Militia Cigarette Cards: Part 3

 

Militia Cigarette Cards: Part 2

 

Militia Cigarette Cards

     I mentioned on replying to comments in my last post that I have several cigarettes cards on militia units of the late 1800's in the United States. I have scanned a few of them for your viewing pleasure.

   I also recommend those interested in US military uniforms of the 18th and 19th century to go toheritagemuseumsandgardens.org  Once on the site go to "engage" then to "collections", which should bring you to where you can access the collection of military miniatures showing early American uniforms up to the late 1800's. They are truly inspirational figures and well worth checking out.

Homecasting Horses in 45mm

   A couple of other blogs have been working on post-ACW militia companies, an area of great interest to me. As mentioned before, anyone interested in colorful uniforms would do well to look into the militia uniforms of the militia in the United States in the 19th century. 

    I have been toying with different projects to get my interest back into gaming. One was to use Britain's West Point cadet figures to create post-ACW militia companies. Another was to make 40mm Militia units. I started by making a mold of a Britain's West Point figure; the idea is to use this figure to convert to a master that different heads could be added to.  The mold turned out usable figures; now to figure how to use them.

   I also saw at Berliner Zinnfiguren a nice horse mold in 45mm. The picture shows an elegant horse in full gallop. I ordered it, along with a Napoleonic Chasseur a Cheval figure.  I almost cancelled the order once the postage was added; however I broke down and bought the molds. 

  They came this week. As my wife was going out with a friend Saturday morning, I set up for a casting session while she was gone. I had also made a mold of a Britain's series B Guard marching figure that I wanted to test.

   The casting session was partially successful. My homemade mold was a failure. However, the Horse mold was a success. The horse mold, made by the company Nowikoff, is a two piece figure. What makes this mold great is the body of the horse is hollow, cutting down both weight and the amount of metal used. The mold fills well, however, being a rather thin mold, needs several clamps to keep it together without the metal oozing out. As can be seen from the photos below, the horse as cast is leaping over a bush, with a large base. I ordered it, hoping to cut the base and bush off, thereby having a horse with a classic Britain's free standing horse. Thankfully it worked as I hoped, although the legs have to be bent slightly to get them stable. Luckily the metal being used can be gently bent, so the horse is free standing. The two halves fit together well, with a few gaps that need to be filled.

  While working on the horse, another thing I wanted to see is if Zinn Brigade horsemen would work with this horse. I tried a Lancer figure on the first casting. I was very happy with the result. So happy, in fact that I cast total of 5 horses and a couple more Lancers with the idea of making a unit of Lancers. I want to paint up a unit of National Lancers, a Massachusetts Militia unit formed in the 1800's which became quite famous, and saw action in 3 wars. The National Lancers are still in existence, being a ceremonial unit in my home state.

West Point Casting

First casting of Nowikoff horse mold

Trying the horse with a Zinn Brigade Lancer. The inspiration for the National Lancers

A photo of a just poured horse. I believe more metal goes back into the pot that goes to the horse itself. I cut off the bush and base and return those to the pot.

Working on cleaning up the castings.

The horses have been glued together and primed for painting. I started painting one of the horses to see how glossy the glossy paint I am using was going to be. I really want these figures to look like proper "Toy Soldiers".

New Portable Wargame Board

    Like many wargamers, I am constantly looking for new ways to play games. With the loss of my "library",  space to wargame is limited. Having portable wargames is a good answer to gamers with limited room to game.

   One idea that intrigued me was using  magnetic playing pieces on a board mounted on a wall. In the past I've read of naval wargames being played on such a board, and battles even being played on refrigerator doors.

   Recently, I saw travel games with magnetic playing pieces. I was going to buy a travel chess set, but then came across another game, "Orthello", which has a green board squared off with 8X8 squares. At work I came across thin magnetic strips with words printed on one side, which had been discarded. They make idea stands for smaller figures. I haven't decided which figures to mount on them, although 10mm Scruby figures are light enough that they stay on the board when tipped upside down. I am planning to work on two small armies for the board. Such a setup can be used on my laptop desk while watching TV with the wife.

10mm Scruby's on the playing board.

The field of battle. The board folds in half with storage underneath for playing pieces and dice.

Halloween No Brain Wargame

I had a couple of hours of free time, and decided to get a quick game in. Halloween being my favorite "holiday", I decide to use my Caesar Undead and Goblin armies.

The two Halloween armies facing off.

The Goblins

The Undead

The armies closing in. The goblins are armed with "grenadiers",  some of the goblins seem to be armed with hand grenades.

The goblins lob grenades (or "pots") at an undead unit, killing one and making another retreat.

Every time the undead close with the goblins, the goblins fall back.

The goblins keep retreating, only to form again for the attack.

One specter manages to hold off a unit of goblins by himself.

The undead slowly are being whittled away. The undead just can't seem to kill any goblins.

another pot attack kills two undead.

The battle is reaching a critical stage. The undead general, Red Skull, plunges  into the  middle of the goblins.

The Red Skull attacks the leader of the goblins (the grey goblin).

The grey goblin falls back. During this game the goblins were constantly getting retreats, and losing very few dead.  Somewhere during the game I started imagining the small goblins quickly darting in, trying to land blows, and falling back before the undead counterblows.

The goblins then kills one of the undead with Red Skull, who then wisely falls back.

Red Skull orders a retreat.

 

Ideas for Future Projects

     In the last couple of months, I have had little time for wargaming. While reading Stuart Asquith"s Scenarios for the War of 1812, he recommended "Rocket's Red Glare", published by The Canadian Wargamers Group. I found a copy of it for a reasonable price, so I purchased it.This book also has a quick recap of the war and tactics used. It also has 14 scenarios, including 4 naval scenarios. They are different enough from Mr. Asquith's scenarios to make it a volume worth having.

   I bought some semi flats that. were on Ebay for several months. I already have some of these figures; I decided to buy these with the goal of painting them. It is a project started, and then set aside.

    While doing little for  my blog, I do still follow several blogs daily. Two of them have really caught my attention.Wargaming with 54mm Toy Soldiers and Tradgardland . Both of them have been gaming using late 19th century American style militia, a subject that I have great interest in. Anyone with an interest in colorful uniforms would find the American militias of the19th century worth researching.  With that in mind, I bought a couple of lots of old Britain's West Point figures, with the idea of using them as militia. I haven't quite worked out my plans yet, although several of the figures are missing arms. I have two molds with various arms that I can use with these figures. I also had an old figure that I build up a larger shako onto the figure,  that I was planning to make a mold out of. Another of the figures is a one piece figure, with the right arm cast onto the figure; this figure will be held as a possible mold master.  

New semi flats for painting.

The Arm molds

The two figures for possible mold making.

My copy of "Rocket's Red Glare"

One of the lots of Britains

The second lot, bought to experiment on.

New War of 1812 Books

     My wife and I finally managed to go camping a couple of weeks ago. It was my first real vacation in 10 months and was much needed. Last year while camping I started rereading all of Donald Graves books on the Canadian battles of the War of 1812. I was disappointed that he never wrote a book about the Battle of Queenston Heights. However, another author, Robert Malcomson, wrote a book about the battle. It was also put out by the same publisher of several of Mr. Graves' books and was the same quality read.  The name is "A Very Brilliant Affair" and  is worth the cost just for the Appendices, some which lists all the officers (and some of the enlisted men) of the units involved in the battle.
     The book has me thinking of getting a couple of War of 1812 games in. With this in mind, I finally broke down and bought Stuart Asquith's Scenarios for the War of 1812: War Game Actions from the War with America 1812-1815. One reason I hadn't purchased this before was the cost. However, after receiving it, I regret not buying it before.  It is a good volume for anyone wanting to wargame the war, but doesn't want to go too deep into research. With 12 scenarios, it would be enough to keep a gamer going for a long winter and, what I think makes this period so interesting, the different units involved: professional soldiers, militias, Native Americans, and a cast of interesting Generals and battles fought in all different conditions. Also, for those interested in age of sail battles, the war fought on the Great Lakes makes for interesting naval warfare. No Ship of the Lines or Frigates involved on the lakes, just small combatants.

Wargame Blast from the Past

At Projects & Procrastination blog, a new campaign is about to start. What really caught my eye was the fact that he is using a map from the old wargame book, Sham Battle. Long before this blog was started, I played a game using the rules and map in this book. It was also the only wargame I took pictures of.

The capital of Redina; Redton. It was to fall to the Bluvian Army.

The battlefield after the war. The dead still lay where they fell. These are the only pictures I have  (that I know of) of all my wargames before this blog.