I have done little with the hobby the last couple of months. I try to start a project but lose interest quickly. I did read a couple of books about the Canadian Rebellions of 1837-38, and the Fenian raids. It has me thinking of an imagi-nation game where both sides use militia companies to form their armies.
I started stripping down my 15mm Minifigs militia, with the idea of 4 man companies. After painting a couple of units, I started losing interest. I realized that at that scale I couldn't paint fine details to distinguish the different companies, such as buttons and hat details. I want to use American militia units as the basis for my games. For time periods I am thinking either the 1830's or 1880's; these periods saw a large number of Volunteer militias with colorful uniforms and names. Doing the 1880's would be easiest for me; it is easy to find toy soldiers of this period being manufactured. Finding figures that would work for the 1830's is more difficult. What's more, I want an "Old School" look to the figures.
I have several ideas on how to go with this project, including trying to sculpt my own figures. As my wife and I are leaving on a camping trip tomorrow, I will have time to think this problem out. I also plan to bring a few books for research.
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| Figure scale from left to right: 15mm Minifigs; 20mm Frying pan and Blanket Amalgamated; 30mm SAE; 40mm home cast, 2 converted Zinnbrigade, 1 Prince August, and a converted Zinnbrigade figure; 54mm Britains. |
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| The look I'm going for. |
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| To see more shots of these militiamen, look under "Historic Eastfield Foundation". |
Sounds a very interesting project. I look forward to reading more and seeing your games and figures.
ReplyDeleteHopefully I can decide which way to go as far as scale and period. I really want to do the 1830s militia, but finding figures might be a problem.
Delete40mm would be a great scale for painting the finer details John.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the camping trip.
I am leaning towards 40mm; finding figures that scale could pose a problem. 30mm might be easier, as I'm thinking of using SAE figures as a starting point.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the militia photographs - really interesting to see the irregular range of uniform and kit. Best of luck with your new project, I look forward to seeing what (scale) you convert to good use.
ReplyDeleteI just got back from camping. Being up in the hills,we had no internet.so I have done some rading on 19th century militiad in the US.While wanting to do militias of the 1830s, doing the 1880s might be more practable.
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