US Sharpshooters WIP

Recently I’ve been painting up some Berdan’s Sharpshooters. I bought a pack of 1st Corps sharpshooters a year or so ago. I thought they were rather good, even though I already have some nice Redoubt ones. Anyway, I decided I would get some paint on them to see how they look. I thought as skirmishers they were rather limited in poses so I had a rummage around in the spares box and grabbed a few more poses. There was such a mix of uniforms in 1863 that a few blue sack coats in the mix should look good. 

Below is a figure from Crusader miniatures, his advancing pose should make a good sharpshooter when painted up.

After all that research a few years ago, I thought I would try these Foundry colours for French cavalry. I think the colours work well, although I did add a tiny amount of Miniature Paints’ Dark green to add a little pep to the final colour. This final shade is used sparingly as a extreme highlight. So I basically add a tiny amount of it to the ‘C’ shade to make it slightly brighter.

The unit is well underway with all their base coats nearly done.

 I having fun coming up with some figure choices to create the unit. A nice officer choice was taken from a 1st Corps ADC figure. He comes pointing with binoculars and I thought he would make a great Sharpshooter captain. Another officer figure has been given some plastic binoculars taken from a German plastic sprue that came free with a magazine.

Also in the unit are a few Dixon Sharpshooter figures, I chose these because they had the sack coat but also have the Prussian backpack of the USS. They should look different once in the mix.

I am basing them for Bonnie Blue Flag rules, so a Sharpshooter unit consists of four bases. I will probably add a couple of skirmish bases to the unit too. The main bases will have three figures on them, the skirmishers, two.

I have come up with a cunning plan to base all my Sharpshooters on 50mm round bases. This way they are not much bigger than the normal infantry bases, but can turn 360 degrees. This will work great for the Confederacy, so it will be clear in the mass of grey and butternut, who are the Sharpshooter battalions.