“Exchanged And Reorganized With 610 Effectives…”

“…The 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment joined the Army of Tennessee..."

These twenty 15mm scale plastic Confederate soldiers are produced by “Warlord Games” and came free on a sprue accompanying Issue 397 of "Wargames Illustrated". Later released as part of the Nottingham-based company's "Epic Battles: American Civil War" game for its Black Powder rule-set, the two lines of infantrymen are the second of three stands I aim to complete so as to form the 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment.

Due to me trying to ascertain a quick(ish) method of pigmenting so many figures at once, half the soldiers were primed using a double-coat of "Citadel" Abaddon Black and the other half with “Vallejo” Sombre Grey. I then carefully started to ‘pick out’ all the strips’ numerous details from the ground up, applying a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade to the footwear of approximately half a dozen of the miniatures.

"...And served in General Quarles' and Shelley's Brigade."

I subsequently did something similar with the models’ trousers too, as I didn't just want all of them to be marching in the same colour pants. This caused me to pigment several with "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, a few more with Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, and the remaining Confederates with “Vallejo” Steel Grey and “Citadel” Drakenhof Nightshade.

For the soldiers’ jackets I either went with a mixture of "Vallejo" Sombre Grey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, "Vallejo" Heavy Blue and "Citadel" Drakenhof Nightshade, or Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. Such colours might seem a little odd for a Southern unit but the Alabama recruits actually wore "a dark blue frock coat" and "black broad brimmed felt hats at the war's start," so I wanted to capture that uniqueness with my palette choices.

"Catalyst Game Labs" WIPs - This Warhawk has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

I also gave all the Kepi hats a dash of "Vallejo" Sombre Grey and "Citadel" Nuln Oil, their blanket rolls a smidgeon of either "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, Heavy Red or White with a wash of "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, and their belt buckles a touch of "Vallejo" Gold and (more) Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter". Finally their hands and faces were layered with "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone, shaded in "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade, and later highlighted with extra dabs of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone.

With my latest Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge entry completed I have turned my attention towards progressing some French reinforcements for my Weird War Two homebrew rule-set, using some 1:285 scale plastic “Battletech” figures by “Catalyst Game Labs”. I actually plan on adding four stands of super-soldier infantry to President Albert Lebrun’s army, but have started with the large-sized model of a Warhawk to use as a Bloch-class war walker first…