2mm ACW project - finished Federals

Sound the trumpets and roll the drums!  I actually finished a wargaming project, the first I have totally completed in over fifty years of wargaming!  The last of the Federal units has rolled off the production line.  All I need to do now is actually play some more games of Altar of Freedom with them.

The final fourteen Federal bases - all artillery

The very last base completed

The final unit totals are:

Confederates

39 Infantry Brigades

7 Cavalry Brigades

14 Artillery bases

8 (each) Generals and HQs

Federal

54 Infantry Brigades

9 Cavalry Brigades

18 Artillery bases

10 (each) Generals and HQs

That's a lot of American man power and horse flesh even in 2mm.   

Next projects up will be to finish the western shoot out figures and then for a change of pace complete a project which has been ignored for a couple or three years (make that about ten!) early WW2 covering France 1940/fictional Operation Seelowe in 6mm. 

I still have lots of unpainted lead in the pile so don't worry about the consequences of getting everything painted!  It's not going to happen anytime soon.

2mm ACW project - The Confederacy is done

Well painting their troops is anyway.  I now have all the bases completed which are required to field the Confederate side in any scenario for Altar of Freedom.  That is to say I have the maximum number of bases for each type, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Generals and HQs which I could need in any of the listed scenarios.  I made one change to the standard rules when building the army, I have mounted my artillery on 60 x 30mm bases rather than 30 x 30mm ones.   However, this messes up their firing arcs, so I had to calculate the firing arc based upon the assumption that the base was actually 60 x 60mm (the optional alternative base size) and using the standard firing arc under the rules of one rear corner to the opposite front corner.  Not particularly difficult but it makes a difference.

So having sorted that out, McClellan like I had to stage a grand review of the troops!  

All the Confederates you're ever likely to need

In the above picture we have (from furthest to nearest) eight HQ bases, eight Generals, thirty-nine Infantry brigades, seven Cavalry brigades and lastly the fourteen Artillery bases.

I have the balance of the Federal forces, amounting to a final 14 artillery bases, on the painting table at the moment.  Those should be completed in the next day or two at the present rate of progress.  So watch this space for the equivalent grand review of the Northerners.

The Painting Table - February 2023

I managed to move up a gear this month with progress on the 2mm ACW backlog and three MDF kit builds completed.  I also undercoated and mounted the 28mm gunfight figures I bought at Vapnartak ready for painting.  Even so there is still an embarrassing amount of lead on the table but at least projects are moving along.

You have already seen the completed kits for the saloon, forge and cart in earlier posts so no pictures of those in this blog.  I have based all of the remaining 2mm ACW units and completed a Federal Cavalry brigade and three HQ bases, which finishes off those parts of the army.  Two artillery bases were added to the Rebel forces.  

February's figure output, not great but it's something

The remaining Confederate artillery is part painted and just needs some detailing.  The Federal Artillery arm is lacking 14 bases which I have made a start on. I have glued the castings to the bases, added the sand texture and put a base coat of green on them.

This is the last of the 2mm ACW artillery it should be done in a couple of days

There has been no further progress on the 28mm Old West figures or the 6mm ancients.  The current oldest inhabitants of the painting desk are some Baccus Sassanids who are going to proxy as Justinian Byzantine Infantry.  They have replaced the Huns as my main point of shame!  In fact things have gotten to the point where I have a painting table upstairs in my office and a tray downstairs (where the light is better in the evenings this time of year) as it reduces the clutter in the office.  The objective for March is to complete the 2mm ACW project and start back on to the Old West figures, so no more buildings for a bit.

The table is a bit bare by my standards - mainly because a lot of stuff is downstairs

Not strictly painting table related but stage one of the office tidy up was carried out on Monday.  I cleared some storage space by moving some Vinyl LPs (ask Grandad he will explain what those are) into the loft and my Bike leathers and boots are in the back bedroom while I debate what to do with them as they don't fit any more!  I have decided that the 15mm Napoleonic troops should really look for a new home as it isn't a period I will ever contemplate doing in that scale, so I have to decide how to them on. The next step in the tidying up project will be to sort the bookshelves out.  We (that's Mrs E and myself not the 'Royal We') have been here for five years now and still don't have my Science Fiction novels in alphabetical order by author!  Not that I'm anal or anything.  So still lots to do