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

Monday 10 June 2019

ACW (AB#4)

So I decided to post about my 15mm American Civil War collection, one of the most used collections that I own. It's stored in three large drawers (the type you get in school art rooms, geography rooms etc.). They're stacked high up on a set of shelves and are heavy (for me at least) and once more,  required me to risk life and limb to get the top one of the three.
It turned out that this contained my buildings and other scenic bits, most specifically for 15mm ACW.
As the collection is quite large, I'll be splitting the posts about this over two or more weeks.
For the ACW games we played, most were on a table 8 x 6 feet, with a few on a larger table of 12 x 6 feet. With that amount of table to cover and the nature of the war, a lot of buildings were needed\ (and fences, bloody fences) as well as all the other paraphernalia to make the game look like the war it was meant to be.
Rear view if above casualty figure is on  20 x 25mm base for scale
I used "Johnny Reb III", one of the best written set of rules I've encountered and even if they are a bit lengthy, they do cover everything I wanted from a set of rules. The last time this collection was used, if memory serves, was sometime over nine years ago (by my son and his friend) and probably more that fifteen years ago by myself.
The building in the photograph above and to the right was scratch-built from air drying clay and the two figures, a casualty and a kneeling cavalryman are 15mms.
I have a lot of dead  figures as they were used to represent casualties and when sufficient were accumulated by a unit a base of figures would be removed. When dealing with battles that contained corps sized with upwards of 20 regiments on each side represented, a lot of casualties were needed!
Another scratch-built building from clay, showing a lot of wear.
Close-up view (padding - Ed.)
Rear view (- bit obvious really).
Another clapboard building.
Side view, notice the sack at the front and barrel in the rear.
I mostly used a razor blase to get right angles and the thin planking, shingles etc., but also used matchsticks for porch supports and various bits - boxes, barrels and sacks from the old "Airfix Wagon Train" sets
Side and rear view
Rear and chimney view
One of my larger clap-board buildings, again from clay
Side view showing wear and tear.
Side and rear, more wear and tear.
These buildings have suffered a lot over the years, probably due to the fragile nature of the clay and I probably didn't varnish them either. They were built out of necessity as any available funds would be used on figures - and times were hard !
Simple log cabin made from matchsticks - it wasn't just clay that was cheap !
Obligatory really boring, slightly blurred picture of the featureless rear and side
Good card building that has survived well.
I also inherited a couple of card buildings from a friend, nicely reinforce with balsa (a building medium I hate).
Rear and side view.
Droopy front porch roof

Matchstick porch roof support
Side and back view
From the early days I used whatever I could,  including this very old vacuum-formed "Bellona" barn, which I reinforced with plaster.
It doesn't look much, but served well in many engagements across the years.




It shows wear from a lot of use, but mot bad for cheap thin plastic.
Scracth-build with missing supports
 Finally a scracth-build, though not one I built and I think is very professional, based on the John Ross house on Missionary Ridge, from what it says underneath. I haven't a clue where and how I acquired it either !


A great building and survived well imo
Side and rear view

So this first post only shows about a third of the buildings for my ACW games, next week I'll show the various commercial buildings that I bought over several years.

That's it then for this week, one where the last week my regular hospital and clinic visits have all but drained me off energy.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, hopefully something has been of interest and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.


ADDENDUM:
Having messed up with the photogfrpahs and buildings I have, I hope ammended the relevant bits; adding an omitted card building and correcting the comments on a scracth-build.

21 comments:

  1. Nostalgia, where would we be without it. I had some of the bellona terrain, walls and bridges, I used them as moulds and cast plaster of Paris replicas, I repainted the walls a couple of years ago and think they look pretty good.
    The air drying clay seems to have stood the test of time, with a touch of paint all these buildings would be perfectly useable, I especially like the one before the bellona barn but it doesnt look like a paper build as your caption suggests.

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    1. "Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be when I were a lad!"
      Thanks Vagabond, I have many bits and pieces of Bellona terrain too, including many walls and a bridge, reinforced with plaster
      You were right about the not-card building too, I've corrected the post !!

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  2. Old school real estate market is cornered my friend, lovely stuff!

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    1. Thansk AL, a lot (if not all) my resin buildings for the ACW are still available !

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    2. I've also corrected the initial post as above,

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  3. More great work from by gone days Joe, at least this stuff got plenty of use I glad to hear, while I love all of these posts I will ask you to be very careful when you going about getting this stuff out to show us.

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    1. Thanks Frank, If I fall, when getting any stuff down I'll aim for the bed it's stored over !
      The more I post about my stuff, the more I realise just how much I've got, how many periods it alls scans and wonder why all my nearby 'friends' want to play with plastic Orks etc.
      Please read the addendum too

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  4. Wonderfully charming Joe, love them.

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    1. Thabks Michael and please note the post has been edited.

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  5. Great stuff Joe! I'm this close to going all in on a 15mm buildings project (a scale I haven't played around with in almost 10 years) so you're not helping to change my mind to not do it lol! Post some more 28mm 😀

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    1. Thanks Ivor, sorry for tempting you and next time won;t be any better as the 15mm building I have, I think, are great too. I haven't touched 15mm in years either and can't see me doing so in the near future.
      Up until about eight years ago, I'd only made a few 28mm builds and those for other people ! All m "newer" 28mm buildings have appeared on this blog over the years and if I ever get my act together there will be more.
      \

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  6. Yet more wonderful memories Joe, and yet more brilliant scratchbuilds if you don't mind me saying!
    15mm was my favourite scale for ACW, and mentally picturing those drawers it sounds as though you've got enough stuff for some "proper" games - looking forward to seeing more of this collection whenever you feel like posting :-)

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    1. thanks TWA< I really started my wargaming with the ACW, using AIrfixx figures and eventually moved on to 15mm metals fomevery manufacturer around (at the time). It had been an ongoing project for many years and I propably have less unpainted figures for this era than any other.
      Our games were mostly at Corp level, I have the equivalent of a Confederate Corps and the Union 6th Corps , which is the largets Federal corps. In addition I have a division of cavalry for each side.
      For Gettysburg, the various participants provided enough figures to have every corps at the battle, over the three days, represented.
      Yep, in my mind corps level, multi-player, were 'proper' games!

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  7. Fantastic! A real return to the past :)

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    1. Thanks you Michal, as I can't see me doing much in the future, the past is all I can think of to post about !

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  8. Appears to me, Zab, that "back in the day" you were one of the kings that ruled the Land of Modeling. Thanks for sharing some of your treasures from the past.

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    1. Thanks Jay, I really was learning from a few much better modellers, but mostly made things because I couldn't afford to buy anything much!

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  9. Well I think the air drying clay buildings work really well and would just need a touch up to be entirely serviceable. The card houses have held up surprisingly well and the scratch build is super! Thanks for digging out your collection for us to view!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain, I too was surprised at how well the clay buildings had survived, considering how much use and abuse they've suffered over the years and a quick touch-up would indeed make them serviceable once more. - My resin ones haven't suffered as much.
      Card buildings are far more reilient then I ever thought they soule be too and yes that Scratch-build was made to last!

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  10. Wonderful to dig these out and reminisce about the fun times you had with them. I am sure these could be licked into shape again.

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    1. Thanks Simon, I have enjoyed this journey, especially with these, as you say, bringing back so many memories.

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