Hold your horses

More Baccus ACW troops, this time dismounted cavalry for the Confederates. I assume that these would all have been skirmish troops, and that is backed up by the way the figures are arranged in their strips. Baccus supply line infantry in rows, side by side, so you can mount them without splitting them up. Skirmish troops (and others, such as command units) come in a line, one behind the other like a queue, so you have to cut them apart and base them singly. That's how these troops came, so they made up into eight skirmish bases, two of which were command. You also get two strips with a horse holder and three empty horses, so I mounted these on circular bases (2p pieces); I expect them to come in useful as markers if nothing else.

Grey Guns

Onwards and upwards with the Baccus 6mm ACW. This time the Confederate artillery, just five guns in the Confederate Army pack which Baccus do, and which I bought at Salute back in April. I have probably painted a third of the figure I bought that day, and let me tell you that is pretty good going for me.

These Guns For Hire

I went to Britcon last weekend, it's mostly a three-day tournament but there are a good number of traders there on the Sunday and it's a local show for me. It's also an excuse for a pint and a meal at Turtle Bay near St Peter's Square. Goat curry and Red Stripe - very nice. There wasn't a whole lot for me on the stalls, nothing in 6mm, but I did buy a pack of Pulp Gangsters, "These Guns For Hire". I bought the Osprey rules for Prohibition gangs, Mad Dogs with Guns, and these figures were fun to paint, as the Pulp Figures usually are.

Union Zouaves

Painted some more of the Baccus ACW, this time the Union Zouaves. I wanted to make them look a little different from their Confederate equivalents, though they could quite justifiably look very similar. Anyway for these I chose to model them on the New York Fire Zouaves, with red shirts and dark blue trousers. For the base I used AK Terrains acrylic textured paint, an alternative to Basetex. It is slightly easier to apply and "paint", though it seems to be death to brushes. But the colour choice is odd - there is a very deep chocolate brown, which I used on the Confederate Zouaves, and a Dry Earth which I used here. That, however is a very pale sand colour - they don't seem to do a mid-earth tone. I brushed it over with an earth shade and it looks fine flocked, but still rather arid. It would be nice to have one with a more temperate feel.

Battlescale buildings

A new supplier of 6mm buildings, Battlescale Miniatures. This is run by a guy called Steve Clay, who is on several Facebook groups, and is based close to Stoke. I thought I would try some of his stuff for my ACW project, and as a change from Leven, and I must say it is pretty nice. The resin is quite shiny, and very hard, with no apparent bubbles or flaws. The surface detail is good, and I painted them up quite quickly, mostly layers of drybrushing, with a few little details to finish them off. The models I got are the Dunker Church, which was on the battlefield of Antietam, a Farmhouse with Annexe, a Gambrel Barn and a Timber Clad Homestead. Unlike soldiers, where uniformity is expected, buildings need as much variety as possible, so a good new source of supply is always welcome.

Aren't they French?

Continuing with the ACW painting, the latest batch are a regiment of Confederate Zouaves. Baccus figures as always, and very nice too. These really are a bizarre set of troops, if someone had made them up you would not have believed them, and the Union side also had its own versions, which I will be painting next. Curious as they are, they do add a bit of colour and variety to what might otherwise be a rather dull battlefield of dark blue and grey.

A light shines

I painted a number of Leven buildings which I have bought from two or three shows. Mostly rural buildings suitable for the ACW theme I am working on, but also including a lighthouse which I bought for no better reason than I liked the look of it.