Painting 15mm Falcon ACW Figures

 In the past I hesitated painting figures when I didn't have many of them. This means sometimes it would be years before I got the never just to start painting them. With my 15mm Falcon Miniatures I decided to paint a couple of units. Once I started I kept going, until I was down to 20 figures left to paint. 

Needless to say, the large purchase mentioned in an earlier post has given me more freedom in painting these figures.

I have been painting them as different militia units at the start of the war, with some liberties taken. 

When I won these figures, it started me thinking of going in a different direction with them. Another thing I started collecting are cigarette cards from the 1880s of militia uniforms of the United States. Being from Massachusetts, I have collected what I believe is most of the cards representing Massachusetts militia uniforms of the 1880s. My idea is to paint units of Militia based on these cards.

The first unit painted is the 2nd Corps Cadets Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.

New Falcon Civil War Reinforcements

 Last week in the middle of the night, I realized that it had been a long time since I checked Ebay for Falcon Civil War figures.

Next morning while drinking my morning coffee I went onto Ebay and found 8 Falcon ACW sets for sale. They were in lots of 2, and priced reasonably enough that I just bought all four lots. There were 5 sets of infantry that I didn't have, and 3 sets of cavalry. 

I was a little disappointed that there were no command packs or special sets such as militia or USCTs, but that is minor. With the cavalry I got two sets of cavalry in hats with shotguns. As my cavalry will be units of three, using Battle Cry size units, that will give me two units with two spare horsemen. I am thinking of converting these two figures into generals for both sides.

I was concerned that when I first opened the box, several of the packages had some kind of residual in the package. I was afraid it was "lead rot" (although after I read that they are made with the finest lead free pewter). After opening the worst of lot, I realized that it was just the foam in the package had disintegrated.

More Info on Falcon ACW Figures

One reason I like Falcon Miniatures is their early war Militia figure. Most makers of ACW figures will do Zouave figures, but rarely cover Militia uniforms. One company that does do militia units is Freikorps. I have ordered many of their figures. I find them on the small side, and are difficult for me to paint..
The other day I was working in the basement and came across some MWAN digests. The first one I opened had an ad for Falcon ACW. This ad was for the usual Civil War figures. I did start going through more of them and found under the heading " Bits and Pieces"  that the magazine received a 4 page listing of the 15mm ACW line.  In it it had listing for " the 79th NY, militia, Iron Brigade, zouaves, Garabaldis, colored troops, Berden's, and many other regular figures". They also mention sappers!  
This article has set me on my next hunt for figures. So far I've had little luck online, but the hunt is half the fun.

Falcon Miniatures Civil War Game

I finally got a game played using my Falcon ACW units. I used Chris Salander's Horse & Musket 2.0 for rules. The photo above shows when the Confederates suffered a severe blow, losing their last strong unit, which broke their resistance.  One reason I have been enjoying this project is painting the different units in early Civil War militia uniforms, so each unit is easily identified. By the way, the unit in the upper right with sky blue uniforms is based on the 1st Massachusetts. Being from Massachusetts, I had to paint at least one unit from the state. I was hoping for greater things from them; although at the end they made the Confederates in front of them retreat.

 

Painted Falcon Civil War Units

It's been a while since I have got this much painting done. Eight- 4 man units. I've been enjoying painting these figures. Instead of the usual Union blue and Confederate grey uniforms, these units are being painted using early war uniforms, which makes  each unit easier to identify. On their bases they are marked A,B,C, and D. This is so if I use them in skirmish games, I can keep track of wounds on the figures.

 

Falcon Miniatures ACW Militia

Recently I started painting some 15mm ACW figures for skirmish games. After painting some regular infantry as a militia unit,I decided to painted up a unit of Falcon Miniatures militia. I was so happy with the results, I painted up 2 more units.

I have a total of 20 of these figures. I figure each 4 man unit will represent a company. Their commander is a 1st generation Minifigs officer.

I still believe I might have a few more of these figures and continue to look though all my different containers of figures.