ACW - Bull Run 1861 - label tags ready to go!

 The troops are ready, now these labels have been printed and the flags are all on the poles for the troops.

This coming weekend will be my first run of Bull Run - 1861, looking like I'll have five rookie commanders, so the results are not predictable.

the 'tags' for Bull Run 1861

After Action Report to come.

Really neat is that there will be games in Nanaimo - down island from me - on both Saturday and Sunday (I'm planning on being key to the Sunday games), so it will be like a mini-convention series.

ACW Terrain Effects - bridge buildings and more

 The 15mm project continues apace.

This latest step are buildings from Sarissa Precision for 15mm scale.

the bridge took some assembly efforts for the ramps
unfortunately this is a 15mm 'accurate' bridge and will
be far too large for most tabletop games where the
troops are at a 150 or 200 to 1 ratio

the buildings are easy to assemble with just a little
bit of superglue

every part is a tight fit and they might
even hold together just with friction

I also did up a bunch of extra 'disorder' markers
as a gift for the game player who helped
make the donation for the forces
and supplied me with a few 'casualties'

the 'prone firing' markers were assembled at the same time
you can see some rail lines here also

I used my inking techniques on everthing

then some more color

some dry brushing and highlights

plus some fun details on the buildings

flocking for all the markers

the buildings went together so fast that
I realized I could get two more done quickly

in a day all were assembled and painted

I also put together some alternate bridge markers
that will do better for game table action

At the moment, I have 6 more molds in progress for more kepi wearing infantry and a draft horse and wagon set.

Up coming will be the first ever game of Bull Run (1861) - with possibly five new players as the commanders - so the rookie element will be accurate!

American Civil War Battle, Bull Run 1861, all Union and Confederate forces assembled

 Time for a Grand Review!

More than 20 years in the making.

Union (left) and Confederate (right)

their 'comic' version

Just the Union command of McDowell

Beauregard's Confederate command

Each force contains at least one 'uniform confusion' brigade of a selected regiment from the command that wore tunics most often associated with the other army.

here Heintzelmann's 3rd Division of Howard's brigade
is seen in front of the Army of the Shenandoah

now Tyler's 1st Division of Keyes' brigade
is seen in front of the Army of the Potomac

I ought to be able to tell them apart on the tabletop, though still be able to use them as opposition forces if needed.

Then the new markers got put out to show I have enough for all forces to identify that they are fully loaded with first shot.  Spent and Worn conditions along with things like ammunition depletion.

little pins with green beads on them

that 'hook' over the unit id label
the pins are also metal, so they will be
magnetic and work with my other systems

comparison with unit IDs

... and without unit IDs

the forces are prepared

Much of the battlefield environment is already in hand, you can see the woods depicted in the images.
My next constructions will follow the urban environment, most of it already in hand, just needing to be constructed and finished.

the Sarissa Precision models railway
for 15mm has begun ...

Confederate Army for Bull Run 1861

 At long last the full force is completed.

Time for a photo shoot

General Beauregard commanding
all CSA forces - also the Army of the Potomac

General Johnston commanding
Army of the Shenandoah

the whole Confederate Army at Bull Run, 1861

Shenandoah artillery

a sepia image

Hampton's Legion

Jackson's brigade
the uniform is that of the 5th Virginia

some Zouaves under Bee
the 1st Maryland

 That completes the forces.

The eagle-eyed among you have spotted the start of the railway, more of it and other buildings are going to be completed soon.

Up next will be the grand parade for Bull Run ...

ACW forces building, Bull Run 1861, Army of the Shenandoah:

 With some distractions I was still able to get in painting time and have tonight finished the 5th major formation (roughly a division size each one) for the Battle of Bull Run, 1861.

 

This time round it is the Army of the Shenandoah under J. E. Johnston.

the painting process
top -bare metal
mid -black base coat
bottom -'wet' brush of upper surfaces

missing in these images, again due to my camera being unable to focus properly on the surfaces of the models, is the 'ink' stage, where a layer of brown ink was put over everything

top -main color layer
mid -flesh tones and mid tones
bottom -final highlights and special 'red' parts

This time around I also did a series of photos of the horses, command, and artillery section in the different stages:

after 'wet-brush' and before inks, came the
horses under coatings

here the ink is still only on the horses
you can see the ink layer on the blue coated zouaves
in the front left of the image

wet artillery guns

everything assembled prior to the matte coating stage

final stage before flocking

this time I did a few more photos of the minis just on the bases

before the flocking stage

then with the new mobile 'label' system in place

finally a comparison shot with the flocking drying

There it is dear readers, a 20+ year process coming to the end of the first stage.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I will do some more photos of the whole of the Confederate forces, then possibly some 'in situ' photos with both Union and Confederates to show off the 'grey and blue' units in each force.

Watch for those photos in the coming week.

For now it is on to the buildings that I have from Sarissa along with some supply markers and some extra 'casualty' markers to give away to a great game friend who helped make this possible.