First tabletop outing for the 6mm ACW project

Last night at the club Rick and I gave our 6mm ACW armies an outing.  Rick had 5 regiments of infantry and 2 artillery batteries ready, to which we added the 4 regiments of Zouaves from my collection.  That left me with 12 regiments of infantry and 4 artillery pieces.  Rick suggested I come up with a scenario, so I scouted out the free stuff on the Fire and Fury and GHQ web sites and took a look through the Gettysburg scenarios in the recent Wargames Soldiers and Strategy magazine.  In the end I came up with the "Assault on the Iron Brigade" scenario from the GHQ site, supported by additional information from the WSS magazine.  As we were using Black Powder, I pinched a trick from Will at the club and totalled the number of troops present and divided by 400 to get similar sized units.  Surprisingly, this gave the Union and Confederates the same number of troops, 2 brigades of 4 regiments each, with the Union having one additional regiment in reserve, coming onto the table on move 6.  The Rebs got 4 stands of artillery, while the federals only got 2 stands.  Each brigade commander, Meredith and Cutler for the federals and Archer and Davis for the rebs, were rated a leader 8, as was Pegrum the reb artillery commander, while the divisional commanders Wadsworth and Heth were rated as 9.  The game started as the rebs advanced out of the scrub and wheat fields lining Willoughby Run, either side of the Chambersberg Pike.

The initial positions of the troops viewed from the south - McPherson's Ridge on the right, with Meredith's Brigade in column behind and Archer's Brigade astride Willoughby Run..

 View again from the south showing one of Cutlers Regiments around the McPherson Farm, with the federal artillery between the road and railway cut, and the rest of Cutlers Brigade beyond, facing Davis's Brigade which starts on the federal side of the Run.

 Meredith's Brigade on the reverse slope of McPherson's Ridge keeping out of sight of the rebel artillery.

 The situation at the end of turn 2, in the foreground Archer has lost a regiment, while another has fallen back across the Run.  In the middle ground, one of Davis's regiments has routed the federal artillery, while the rest of the brigade have charged home into Cutlers advance regiment on the ridge.

 Davis's brigade with Heth charging up McPherson's Ridge.

 Archer's Brigade hard pressed by Meredith.

 Archer stabilises the situation with the assistance of the rebel 4 stand battery.

 Cutlers advance regiment has broken

 Davis's lone regiment south of the railway cut advances on Cutler's lone regiment around McPherson's Farm.

And I'm afraid that's where my picture taking stopped.  Cutler's regiments on McPherson's ridge charged into Davis's brigade, but were repulsed shaken while their lone regiments south of the cut traded volleys, each becoming shaken.  Meanwhile, the rebel artillery and Archer's surviving regiments were able to shake all of Meredith's Brigade.  This meant that both Union Brigades were broken by turn 5, resulting in them retiring from the field.  The confederates were, themselves, almost bled dry, with each brigade represented by a single viable regiment, all others being shaken.  To follow up the federal retreat would require reinforcement and Archer and Davis would need to spend considerable time rallying their Brigades to get them fit enough to carry on the fray.

All in all a fun game and the figures looked the business.  We completed the scenario in c. 90 minutes, so I lent my rebs to Red and we played out the scenario again.  Rick tried some innovative march moves, one which worked, to move some of Meredith's brigade around behind McPherson's Farm, and the other which didn't, to reinforce at McPherson's Farm with Cutler's brigade - they were hard pounded by the rebel artillery and charged, still in march formation, by Archer's troops.  So, another Reb win, but again a close run thing.

All in all, I felt the game played well and will certainly be adding more forces so that we can lay out some larger and more challenging games in the future.  I am even considering a venture into Naps at this scale sometime in the future.

Thanks for looking.

ACW 6mm figures comparison of Baccus and Adler

Following the success of the bring and buy purchase at the Donnington Park show, I had a go at painting up a unit of infantry.  To get a feel for what they were like to paint up, I did a unit of Baccus figures using the same techniques.

Both units based, Adler at the front, Bacus behind.  The Baccus figures are based 4 to a strip and they stand shoulder to shoulder facing the same direction.  Once painted, these can be stuck to the base as a block forming a nice regular formed infantry block (2 ranks of 8).  The Adler figures are based in strips of four but they face along the strip front to back so need to be cut individually and stuck down.  I figured the most my fingers could cope with was 6 figures to a rank, so I painted up 8 strips (32 figures) and based them with 11 figures (6 front rank and 5 rear rank) on a normal base and 10 on a command base (5 command front rank, 5 rear rank).  This gives a more open order, but still a regular appearance.  I think this works fine for ACW infantry as I understand they were much less close order than their Napoleonic forebears.  For Nap's, I would want to be able to base them much more closely, shoulder to shoulder, which I think Adler do for this range.

Comparison of the Baccus command stand (left) and Adler stand (right).

Comparison of Baccus infantry stand left and Adler stand (right).

The complete units in column, to confuse things, Adler on the left and Baccus on the right.

 

 

In summary, I like both types of figure.  Baccus has some really nice detail, with details like webbing really easy to see, especially once base coated.  The Adler figures have much less well defined detail, with almost no sign of webbing on the figures that I painted.  However, both can be painted nicely and to a similar standard/style.  The Adler figures are slightly larger, especially the heads, but once painted and viewed as a unit I don't really notice the difference.  One thing the Adler figures do offer though is a much greater variety of poses - there were at least six different poses for figures in brimmed hats, plus at least the same again in kepis.  Add to that some with packs or blanket rolls and some without and there are a vast array of different looks that can be achieved for a unit, including the typical rebel unit appearance with everybody doing their own thing.  Baccus infantry also has a lot of variety with a mix of blanket rolls and those without, plus lots of different types of facial hair, and hats and kepis are mixed in the strips, even differences in stature, but the strips comprise about three of four different basic types, so the choice and final unit is quite uniform.  I'm quite happy to mix both types in the same army, though not in the same unit or base, as this should give a good mix of variety (Adler units) and uniformity (Baccus units).  I do think the Baccus figures are easier to paint because of the raised detail, but the Adler figures weren't that difficult either.

 

 

As ever, thanks for looking.

6mm ACW Command

Alongside what I plan to be a steady stream of confederate infantry regiments, I've been working on some command stands, based on the Black Powder rules.

Two divisional or corps commanders flanking an army or corps commander,  The figures are Baccus and come from their Confederate Generals pack, which includes assorted commander figures (one at least seems to represent Lee and, I suspect, Longstreet) and some cavalrymen bearing standards.  For the army/corps commander I added a couple of spare cavalrymen representing the commanders escort plus an extra CO figure.

 Cavalry brigade commanders - actually spare cavalry command strips from the routine cavalry pack.

 Infantry brigade commanders, two commanders figures from the generals pack.

 An infantry brigade formed in line with one unit forming a skirmish screen to the front.

 A full division, regiments in column, two brigades up front each with two regiments up and two behind, and a third brigade in the rear with 3 regiments in column abreast.

 Closer view of the confederate right flank brigade and assorted command stands.

 More detailed view of the confederate left flank brigade, in this case of zouaves.

I have another regiment on the painting table and at least half a dozen more waiting to be painted, plus more cavalry and artillery.  Looking forward to getting these guys on the table!

Thanks for looking.

6mm ACW Confederate Zouaves

This morning I've just finished painting and basing some Baccus 6mm ACW zouaves, based for a Black Powder project at the local Deeside Defenders club.  As I'm collecting forces for the Confederacy, they are painted as Confederate zouaves, not common troop types and mainly present early in the war, but they break up the appearance of a sea of grey that a Confederate army normally presents.

Four regiments of zouaves from North and South Carolina.

 And again.

 North Carolina Regt in khaki/butternut jackets, beige trousers/pants, red shirt/cumerbund/sash/cap,

 South Carolina Regt, as above but white trousers/pants.

 South Carolina Regt, as above, beige trousers/pants.

 South Carolina Regt with blue jacket (?liberated federal uniforms), beige trousers/pants and red shirt/cumerbund/sash/cap.

So, with these I'm up to 10 infantry Regts, two mounted and two dismounted cavalry, 4 artillery stands and three units of skirmishers.  I now need to press on with some more conventional infantry units and some command stands.

Thanks for looking.

6mm ACW confederates

After Arctic Strike in April, I decided I needed a rest from modern cammo colours.  I've been playing a lot of Black Powder games including Jacobites, Napoleonics and a lot of ACW.  When Rick approached me and asked if I was interested in collecting a side each in 6mm to play BP ACW, I was quite keen.  I wasn't too worried about which side I wanted to take up and Rick was keen to play the Union, so I agreed to create a Reb force while he built up a Federal force.  While the pro-slavery stance of the confederacy is not an attractive feature, it wasn't an issue in the early years of the war and didn't prevent Great Britain (with a long history of anti-slavery) from taking a pro-confederacy stance, so I'm not too phased playing the confederacy

We both sent off orders to Baccus in the first instance (I plan to add some Adler figures in the not too distant future).  My order included mounted and dismounted cavalry, packs of formed infantry (regular and zouaves) and skirmishers, artillery, command and casualties.  We agreed a basing convention with regular infantry mounted in two ranks on 40x20mm bases, with three bases per regiment.  Skirmishers (4 figs/base) and dismounted cavalry (4 figs or 2 figs plus horses and holder per base) are on 30x30mm bases with 4 bases per unit, while artillery pieces (one piece per base) are mounted on 40x30mm with one or two stands per battery.  Mounted cavalry are on 40x20mm bases (4 horses and riders/base) with 3 stands per unit.


An infantry regt in line.  I've tried to give them more of a rag-tag feel with various hat colours (mainly grey but with various browns and very dark grey), some variation in blanket rolls and the occasional red shirt.  I must say, the variation Baccus put into the individual figures is superb - you can differentiate the stature of youths and men, clean shaven, moustached and bearded, some have blanket rolls and some don't.  Altogether the variation in the line is excellent for 6mm figures.

 A regt in line but with a skirmish line thrown out to the front.

 An artillery battery comprising two smooth bore artillery pieces plus crews.

 A mounted cavalry regt in line.

 Mounted cavalry in column.

Dismounted cavalry forming a skirmish firing line, note the horse holder stands to left and right.

 A cavalry commander stand.

 As above, slightly more close-up.

So far, I've completed 5 infantry regts, 3 units of skirmishers, 2 artillery batteries and 4 cavalry regts (2 mounted, 2 dismounted).  I've also painted, but not yet based, a pack of commanders.  Still got several infantry regts and artillery batteries (I was tempted by a couple of expansion packs at Phalanx), zouaves and cavalry to paint up.  Also got a couple of flag sheets so will try and get them mounted and then take a picture of the entire force so far, as I'm keen to see what sort of visual experience they provide en mass.

Thanks for looking.