Monday, May 22, 2017

The Seventh And Friends

Okay, only primed - mostly - but at long last the Old West/Indian Wars figures move forward.  Foreground left is 120 American Bison (only six to finish painting - all in need of bases textured), center is the entire 7th Cavalry with Custer right up front and forty-nine stands following for 150 total mounted figures.  To the right is the Native American pony herd, 72 horses, and coming up behind them are three groups of allied scouts, 36 total.  In the background is the 7th again but this time dismounted plus casualties.
 A different view of the pony herd.
 Focusing on the bison.
 A herd of 36 pronghorn antelope - why white?, started the first twelve white so did the other 24 the same.  Those hills are in development - and idea borrowed from The Major General Tremorden Reddering site.  There will be more - if I'm going to do the Old West, I have to be able to create a credible Apache Pass (or reasonable facsimile).
 Another view of the native scouts pursuing the pony herd.
 And here is the cavalry's remuda, a herd of 36 remounts.
This image shows the dismounted HQ company (which I might convert to a Euro-heritage scout company) - unlike the cavalry which get just one standing horse to mark a company point of dismount, each of my scout units get four standing horses so that they can 'scout' the table.
And here is the dismounted native scouts seen mounted chasing the pony herd - guarding the flank of the dismounted 7th.
Speaking of which here is the dismounted regiment.  Each 12 man company gets three dead horses and two dead men for casualties, the 6 HQ figures get 2 dead horses and 2 dead men plus one standing horse to mark a point of dismount.
In the foreground of this photo is the two gun gatling battery - following the "walk-a-heaps".  (That's infantry for the greenhorns in the audience.)
Those lined up casualties go with the wagons seen to the right, at least the tail of the train.  The four dead horses are 'extras'.
Four wagons at the rear with two horses apiece and four horses, with canopies, with four horses apiece.
 And for the Little Bighorn event, six stands of pack horses for Company B to traipse about with.
 A rear view of the full regiment.
 An overall view of what, almost all, got recently primed, haven't done a detail adding how many pieces but perhaps over one thousand total figures counting animals and casualties with the men.
 Company A - twelve men mounted.
Custer's command - no, the main man isn't drunk, each center figure on all the three figure stands is only 'tacked' in place for removal for easier painting.  They'll get glued to a strip of card for painting, the tacked figures.
 The pony herd isolated - two different cans of primer, thus the color variation.
 Custer's command between two lines of his dismounted regiment.
 The canopy wagons are Peter Pig army supply wagons.
The other wagons are from Stone Mountain's ACW range - with a cool bit of supplies in the back.  These have hoops to go over the wagon boxes but I haven't decided whether I'm going to use them or not.

After all that brown - and wee bit of white - a bit of color is needed so here is a sampling of 'flavoring' terrain, I think I'm over 120 pieces now in a variety of styles.

There is still another entire "regiment" to prep but it will be three separate battalions of four companies each - 5th, 6th, and 9th(or 10th).  Then there is a group of high command - Terry or maybe Crook.  Last of all will be the figures to populate the fort including some civilians.

And that's just the US Army above (and some animals unaffiliated with any fighting force).

There's mountain of mounted warriors and a whole bunch on foot plus a plentitude of villagers.  And then there are all the civilians including the black hat guys and the white hat guys.  Yes, it is a huge collection for the era (other than being in 15 mm).  No, not insanity, just a large amount of zeal for a fun period.  Maybe someday it will all get painted.  See earliest posts here for trains!

Important to remember the point of this collection: my penultimate Extravaganza Game:

THE WHOLE WILDER WEST, ALL AT ONCE.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

The Seventh Adds

So, I've got the entire 7th cavalry ready for priming - all one hundred and fifty troopers and command, their mounts, dismounts, horse stands and casualties.

I've got the remount heard of thirty-six horses glued to its bases and also ready for priming, the six packers on their mounts with twelve pack horses for the pack train just needing five of the riders glued into their saddles for that to be ready for priming.  I've got all eight army supply wagons (4 from Peter Pig and 4 from Stone Mountain) cleaned and washed and ready for assembly.  I need to pull out the herd of twenty-four cattle for beeves on the hoof as part of the supply.  Need to decide on four of the wagons whether I'll leave the hoops open or include a cover - leaning towards the hoops because of the nice piles of supplies that go inside the wagons.

I still need to pull out the other ad-hoc regiment to get it cleaned and primed and ready for priming.  But first, I need to clean and prep the three dozen native scouts/allies for the cavalry to get ready to accompany the Seventh - or whichever unit needs scouts for a given scenario.  I've also got to prep the headquarters cavalry company and the commanding general group of figures.  And not to forget the gatling guns and crews - still need to get those ready.

That will leave the infantry and the fort and the various and sundry denizens of the fort - including some civilians and a signals detachment, some recruits, a bunch lounging about the fort (thank you Stone Mountain for having those figures from the ACW range).

Going to have to get an order off for some bases including some custom sizes for the wagons (all the wagons, not just the army wagons, including the stagecoaches and carts).

Then it will be time to work on the natives, 384 and more mounted, 288 and more on foot, villagers in camp and on the move with their travois.  Do need a few more teepees - probably from Blue Moon which will leave me with some extras which I'll probably create as burned out or make one an 'abandoned' teepee with a dead woman in it.

It is nice to see progress on this collection even though it means the FIW and AWI aren't getting the attention they're supposed to be.  Oh, well, it's a hobby and its supposed to be fun and right now I'm tickled to be working on this.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

The Seventh Cavalry

This past weekend I decided to move along preparing my 7th Cavalry regiment for the plains wars.

I have all the figures cleaned and prepped and all but two companies based prior to priming.  With a little luck, the last two companies get based tomorrow and this weekend the whole lot gets primed.

The regiment consists of all twelve companies plus a command group.  Each company is 12 figures mounted with 12 matching dismounts.  Then for each company there is a standing horse to mark a point of dismount.  Also have three dead horses and two dead men for each of those companies.  The command group consists of 6 figures mounted with 6 matching dismounts.  Again, there is standing horse but only two dead horses and two dead men - but a higher ratio than a company to allow the high command to 'survive' longer.

That adds up to 150 mounted men, 150 dismounted men, 26 dead men, 150 ridden horses, 13 standing horses, and 38 dead horses for a grand total of 527 pieces to complete the regiment.

Not prepped but awaiting their turn are the three groups of a dozen native scouts and four army supply wagons and a pack train of six mounted packers and twelve pack animals.  I also have two gatling guns on carriages pulled by two limbers.

All of that gives me what is needed, on the army side at least, to do Little Big Horn in grand style - with the option of using the gatling guns.

One thought I had was that my casualty figures won't work except for immediate post battle use - I 'd need bloated, mutilated, naked figures to recreate the historical situation when the companies that got wiped out were found later.  I think I can live without that.

For those wondering, I don't plan to use horse holders; with only twelve figures in a company that would only leave eight figures to 'fight'.  I'm sticking with the standing horse as a stylized representation and letting companies fight full strength.

Since those 150 troopers may face 384 (maybe more) mounted warriors and perhaps 288 warriors on foot, I think the above is a reasonable approach.

I do need to get back going on the trains - and finish the last six buffalo so I can start texturing the bases for my herd of 120 beasts.  Also need to work on my herd of pronghorn antelope and bunch of other wild animals for North America.  And the domestic beasts need my attention.

So much to paint, so little time.