Berdan's Sharp Shooters

The silver lining to the Great Confinement is that I've had a little more time to catch up on some smaller projects that had just never seemed to get done before. One of these was the re-basing of a unit of Dixon ACW 25mm Berdan's Sharp Shooters that I had bought secondhand off one of the other Southern Strategists. This unit had seen a bit of action in the past and needed a bit of tarting up, plus re-basing. The tone of green used by the original painter is a bit duller than I would have used myself, but this didn't concern me enough to re-paint them. With the re-basing done and a few painting 'touch ups' these blokes are ready to take on the rebels.

I intend using these guys primarily as skirmishers in extended formation, which historically was their role when they were formed and which they performed exceedingly well as. However, I can also use them as a formed line unit if required.  

These figures came with squirrel tails attached to their kepis, which was a common practice for a small number of Union regiments, the most notable coming from Pennsylvania. I don't think Berdan's 1st US Sharp Shooters followed this practice, but it would appear they now do in my miniature Union army.

 Until next time!   

Confederate Camp

During the lockdown I've been working from home and haven't had as much free time as I had hoped. However, I have managed to start and complete a few small projects that will hopefully add a little spice to the gaming table. One of these projects was a small Confederate camp site using Renedra plastic tents and 28 mm Perry Miniatures. I made the most of a Renedra sale earlier in the year and bought a few more tents than I needed, but I'm sure I'll find some use for them all. I used a small piece of 6 mm thick mdf as the base (instead of my usual 3 mm bases) in an effort to prevent any warping in the glueing and painting process.   

The tent set comes with small camp stretchers, one of which I placed in the officer's tent.

I've tried to create a casual early war camp scene with the fire as the focus.

I might even add some straw coming out of the  open tents as bedding for the enlisted men.

I'm reasonably happy with how the tents turned out by starting with a light grey undercoat, followed by a Ghost grey top coat, washing with a sepia wash, then a dry brush with more Ghost grey. 

I really like the pose of this bloke smoking his pipe.

 A Federal camp is almost near completion, so I hope to be posting some shots of that soon.

Thanks for having a look. Until next time!