearly seventy I was in my thirties I would have gone Napoleonic straight away!… So my Baccus interests are much prejudiced by what I did on 25/28mm and become bored with… so no Zulu War this time… (read Daniel Hodgson – REVEILLE on FaceBook…he is doing it to perfection!)
Curiously enough, after selling my 25/28mm collection and in the middle of my ten years (on and off) interest on Playmobils (customs) I started a new interest for the 6mm scale, and was surprised by the sheer quality Baccus had achieved while I was distracted by other things. So, wanting to do BIG battles (ACW) and also BIG units (Colonials) for a change I went for it!… Mind, it was not my first experience with 1/300, I once, many years ago, painted a hundred or so French Cuirassiers which I finally sold via eBay because I never thought about bigger bases!… then I went 25mm Minifigs (many periods) and the rest is in my past.
I did the Crimean Light Cavalry Brigade using Baccus proxies suggested by Peter (who was very helpful… of course later I always took that for granted!), and I painted and based the lot myself. I was much pleased with the result. But I put them on the cabinet and did not go on with further developments of that period. So, even if I had a British Army in 28mm with both the Heavy and Light Brigades of Cavalry and Infantry & Artillery… and some multipurpose units for the French Allies… (I did not ever build the Russian Army and neither Turks or Sardinians for that matter)… I did not want to repeat the experience in 6mm. At that late time of my 28mm scale involvement it was more collecting, converting and military modelling… instead of proper wargaming (not even solo). I simply could not resist the nice Foundry range. Of course the intention of building this unit in 6mm is to have a game with it… my own rules… quite role playing… and obsessed by the possibility of getting the orders clear and go for the right guns… always “what if” in mind you all know.
See The Crimean Light Cavalry Brigade… Baccus 6mm proxies… Nolan on the white horse shouting WHEEL RIGHT! as per Mark Adkin’s book and Tony Richardson’s spectacular movie!
Even if the later were a success I was concerned by the smallness of the Infantry figures, so I did not paint myself the second try… I simply ordered them painted from an eBay seller. I used 30x30mm Baccus bases to get the “counters” for an ancient boardgame about the Second Punic War battle of Metauro. The original plastic figures on the boardgame were 54mm, and the paint peeled a lot, lost forever by the use of successive generations… I once bought 28mm Greeks from Foundry (painted extraordinarily well in Madrid by the chaps at Atlantica Juegos) for both sides, trying to have a go at the Peloponessian War… but did not had the feel of the original Metauro game (even if the original did not had Gauls at all!) so when I sold my collection they parted too. Now I have Republican Rome and Carthaginian and Allies properly bathtubed, but this is as far as my interest goes for Ancients. That proved to me that Baccus Infantry was OK.
Asdrubal meeting the Roman Legions at the river Metauro (at his back). Do not remember who painted those… an ebay seller.
That prompted me to have a go at the Little Big Horn (yet again), but only concentrating the effort on Custer’s Battalion (Companies C,E,F,I,L and HQ), having the command mounted, skirmish line and last stand bases. I converted ACW Baccus proxies (just scratching out the sabers) and then sent to Mersey Wargames painting service. I enjoyed the result.
Riding to Glory (Mortal glory I guess). Painted by Mersey Wargames. Baccus has already started sculpting a proper range as Peter has said in the Forum….
So, I went also British Colonial in Kaki, because I did not do them to the full in 25mm (in my time) and was much more nowadays interested in Maiwand/Kandahar; and the North West Frontier that going ZULU again. Incidentally I do with them the Sudan (Osman Digna British Squares affairs but also Abu Klea and Abu Kru etc) and I know Peter does an specific range for the Camel Corps… but I only bought the” pack camel minis”… in that scale in the desert my minis look the part without no need to repeat them in dusty light grey jackets! Better invest the money and time of the painters on other projects! In fact it is quite unfair to pester Peter about new packs or ranges when he does lots of periods and minis we simply pass from buying… the producer/designer nightmare I guess. And I am an example of how to use Baccus existing ranges to do my “own pet projects” in a quite heterodox way… even if I can be almost fully orthodox with a period like the ACW.
Kaki was a longed for period I did not do to the full in 25mm. Limbers are used also in the ACW. Painted by Mersey Wargames.
After seeing the results of my Colonial buys I decided to get a proper period in an orthodox form so to play with an opponent -be that my brother or other member of the family- so I choosed the ACW because it was my first love – thanks to the film THE HORSE SOLDIERS-and the minis and range of Baccus is quite complete (to say the least) even if I spruced the thing with Baccus proxies from their Franco-Prussian War range and even some Rapier minis. I dutifully bought ACW POLEMOS and also Altar of Freedom from the LITTLE WARS TV chaps (but I did not like their bathtubing of Gettysburg for instance… specially the Artillery present on the Confederate side… and NO I do not put Brigades over the top of the tress or woods); not much of a problem because I always tamper with the rules and do my own bathtubing no matter what!. Even so it is my largest (by far) and most typical wargaming approach of the lot. Nowadays finished building the Armies etc. -maybe shall post pics of the whole affair-
Confederate Baccus 6mm. painting by Turbil Miniatures.
6 mm let me do “one off” adventures in a very non expensive way so I have a Prussian Cavalry Brigade from the Franco-Prussian War. Von Bredow’s own… “The Death Ride” etc. No way I am going to wargame the Franco-Prussian War, I have read enough about it and have nice Books about the Uniforms (a pleasure to see), but I found impossible to recreate the incompetence, jealousies and ambitions bordering treason of the French High Command. The Prussians mobilization and “modern” staff approach was a walk over even if they took a lot of risks and got more than one bloody nose in the process. Not for me thanks. BUT the famous charge kept the Cavalry in the Armies for fifty years more… IMHO it was already obsolete by Waterloo times as such… mounted infantry would replace them and with other tasks, gone were the days of the Cavalry as a Shock Weapon…
Von Bredow’s DEATH RIDE. Franco Prussian War 1870. Baccus straight minis. painted by Mersey Wargames.
In parallel, I did the French XIXth Corps d’Afrique starting with French Foreign Legion -I always do the French Foreign Legion it is a mania- and followed by Chasseurs d’Afrique, Zouaves, Turcos and Spahis (thanks to Igor who suggested the proxies I had not perceived in the Baccus Catalogue!). Reveille is even doing a Zinderneuf outpost using pieces from Leven and small bases by Pendraken -another of my recurrent filias- No matter the scale my pet subjects are always the same as I suspect happens with a lot of wargamers.
Zouaves and Turcos from the XIXth Corps d’Afrique. Late XIXth North Africa. Painted by Mersey Wargames.Zinderneuf under construction… (REVEILLE-Daniel Hodgson). Leven pieces. 6mm.
After having an attack of second thoughts about Napoleonics, I was able to swap my interests at the last minute to Trees (badly needed) and wagons and pioneers all periods covered ACW and Colonials mainly.
Ranges from the Baccus Catalogue from whom I have bought items:
The Romans (Second Punic War); Napoleonic’s (Crimean proxies… so far I have avoided the real Napoleonic period… but it was a near run thing); American Civil War (like Coke the real thing!); Franco-Prussian War (proxies for ACW, French Foreign Legion, and even a Prussian Cavalry Brigade); Scenic items (XIXth century); Colonials; Bases and Basing Materials; Great War (proxies for my North West Frontier period); Equipment (quite multipurpose); Wargames Rules.
I have used a lot of troops from the Great War range from Baccus but not wargaming WWI… my wargaming interests stop at 1900. Both World Wars do not appeal to me at all and that’s that. Colonial NWF painted by Mersey Wargames.
And also: Some ACW Rapier (not bad at all and they do mix well with Baccus… specially if you cut out the bayonets…) and of course lots of LEVEN and BACCUS buildings and accessories.
