Definitely Completed ACW Infantry Project (possibly)

After feedback from those rather nice chaps from the TMP website I’ve altered one of my command groups. Armed with my trusty craft knife I attacked the 35th Regiment Indiana Infantry command base last night and rearranged the figures and then reapplied flock. The new arrangement now seems obvious. In fact all the illustrations I’ve seen show flag bearers as leading the way. As usual I’m slowly but surely learning from my mistakes.

I’m now not sure what to do with the other 4 figure command base. The only proper solution would be to reapply them to a larger base with two other figures. The only problem is that would leave me with two miniatures floating about on their own which may look odd.

Conclusion of First 28mm Project

As a beginner I won’t recommend anyone trying to do what I did; painting over a hundred 28mm miniatures from scratch. In my youth I used to paint one off, large scale (54mm plus) figures. In fact the Italeri 1/72 scale AWI French infantry were the first small scale figures I’d ever painted here. Seeing all those blank figures in front of you can be intimidating (just like the real thing - if you’re scared by tiny little people with big hands armed to the teeth, that is).

After a fair bit of research I purchased three boxes of Perry miniatures directly from the manufacturer (very good service). This provided me with one hundred and eight figures in total. Equally divided between the Union and Confederate armies this gave me one command group of six figures and twelve blocks of four figure groups for each army. Using a CAD package to work out figure basing and ‘deployment’ I was surprised how much this preparation helped me later on.

The miniatures only require a small amount of assembling but this also enabled me to carry out a few modifications. Initially I went for a mass production line approach trying to paint all figures in one go i.e. all the jackets dark blue then all the trousers light blue and so on. With the Union figures this proved too daunting as progress seemed painfully slow and demoralising. Further down the ‘line’ progress improved rapidly as the figures were finally completed one after the other.

I’ve refined this method to block paint between six and eight figures at a time and then finish the highlights, shading and detailing etc. From a practical point of view this also helps prevent paint from clogging up my brush but it also prevents me from getting bored too quickly.

Overall I’m pleased with my first 28mm project and I’ve learnt from my numerous mistakes. In particular I need to improve on painting faces; most of my miniatures so far tend to look like they’ve just smelt something rather unpleasant, been given a severe wedgie or have turned into zombies.
Onwards and upwards.

Grand Army of the West (Midlands)

Grand Army of the West (Midlands)
Overall shot of my Union figures.

In column.

As my brother correcly pointed out there doesn't seem that many figures in display. In fact just 54 in all. I will have to pull my finger out and get more painted.

18th Infantry Regiment

18th Infantry Regiment
Following on from the 35th Regiment Indiana Infantry post these images are of the remaining ACW Perry hard plastic miniatures representing the 18th Infantry Regiment. As mentioned before these Union troops served alongside the 35th at the Battles of Stones River and Chickamuga. The National & Regiment flags of the 18th are included with the figures. Here’s a few brief notes taken from the ‘History of the 18th US Infantry’:
“By direction of the President of the United States, of date May 4, 1861, subsequently confirmed by Act of Congress, July 2, 1861, the infantry arm of the Regular Army was increased nine regiments, numbering from the eleventh to the nineteenth, inclusive; the new regiments to be organized into three battalions each, each battalion to consist of eight companies, the companies of each battalion to be lettered from A to H inclusive. Henry B. Carrington, a citizen of Ohio but a native of Connecticut, was appointed colonel of the regiment in 1861. The headquarters of the regiment were stationed in Columbus, Ohio, and recruiting started on the 1st day of July, 1861”

Following notes taken from, Thomas Crew
18th U.S. Infantry Reenactor, Regular Brigade Society

“After the creation of the 18th US Infantry on May 3, 1861 nearly 20 months would pass before the regiment lost its first man killed in action. During this time the 18th US actively campaigned through Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. Yet the Army of the Ohio’s path seemed predestined to keep the regiment out of the fighting. At both Mill Springs and Shiloh the 18th US arrived shortly after the fighting had ended. Then during the Siege of Corinth the regiment took part in an assault that found the Confederate positions empty as Beauregard had withdrawn his army during the night.

A total of 102 men from the 18th US were killed in action or died of wounds as a result of the action at Stone’s River on New Year’s Eve 1862, the regiments first major engagement. Robert Kennedy ... fought at Chickamauga in two days of almost continuous combat. Before he was captured on September 20, 1863 near Kelly Field he had fired over 200 rounds of muzzle loaded ammunition, changing rifles several times as they became fouled. He was sent to Danville, Virginia where he escaped and was recaptured before being sent to Andersonville. Corporal Robert Kennedy C/2/18 lived to the age of 92 and his memoir is arguably the best civil war account of any enlisted man in the 18th U.S. Infantry.
The primary source for this information is Major Mark W. Johnson’s book That Brave Body of Men, The Civil War Campaigns of the 15th, 16th, 18th and 19th U.S. Infantry Regiments, Regular Army”
The 18th recruited a large amount of immigrants mostly German and Irish. Battles fought by the 18th during the American Civil War:
Siege of Corinth; Buell's Chase of Bragg; Perryville; Stones River; Hoover's Gap; Chicamauga; Siege of Chattanooga.
Battles of Atlanta: Resaca; Pumpkin Vine Creek; Dallas; New Hope Church; Pickett's Mill; Pine Hill; Lost Mountain; Kenesaw Mountain; Chattahoochee Line; Peachtree Creek; Siege of Atlanta; Jonesboro; Lookout Mountain.

35th Regiment Indiana Infantry (Ist Irish)

Although the American Civil War (ACW) isn’t one of my main interests I greatly enjoyed playing a game on the ZX Spectrum called ‘North & South’ (1989) in my youth and I thought they’d be relatively easy to paint. These are my first attempt at 25/28mm miniature figures, bought directly from Perry Miniatures. This company seem to held in the highest regard in the wargaming community. The Perry brothers day job is working for Games Workshop; how they find the time to produce so much material is beyond me.

After preparing the figures, which seemed to take weeks as I have an irrational hatred of mould lines (and converted a few) the only thing left was to decide who the miniatures would represent. Before painting commenced I happened to drop into Questing Knight Games shop in Telford. The flag of the 35th Indiana Volunteers ‘1st Irish’ (US59) from GMB Designs caught my eye with its distinctive green Regimental flag. This unique flag was presented to the regiment in December 1861. After a few searches on the internet I found an interesting re-enactment site that revealed the following information.

The 35th Regiment Indiana Infantry were organised on 11th December 1861 and served throughout the American Civil War, being mustered out 23rd October 1865. It was known as the First Irish as it was made up of many Irish-Americans. Of particular interest is the fact that the 35th wore a distinguishing emerald green kepi. This Hoosier Regiment kept this kepi until the end of the war. I realised that this would provide an appealing focal point for my figures.

The 35th served as a veteran regiment under Sherman in the Western theatre. During the Atlanta campaign alone they lost over 100 men and took part a numerous battles throughout the war.

Coincidently a short time afterwards Osprey published Men-at-Arms ‘Irish-American Units in the Civil War’. This book contains a good illustration of a sargeant and the regimental flag. It goes on the highlight that the kepi was decorated with a gold wreath of shamrocks and the numeral ‘1’. This I tried to represent (badly) on the kepi/forage caps (I can never remember which is which).

Another coincidence is that the 35th served alongside the 18th Regiment at the Battle of Stones River (31st Dec. 1862 - 2nd Jan. 1863) and the Battle of Chickamuga (Sept. 19th & 20th 1863). I only mention this because the National & Regiment flags of the 18th Infantry come free (printed on the rule sheet) with the figures. The completed miniatures for the 18th will be the posted soon.

35th Regiment command stand.

35th Regiment unit with modified sargeant figure, note the distinctive green headgear.

Please note that the bases still need to be completed, flocked etc.