From FrederickC: American Civil War Cavalry (424 points)

 My seventh submission of this year's challenge is a collection of 15mm American Civil War Cavalry, both Union and Confederate. The figures are from a variety of manufacturers, although I have only been able to identify those by Old Glory and Essex.  I think the bulk of the Union cavalry are by Falcon, but I am not certain regarding that. Perhaps some of the grognards in the group can provide some insight as to their origin.

 With terrain being dropped from the point tally, I needed to do a last minute course change, and found all these figures in a box in one of my storage drawers, already primed and glued onto popsicle sticks for ease of handling. They had been prepped some thirty years ago when I was gaming with a group that did a lot of American Civil War using 'Johnnie Reb' rules, but for some reason (available time, family obligations, the new 'shiny', etc.) that was as far as they got. I had hoped to get this project finished for last Saturday, but other demands on my time resulted in them being only half done when the clock ran out. 

 As mentioned above they were already primed black with a rattle can. I then painted them with Vallejo acrylics. The Union cavalry was the easiest to paint, both in terms of the standard colour palette, and the poses. The Confederate cavalry was more challenging as I tried to put some variety into the uniform colours with different shades of brown and grey, plus some of the poses made it difficult to get the brush into some of the deeper recesses. Regarding the sculpts, I liked the Essex and Falcon(?) the best. The riders were separate from the horse and saddle, and the poses and detail were easy to paint. The Old Glory sculpts were much more animated, but the fit of the rider and saddle (which came as one piece) to the horse often had large gaps between the saddle cloth and the horse's body. I would also describe the sculpts as a bit more 'rough and ready'.

Here are the final results - four 15 figure Union cavalry regiments, one 15 figure dismounted Union cavalry regiment, one 15 figure Confederate cavalry regiment, two 11 figure Confederate cavalry regiments. 

Encounter in the East Cavalry Field

Confederate troopers of General Jeb Stuart

US troopers of General David Gregg

 

Union cavalry brigade deploying

Union cavalry regiment No. 1

Union cavalry regiment No. 2

Union cavalry regiment No. 3

Union cavalry regiment No. 4

Dismounted Union cavalry with horse holder in the background

Confederate cavalry brigade deploying

Confederate cavalry regiment No. 1

Confederate cavalry regiment No. 2

Confederate cavalry regiment No. 3

Anyone recognize the manufacturer?

Anyone recognize the manufacturer?

Wearing Abe Lincoln's blue suit circa 1990

The points being claimed are as follows:

 

18 x 15mm foot figures @ 2 points each = 36 points

 

97 x 15mm 'mounted' figures @ 4 points each = 388 points

Total = 424 points

Thanks for stopping by.

As Sylvain is unavailable today, it's your stand-in Minion here, Frederick. Yes, I was a little disappointed at the exclusion of terrain this year too, but I must say that you have found a wonderful alternative! These 15mm ACW units certainly look good. The extra effort you put into the Confederates definitely shows, but the more regular Union troopers look very fine as well. I really like Essex 15mm figures (of course, I have some lying around somewhere...), but the other makes are nice models too.  And that's a very smart Union soldier in that photograph! I can't help you with identifying the unknown ones, but I can help you with your points. A whopping 424 are added to your tally!

Martijn