Dixon Miniatures American Civil War - Confederate 12 Pound Napoleon Gun

 

 Well it's been slow going with the Tilean mercenaries over the last few weeks and while I'm trying to pick away at the halberdiers, I've struggled with the other units due to unsuccessful uniform colour schemes resulting in several figures being abandoned or stripped. So I've taken some time out for the sake of my sanity.

 Meantime I've decided to tackle some more of my Confederate army and have produced a second cannon base, this time a 12 pound Napoleon gun, using Dixon Miniatures as usual.

 Named after Napoleon III of France, it was the most popular smoothbore cannon used in the Civil War, widely admired for its safety and reliability. Union gun crews were the first to use the Napoleon but the Confederates soon replicated its versatile design for their own use and had around 600 in total throughout.

 Due to the gun's effectiveness, General Lee had nearly all 6 pounders from the Army of Northern Virginia sent to the Tredegar Ironworks in to be melted down and recast as 12 pounders.

The Napoleon lined up alongside a Parrot Rifle

 Copper became increasingly scarce for the Confederacy, due to the Ducktown copper mines near Chattanooga, Tennessee being siezed by federal troops, thus causing the casting of bronze to cease. Therefore, Tredegar would cast later models of the Napoleon in iron.

 I've also painted a couple of infantry to round my original unit off to twenty.

 

 I've plans for another infantry unit plus one or two other bits and pieces. Sorry if you were expecting more Tilean Mercenary updates; they will appear, it'll just have to wait till I'm good and ready.

 

 

 

 

Warhammer Tilean (Empire) Mercenary Army - more Halberdiers of Trantio

 Just a quick update for now; four more halberdiers have joined the unit. Two of them are the plug in weapon imperial footsoldier models who will fit on each end of the front row which is now complete.

 I always thought the guy second from left was a bit on the small side compared to the other halberdiers that were released at the time. I was always reluctant to add him to the unit because of his slightly smaller scale but despite that, I've given him the nod.

The front rank

 I've five left to paint to complete the unit of eighteen but I'm going to give myself a break for now and work on a Tilean mortar next to break things up a bit.

Warhammer Tilean (Empire) Mercenary Army - Barbella's Pikemen of Remas

 So here we have the beginning of the next unit in my Tilean mercenary contingent, the first five members of Barbella's Pikemen of Remas.

 The figures of course, are from the Alcatani Fellowship range but I've decided not to use the leader model, partly because I feel he doesn't really fit in with the rest of the Alcatani figures, despite being a decent sculpt. I thought the trooper holding his helmet made a fitting commander with his distinct classical style so I've gone for him.

  Gianni Barbella is the son of one of the merchant princes of Remas. Despite the tender age of eighteen, Gianni is a highly respected and capable commander, adored by his troops.
 Remas is well renowned for its pikemen units such as Ricco's Republican Guard and the Alcatani Fellowship. Barbella's company are no exception.

 I'm still hunting for about half a dozen figures to complete the unit so it may take a while to draw a line under them. As before, I'll list the stats of Gianni and the unit once they're all done.

 I'll be continuing with the halberdiers next and will post another four up at some point next week.

Warhammer Tilean (Empire) Regiment of Renown - Halberdiers of Trantio

 Well this next post was to be General Robert E. Lee's command base but for now, my American Civil War project has come to a halt and after over a year away, I have returned to painting Citadel stuff. I can't believe it's been so long.

 The initial plan is to resume my Empire collection and I've decided to work on a Tilean mercenary contingent. It'll be sort of based around the Old Worlder Mercenary Contingent list featured in Warhammer Armies. I'll list the stats of the named characters and the unit once I have them all painted.

 First up is the unit leader and standard bearer for my Tilean halberdiers which I've made into my own regiment of renown.

The unit command group in full

 For my unit leader I've gone for one of the real stand out figures from the original warhammer Empire range, the hero with eye patch and halberd.

 An immensely popular model, I've noticed this guy go for around the £30 on Ebay lately on more than one occasion - and that's on auction format, not desperados succumbing to the temptation of overpriced BINs.

The standard bearer is one of my favourite models from the original empire range. I replaced the original standard with a longer steel rod to accommodate at larger banner and have given it a standard top from another empire figure.

 The banner isn't my own work, I'm useless at freehand so I leave that to more talented folk than me, namely Pete's Flags from Ebay, a renaissance Habsburg design in fact but it certainly suits the style of what I'm looking for with this unit. I feel like I should have incorporated some blue into the flag but I'm somewhat wary of giving it a different finish to the rest of it. Additional paint may look a bit shiny in comparison to the printed finish and stand out oddly if you see what I mean.

Guido Gargano

Tilean Mercenary Captain 

 Despite his advancing years, Guido is still a steadfast and redoubtable fellow, a veteran of the mercenary armies of both the overthrown former Trantio Prince Orlando and successor Marco Colombo. Considered to be one of the more loyal Tilean mercenaries, he will generally stick to an agreement and is not the sort to change sides in the middle of a battle if an opponent offers a greater amount of cash.

 For the unit champion, I've recycled one of the models from my army painting challenge from a couple of years back, actually a Marauder reiksguard knight on foot. I've found he works pretty well as a halberdier command figure though. The drummer is also recycled from the same project and both models have had their bases jazzed up a bit to fit in with the new crowd.

Quintilano Dell'orso

Tilean Halberdier Champion

 A hulking brute of a man, Quintilano stands at nearly two metres tall and is an imposing sight in the unit. Originating from an affluent background, his exquisite and decorative armour is of the finest quality. He has brought shame on his family by waiving the position of a Tilean condottieri cavalryman, opting for the wild and unpredictable life in the mercenary ranks.

 With the command complete, I'll add a trooper on each end to make a rank of six followed by two more ranks to take the unit up to eighteen.

 So my plan is to flit around working on various aspects of the Tilean force. I have made a start on one of the other units so I may post them next while I add to the unit of halberdiers.

Dixon Miniatures American Civil War - 2nd Virginia Infantry

 Hi there. As the lockdown continues, I'm finding myself at the desk even more than usual so I've been able to knock out another installment for my growing Confederate force.
 Up next is another infantry unit, this time from the 2nd Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, as per usual from Dixon miniatures.

 Raised from what would now be today's western Virginia and became West Virginia during the war, this regiment saw action in a lot of the prominent battles; First and Second Manassas, Gaines Mill, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg etc.

 This is my third infantry unit now, every man being different thanks to the versatility of the Dixon range. I found the last three quite hard going as I struggled to get the unit complete. This is the first unit where I've used the state flag as well as a battle flag, something I need to do with my previous two units.

Figures left and centre on the bottom picture are carrying the Lorenz rifle as opposed to the Springfield or Enfield.

 My next installment will be the command base of General Robert E. Lee which I'm really looking forward to and seeing as I'm not going far this week, I should have it done by the weekend.

Dixon Miniatures American Civil War - General James Longstreet

 With all this social distancing I'll at least have the time to expand my Confederate force. The latest addition here is a command base featuring Lee's War Horse, Lieutenant General James Longstreet.

 Longstreet played a pivotal role in both the Eastern and Western theatres of the Civil War. He distinguished himself in the early Confederate successes at First and Second Manassas before mounting successful defensive stands at Antietem and Fredericksburg in 1862.

 He was probably most remembered for reluctantly overseeing the doomed offensive that was Pickett's Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, despite advising Robert E. Lee of its futility.

 On the left is Captain Thomas Jewett 'TJ' Goree, Longstreet's aide.

 Yet another wonderful sculpt by Dixon miniatures, Longstreet was a joy to paint and it's nice to see a command base added to my force. After painting six mounted figures on the spin, I'm going to tackle another artillery piece and an infantry unit over the next few weeks. Thanks for looking and stay safe!

Dixon Miniatures American Civil War - Confederate Cavalry

 I've added to my initial three Confederate cavalrymen (featuring J.E.B Stuart) with another three over the last couple of weeks.

The Dixon civil war cavalry are superb and are in my opinion some of the best in the range.

 Confederate cavalry were considered as superior horsemen to their northern counterparts due to the more rural South where roads were poor and more suited to horses in comparison to the urbanised North where streetcars and carriages were more commonplace.

 Confederate cavalry owned their own horses and were compensated on a monthly basis. If a soldier's horse was lost (killed, sick, injured etc), he was responsible for replacing it at his own expense. The general rule was for the soldier to return with a new horse within sixty days or face the ignominious fate of becoming an infantryman.

 The plan is to paint another six in the near future. I'm currently in the process of knocking out another artillery piece and also a Confederate command base featuring General Longstreet so watch this space.