These twenty 15mm scale plastic Confederate soldiers are produced by “Warlord Games” and came as a highly-anticipated free sprue accompanying Issue 393 of "Wargames Illustrated". The models are currently part of the Nottingham-based company's "Epic Battles: American Civil War" range for the Black Powder rule-set, and make up the final two lines of infantrymen need for me to form the 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment.
The soldiers were primed using a double-coat of “Vallejo” Sombre Grey before having their top halves (from the jackets up) painted with "Citadel" Abaddon Black. I then carefully started to ‘pick out’ both strips’ numerous details from the ground up, applying a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade to the footwear of six of the miniatures. I subsequently did something similar with the models’ trousers too, as I didn't just want all of them to be marching in the same colour pants.
This caused me to pigment several with "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, a few with Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, and even a couple of Confederates with “Vallejo” Steel Grey and “Citadel” Drakenhof Nightshade. At this stage I took the opportunity of working on the musician’s drum, and essentially just applied a layer or two of “Vallejo” Heavy Brown to the percussion instrument before ‘picking out’ its ropes with some “Citadel” Abaddon Black and “Vallejo” White.
The entire drum was shaded with a combination of “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. I actually applied a second dash of wash in between the ropes in order to make its shell much darker than the skin on the drumhead. The soldiers’ jackets were painted with a mixture of "Vallejo" Sombre Grey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil or "Vallejo" Heavy Blue and "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade. However, I did mix in the odd combatant with a Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade top, and even gave of the banner bearers on the command strip with Vallejo" Heavy Brown and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade coat.
I also gave all the Kepi hats a dash of "Vallejo" Sombre Grey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, their blanket rolls a smidgeon of either "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, Heavy Red or White with a wash of "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, and their belt buckles a touch of "Vallejo" Gold and (more) Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter". Finally, I applied a couple of 15mm flags by “GMB Designs” to the ensemble using the products ACW39 - Alabama State and ACW31 - 1st (silk) pattern ANV battle flags.
With my most recent entry into the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge entry finished I have made some more progress on the 1/1200th British Ironclads by “Brigade Models” I recently unearthed from their decade-long storage. The “huge fighting machines” have now all been undercoated, shaded and dry-brushed, so I am now just patiently picking out all of their numerous guns, tracks, and wheels….
Great looking ACW unit. Fabulous. The flags really brings it to life.
The ironclads still aren't doing it for me I'm afraid, but they aren't finished yet so still hope for me to like them!
Ironclads
That ACW unit looks great with the banner added, they really bring the figures to life, lovely work on the drum too.
Those Ironclads look very nice, even if you hadn't said they were by Brigade I could have known, their stuff has a very distinctive look, and these look just like the Aeronef they do. 😉
Cheers Roger.
They look really good, Simon, with plenty of variation in colours and tones to break up the grouping a bit. You could have saved some time on the flags by just using plain white paper though :-)
I like those Ironclads, they're interesting looking models. Are they for your mech battles?
Another great looking stand of ACW models Simon, and the war machines are progressing well.