General Gubbinz Thread (historical and specialist)

[Zephro]

Errr I accidentally posted this in the wrong place. So have closed the other one and opened this one instead. Sorry everyone!

Current Projects:

1) Unnamed Union regiment. I'll probably go for one from the first couple days of the Second Manassas. Say Talifero's brigade or something.

24 mini's in a marching column. First pics:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3sYxq3F3z5c/SZhSqOoUUWI/AAAAAAAAABU/cucX9GfO8N0/s1600/DSCF0627.JPG"]first pic
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3sYxq3F3z5c/SZhSEJVjCKI/AAAAAAAAABM/sivu-Z62dbw/s1600-h/DSCF0626.JPG"]second pic

2)
Dark Elf and Skaven blood bowl teams.

Plus a dark elf BB pitch. Planning a deep board in 4 pieces with dugouts and so on. Going to be stony with dark green grass sprouting out.


3) My Eldar fleet and last bits of Chaos fleet.

4) 28mm Napoleonic French 1812-1815. From perry miniatures.

I'll put up some more pics in a bit. I thought I'd get some more Specialist Games/Historical stuff going. Though my painting is horridly cackhanded tbh. So tips are very welcome!

[Gwedd]

Okay... before you get too far along, a couple of things.

1.) Except for very specific time/place/regiment issues, the Federal haversacks were painted cloth. Black, and fairly glossy when issued due to the oil-based nature of the paint. It would fade to a matte black with time and exposure. This includes both the bag and it's attached strap.

2.) With rare exceptions, canteens issued to federal units prior to simmer, 1863, had russet leather straps. The majority of federal canteens were covered with a drab/tannish jean cloth, although some covered in grayish-brown, and various shades of blue are known. The blue covers should be in the minority, however.

3.) blankets were primarily a mouse-brown-gray shade, although some specific regiments (2nd RI, 3rd Maine) carried state-issued red wool, at least until they wore out and were replaced with federak issue.. Other issues of brownish, tannish, and the odd homespun are known.

Having said that, most soldiers in the field would wrap their blankets INSIDE of the black painted or rubberized ground cloth, to keep it from getting wet and soaking up water, and thus extra weight. By the middle of 1862, widespread issues of white-canvass shelter halves added another layer to the blanket roll, and thus they could be an off-white colour as well, sort of a bleached-bone shade with white highlights.

Seeing how some of the minis are wearing shell jackets, historically that would restrict you to either New York or Ohio, and a few odd others who drew from western depots. The New York State jackets would have light-blue piping (same shade as the pants) on the collar, down the front, around the eppauletts and pointed cuffs (points facing up the sleeves).

Other shell jackets would be plain blue with no piping.

Corps badges don't appear until mid-1863, and then in the east before transitioning west in the latter part of that year. Most caps also did NOT have anything more than a brass letter indicating the company, the brass hunting horns, cavalry insignia, etc, being rarely found in images or extant garments.

Socks were a natural cotton or wool colour, sometimes light or dark grey, although many many civilian styles could be found. I do NOT understand the casting of the soldiers wearing the trousers tucked into the socks. That is an overdone reenactorism, and based upon very flimsy historical evidence. Most soldiers simply rolled their pant legs up when they were too long.

Last point. the blue you have for the jackets is pretty good, based upon the image you posted. So is the trouser blue, although with time it faded to a pea-green/blue/grey colour. Likewise, the coats ran the gamut from royal blue to a dusty dark blue, and would fade to a greenish-blue cast with time and exposure. This was due to a variety of factors, including the natural indigo dye, the minerals present in the water and urine used to set the colours, the amount of lanolin in the wool and the food the sheep were fed before shearing. It wasn't until the last 30-40 years that the use of modern analyne dyes and computer controls has allowed us to maintain colour consistancy from lot to lot. Back then, the terms "blue" "grey" etc, had a much broader meaning than what we consider today.

But enough trivia Sorry to add so much, but the arms & equipment of the Civil War has been my study for more than 40 years now. It is the one subject that I can speak with confidence upon, and I am more than happy to share anything with anyone if they would like.

Feel free to PM me or email me if you like.

respects,

[Zephro]

I went off this website http://howardlanham.tripod.com/unireg.htm and the picture on the Perry's website. I have 108 of the buggers to paint up so I will amend it for the next 100.

Tbh I don't think I'll get into worrying about the kind of jacket they're wearing as the plastic sets have so much variation it would be a nuisance.

So I'll fix up the piping, canteens and haversacks with the next lot.

Is the grey of the blanket too dark then?

[Gwedd]

No, not at all. Almost any medium grey will suffice for the average blanket. If you want to get really anal about it, the blankets have a 4" black stripe on each short end, about 8" or so in from the edge. That would be at the end of the blanket roll.

For some shots of high-quality recreated uniforms, I'd suggest here: Charlie Childs is the closest thing to actual garments available. He's a stickler for research and does a great deal of restoration work on period textiles and clothing, uniforms, etc. His patterns are developed from actually clothing in his and other's collections.

http://www.crchilds.com/index.htm

Also, if you get the chance, the US Army Quartermaster Museum has some excellent material available too.

In the end, they are still toy soldiers that we play with, and the majority of gamers won't have a clue about them except that some are blue and some are grey So don't worry too much. As I said, it's been my field of study for several decades now, and I am happy to share my reserch with any gamer who is interested.

respects,

[Zephro]

I doubt I'll be visiting the museum soon, I'm over the other side of the pond

[Zephro]

Ok some more pictures as I cleaned out my camera memory.

They're not great but I'm hoping my painting/modelling will get better over the course of the log. That's the aim right?

Union Troops Done, except basing

For the union troops I have some suggestions for regiments. Based on my limited knowledge of the ACW (Take Command Second Manassas, Sid Meier's Gettysburg, Glory and some time sat through North and South. Plus a bunch of documentaries.) I'm thinking...

Doubleday's brigade on the first and second day of the Second Manasses
56th PA (Pennsylvania?)
76th,95th NY
Schimmelfennig brigade from the same day.
61st OH, 74th PA, 8th WV
Krzyzanowski's brigade
54th NY, 58th NY , 75th PA

Which ones fit the uniforms I have/painted best? Being childish I'd love to do the 54 MA.

Dark Elf Team, I have a cheap camera and the Macro function hates me.

Also some pictures of my 10mm Soviet Army I finished up lately. Which was bizarrely hard to get information on, maybe it's just because they were my first historical paint project. The union are my second.

The whole battalion(ish) There's 2 tank companies, a rifle company and 2 platoons of SMG + supporting units. Call it a detachment
Close up of some tanks.

They're based up for Blitzkrieg Commander which is based on the Warmaster rules. I think it's around 1500pts(ish) There's 4 rifle platoons, 2 SMG platoons (riding on tanks usually), a company of T-34/76's and a company of T-34/85's. With a section of mortars, 2 sections of machine guns, a section of anti tank rifles, 2 45mm guns. Plus a CO and 2 XO's (a Colonel and 2 Majors at a guess)

Was bought as a starter set so hasn't been 100% thought out. And at the time of painting the only red I had was a blood red from the early 90's which was as thick as treacle.

I'm quite happy with how they look as a whole though.

[Gwedd]

The 74th Pa was, IIRC, a Zouave unit, so that's right out

However, any of the Ohio or New York units, or even the West Virginia one would do. Seriously, if you want to do the 61st Ohio, then you needn't change anything on the clothing.

Krzyzanowski's brigade would do just ducky as well.