Send in the Cavalry -ACW 10mm (Part 1)

This project has been delayed long enough and time to get it back on the work bench. 

While I was deployed last year I discovered a neat company (Gordon & Hague) who were producing 10mm Pre-painted ACW troops.  Many were on clearance as they were transitioning to a new paint scheme so I bought up a small army to occupy my time in hope that they would augment my existing 10mm armies back home.

Well, most of the infantry were a bit on the tall side for my existing ACW armies , so with a few exceptions I decided not to keep those and sold the extras off recovering most of my investment.  The cavalry though are still a very viable option as I had no other mounted troops other than a few commanders.  They seem to blend in very well on the gaming table.

Union Cavalry ready for horse holders

The cavalry figures come three to a stand, so I re based them two figures to a stand to fit the bases I am using and stretch the limited number of figures I own.  Soon I had enough mounted and dismounted Union troopers for 4 regiments/brigades depending on what scale rules you are using.  We played a few games of OTR this way, but I was still missing horse holder stands.  After checking with my LGS and placing a special order the horse holders finally arrived.  Now it is time to get painting so my Union units will be complete as well as building an equal number of Rebs.

The horse holders are Perrin Miniatures and come 12 to a pack with a Horse and a dismounted figure holding the reigns.  I decided that a stand would look best with 1 dismounted figure and 3-4 horses.  Due to the base size I am working with 3 horses is all that is going to fit.  With a total of 8 units I will need 2 horse holder stands per unit making a total of 16 stands (8 Union and 8 Confederate).  This should give me plenty of options depending on what historical or fictional scenario we decide to play and the scale of the rules (Brigade vs. Regimental).

Confederate Cavalry forces based

As I have not used my Confederate troops yet they had to be based and painted.  The Gordon & Hague figures a nice right out of the package, but really need a bit of touch up work to bring them up to my gaming quality so they do not look so bland.  With the union troops this involved painting several of the horses to provide variety and then inking (Army Painter dip) and dry brushing.  The nice thing about Rebs is they do not need to be so uniform, so I will take a bit more liberty with the uniform colors on these. 

Dismounted Reb command stand fresh from a dip

At this point I have not touched the mounted troopers, but did start to provide some color to the dismounted figures.  This also included some union troopers which had to be converted into rebs as I was not able to get the number of confederates I needed from Gordon&Hague as they sold out.  Some blue pants here a butternut coat there a bit of yellow for color and they start to take shape.  I them use the Army Painter Dip method which I had never used before.  Once dry this seems to give them much more depth and detail.  Top it off with a quick dry brushing and they come out very nice.

In addition to the cavalry I am adding 3 more  more mounted commanders per side as I had to convert some of the G&H generals I had into the cavalry command stands.  The unpainted officers in the pictures are a combination of GHQ and Perrin.

I expect this project to take a few weeks as I will be traveling some this month, but I have set a goal for myself to have them done and ready for battle by the end of July.  My son saw what I was doing and mentioned he would like to play again while they are off for the summer, so provides a bit of extra motivation.....We will see.

Until next time.....