Garrard's Tigers

The 146th New York Volunteer Infantry, I'm slowly adding to my Union forces and what better addition than some zouaves!

Garrards Tigers also went by the name of Halleck's infantry after New York born General Henry Halleck, they fought at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbour.

I wanted a unit with movement so I converted roughly half of them, I threw in a few Kepi's for luck! I did have some laying around so it made sense. They look the part so I'm more than happy with the end results.

Stonewall Jackson

I have struggled lately to find time to paint so today I grabbed the time with both hands. So I used the time to finish up good old General Jackson, he truly was an outstanding General and had he lived who knows!

 

He is a Dixon figure and what character he has, cracking little figure, paints well and looks like a true general. 

OK I'm a little bit biased, I wouldn't have hundreds of the little guys if I didn't like them. TJ Jackson was a true God fearing man and seemed to firmly believe that God alone would choose his time to leave this world. Virginia lost a true son when he passed! 

Berdans Sharpshooters
I started my Berdans sharpshooters a while ago but they have received a bit of interest elsewhere on the WEB  so I decided why not add them to my blog. I have done a lot of conversions on these due to having a bit of a soft spot for them, and anyone who knows me will know that I can help myself with conversions.

  The command stand

 

 The officer started life as J chamberlain "bayonets" cracking little figure in its own right but I thought he would make a good officer for my Berdans, so off came the arm and a new one was made from greenstuff , the pistol was also scratched from greenstuff and I added a bit more facial hair. All figures on the command stand are conversions of one sort or another.

 My full force of Berdans so far, I cant recall which ones are conversions I have done that many, from simple weapon swaps to hacking figures in two and making a completely new figure.

 Finally my favourite piece the prone figure firing over the dead horse! the other guy on the base is two figures once again used to make a unique figure reaching into his cartridge pouch. So I have put a lot of work into these guys but I think its being well worth it, and I haven't finished with them yet!

The 26th Coloured Infantry

I have completed my next federal regiment, the 26th coloured infantry. I didn't want to do the 54th straight away, so I decided to do my second choice first so I would have the drive to complete "GLORY" at a later date.

 Unfortunately the light today is terrible, its overcast and raining so I did the best I could! so forgive me if the pics are not the best.

 I found two versions of the flag, one with a plain blue side and another version with the same design on both sides, so I decided on the version with plain blue on the reserve. I just think it looked more correct so no real historical fact swayed me.

 I don't think I did any real conversions on these fellas except maybe a blanket roll or two, and possibly the drummer boy may have being a head swap, but I first attempted them many years ago and I have retouched some and repainted some completely. so I really cant remember clearly enough to be certain. So thanks for looking as my blog hopefully continues to offer an enough of a draw for people to keep coming back and checking out my humble blog.

Strong Vincent, hero of little round top

On the second day of Gettysburg Strong Vincent gave his life for the Union, Gettysburg was never really a draw for me until recently! what changed I am not really sure. I started to read bits and pieces about the Iron Brigade and the 20th Maine, Chamberlain I knew from watching the feature film Gettysburg but Strong Vincent I didn't really know about. So his bushy sideburns and riding crop were added to a Dixon Mini and Strong was born.

I hope to do a few more commands soon but we shall see what time constraints allow. So hopefully he looks the part, a bit of greenstuff and lead rod he was good to go.

The Black Hatted Devils

I have a new addition to my slowly growing Federal forces, the 2nd Wisconsin

They are once again Dixon Miniatures, I have thrown a conversion or two just to add that bit more to the unit. The main conversion is a cigar chewing Sergeant with pistol in his hand

The other conversions are simple musket swaps, so some off the guys firing now have bayonets fitted.

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Some figures have detail on the knapsacks and canteens, trouble is I'm not good enough to carry it off with a close up photo. It has helped give a little bit more to the unit which I think they deserve , 2nd, US and the Maltese cross are all decorations I have attempted to add. So thanks for looking

My confederate force is somewhat bigger than my small Union army, although I am in the processes of adding a unit of coloured infantry and the 2nd Wisconsin.

 It will help to balance up the numbers between the two. Although I really need to add some artillery to my Union force.  All the flags are hand painted and the buildings are all scratch built from cardboard balsa and a large dollop of PVA.