Saturday 9 November 2019

Dixon Miniatures American Civil War - 28th North Carolina & the dawn of a new obsession



 Well I'm hoping this will be the beginning of a fruitful relationship.  It's been six months since I last blogged anything; prior to this, I was rolling along at a good pace, regularly painting up pieces for an ever increasing Khorne warband and then I suddenly hit a brick wall.

 This was the first case of a proper lost mojo in about seven years. I've had the odd week or two when I can't get into a project but not like this. It was probably down to a mixture of a work schedule over the summer that rapidly escalated out of control and one or two personal issues that I won't bore you with.
 So a couple of months back, I decided to watch Ken Burns' Civil War masterpiece again. I'd first seen this with the old man back when it was first aired in the UK in 1991 when I was about 15. He was massively into the civil war and made me sit down and take it all in. I watched it again a couple of years ago but on seeing it again recently, it had an effect on me that I was not expecting. Total obsession! I've watched it about ten times in the past two months and don't feel like letting up yet either. I could go on all day about this documentary but this blog is about toy soldiers. The urge to paint returned and I looked around various civil war ranges and found that Dixon Miniatures were by far and above, the most characterful I'd seen. I'll go into them more in a sec but I thought I'd show a pic of what I've done first.

28th North Carolina

 I've decided to tackle the Confederates first and have enjoyed using the varied grey palette. I'm managing about one figure a fault which is pretty good for me. What I'm particularly pleased with is that I've managed to paint every figure from my initial order. The plan was to not buy too many too soon and overwhelm myself but I threw caution to the wind and ordered a load more.


 I have to say, I've totally fallen in love with this range. They are an absolute joy to paint and so full of character. I'm so impressed with the extensive detail to them with all the various heads that are available. I've managed to amass a small force of Confederates with every man being different. Plus there are about 400 different poses in the range. There are some really cool character models available too. The flag is from Redoubt Enterprises.



 I'm still in my infancy when it comes to learning about the civil war and I know the rebs generally wore shell jackets over sack coats and I do have a mixture of both in this first unit but I'm not too bothered by all that.



I've found a lot of inspiration and guidance from other historical blogs out there, in particular Tales From GHQ




 Hopefully this will be a project I can stick with for some foreseeable time. The desire is burning brightly and I'm already making a start on some Confederate cavalry which I'm hoping to post up in a couple of weeks. Bye for now!

15 comments:

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    1. Thanks a lot Ray! Such a brilliant range of figures and nice to be painting something completely different.

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  2. Wonderful work on the North Carolina regiment, impressive details!

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    1. Cheers Phil. I'm really impressed with the flags by Redoubt with the battle honours depicted on them.

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  3. Now that is a truly classic project. Great stuff and looking forward to seeing more!

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  4. looks great Ned...I wish you a long and fruitful project!

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    1. Cheers Bloo! The motivation and drive is with me so I'm expecting this to run and run.

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  5. Great stuff Ned. Dyer just linked me to your blog and also reminded me I haven't posted your book yet lol.

    Dixon are the true "oldhammer" ACW range and you've really done them justice!

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    1. Thanks a lot Mathew! Haha! Oh did he? Well that'll be great. I moved house the other month so I'll ping you the new address. Yeah, well summed up; I just love 'em. They practically paint themselves.

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  6. Nice regiment! Don't worry about sack coats on North Carolina Confederates as they imported and issued a lot of them to their troops. I've been painting Dixon's since the 1980's when I first discovered them. They have the best weapons detail of any figs out there now. Enjoy your new addiction!

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    1. Thanks a lot Ratwig! Yeah I've seen quite a few examples of sack coats in rebel units the more I look around. I wish I'd got into them years ago now. Making up for lost time though. Yes it's a proper addiction alright. Can't get enough of these little guys! They seem to be a hugely popular range due to their character, variety and accuracy.

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  7. Fantastic work. I am currently painting union forces but am also amassing Confederate for the other side as well. I will be returning here for inspiration when I do start on them.

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    1. Thanks very much! Good luck with them and I'm glad that my work has inspired you. I'll be posting more soon.

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