Sunday, October 23, 2011

Rebels on the Attack

I've almost reach the point I throw away all the grey paints that dominate my painting desk for almost a year now. Only one Regiment and some skirmishers to go and I'm finished for our new years game and I will take a break from ACW for a while. That said, I ordered a lot of Foundry and Perry stuff for the next Brigade this week and I'm still on a mission to build a decent size army of at least three Brigades with all the bells and whistles.



Doing this one year project with our group made me again realize what games I like best: Fast paced (say platoon level) skirmish games for our evening games and larger sized games where you actually can take the role of a general ordering lots of units around. The more the better in this case. With our very limited attention span we never got to that point actually. Even with our biggest efforts we always got stuck at about eight units per side for this kind of games. Of course we have great fun playing this games but it also gives the feeling that we need far more to take it to the next level.
This ACW effort is different in that aspect and to me is a game changer. We can now do a decent size game and our new years game will feature about twenty Regiments a side. Finally some reasonable numbers.


But this also makes me reluctant to start yet another new period soon. I want to do some more ACW next year building on what we already have now. And really, I have so many armies that have seen action only once and even some that never reached the tabletop at all. Why start painting another if you have lots of others you can expand, or simply can start using. Well, I know the answer but to stop this rambling I'll conclude that I'm lost at the moment. Haven't touched a brush in two weeks and even considering a downsize to a 10mm project to reach my goal of mass sized games. It's only because I can not decide on the period that I did not order some samples to see if it's something for me. Over the next weeks I will introduce some new periods from the archives on the blog and let you know what the next move will be.

Miniatures from Renagade, flag from GMB. Complete gallery of all painted ACW here.
The Renegade miniatures Brigade is finished now consisting of a standing, marching, firing and charging regiment. I've made the stupid mistake of making the charging unit 18 figs only. As these mini's always lead the way on the gaming table it would have been smarter to make this regiment a bit larger instead of smaller than the rest. With regards to poses I would also do it different next time. More of the same pose in a Brigade, looks better as a Brigade on the table. The next ones will be all in attacking/charging poses...

Now, off to see the All Blacks crush the French. I may be Dutch but I'm a huge rugby fan and I'm still recovering from last weeks semi-finals tragedy. Hopefully the All Blacks set things straight today...









18 comments:

  1. Off to match the match myself but enough to say, "job well done!" It has been a delight to see this project come to fruition. Curious to know what you are planning next.

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  2. Great looking unit,I like the look of the big battle also!

    Like Michael interested to see what your next plan is!

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  3. As usual those look just fantastic!! I can understand getting a bit burned out, but I'm happy to see you got a second wind back.
    I'm in a similar situation where I'd like to work on some of my older armies and even re-base a few, but need to finish a few things first.

    Christopher

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  4. Another great looking unit Mike. Well done.

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  5. Waterloo? Sudan? FIW? WW1?
    spoilt for choice !

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  6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd1oA47Ti0I

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  7. These would look great modded with 40K heavy bolters - or maybe cryomek heave plasma lance cannons!

    *snortle*

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  8. Another nice Regiment Michael.

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  9. Interesting??? I wonder what's in store for the Dutch Chapter!! Keep to 15mm and below for massed games, it can save your marriage. Great looking figures and flags!!!!

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  10. Very nice work, Mike. These troops look like they may walk off their base and across the table.

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  11. Great painting! You have inspired me to paint that mound of 28mm Dixon ACW figures on my painting table!

    Cory
    Franklin, TN

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  12. Another great looking unit! Looking forward to seeing your future projects. :-)

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  13. Very nice work Mike and a lovely looking unit. You've done a lot with a gray palette and the one fellow in the brown trousers at the end really stands out nicely. I'm always torn myself painting Rebel infantry as to how much variety (gray vs butternut) to include, but you've been very disciplined with the grey and done well.
    Cheers,
    Mike

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  14. Thanks for the comments. Really appreciated as I'm trying to stay motivated for the last two batches.
    Hi T., ouch..historicals
    @Mad Padre, I struggle with this as well. I try to go for an all gray pallete for some of the units with the occasional odd one out. Too much mixing takes away from the overall look of the unit IMO.

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  15. Are beautiful, my compliments for this

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  16. Great work on this unit! I dunno, I still like the varied castings in a unit as it provides more interest for the eye (and makes it more fun to assemble a unit that is dynamic as opposed to a single pose).

    Curt

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