American Civil War: Confederates (20)

This weeks submission to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is a second regiment of Confederates that are a little more rag-tag than those I posted last week. All the figures are Perry Miniatures plastics from the American Civil War Confederate Infantry 1861-65 set.

With the exception of the command group, all the figures were assembled using the "right shoulder shift" arms, I don't like these as much as the charging arms but it does give a good mix on the battlefield.

 Paint wise, I went for a mix of browns and greys, the greys are from a base coat of either Basalt Grey, Neutral Grey or Luftwaffe Uniform, while the butternuts are from a base-coat of a mix of approx 2/3 Flat Earth and 1/3 German Camo Beige.

The hat-less heads on the drummer and standard bearer come from the Union infantry frame.

Here are some (rather dark) close-ups of the individual infantrymen in this unit.

Painting output has been rather slower this week, mainly back to work, but I did manage to play three games since Christmas, rather a feat, I usually manage one a month at the moment!

That's it for Confederates for now, I have a box of Union that I plan to make a start on this week.

Longstreet Campaign - The Battle of Keller's Heights - 16th May 1862

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Following the The Battle of Haery Woods both armies went into winter quarters and neither was too badly ravaged by camp fever.

Despite his setbacks during the battle Union high command saw fit to send many new reinforcements to Colonel Rogers, Colonel Whippam was not so indulged by the Confederate high command. Despite earning eight Epic Points in his previous battle, Colonel Whippam was still passed over for promotion! Maybe 1862 would be the year that he made a name for himself.

Confederate forces

Gerald P. Whippam (EP:8)  is a 29 year old Floridian and is already a Veteran of the Indian Wars and is accompanied by his personal Scout who's reliably provided the best ground to make a stand in earlier engagements.

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
8th Georgia Volunteers	CAV	Eager	Recruits	5
19th Texas	INF	Eager	Recruits	8
4th South Carolina	INF	Eager	Recruits	7	Hero: Sgt. Jones
2nd Florida	INF	Seasoned	Recruits	8
8th South Carolina	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	6
Battery A 7th Texas Light Artillery	ART	-	-	2	Two 6lb smoothbores

Union forces

Elias Rogers (EP:2) is a graduate of West Point and had made a career as an Artillery Officer in the United States army. He is a Leading Abolitionist and is steadfast in the cause.

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
26th New York	CAV	Eager	Veterans	6
20th Maine	INF	Seasoned	Recruits	5	Hero: Lt. Chamberlain
39th Ohio	INF	Eager	Veterans	6
44th Maryland (Zouaves)	INF	Seasoned	Veterans	4	Hero: Cpl. O'Connor
10th Iowa	INF	Eager	Recruits	10
5th California (Zouaves)	INF	Eager	Recruits	6
Battery B 6th US Artillery	ART	-	-	2	Two 6lb smoothbores

The campaign season started and both armies marched and counter-marched in an attempt to force a battle while they had an advantage.

Aided by their now recovered scout, the Confederate troops under Colonel Whippam had managed to block the Union return route to their depots and now sat stride the ridge-line at Keller's Heights. Colonel Rogers would either have to capture the heights or face a circuitous route march back to his depots. Rogers would push on and try to force his way through.

For our second game in the campaign we would play "The Hilltop" scenario with the Confederates defending.

The terrain was laid out as the shot above, Drew had overloaded the woods on my right flank, while I had ensure that the lines of communication to my rear remained open. Colonel Whippam had been studying the campaigns of The Duke of Wellington in winter quarters and decided that he would deploy his troops on the reverse slope of Keller's Heights and see what moves Rogers would make before he committed his forces. The 5th Georgia volunteers were held in reserve on the bridge ready to react to the Union moves.

Rogers went for an attack all along the line, hoping to pin the Confederates along the front, find a weak point and then break through.

It was clear to Whippam that he would need to react on his flanks so the 8th Georgia Volunteers were pushed out on his right, while the 19th Texas moved to support on the left flank.

As the Union troops advanced the 8th South Carolina fired into them and then started to withdraw, while the 2nd Florida and 4th South Carolina crested the ridge-line and started firing on the approaching Union troops.

On the Union right the 26th New York cavalry blundered into the woods and were badly mauled by the 19th Texas, their retreat being covered by the heroic actions of Sgt. Benson who though feared lost rejoined the unit in their encampments after the battle with boys own tales of derring-doo.

On the Confederate right the 44th Maryland were repulsed from the heights, while on their left the 20th Maine were forced back and then scattered by a bayonet charge of the Floridians.

Colonel Rogers rallied his troops on the left and the fresh boys of the Pennsylvania recruited California regiment supported by the 10th Iowa prepared to throw themselves into the fray, but a Pinkerton agent assigned to the staff insisted on caution as the Confederates were sure to have many more troops in reserve, the Union attack petered out with heavy losses and the Confederates still held the ridge-line.

This was quite a stunning victory to the Confederacy, they had only lost 3 bases of troops while the Union had lost 16. Whippam gained six Epic points to Rogers two.  At last recognised for his deeds Whippam has been promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.

Longstreet Campaign - The Battle of Haery Woods - 15th September 1861

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Tango01 does not exist, he is a sock puppet account of TMP Editor and the post you followed was just a pathetic attempt to drive traffic to the cesspit that is TMP by using SEO. 

Don't support TMP it steals content.

Drew and I have embarked on a campaign using the rules from Longstreet. I'll play the Confederate Commander - Colonel Gerald P. Whippam while Drew will take on the role of Elias Rogers newly appointed Colonel of the Union Army.

We each picked one personality trait and were randomly assigned a second.

Confederate forces

Gerald P. Whippam is a 29 year old Floridian and is already a Veteran of the Indian Wars and is accompanied by his personal Scout who's reliably provided the best ground to make a stand in earlier engagements.

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
8th Georgia Volunteers	CAV	Eager	Recruits	8
19th Texas	INF	Eager	Recruits	10
4th South Carolina	INF	Eager	Recruits	10
2nd Florida	INF	Eager	Recruits	10
Battery A 7th Texas Light Artillery	ART	-	-	3	Three 6lb smoothbores

Union forces

Elias Rogers is a graduate of West Point and had made a career as an Artillery Officer in the United States army. He is a Leading Abolitionist and is steadfast in the cause.

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
26th New York	CAV	Eager	Recruits	8
20th Maine	INF	Eager	Recruits	10
39th Ohio	INF	Eager	Recruits	10
44th Maryland	INF	Eager	Recruits	10
Battery B 6th US Artillery	ART	-	-	3	Three 6lb smoothbores

Both forces were assembled and marched to war, sure that all this bad business would be over by harvest time.

The initial engagement of the campaign took place at Haery Woods, Rolling up the scenario we would play the Meeting Engagement, the Confederate scout was not available (rolled a double 1!) so the Union troops elected to be the defender.

The ground was picked, the Union had elected to form a tight perimeter and would prepare themselves for the Confederate onslaught. Initial moves were spent jockeying for position, the Union formed a solid wall of troops anchored on their left by dense woodland and on their right by a cornfield with their artillery lining a solid stone fence. The 26th New York would be held in reserve.

The Confederates arrayed themselves against the Union, on their left the 4th SC supported by the 8th GA Volunteers poised to assault the 44th Maryland Zouaves in the cornfield, while the 19th TX and 2nd FL moved against the woods on the right.

Colonel Rogers personally directed the counter battery fire of the US artillery to great devastation among the Confederate gunners.

On the right the Texans and Floridians drove back the Ohio and Maine boys but the Maryland  Zouaves held firm trading effective volleys with the South Carolina boys and repulsing their initial charges.

But, the Union were eventually doomed, with their left flank caved the Marylanders were exposed and the South Carolina boys and Georgia horsemen supported by remaining gunners doomed them and they were thrown back in great disorder. With heavy losses on both sides the Union withdraw Confederates held the field.

It was a fair Confederate victory, they lost 13 stands to the Unions 21. Having mounted a couple of good sized bayonet charges Whippam earned 8 Epic Points for the game while Rogers gained two.

 Some more shots of the action.

American Civil War: Confederates (19)

It's been several months since I last added any Confederates to the collection, but, under the tree was a box of Perry Miniatures Confederate infantry wrapped up for me. Over the past few days I've assembled and painted a couple of dozen of them as a Virginian Regiment of the Army of Northern Virginia.


Most of my Confederates previously painted are as a rag-tag bunch in a mish-mash of greys, butternuts, etc. but I wanted this unit to look more uniform. So, they are all painted with the same coloured jackets and kepis (base-coat VMC Dark Blue-grey) with a blue collar. All trousers are painted in the same colour (base-coat VMC Neutral Grey), only the blanket rolls etc. are less uniform.


There are three highlights on each uniform colour, adding a touch more VMC Pale Grey in each, but the highlights are really not showing up that well in the images.


The only difference to the standard uniform colour applied throughout this unit is that the officers coat is done off of a base-coat of VMC Luftwaffe uniform. The flag is from Warflag, printed out at the local Staples.



Although most of the infantry are using the advancing pose, I made up some of them using the arms from the Union Skirmishers frame for a little variety adding a chap ramming home, one biting into his cartridge and the other firing.



These are a handful of the standard advancing infantry.



You can find my post on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge here.