Union Cavalry unit, Bonnie Blue Flag

On checking the regiment size for cavalry in Bonnie Blue Flag, I noticed the unit was quite small. 4 mounted bases and dismounted was similar with the fourth base being a horse holder.

I was inspired to paint one up for a bit of a change. I took inspiration from the author Kevin Calder himself and based my dismounted cavalry on round bases. 

 As my infantry are mounted on 45mm wide bases, I used the same measurements for the round ones. 

Some figures from eBay sparked the idea as they came with a few horses too.

Cavalry and infantry bases. As there are only a few in a regiment, I will use three figures to a base to bulk them out.

 

I stuck the figures down to the base, the next test is to see if I can paint them on this size of stand. My sharpshooters were mounted on 60mm bases so they were a lot easier to paint around. As my infantry are stuck down in a row, they too are much easier to paint. This will be interesting.

Well, after painting up a few bases I can safely say they weren't too difficult. There's enough room on these 45mm stands to get around the figures with a brush. Some of the piping was a bit tricky on some but nothing too bad.

The three horses I put off for another day. These will finish the unit once done.

I also need to source a standard for the command base.

The figures are from 1st Corps and like Dixon have a style all of their own.

That was fun, I enjoyed that. Another unit ticked off.

UPDATE: I got those blasted horses done, like most people I find them a bit of a chore to do.

I sprayed the unit with Halfords Matt varnish, then gave the uniform a coat of Ultra Matt varnish from AMMO. That way the metal and leather work will have a bit of a sheen to it compared to the material.

Just need to flock the base and they're done.

UPDATE: Spurred on by the recent joy of finishing a unit, it wasn't long before I was going through my drawers digging out more troopers.

These figures have been sitting unloved for over twenty years, nice to get some paint on them and push them into service.

There are some Redoubt and Foundry troopers, the Redoubt ones have to be stuck together. This is quite nice as you can create different characters.

I also did some research and came up with the idea of giving my cavalry regiments skirmish bases...or picket bases to be more accurate. 

In Bonnie Blue Flag, all regiments can throw out skirmish lines to soak up fire, there's no reason the cavalry units can't have the same.

Here we see a new cavalry regiment of three stands with a skirmisher stand behind. The skirmish stand is 35mm with two troopers on it. This can be advanced six inches out in front to form a picket line.

Good old Redoubt figures, it was great to put these together and base them up. It's a shame about Redoubt miniatures these days, I guess I'm lucky to have ordered these many years ago.

Here two broken standard bearers (Dixon) have been turned into horse holders with the help of some twisted brush bristles.

The finished horse stand gets a brush bristles too to help keep the horses steady.

A new picket line prepares to go out ahead of the dismounted regiment. These stands of two troopers can be put with the mounted versions too.

The couple of extra stands I had done before get turned into a full regiment with an added command and skirmisher base. The horse stands will come later.

UPDATE: The Union Cavalry are on the move again, another couple of bases get put through the colouring machine.

The Redoubt and Foundry figures go well together on the same base.

I do like the big white gauntlets on some of these troopers, maybe it's a result of growing up in the 70's with the countless cavalry films at the weekend. It's a classic look.

The standards are Wargames Design, they seem a little too big to me, but when you have Brigades to do, the price is right!

I bought some for the Confederate cavalry too.

A Great Game!

I just come back from the local Wargames club, where I've just a had a fantastic game of Bonnie Blue Flag. After all these years of following it with a great passion, I can finally say I have learnt how to play them.

Above can be seen the dreaded roll that took a veteran unit off the board.

They really do give a very good, atmospheric game to which you could easily write a narrative around. For the odd swings and roundabouts seem to make sense from a historical story point of view.

In this larger 'Port Republic' game, I got to see loads of really interesting developments and twists in the game play. The 10% rule reared it's ugly head, but even this made sense as a unit was cut down by a withering fire at close range.

I won the game with the Southern forces and the star of the game was the Confederate artillery by a mile. Their accurate fire destroyed the opposing Federal battery very early on, allowing my troops to advance unmolested by shot or shell.

In this game I also got to try out melee for the first time. It was pretty brutal with my veterans charging through a regiment of raw troops. The green blue bellys promptly surrendered and throw down their arms.

Just before leaving for the club, I had the quick idea of making some simple tents to mark out the Union camp. These were just pieces of folded card with grey felt tip marker on. I also gave them a quick wash of brown paint. As it was really hot, this had dried by the time I walked to the club.

I will have a go at covering these with dry wet wipes and painting them up with PVA glue. I should be able to mold the creases into the fabric as it dries. Then spray and dry brush them so it brings out the texture. Using bigger pieces of wet wipes should allow me to create the closed ends of the tents too.

The counting stick was great and seemed made for the job.

 What a great night, I'm still on a bit of a high from it.

 Unlike before, there were just two of us playing tonight, so it really allowed me to get into the actual game play. Great stuff!