The Generosity of Wargamers.

After my Battle of Iuka post earlier this year, my mention of needing more trees resulted in several generous offers which helped tremendously. One of the tree reinforcements though, was accompanied by a trainload or two of ACW volunteers. (Thanks Chris)

I guess my armies aren't quite big enough yet.

This Airfix ACW thing started so simple and small. In '83, out of the navy for 2 years and finally employed but without regular gaming opponents,  I reread the chapter on Solo gaming in Featherstone's Battles With Model Soldiers and decided to give it a go. Not quite 30 at the time and having never played solo, I had only ever painted one side for each period. MPC had re-released the old Airfix ACW, so I ordered a few boxes and started painting. I managed 48 figures and a gun per side and 1 small test solo game before normal (sic)  life and wargaming resumed and they moved from shelf to shelf and then eventually got dumped into a big box of 1/72nd plastic and put in a cupboard until 2011. 

The Belmont Bugle from November 2011

Years passed, I had my little heart incident, and being prematurely retired, money was again an issue as were periodic new physical limitations.  In 2011, I was looking for a sit down game and the 1/72nd plastic ACW came to mind, so I dug back through the big jumbled box of mostly unpainted 1/72 and lo and behold, my guys had survived with barely a flake, even the muskets and the conversions!!  That wash, acrylic undercoat and final acrylic brush on varnish combo had worked. So out they came, I retouched them, based them, and started playing with them. 

Then one of my regular opponents expressed an interest and painted a few. 

2012: Jerry and I face off on my home turf. That is to say, not just my table but the terrain its based on a government topographic map of the area around my house. (The white house and barn on the left, it was built in the 1850's so deserved to be on the table I thought) . Turned out to be the last game in our fictional narrative campaign based on this part  of Nova Scotia.  

Then a friend passed on a couple of boxes full of painted ACW figures, most Airfix, that had been passed to him from Rob of the Captain's Blog who had them from.......well, anyway, it seems it was the armies painted by several unidentified Halifax gamers from the 70's? or 80's? All of a sudden I was in a position to play some decently sized ACW games. Nothing like that to encourage one to paint even more!   

When the first big reinforcement came, I was a bit dubious but just cobbled together as many units as I could and threw everyone onto the table at Cobb's Farm to see how it felt. Must have felt good since the armies didn't shrink afterwards.

Anyway, I'm not finished painting but my table can't handle too many more figures and once I touch up and base a brigade a side, some much needed guns and some cavalry from the latest of several contributions from several generous readers over the years (at least 4 off the top of my head) and buy some Scrubies from Historifigs and some of the new Jacklex, I'm going to have to think about how to see that what's left over gets painted and played with by someone.

 Drop me a comment or email rmacfa@gmail.com if you're interested in sharing in some of the excess of 1/72nd recruits in my cupboard.