“The Name Iron Brigade Came From A Remark…"

“…Made by General George B. McClellan when he saw the brigade advancing under a murderous fire.”

This 15mm scale plastic Union Commander from the Iron Brigade is produced by “Warlord Games” and came on a sprue I recently acquired off of “eBay”. The mounted figure is from the Nottingham-based company's "Epic Battles: American Civil War" range and is actually supplied with a square stand. However, as I wanted my officers to stand out a bit more on the tabletop, I decided to glue the single-piece model to a thin-lipped 30mm circular base instead.

The general was originally primed with a couple of coats of “Citadel” Abaddon Black, and, as with my recently finished Confederate mounted officer, painted from the hooves up. This meant applying some “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna to the horse, before subsequently shading the animal with a combination of “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade and "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade. I also dry-brushed some (additional) “Citadel” Abaddon Black to the horse’s legs, and then used the base paint to tidy up its mane, tail and leather straps.

"Brigade Models" WIPs - This Sovereign Land Ironclad has had all its details 'picked out'.

The animal’s saddle-rug was ‘picked out’ using a little “Vallejo” Heavy Blue and “Citadel” Drakenhof Nightshade, whilst the saddle itself with pigmented with “Vallejo” Heavy Brown and “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I applied a tiny amount of “Vallejo” Gunmetal to the stirrups (as well as the rider’s sword), and later darkened these up with a splash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil. 

With the horse’s super-simplistic palette finished, I gave the officer’s trousers a dab of “Vallejo” Steel Grey and his long coat a healthy dose of “Vallejo” Storm Blue. Both of these garments were shaded with “Citadel” Drakenhof Nightshade. The sculpt actually has the general’s cuffs and collar on him, but as this chap was going to command my Iron Brigade, I kept them “Vallejo” Storm Blue to suggest he was wearing the brigade’s famous “long, dark blue coat”.

"Catalyst Game Labs" WIPs - A Wasp, three Elemental battlesuits and a Wolverine

Alongside my latest Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge entry I have continued to make some good progress on the 1/1200th British Land Ironclads by “Brigade Models” I recently dusted off. I’ve actually now only got the impressively-sized Sovereign class vehicle to finish. But have succumbed to already ordering some reinforcements in the shape of eight Mk.III Armoured Infantry Carrier and plenty of the range’s 2mm-sized infantrymen.

In addition, I have turned my attention towards progressing some Russian reinforcements for my Weird War Two homebrew rule-set, using models taken from “Catalyst Game Labs” range of 1:285 scale plastic “Battletech” figures. I was actually lucky enough to pick up these mechs as individual models on “eBay”, which whilst a bit more expensive than I would have liked to have paid, was significantly cheaper than buying the boxed sets they are ordinarily found inside.