Dixon Miniatures American Civil War - General Robert E. Lee

 So I've finally got around to finishing off what will be the centrepiece of my Confederate army, the command base of General Robert E. Lee. I had initially started it back around May or sometime around then before having a break from the whole Civil War thing.

 The figure of Lee from the Dixon range has a great deal of charm and was nice to paint up. There are a number of nice officer figures by Dixon which were well suited to what I wanted to achieve here. I think this is probably the first grey horse I can recall painting actually, which is Traveller of course. 

General Robert E. Lee with staff. Second from left is aide Walter H. Taylor. 

 Ever loyal to his beloved Virginia, it goes without saying that Lee was one of history's greatest military commanders. 

 A top graduate from West Point, Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia from June 1862 following the wounding of General Joseph E. Johnston up until the war's end three years later. He was successful in repelling the Army of the Potomac away from Richmond during the Battles of the Seven Days followed by success at Second Manassas.

 Lee's two most notable victories were at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, overcoming enormous odds against superior numbers with tactical mastery. After another invasion of the north, Lee was decisively beaten at Gettysburg, coming under fierce criticism for the doomed frontal assault on the Union centre, Pickett's Charge. 

 The following year there were inconclusive battles for Lee at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania before the siege of Petersburg. By the time of the capture of Richmond in 1865, Lee's army was a shadow of its former self and surrender was inevitable. 

 After the war, Lee became President of Washington College in Virginia before passing in 1870.

 I've a couple of infantry to round an 18 man unit up to 20 and then I shall organise a group shot of the army so far which I'll aim to post up at the weekend.

Dixon Miniatures American Civil War - General John Bell Hood

 

 So up next, as planned, is the command base for my Texan Brigade, featuring its commander General John Bell Hood. I had to sculpt the extra long beard with green stuff as the model was sporting fairly modest facial hair that was insufficient to replicate Hood's. Dixon Miniatures feature a couple of nice models waving hats/kepi which I've put to good use here, cheering on their beloved commander.

 Arguably one of the best brigade and division commanders in the Confederacy, John Bell Hood was renowned for his bravery and aggression but was prone to recklessness. He was assigned to the Texan Brigade in February 1862, being promoted to Brigadier General the following month. He and his brigade performed well during the 7 Days Battles and featured prominently at Antietam later on in the year.

 The following year at Gettysburg, his arm was severely injured as the result of an exploding artillery shell overhead. Avoiding amputation, it was though, rendered permanently useless. Severely wounded again, this time at the Battle of Chickamauga, Hood suffered a fractured femur resulting in his leg being amputated four inches below the hip(!). The surgeon sent the severed leg with Hood in the ambulance assuming he'd want to be buried with it. Against all odds, Hood survived.

 Now needing to be strapped to his horse, Hood's reputation was marred during the latter period of the war with notable disasters such as the Battle of Franklin. Working as a cotton broker in Louisiana after the war, he died of yellow fever at the age of 48 in the epidemic of New Orleans in 1879.

 So the plan is to continue with the Texan Brigade (most likely the 5th Texas infantry) and mix it up with getting my Genreal Lee command base finished which has been half done and left on the desk for some months. Getting Hood's base wrapped up has given me the momentum to follow suit with the main man's.

Dixon Miniatures American Civil War - 3rd Arkansas Infantry

 I've been continuing with my Confederate army and the plan is to create an infantry unit from each of the regiments that made up The Texan Brigade under the command of General John Bell Hood. Up first is the 3rd Arkansas. 

 This was the most celebrated regiment from Arkansas, being the only one from the state to feature in the entire war in the Eastern Theatre. Initially commanded by Colonel Albert Rust and then later by Colonel Van H Manning who had co formed the regiment, the 3rd would go onto be one of the most distinguished and respected Confederate regiments of the war. In November 1862 they were assigned to Hood's Texan Brigade joining the 1st, 4th and 5th Texas infantry regiments. 

 Their most notable action was arguably at Gettysburg, at the Devil's Den where they sustained heavy casualties due to being placed in the front of Hood's assault.

 

 After the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse on the 9th of April 1865, of the 1,353 mustered into the regiment back in 1861, only 144 men remained. 

 

I was glad to finally wrap these guys up having taken me just over a month from start to finish. With every trooper body being the same (save for the knapsack worn by some), it was getting a little monotonous. At least all my other regiments on the to do list will show more variation. 

 Up next will be John Bell Hood's command base which I aim to have done in a couple of weeks so keep an eye out for that.

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.