This 15mm scale plastic Confederate Artillery piece is sold by “Warlord Games” and can be found on their Epic Battles: American Civil War Infantry Frame. This is the second of three cannons I require for my Johnny Rebs force, having recently discovered I need to field a trio of these stands to form a six gun six-pounder smoothbore artillery regiment in "Black Powder".
As the 'kit' comes in three different pieces, with a pair of soldiers holding each wheel and the actual cannon, I decided to paint the miniatures separately and gave the figures a couple of coats of “Vallejo" Sombre Grey. I then busied myself by 'picking out' the odd set of trousers using either "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, or "Vallejo" Steel Grey and "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade,
With the pants all finished, I turned my attention to predominantly applying some "Citadel Nuln Oil" to the Confederate's already "Vallejo" Sombre Grey jackets, and subsequently spent some additional time applying both a lick of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and a dash of "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson to their kepis to better mark the crewmembers out as artillerymen. I was slightly tempted to mark this particular unit out as belonging to Florida's contribution to the Civil War by having a couple of the soldiers wear 'straw hats'. But in the end settled upon them having either "Vallejo" Sombre Grey or "Citadel" Abaddon Black broad-brimmed headwear.
I had hoped to just plonk the big gun in between the weapon's completed miniatures and give it a quick lick of "Vallejo" Heavy Grey, Brass and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade. However, the paint and varnish on the models made 'squeezing' the unpigmented cannon into an already tight space a real chore. Furthermore, when it came to basing the team's rectangular stand with PVA glue, grit and paint/shade, I ended up having to 'fix' the odd figure which was accidentally splashed in the process. This extra work convinced me that sub-assemblies was not the way to go with future artillery units.
Sometimes such 'pain' can somewhat put me off a hobby project. However, having watched the 2020 American television miniseries "Grant", I've found my enthusiasm for wargaming the American Civil War to be as high as ever, and resultantly I've even started working on some opposition for the Confederacy - namely a Regiment of metal Iron Brigade (or black hats).
Furthermore, I've begun applying my brush to a third stand of Johnny Rebs for my 1st Florida Infantry Regiment, so as to bring it in line with the criteria needed for a small foot unit in Black Powder. It really is early days on this plastic strip, with just some basic layers being applied to the ten soldiers' shoes and trousers. Hopefully though, having learnt some valuable time-saving lessons with this 15mm range in the past, I can push through these reinforcements quite quickly, and then move on to the 1st Mississippi Infantry Regiment...
Loving all this progress on more ACW stuff!
Iron Brigade? Those Wisconsin blokes were tough nuts to face.
Great looking cannon. I like the touches of red to mark them as artillery crew. The good thing about the hobby is that you are always learning as you go along and if sub assemblies don't work for you on these guns then try something different on the next one. It will be interesting to see how you get on with the next one for the battery.
The Iron Brigade are looking good. My knowledge of this unit is non existent so who were these guys and what makes them different?
You are loving these ACW minis aren't you?
What a great looking battery sir!
Great work on the cannons and crew Simon, must be a good feeling having that at full strength now. Hopefully all the lessons learned on the previous strips means these shouldn't take too long, and you'll soon have your full contingent.