From SimonM: ACW Confederates & "Catalyst Games Lab" Battletech (59.5 Points)

For my eighth post I thought I would simply knuckle down and work on some more 15mm Epic-scale American Civil War Confederates by Warlord Games, and finally complete the Command stand I need so as to field a sixty-man strong contingent of the 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment. In addition, I had just enough hobby time leftover to provide my ongoing Weird War Two project with some German Heer reinforcements using a few of the marvellous Battletech models currently being sold by Catalyst Game Labs.

These twenty plastic ACW soldiers came free on a sprue accompanying Issue 393 of "Wargames Illustrated" and were actually used as experimental strips to help me determine how best to pigment Warlord Games’ recently released Napoleonic figures. As a result half of the Confederates 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. I also 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.

I 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". Lastly, the models’ hands and faces were layered with "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone, shaded in "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade, and later highlighted with extra dabs of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone.

The two flags were bought from GMB Designs, and consist of a 1st (silk) pattern ANV battle flag, and an Alabama state standard. Despite being 15mm scale, they’re just a smidgeon too big for the pole bearers. However, I really like them as they stand out on the tabletop, and, before being coated with “Vallejo” Matt Varnish, were easily manoeuvred into position.

Alongside my infantrymen, I’ve also painted up two of the plastic mounted commanders – one for the Confederates and one for the Union. The Confederate General was painted similar to the basic palette of my soldiers. But for the Union General I went with a much darker blue colour scheme, as I plan for them to initially consist of Iron Brigade regiments.

This 1:285 scale plastic model of an Ebon Jaguar is manufactured by “Catalyst Game Labs” and can be bought together with the Turkina, Kingfisher, Huntsman, and Crossbow in the company’s BattleTech: Clan Heavy Battle Star boxed set. All the pre-assembled miniatures in this “supplement to the BattleTech: A Game of Armoured Combat box” come with an assortment of Alpha Strike cards depicting various colour schemes. However, as I plan to employ this particular sculpt as a (second) German Focke-Achgelis War Walker for an upcoming Weird War Two campaign using some homemade rules, I decided to go with a predominantly grey palette.

The 41mm tall figure was initially undercoated with “Vallejo” German Fieldgrey WWII, shaded in “Citadel” Nuln Oil, and dry-brushed using (more) “Vallejo” German Fieldgrey WWII. I then ‘picked out’ the heavy Clan OmniMech’s three-toed feet using a combination of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and “Citadel” Nuln Oil. These areas were later carefully dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy bluegrey.

I also brushed a couple of coats of “Vallejo” White to the war walker’s cockpit and nose cone as a base colour. These parts were later layered in “Vallejo” Sun Yellow, shaded in “Citadel” Reikland Fleshshade, and very carefully dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Sun Yellow. Finally, the miniature’s joints, exhaust vents and weaponry were treated to some “Vallejo” Gunmetal and a splash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil.

The Elemental battle-armoured infantry are all 6mm in height, and were painted using the self-same colours as the Ebon Jaguar. I did however, apply some “Vallejo” Sombre Grey to the super-soldiers’ smoke trails, before washing them with “Citadel” Nuln Oil. The jet-streams were then dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Sombre Grey and some White too.

Hopefully this latest AHPC entry will provide:

20 x 15mm ACW Infantry = 40 Points

2 x 15mm ACW Cavalry = 8 Points

1 x 40mm Mechs as per previous Battletech posts = 7 points

9 x 6mm Infantry = 4.5 Points

Total = 59.5 Points

Your Confederates look great, and I think the slightly oversized flag is visually appealing. Your mech colour scheme looks more like something from the Luftwaffe than the Heer. The yellow accents really help it 'pop'.

Barks