Despite living in Virginia where you can't throw a rock without hitting an American Civil War battlefield, I've never collected armies for the period in 28mm. Sometime back in the 90's I collected a fair number of pre-painted 15mm ACW models, but sold them when I decided to go all in on Napoleonics (Jeez, it's been a minute since I've painted anything for that period, too). Earlier this year I stumbled on a great eBay deal for a Perry Miniatures
Battle in a Box - American Civil War. It was quite by accident, but I remembered the fun of buying those giant Warhammer boxed sets in days of yore - models, terrain, and rules in one package! I dropped the cash, but wondered if I'd even get around to working on the set with everything else on my painting desk.
When the set arrived, it was just much fun as I thought it would be to dump everything out of the box. My wife watched bemusedly as I sorted through all the toys. After a quick glance at the rule booklet that came with the set I happened to remark, "These are designed for children, but will make for a good introduction to the period." My darling bride replied, "That sounds like my speed... maybe I could play."
...
I started building stuff that evening.
Basically there are enough models included in the box to field four units of infantry, one unit of cavalry, and two guns per side. Not world conquering armies, but enough to get started. Of course I immediately discovered I didn't have quite enough models for the way I wanted my units arranged so I promptly order a few more kits.
Given how easy these are to paint, it took far longer than I liked, but I managed to finish my initial goal for the Union infantry!
My wife is originally from New Jersey, so she'll be the Yankees (I got the squint eyes when I told her this, but she hasn't made me sleep on the sofa yet). These are flagged as Pennsylvania troops, but my first expansion will be a New Jersey brigade. I've actually designed things to be pretty generic and could re-flag these units if desired. Stands can even be rearranged to make regiments of different sizes (one of the reasons I've kept the command stands separate).
The cannons are also finished, but not yet based, so I'll take pics of those after I finish the Union general. I'm skipping the cavalry for now. The rules for cavalry in the quickstart rules don't do a great job of representing them. I'll worry about
I can't start a project without considering long term goals. Obviously my first order of business will be to paint the Confederates. After that I want to add two more infantry units to each side and break them into brigades of three. Each side will then get their cavalry, complete with dismounted elements. Limbers for the guns, brigadiers, and a couple of vignettes will round out the armies. After that? We'll see...
More on this project soon!
