From MartijnN: Champion Hill in 10mm [Overdue and Returns] (100 points)

More than twenty years ago, on a whim as often happens, I took advantage of a sale at a now defunct American shop to buy some 10mm Perrin ACW figures. They were my first 10mm figures ever, and sat in a box for the best of two decades until the first Challenge I took part in, Challenge X. By that time I had come across the Battle of Champion Hill, I don't remember how and when, and also across the inspiring ACW YouTube video's by Little Wars TV, where they showed how you can recreate even large ACW  battles using small scale figures. They also produced a rule set that I found very interesting, Altar of Freedom, so I bought it and the scenario sets and campaigns they published. In this was a scenario for the battle of Champion Hill, one of the smaller scenarios, and I reckoned I had enough figures for it. Now they used 6mm figures, but I could not see no reason why 10mm would not work, so I decided to try and recreate the forces for this scenario with my long neglected Perrin figures. Easier said than done, because I am a slow painter and easily detracted. However, I remained working on them intermittently,  and today I present another four brigades of Union infantry (excuse the rather crappy photos, but at this scale it doesn't really matter). Long overdue, but ready at last. Only one more to go.

I retained the base size recommended in AOF, but used about 20 figures on each base. I think the result does look alright. There are three bases of general infantry and one base of Zouaves, loosely inspired by the 14th Indiana.

In the end, of course, I did not have enough figures. Does that ever happen to you? They are still produced and sold by Noble  Knight in the USA, but the shipping costs and customs duties on full price figures to the EU are rather prohibitive. However, the Perrin figures were now produced and sold by Magister Militum in the UK, and they regularly attended the Crisis show in Antwerp (as well as providing a fast and excellent postal service). Brexit put an end to that of course, but I was just in time to add to my collection before that happened. However, I bought one of their brigade packs because I was lazy and easygoing. Whereas I had bought varied packs before, to get a more diverse and ragged look, I found out that this meant that I now had only a few poses. Therefore, these four brigades have a more formal and regular look, perhaps suiting the Eastern theater a little better. But they came out fine in the end. I ended up one marching figure short, so one of the bases has only 19 figures. I don't think you really notice, though.

The force so far. Nearly done...

As Magister Militum has stopped trading and is looking to sell their ranges the ACW figures are currently unavailable in the UK. But I hope they find a buyer, and I will add to my collection if they do. I think I am still one (1!) Union brigade short, although I have to dig through my pile of opportunity to confirm this; I may be able to scrape one together yet, and I really do want to finish the troops for this scenario.

Okay, that brings us to this week's book recommendation. Of  course, that has to be on Champion Hill: Champion Hill, Decisive Battle for Vicksburg by Timothy B. Smith.

This is a great book. Again, well written narrative and a fine analysis of the events. Smith tells the story of the campaign leading up to the battle in some detail, and has an excellent and detailed account of the battle itself. It was a near-run thing, as someone once said about another battle, and he does a great job of trying to follow the thinking of and the actions taken (or not, as it happened) by both Pemberton and Grant on that fateful day of May 16th, 1863. Also, there are many excellent maps down to the regimental level. The battle may be little known today, perhaps (this is the first full book devoted entirely to it), but one might argue that Grant's victory led directly to the capture of Vicksburg and may have been instrumental in deciding the war. Again, a very fine book.

If you have any interest in the American Civil War I would also recommend two podcasts. The first is the excellent The Civil War, a history podcast. This is a long running series (longer than the war itself, even), generally in fairy strict chronological order. Although military history is a dominant part of it, Rick and Tracy also devote considerable attention to political and socio-economical aspects of the war. Usually relatively short episodes, very well researched and brought in an accessible, informal yet very well informed way. I should issue a "may contain some Dad jokes" disclaimer, but I highly recommend this one.

Also of note is the Battle of Gettysburg podcast by licensed battlefield guides (as they don't tire of reminding you) James Hessler and Eric Lindblade, Obviously very knowledgeable, they tend to treat different aspect of the battle of Gettysburg in a somewhat random order. At times, I find their humour a bit tiring and repetitive, and far too often to my taste they will say something like "people always say/ ask/ assert/ believe this (insert random gratuitous anecdote or would-be event that really probably hasn't been believed by any serious student of the battle for decades) but we will tell you the truth", but they really do know their stuff, have interesting guests, and always cite primary sources. So recommended too.

That brings us to the map:

And this week's tally:

79 x 10mm foot @ 1 = 79 points

Overdue and Returns bonus = 20 points

Total 99 points

TeemuL: A long project, Martijn, but coming to an end? The force does look good and it must be exciting to get a game with these after all those years. I don't know about the flags you used, but 1 extra point for them is reasonable and gives you fine 100 points.