American Civil War – The Regiment from country roads West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River

Just a quick update. The next regiment I’ve completed was one from Louisiana. Again I wanted to keep it simple and have a uniform regiment, this time all in a light grey.

I later saw a picture of a Louisiana regiment re-enactment that was all in grey and read an interesting article that talked about how the lack of uniformity in the confederate army is over-exaggerated. So naturally i’m glad the decision I made to make things easier for me is also somewhat historically accurate.

Reading this and doing by my own research I’ve come to the conclusion that each regiment had a uniform, depending on where it was from that was usually butternut and/or grey with a few more exotic uniforms. It also seems that the regiments will start off uniform and will degrade over time as supply of replacement uniforms was hard to do, so soldiers supplemented/replaced theirs with civilian clothes or pieces taken from Union Soldiers. I’d also like to see more bare footed soldiers in the Perry Plastics as this seems a common condition on campaign.

Additionally the hats used seemed to be the preference of the individual wherther they used the cap, the forager hat or a brimmed hat.

Random fact I came across was the Union army standardised the sizing of mens clothes at this time and shoe size so that the factories making uniforms could tailor them to these standards.

I’ll likely explain the focus of this project, it will be based loosely around Antietam and Jacksons Corp on the left. I’m deciding on the specific brigades Im using and  what infantry and cavalry regiments and artillery batteries I will be representing in my project.

This past couple of months I’ve been on a painting binge, I’ve been painting a unit from three different projects on a rota to keep the momentum going and keep things interested.

I painted a second confederate regiment in a similar style as I’ve documented below.  For the third regiement I wanted to paint a more uniform look. This was for a few reasons, I just wanted a little uniformity and to paint what would be considered a proper confederate uniform, though different states and even companies within the state had different colours/shades of uniform. Another reason was speed and trying to get the Perry’s civil war box painted asap.

The regiment is TOTALLY finished. The basing completes a model. I’m not entirely sure that the tufts go with the grit, but I want to keep a consistent basing scheme and I want the added colour of the “Meadow Tufts”. I like the dirts showing through, the colour is a cheap burnt umbar art paint and I like how slight glossiness to the paint looks like wet mud.

Now that the project is over – though I will add photos of new completed regiments – if you want to comment please do.

When creating bases I try to do someting different and thematic for each army. With this one I wanted to give spackle bases a go. Partly this was to hide the base the figures have attached to them; and it would be more natural looking than hiding it with static grass.

I found the spackle easy enough to apply, a bit of water helps it manouver and adhere and any bits that touch the mini can be wiped away with a wet paint brush.

I avoided spackling around the feet so it didn’t look like everyone’s feet disappear into the ground.

The next step is to paint the bases brown, then add grit and flock, so another update then.

The two commands have been washed so the next post will be the regiment fully based on squares, matte varnished and a Virginia flag flying from the flagstaff.

I’ve been considering the historical context of the regiments I am building. Bull Run which I have an interest in is out as I don’t think my colour scheme entirely suits the Confederates during the first year. I also wanted to have Jackson and the Stonewall Brigade, Shenandoah was a possibility and Chancellorsville sounded interesting but I had read the Bernard Cornwell Civil War series and he did a really good job of showing the desperate violence of the fighting on Lee’s left flank at the cornfields and Dunkers church.

After a bit of research it was settled and I am themeing my units on the brigades that fought under Jackson on the left flank, of the Army of North Virginia during the battle of Antietam. Jackson will be my General and I’ll have a brigade of Virginians, Hoods brigade of Texans and Jeb Stuarts Cavalry. and there will still be room for extending. One caveate is I will unlikely be able to match brigades regiment for regiment and will choose 2-4 from each.

I intend to give an army painter strong tone wash (from the dropper not the dip) all over the remaining minis and use it to wash the areas I fixed the paint job on while highlighting. I don’t intend to add highlights to the command units as I don’t think it is worth the time spent. I’d be better starting a new batch of greys.

I’ll post these at some point along with the finished article. I will being bring this to completion so that will include a basing scheme (probably the one I used for my AoS Sylvaneth project – check it out – but with static grass instead of clumps). I have been storing an idea I had a couple years ago about using the flower tufts to differentiate units, so I may colour code my brigades.

There were a few addtions to the paint scheme when painting these, I used Vallejo Ultramarine Blue which is a rich purpley blue and seemed fitting for the leaders, they also get more grey uniform pieces as I reasoned they will likely buy their own snazzy gear. This also meant apply Vallejo Brass for buttons, flag staff and the european braid on the the sleeves of the officer coat. I didn’t have a yellow I liked so a good wash might take the metallic edge of the colour – if any asks; gold braid?

The officers detail is a bit soft and I think it is a belt he is wearing but I painted a broader band in red and am calling it a sash, which is matched on his sword scabbard to tie the two together.

This is my first Brigade command and will be based on a 40mm round base. The idea was this one was specifically for a brigade based around artillery battery’s. The colours are a combination of previously mentioned colours, a few points of interest being Vallejo Brass for the Trumpeter and buttons, GW Abbadon Black for binoculars and GW Rakarth Flesh for the Trumpet braid. I also used Vallejo Cold Grey to paint the hair on the officer.