"Five-Thousand Floridians Filled The Confederate Ranks By The End Of 1861..."

"...Leaving the state virtually defenceless."

This Command strip of ten 15mm scale plastic Confederate soldiers are produced by “Warlord Games” and came free on a sprue accompanying Issue 397 of "Wargames Illustrated". The soldiers are part of the Nottingham-based company's "Epic Battles: American Civil War" range, and completes my forty figure-strong unit representing the 1st Florida Infantry Regiment.

All the figures were initially primed with "Vallejo" Sombre Grey (the predominant colour of Johnny Rebs' jackets and hats) and later had their trousers and 'picked out' with either Heavy Bluegrey or Heavy Sienna. All these areas were then treated to an appropriate shade of "Citadel" Nuln Oil or Agrax Earthshade. I also carefully applied some "Citadel" Ababbon Black to the majority of the infantrymen's shoes - leaving just a couple to be given a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

"Florida had been a Spanish territory for 300 years before being transferred to the United States in 1821."

Due to my timing just how long it took to pigment this particular line I decided to leave the rest of the Confederates' clothing as 'uniform' as possible, and focused my attention to the musician's drum and officer's trappings. Most of the percussion instrument was painted with "Vallejo" Heavy Brown and Heavy Red. However, I did decide to carefully 'eek out' its ropes with some "Citadel" Abaddon Black, "Vallejo" White and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

I also applied some "Vallejo" Heavy Red to the sash running around and down the frock coat of the unit's commander. Alongside with the drum, these parts were subsequently washed with a little "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. Finally, to mark the fellows out as Florida's famous Straw Hats, I gave every broad-rimmed bonnet a mix of "Vallejo" Heavy Ochre/"Duncan Rhodes' Two Thin Coats" Skulker Yellow and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

"A total of 202 Panzer I chassis were converted to Panzerjäger I standard in 1940–41."

With the painting finally finished at around the five hour mark, I carefully cut out a couple of 15mm flags by “GMB Designs” with some scissors, and completed the ensemble using the products ACW41 - Florida State and ACW31 - 1st (silk) pattern ANV battle flags. This meant the project had probably taken twice as long as I'd hoped, or even imagined. But fingers crossed I've learnt enough lessons from putting a brush to them that the more mundane, less complicated ten-model strips will prove much quicker to complete in the future.

Furthermore, I was additionally able to add a fourth 10mm metal German Tank Destroyer to my growing Early War army. Sold by “Pendraken Miniatures” as Code GRV36 - Panzerjäger I, this particular sculpt is now OOP (Out Of Production), following the company's decision to 'update some of their older models' in February 2023. It was largely pigmented using "Vallejo" Neutral Grey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil. However, due to my disliking the open-topped vehicle sitting on the tabletop without any crew, I added a single figure taken from Code GRX22 - Seated Drivers, to the ensemble.