Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 1 July 2019

ACW - Confederates (FA#11)

This period was one of the first wargame periods I was taken by  - I blame Donald Featherstone and his book "The Wargame". In addition Airfix figures were available for Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Wagons and Civilians - and they were cheap ! I amassed a huge force of plastic ACW that were sold on many moons ago, but the joy of seeing a mostly pure Infantry conflict never left me.
1st Division, first Brigade, all Virginians
When I eventually returned to the ACW I went for 15mm metal figures from every manufacturer that was available at the time and I eventually opted for "Johnny Reb III" as my choice of rules - they seemed to me to have the ebb and flow of the ACW conflict that I had envisioned.
Unit name was on each base
My Confederate force is (iirc) Longstreet's Corps which comprises three Divisions, each of two brigades which in turn each have four or five regiments.
Each regiment has five bases with a number of figures on each representing the total strength of the regiment.
Third Regiment in the the first Brigade   \

Two figures to a base, strength of the regiment 200, three figures 300 etc.
Some flags are paper whilst others are metal with the  figures, like the one on the left - I can't believe I painted that !
Fourth Regiment, four figures 
The whole Brigade
The brigade's storage area, colour coded !
The commanders, L to R - Divisional CO, C-in-C Corps and sample Brigade CO
Casualty markers
I used figures as markers to record casualties, when sufficient had been accumulated , a base of figures was removed, but in the meantime the "casualties" followed the regiment (known as baggage in our games),
I have a lot of casualty markers !

Each brigade has its own battery of cannon, in addition there was divisional artillery  and the Corp reserve Artillery. each battery was generally represented by two or three models, each model gun in the  battery having a mere two figures as crew.
3" Riles on the left and 12pdr Napoleons on the right.
The Corps needs a lot of Artillery ,,,
...and of course gunners (Random Selection )
I came across these two figures on the right whilst picking out the gunners, they're obviously civilians and may well be 'spillage' from my "Pony Wars" figures".
The gentleman on the left is plastic whom I suspect is the Airfix "Wagon Train", 'boy' figure.
Digging deeper amongst the gunners I found even more civilians, including at least one other Wagon Train figure whom I distinctly remember cutting down her dress by a couple of millimetres to fit in with the smaller 15mm figures. (She is the third figure from the left in the photograph below.

Woman, man, woman Shepherd with sheep (?!&*?) and man with gun.
1st Division- all Virginians
2nd Division - Georgians and Texans
3rd Divsion - Georgians and Alabanians
Unused flags - probably surplus to requirements.
I was surprised not to find the Corps wagon train in the box, but I suspect it was used for Pony Wars games and it wll be in another storage area ! Each Brigade had a wagon, each division had a wagon and the corp had a wagon too, making a train of 10 wagons. I can't remember how many were allocated for the artillery, but at least a couple ! 
As always there are surprises in my collections, the civilians above being one, but I also found this packet of flags (on the right) too:







17 x 13.5 inches of goodness.
My Love of the ACW is reflected in my Book collection, with the ACW being the most prominent and having the most expensive book I've ever bought, I have many other ACW books too, including box sets and many, what I would call, standard reference books.
I doubt any new-comer to the period would even bother with "Coggins",but it was the go-to reference book and is still a fountain of knowledge.
The state I found this drawer in !

And that's it for this week, the third remaining drawer must contain my Union Force that I'll post about next week as once more I haven't managed a single hobby-related activity over the last week.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, hopefully finding something of interest and of course your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

20 comments:

  1. Love me some ACW, just not any rule sets so far, even have some 6mm around here........somewhere?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too AL, can you tell ?
      To this scale, myself and three or four others had enough to fight Gettsyburg in this scale.
      I've also fought huge battles and campaigns with 6mm (not mine) but just not as satisfying from my pv.

      Delete
  2. ACW (especially Airfix) and DFs rules - awesome combination.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep MJT, they were indeed and something that influenced the way I played wargmaes for many years.

      Delete
  3. Great stuff Joe! The lost treasures you're finding in the drawers is amazing 😀
    *good post for July 1st, the start of the Gettysburg battle*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ivor, though it never crossed my mind re the Gettysburg reference, your comment has made me think of the numerous times I've played Gettysburg games.

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. Thanks you Michal, it's a collection thathas been used in the last 15 years too !

      Delete
  5. Your house must be like a treasure trove of lost and forgotten figures and scenery.

    The Wargame, I remember it well, ok almost well. The picture of the field with the trees at one end and the church and was it the ACW he used plasticine hills?
    I threw out my painted airfix figures in the great move of 2001, a big regret now :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Frank, there are many nooks and crannies still to be explored too.
      I treasure my copy of "The Wargame", it is signed by the author whom I met many years ago - a true gentleman.
      He did indeed use plasticine hills (which I couldn't afford to copy) and one of the first times I've seen limited ammunition, using a pile of counters beside the artillery piece.
      I sold or gave away thousands of Airfix figures whenI could afford metal figures- it's come full circle now an plastic is the 'in thing' now!

      Delete
  6. Eyecandy my friend and the number is quite impressing. Nice report and nice figures to!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ptr, I've laways thought I wanted to fight battles, not skirimishes and that meant lots of figures !
      I really don;t know whether all the makes of figures I used are still available.

      Delete
  7. Good looking rebels, nice looking collection! I always like a waggon or five me!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Iain, if and when I find the wagons, I think you'll be impressed with the number. I recall that the train for one of the Union corps took up about 36" of road in a campaign (at 44" to the mile) and the corp itself took up about 3 miles - something over 12 foot on the table !

      Delete
  8. You certainly have harvested a lot of modeling fruits over the years, Zab.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, you're right, though whther the fruits are now rottingaway or not remains to be seen.

      Delete
  9. Well Joe seen as you already thanked me (see reply to John ) I guess I'd better comment, tbh I'm amazed at all of these wonderful things you keep digging out & while plastic figure's might be more in Vogue these's days there just something about metal ones that I like more :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks again, (I'm old - leave me alone), I really don't like the new wave plastic (assemble them yourself) that is currently in vogue either. The heft of metal figures is far more satisfying (and in some cases it's cheaper to but metal !).
      I do keep wondering how long I can keep 'finding' things to post about - after the ACW I can only think of another four armies !

      Delete
  10. Nice look force Joe. You certainly have a varied collection!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Brummie, as I got older I may have tried many things but the ACW has been with me from the very start !

      Delete