American Civil War Battle Report - Battle of Olustee in 6mm

A very brief summary of an American Civil War battle I fought at Deeside recently, with a few pictures.  My co-conspirators (Andy and Luke) and I had succeeded in making and painting enough figures to make a decent fist of a battle, and I picked the Battle of Olustee out of an old Miniature Wargames magazine as a nice even and easy scenario.

For those who haven’t come across this fight before the date is 1864, and the Union forces have landed on the coast of Florida in the hope of defeating the Confederate military in the state and installing a pro-union civilian government.  Commanded by Brigadier General Seymour the Yankees have overstretched themselves in aiming to destroy a distant railway bridge, and met the rebels coming the other way.  The rebels, under Brigadier General Finnegan, have managed to get overexcited and left some perfectly good defences behind to settle for this fight in sparse pine woods with few other features.  Both sides are evenly matched in numbers (approximately 5,000 men a side historically, 18 regiments a side in our re-fight), and arrived on the battlefield in our battle at a simplified rate of a brigade every couple of turns.  Luke, normally a rebel, had to turn his coat and join my Union troops to even the numbers, and he took command of 2 infantry brigades, while I had 1 infantry and 1 cavalry. 

The Battle

On to the battle and the cavalry arrived first, with Andy’s first into the central field to control the middle, and mine, not fancying the fight, heading off in a right hook flanking manoeuvre.  Luke’s biggest brigade of infantry was first on the scene for the union, and marching at double quick speed up the centre he gave the rebel cavalry a bloody nose before settling for a tit for tat fight over the field with Andy’s central infantry brigade, first pushing them back, then being driven back to the far side of the field where they stayed.  My cavalry’s big chance to turn the tide of battle in the Yankees favour came when another of Andy’s infantry brigades ventured too close to them while still in march column, but command failures meant they didn’t charge and the chance was gone.  The rebels gradually extended their line so their infantry was no longer threatened in the flank while it traded fire with Lukes men.

On the union left my large infantry brigade gradually deployed to face an equally big confederate brigade, but slowly came off worst due to Andy’s correct deployment of artillery in the gaps between his regiments, while mine was stuck towards the rear.  The union aim was to inflict 60% casualties on the Confederate forces, but after 3 hours we could safely say we were nowhere near that total!  A final desperate charge by my infantry and cavalry on each flank was ill judged and we lost a number of regiments, putting a gloss on the rebel victory that really wasn’t needed.  History was repeated and Florida stayed for the South!

Andy's central brigade arrives.

The Rebel horse take up positions in the field.

Some very confused rebs fighting for the Union - Lukes troops.

Opening few turns - Union to the right, Rebels to the left.  Lukes Yankee infantry are closing in on the cavalry in the field while my cavalry are taking up a wide position near the buildings on the right.

Union infantry vs Rebel horse.

My infantry brigade arrive in march column along the road.

The union cavalry near the farm.

Luke's infantry meet Andy's which is at an angle due to the threat from the Union horse.

All the troops are on the battlefield and moving into position, Union to the right once more.

Luke's troops clashing with the Rebels in the centre.

And again - cavalry being defeated by infantry in combat.

My infantry taking a beating from closing fire.

The centre and right of the Union forces, with the Confederacy troops expanding to form a continuous line across from the pond.

Final positions.

Post Battle Thoughts:

The victory conditions were unrealistic, even if the rebels had suffered some shocking reverses – troops in Blackpowder rarely disappear that quickly!  The union plan (when we belatedly decided to have a plan around turn 2-3) was to threaten the Confederate infantry centre with my cavalry on its flanks with the aim of causing it to form up at an angle which would leave it vulnerable to being hit in the side by either my horses or Lukes infantry.  Sadly more rebel infantry arrived and got in the way, while Andy extended his troops to plug the centre gap.  On the right it was a straight fight, and because I pressed into close range I came off worst.  One of the oddities of the deployment was that it always appeared to us that Andy had more troops, but he had simply extended his line to overlap ours, while our troops were in deeper formations.  In the end this aided him because he was able to get more rifled muskets too bear.

Things I learnt:

The armies, despite their 6mm size, look very good on the table top, and the whole battle was very aesthetically pleasing.  The 6ft by 4ft table space was also great to use even with such large armies due to the troops scale.

Cavalry are no match for infantry in a fight – the infantry win firefights and combats, best to be used as a nuisance.

Scenarios make the game; straight Blackpowder fights between equal forces are more likely to turn into a stalemate.

The brand of Blackpowder we used may be a bit too ‘vanilla’ for a decent ACW taste (person point of view), in need of a few tweaks to make it more interesting and specific.  Alternatively I’ve long liked the look of Longstreet (but its expensive), or Fire & Fury (less expensive, but still a good chunk to spend on an experiment.

The American Civil War - An Odyssey In 6mm - Part 5

There has been a bit of a gap between parts 4 and 5 of my 6mm American Civil War project, and it was caused primarily by basing.  It must be noted that I had hit a rich seam of enthusiasm just after part 4; born from a sense of success having completed the first elements of the army, and watching ‘Gettysburg’ a couple of times.  The finished troops even having the good fortune to be fielded in battle, where they were ably assisted by some of Andy’s troops to make up  the numbers and subsequently lost.  Twice.  But no matter, rich seam it was.  I began the task of painting more of the tiny little Yankees, focusing on infantry skirmishers, dismounted cavalry, more cannon and some command bases.  When I had finished the painting section after a short while (weeks, not days) the list had grown to include the following:

9 bases of infantry skirmishers (enough to cover  2 regiments)

8 bases of dismounted cavalry (enough for 2 regiments)

3 command bases (2 lower and 1 larger CO)

4 artillery bases of various cannon

3 infantry bases (another infantry regiment)

And 3 cavalry bases (another cavalry regiment).

30 bases later and they were all stuck to little bits of MDF masquerading as bits of a far off battlefield, and had had the required amount of sand PVA’ed to them.  Then came the problem.  To complete the basing I had to paint the sand-covered MDF brown, and as I applied paint brush to sand it started to come off in chunks.  I watered down the paint and went again.  And again.  And again.  And having failed miserably threw the brush down, and the models went into onto the back burner in a cupboard out of sight. 

All work on, and thought of, ACW ceased.

But then one day in the last week my eye was caught by the front of an old Wargames Illustrated which happened to have ACW and Gettsburg upon it, and suddenly the memory came flooding back.  They came at a fortunate moment as well.  I had painted some 28mm Napoleonic, and 19 models later was finding it a little demanding.  A few 28mm Germans had been done as well, but they were only few, and I hadn’t the enthusasism to paint any Flames of War, apart from a couple of Panzer IV’s to test my airbrush.  So it was I thought I’d just start on the30 bases, and see where it ended up.  For some reason, be it the brush, the thickness of the paint, and simply the level of patience I managed, the bases were much easier.  And now I am just a layer of matt varnish away from completion of those troops (smug mode fully engaged), and I’ve even started on another battalion of infantry; the zouvres and their skirmishers. 

Varnishing will have to wait until it gets warmer; I’m not risking my work on a white-out, but for now I’m happy, and contemplating buying more troops.  I’ve my eye currently on another 5 infantry regiments, along with some more skirmishers, and some limbers for my guns, and possibly some more zouvres because I like the colour scheme and the variation is refreshing.  I do still have enough horsemen spare for another regiment, and enough guns and crew spare for another 7 guns(!), but I’ve no need of them just yet.

Painted Army size:

6 infantry regiments

3 mounted cavalry regiments

3 dismounted cavalry regiments

6 artillery

3 command bases

The 30 bases just after having the dark brown applied (in some cases I did a second thicker coat to make sure it was all covered), and then the lighter brown drybrush.

Contrast - the two sides are the darker brown alone, with the middle having the lighter drybrush.  Sometimes seems quite pointless where I'm covering 90% of the bases in flock anyway, but never mind.

Infantry regiment and skirmishers.

Dismounted cavalry.

Biggest command base.

The American Civil War - An Odyssey In 6mm - Part 4

Let there be many tiny men with little brightly coloured flags above their heads; and there was!  There will be a bit of flannel below (you know the sort) but the upshot is that I have managed to finish – paint, base, flock, flags, varnish – a whole bunch of my 6mm Union troops, to a total of 5 regiments of infantry, 2 of cavalry, and 2 batteries of cannon.  And I’m pleased with myself.

The whole 'danged lot before the additon of flags.

Infantry.

Artillery.

Closeup of the first fully completed regiment - a Wisconsin one, the others are a second wisconsin, 2 from New York, and finally one from pennsylvania.

Cavalry.

In truth the 1^st regiment of foot was finished last month, and it provided a blueprint for me to complete the rest.  Having spent part of a holiday to Cornwall painting an infantry regiment I decided that I had enough to start the basing process.  This went through the following steps:

1. I stuck the models to the MDF bases using Army Painter super glue (very strong stuff – a good purchase).
2. Then I added a layer of PVA glue onto the exposed MDF before covering with fine sand.  My choice of brand in this case was Baccus’ own product.
3. With the sand very dry I painted it, and any bits of the soldiers metal bases that needed it, Hull Red (Vallejo) paint – a dark brown.  This I had problems with because the sand began clumping and it was very hard work.  Advice was sought from Andy, and I started significantly watering down the paint and dabbing it on, letting it “flow from the brush onto the sand” were his words, and it mostly worked.
4. With the brown dry I then used Kharki Grey (Vallejo), a lighter brown, to give it a bit of depth with a dry brush, and painted the edges of the bases Olive Green (Vallejo).
5. Baccus were then the source of my flock; bright green and applied directly after a coat of watered down PVA glue.  I tend to put a lot of flock on to cover most of the base after seeing Michael’s English Civil War troops and the effect he’d managed there.
6. Flag time, and the Baccus flags (seeing a theme here) were applied, with a national flag and a state flag for each of the command bases.  These were stuck together, and to the flag pole using PVA glue, another Andy tip which worked better than my efforts with pritstick!
7. Finally an Army Painted Matt Varnish over the whole ensemble to dampen down the shine from the ink wash, and give the models some protection.

With this many models finished I think it may be time to take to the table soon.  5 regiments of infantry isn’t much of a match for Andy’s current Rebel horde, but if his zouvres and a few commanding officers (I haven’t managed to do any yet) swap sides it begins to look a lot more even.  The next ACW bits on the list to be made/painted are some command bases, skirmishers for the infantry, and dismounted cavalry, all of which I had put off due to not having a sufficiently sharp knife to start separating them from their tabs!  The blades are now bought, so maybe they’ll have their chance.

The American Civil War – An Odyssey in 6mm – Part 3

Update on the Union troop movements time, although it’s a small to tiny update because I haven’t done a lot of work on them this month.  After the initial burst of energy I was sidetracked by football manager (who isn’t) returning to a computer screen near me for the first time in 6-7 years, and by trees falling.  I did receive my order of sand and flock from Baccus however, and this pushed me on to test-base one of my infantry regiments. 

The initial results weren’t promising, when I tried painting the base colour of Vallejo Hull Red over the sand (which had been stuck on with PVA glue) the sand rucked up (is that a word?) and I could barely get any paint to stay.  I consulted someone with experience (Andy) who suggested dabbing on the paint – letting a very wet horde of it flow off the brush rather than brush it on as I normally do with larger models bases.  This worked much better, although seemed extravagant in terms of time and quantity of paint it took.  Once this was on I drybrushed the base a lighter brown (Vallejo Kharki Brown) to give it depth, then applied flock and finally flags before giving it all a coat of Army Painted matt varnish spray.

Overall I’m happy with the effect, the flags in particular (another Baccus purchase while in Sheffield earlier in the year) really finish the model, and I’m looking forward to doing more.  For a next move I’ve decided I don’t need to match the opposition in numbers to have a game, luckily because they’ve already 13+ infantry regiments alone, so I’m looking to finish the part painted one I have on the table at the moment, then do several command bases before moving onto massed basing.  When this is finished hopefully I’ll have 5 infantry regiments and 3 troops of horse supported by 2 cannon batteries.  Unfortunately I still have lots of work to do to get any skirmishers or dismounted infantry done, I need a new/sharper craft knife to separate the men from their strips before I can start that.  

The first foot regiment - flags denote a unit from Wisconsin, mainly because I've actually been there!

The American Civil War – An Odyssey in 6mm – Part 2

 Whisper it, quietly: I’ve painted something.  After months of English Civil War painting (and a bit of finishing some extra units for my Saga Welsh) the big game at Gauntlet has been and gone, and every one of my Royalists is done.  So a couple of nights ago, while trying to recovered from a heat-related headache, I sat down outside, got a few of my Union infantry out and had a bash.  This suggests there was no actual planning, when in fact I had used PVA glue to attach them to sticks (cheers Andy, good glue tip) a couple of nights previously, and sprayed them with black spray paint the following morning. 

I sat and painted for approximately 2.5 hours, using a new technique, a variety of brushes and several paints, and at the end 48 little men (or rather 12 6mm strips) were finished and stuck to 3 40mm by 20mm MDF bases.  They still require sand and flocking, matt varnishing, and flags, but they already look the part and I’m rather happy with them.  The pictures I tried to take don’t capture their best side sadly.  Might do another infantry regiment next.

Because I had the luck of being given a tutorial in how to paint Union troops I thought it only fair to include it below in case its useful to anyone else.  This only covers the painting not the basing, and is supposed to be done in the order below, all the paints are Vallejo ones:

First regiment, not sure if the mdf base is a bit too thick or not.

1. Firstly paint the entire model/strip a middle-light blue – lighter is better because once its on it looks darker due to the size of the model.  I’m using Flat Blue.
2. Dry brush the entire model light blue –Deep Sky Blue.
3. Paint the trousers light blue –Deep Sky Blue.
4. Paint the skin – blocking in using a dwarf flesh.
5. Paint the bag under the water tin (left side of the model) and its strap sandy – Iraqi sand for me.
6. Paint the gun (all of it except the butt) and water tin bright silver – Natural Steel.
7. Gun butt, other bag, its strap and the models hair light brown – beige brown.
8. Shoes and base dark brown – Vallejo Hull Red.
9. Finally ink the whole model in a brown wash to give it a duller image and pick out the detail.  I’m actually using a Windsor & Newton Ink – Nut Brown, which comes in a 14ml glass bottle and is to be found in art shops.  This was the recommendation of the tutorial chap whose name I will remember or find at some point.

Other tips; don’t go back and correct unless it’s a disaster, nobody will notice!  Don’t spend ages getting it right.  Do trust the ink wash will make everything good.

The American Civil War – An Odyssey in 6mm

This post is fairly late in the day in terms of purchases because I’ve spent so much time painting English Civil War troops I’ve rarely found time to post.  So here we go.

Background

The American Civil War is a period I’ve had an interest in, although not much of a knowledge of, for quite a while, primarily thanks too a series of Miniature Wargames magazines which appeared to have an ACW article virtually every month on different battles.  Given that it is apparently one of the most popular periods to wargame – second only to Napoleonic’s in some views – that is unsurprising.

 I originally had the notion that the Confederacy was the way to go – they often seemed too win!  However for Christmas I had been bought a book on the American Civil War book; Battle Cry Of Freedom: The American Civil War (James M. McPherson).  It is well worth a read, much less battle detail than most and quite long (850-odd pages), but very well written about the causes and surrounding issues.   Within the pages it gives a general image of the confederacy as gallant underdogs against the North’s superior industry, technology and numbers, but further reading through it doesn’t appear to be a foregone conclusion, with political forces and differing aims of the North’s commanders conspiring to aid the South.  In the end I chose the North.  This was based on my dislike for the pro-slavery attitude in the South, although that was hardly an attitude retained solely in the South, or the sole reason for war, but is a reason as good as any to pick a side, and although it may give me a sluggish army to command it is at least better in moral terms, just.

Buying the Models

After a fair bit of indecisiveness over scales I decided to plumb for 6mm.  The Perrys superb 28mm plastics came close to victory, but I simply couldn’t face painting that many 28mm infantrymen, even if I could absorb the cost of buying them in the first place!  20mm plastics and 10mm metals were also gradually ruled out thanks to a couple of influences; firstly an old Miniature Wargames magazine with an article about the difference in size and perception of scales of models, which made the 6mm scale look much more appealing.  Secondly I was able to see a few games being played at the Deeside Defenders in that scale, and was impressed with the imagery of the big battlefield, the many battalions and even the detail that could be seen close up! 

I have previously owned 6mm figures, buying some heroics and ros modern and WW2 tanks years and years ago, but only a very limited number.  For modelling and painting experience I have to go back to my Epic 40k playing days (now sold to gain more historical figures), 15 years ago.  I also had an additional major boost to get going when Andy (see blog: ) from Deeside offered to collect one side, leaving me to only have to make up one army rather than the two I was thinking I would have too do.  Andy gave me the choice of side and as before mentioned I went for the Union so he started looking for his grey paint.  Since then Luke and Aidan have also shown an interest, with Luke going so far as to choose the Confederacy and buy an army pack at Triples.  His painting already far exceeds mine in numbers!  Blackpowder is the ruleset of choice, and the basis for how we’re making the armies.

The First Painting Attempts

 To get started I ordered some figures from a company called Baccus which specialises in 6mm troops and scenery for a variety of periods.  Their work came recommended, and I’d seen them online on a number of blogs and websites, and I ordered an infantry pack with hats, a cavalry pack, and a battery of artillery.  I paid around £2.50 postage to take it up to £19 overall, and for this I got 96 infantrymen, 48 cavalry, and 4 guns and crew.  They arrived around a week and a half later, and I was suitably impressed with the quality of the detailing – amazing for that scale, and the immediate thought was “oh sod, I’ll never be able to do that justice!”  I was right.  An attempt at painting enough men (4 strips – 16 men) for a single base was disappointing, the colours were dark, the image wasn’t great, I started too wish I’d picked the grey, I’m better at painting grey!  A couple of suggestions of painting styles from others didn’t work, and it went on the back burner.

I then went to Triples with a Union army pack on my list and on visiting the Baccus stand got talking to the owner, and a few others who were there.  The owners tips on painting all made sense, most interesting of which was that I was using the wrong shades of colour.  Apparently a smaller area (such as a 6mm figure) makes any colour look darker, so the way to go was too use lighter than usual colours for everything.  Armed with this knowledge I was also invited to do a 6mm painting workshop by one of the guys nearby, and later in the day took him up on his offer.  I sat down and painted 6 mini union troopers using his paints, and following the colour scheme.  The result was amazing, the troops really looked the part!  He then showed me a variety of ways of basing the models, although I decided to stick with the style I’d already agreed with Andy.  For painting the following few things were key:

• I was using the wrong paints – they needed to be much lighter, and with different colours for the webbing etc (black was pointless, a sand however looked ace).
• I was being too precise – my 28mm painting meant that I was caring when it wasn’t perfect, I should ignore it unless it’s a disastrous mistake.
• Don’t detail –for example paint the gun all just metal, and the butt light brown.

I made notes, said a big thank you, and set off to get some new paints!  I picked up an additional 5 paints, and Luke ordered me the ink required and even kindly gave me an extra batch of 40mm by 20mm MDF bases.  I managed to forget to buy the additional base sizes I needed for the other troops (dismounted cavalry and cannon), but it was a very good start. 

Where Now

Back home the models have been sadly confined to boxes while I focus on getting my ECW done in time for Gauntlet, but once they are out I’m very hopeful I’ll be able to paint them quickly!

Base Sizes

For anyone wanting to emulate the armies, the base sizes we’re using are 2mm deep and:

40mm by 20mm for infantry (2 ranks) and cavalry (4 figures per base) with 3 bases per battalion.

30mm by 30mm for dismounted cavalry (4 bases per battalion).

40mm by 30mm for cannon batteries, a single cannon on each base.

American Civil War Project

A brief bit about the American Civil War.  Following my game against Will McNally at Deeside I was inspired enough by his 20mm plastics to dig out my Airfix troops from that period, and I genuinely believe it may suit my purposes to use them in my aim to collect a couple of ACW armies.  Yes, this means avoiding the 28mm, 15mm and 10mm metal and hard plastics that had caught the eye, but its not just the potential cost saving thats attracting me, the scale has the right imagery for me of massed troops while not too fiddly, and I can buy them off the shelf.

I also have a fair number already waiting, enough to create 5 battalions of Union troops, and 3 of Confederates, and hopefully they should be easy to get hold of from different manufacturers.

The softer plastic of the airfix models has always worried me when considering painting them, but Will's troops (see American Civil War battle report in 20mm) seem in good shape, and he puts this down to the fact that they are based (on 45mm square bases of mounting card).  I'm going to use plasticard instead, and I'm trialing two bases - one Confederate and one Union - to see if the effect and quality of painting is what I'm after.  I will probably use the Dip stuff on them as well, and dip the testers when I'm doing the next lot of ECW musketeers.

American Civil War Battle Report - 20mm Troops

Since I used to get the Miniature Wargames magazines many moons ago I have had an interest in the American Civil War.  It was an interest unmatched by actual historical knowledge, and totally unmatched by investment in troops and/or rules.  However, with the arrival of Blackpowder, and a revival of interest in a variety of ACW sources (Buster Keatons ‘The General’ for one, Bernard Cornwall for another) I decided to do something about it.  I suspected someone at the Deeside Defenders would have an army, so appealed on their Yahoo group for a game to see if the imagery would inspire me to collect a couple of armies, and if so in what scale.  Two people replied, and this is the account of the battle against the first.

His name is Will, he has a genius blog (http://willwarweb.blogspot.co.uk/), and a fanatical (justifiable) obsession with 20mm Airfix.  Understandably his Union and Confederate armies were made of such Airfix plastic worthies, many in the region of 30+ years old, and looking none too shabby for it either!  Will kindly provided both armies, a scenario (the Battle of Kernstown), the battlefield and the rules (Blackpowder) and dice.  I brought my tape measure.  He even allowed me to chose my side, and I picked the Confederacy, complete with Stonewall Jackson in command – both armies being fully painted it was a striking sight.

The Battle:

It wasn’t until I had picked the Confederacy that Will informed me that Kernstown was Stonewall’s first defeat, or that the troops deployed in my cause were all that were coming, while the Union had twice their numbers in reserve!  Nonetheless I pressed on.  The Unions objective was to drive the South from the field, my aim was simply to prevent this happening, and following some prompting from Will that Stonewall’s best hope was to send the half of the Union forces that had already deployed packing before the rest arrived I sent my troops storming across the creek after them.

My Confederacy troops about to cross the creek.

The battlefield, with my rebels at the bottom, and the Union troops in the woods and on a ridge.  I pushed down the road to the right.

Well, perhaps storming was a bit too strong with my command rolls and a couple of disorder rolls, but Will’s Union forces refused to play ball for him either.  My infantry brigades were able to close with his unsupported front line, and with my superior troops I sent one of his brigades reeling backwards and out of the battle.  Will’s second brigade having headed for open ground and the roads in the centre of the battlefield they were wrong footed when my attack carried on down the right flank, running into the advance guard of the Union reserves and driving them back in disorder as well.  The Union forces had the advantage of numbers, but the rebels had the quality of troops and it showed as Will struggled to get more than one or two regiments into the fighting at any one time as I pushed down the right hand road.

The left flank was confined to a sideshow of skirmishing between our single cavalry regiments, and long ranged artillery bombardments, while I lost a small brigade of infantry (2 regiments) in the centre giving the second union brigade a bloody nose.

It looked as if my luck would hold, with the Union forces falling back and near collapse, but my own troops had sustained heavy caulsties to each regiment, and suddenly the end came.  A massed exchange of rifle fire on the right flank saw 2 of my regiments flee, and a further 2 become shaken – enough to break every brigade (which were only small to start with) and my army was defeated moments away from victory.

Union reserves arrive, but are fed in piecemeal and struggle.

Rebel gun line.

Analysis:

I had a really enjoyable game, which defeat in no way tarnished, and if anything made better.  The battlefield, with its 2 fully painted armies, looked the part, and the battle flowed well with the Blackpowder rules.  Interestingly the Deeside group have made a couple of alterations to the rules which we used, the main one of which is to put firing into the enemies turn – so my firing was conducted after the Union movement but before combat, and the Union firing the same in my turn.  An interesting idea which warrants further investigation!  Other than that I found I liked the ACW period, the question is which scale to look at collecting, a further one threw its hat into the ring tonight – 10mm.  Another interesting fact; the battle played out in a very similar way to the original, and produced a similar result to the historical outcome.