ACW Armies in Old 6mm

Trumpeter's, like most gaming societies, has a regular 'Bring and Buy'. On one such game night, a small, pathetic, and forlorn looking box of metal was left totally ignored on the sales table, without even a price on it -- just a "Free! Take 'em!" sign. Inside were old -- very old -- 6mm figures, manufacturer unknown, arranged in strips and blocks.

Well, being club's resident "hair roller freak" I couldn't pass these up, so I claimed them.

On close inspection these turned out to be a half-painted collection of Napoleonics, French vs. Russians. Not badly painted at all; brass plates on the shakos, clearly defined Grenadiers of the Guard, etc. But the painter had given up halfway through.

I left them in their box, as some project to be taken up later.

I turned my mind to them now and then, trying to think what I could make of them, for they presented some problems. Any project would have to conform to strict criteria:

• They didn't match any of the 6mm figures that I own. The difference in scale between 6mm can be very dramatic, and that between these and my mostly Irregular Miniatures collections is greater than that between 15mm and 28mm!
• There was no way that I could augment what I had on hand -- they were what they were. 
• I had to make efficient use of all of them, or the remainder would be wasted. 

At first I thought of finishing the Napoleonics paint job, but my painting would invariably not match  the original, and besides, I already have quite a large Napoleonics collection in 2mm 'nano' scale.

Then I thought of painting them up for the Crimean War, but to my mind that period is best suited to 15mm, at the smallest.

Then I remembered an old idea that I had been toying with for some time: an operational/grand tactical collection for the ACW.

"What for?" said fellow gamer Chris. "You've already got a 6mm Civil War collection!" True, but those figs. are really closer to 10mm, and only work for up to Corps level actions using something like 'Fire & Fury'.

What I was thinking of was something on the grand scale, where great, multi-day battles could be fought with sweeping moves on a large table. (We'll get to rules later, but the general idea of scale is one unit represents a brigade, six inches to the mile, and four hour turns.)

So, shown here are some shots of what I've done with those freebies (click to enlarge).

Several Corps of the Army of the Potomac, seen head on.

The Army of the Potomac, 1863

Above is the Army of the Potomac, with the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Eleventh and Twelfth Infantry Corps left to right. On the extreme right are the Artillery Reserve and the Cavalry Corps.

Each stand represents a brigade, and has a standard one-inch width. Colour-coded magnetic labels, containing unit ID and game information, are mounted on the rear of the stands. These can be easily changed to reflect different OBs. The unit colours are scratch-made: printed flags mounted on reinforced wine bottle foil, and then varnished.

Below is the Army of Northern Virginia, with, left to right, Longstreet's I Corps, Ewell's II Corps, A.P. Hill's III Corps, and J.E.B. Stewart's Cavalry.

The Army of Northern Virginia, 1863

 Left is a snip of the command stand for the Army of Northern Virginia, showing Bobby Lee himself atop Traveler, and escorted by assorted staff flunkies.

Here's the command stand for Longstreet's I Corps. Left to right are Lt-Col. Freemantle (Coldstream Gds.), Maj.Sorrel, Gen. Longstreet, and the scout Harrison.








Cheers!