Preparations for next Saturday's game are creeping along, somewhat slowed by having to spend in excess of 4 hours a day for the last 4 days, cracking blocks of 3" thick ice on our driveway so they can be removed along with widening the drive after last week's storm. I'm sure the vigorous exercise of moving in excess of 100 cubic metres of ice and wets now, using pick, chopper and two different shovels, has been good exercise but I'm glad the drive is back to something sufficiently approaching normal to appease the boss and I can get back to the important stuff.
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| Union 1st Division. The Brigadiers have a patch of the brigade colour on the back of their bases. The division commander has 2 figures on the base and both colours. (Other brigades may be assigned to him when needed on a temporary basis.) The army commander has 3 figures on his base and no colour patch. |
One of the things I've been tackling on my rest breaks is redoing the marking on the bases of my regiments and brigades. The basic idea was good but the execution was flawed. Basically, I have painted the back of the bases of each Union regiment's with a Brigade colour: red for 1st Brigade, blue for 2nd etc. I then marked each unit as 1st, 2nd etc. The last time I tried this I used one bar for the 1st regiment, 2 bars for the 2nd and so on. They looked perfectly clear to me while on the painting desk but during play on a crowded table with my current sharpness of vision, I found that the regiments were getting mixed up in the heat of battle as three bar stands would creep unnoticed into a 2 bar or 4 bar regiment. So I'm going back to my original version of having one only bar on each stand but with different position as can be seen in the photos.
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| A closer look at the bases of the 1st and 2nd regiments of the 2nd Brigade. |
The Rebs are even worse since I painted little state flags or symbols on the back of the 1/4" thick bases only to find that I wasn't up to painting fine detail on the rough edges of the balsa wood or whatever it was that the bases were made of by who ever made them originally. So, when sorting them out, I would find myself peering at a stand of ragged Rebs wondering if that was a white palm tree or a white star on that blue field or is this other one with a blue quadrant with a white stripe on a red field or was the field a 1/2 white, 1/2 red field with a chip in the wood?
Haven't settled on a good solution yet. Its unfortunate that the Rebs don't seem pleased at a suggestion to copy the Yankee system so maybe I can just touch up the dodgy stands.
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| Up close, in a good light, the regiment on the left is from Texas, while the on the right is from South Carolina. In poor light when I'm tired...... |
One other thing I want to do is to name all my Brigadiers and Generals and mark the stands underneath so I can remember them when writing up games. This isn't a new thing, I've been forgetting peoples' names since before I could talk, I think its syndrome called "not clued in" or something like that.
I will never mon about the very thin layer of ice that I occasionally suffer! Would adding a second blue square to the rear of 2nd Confederate regiment help?
ReplyDeleteGood idea but the bases get too crowded. I find having the brigade badge in different locations is easier to id. (These two units are from different brigades, each Reb brigade having a different badge based on state flag or symbol).
DeleteNot clear to me how many units you're sorting. My immediate thought is a brigade of red with blue St Andrew's cross (ANV) a brigade with blue and white dot or oval or disc (Hardee) and a brigade of blue with horizontal and vertical (Polk)--distinctive even when painted poorly--my usual style--and as you do with the Union, position on the base denotes regiment.
ReplyDeleteNaming generals alphabetically--Anson, Bates, Cook, Douglas--means you can give orders and denote units while looking under the base for the names later.
The ice covering northern Indiana is a thinner glaze than you describe, but I walk outdoors very carefully on it.
Robert
Please do walk carefully.
DeleteThere are about 6 brigades per side now but lots of recruits in the cupboard waiting for their uniforms.
I like the alphabetic idea. I'll keep that in mind. I have been contemplating naming them after friends.
Ps. Thanks for reminding me about the western flags. Good idea, easy to paint and I've started leaning towards the western theatre.
Delete>a white palm tree or a white star on that blue field or is this other one with a blue quadrant with a white stripe on a red field or was the field a 1/2 white, 1/2 red field with a chip in the wood?
ReplyDeleteVery mirthful. Thank-you for almost causing hot chocolate come out my nose from laughing.
My work here is done!
DeleteThis is one of the more fiddly problems, and I have naught to offer, that's of any help, that is. Nice looking collection. I like how you are denoting your command figures/stands.
ReplyDeleteAnother 10 days or so, and I too, will have to return to the joys of ice and snow...
Eric
This too shall pass.
DeleteYou should perhaps label the stands of one side on the fronts of their bases and that way you wouldn’t have to get out of your chair to check when playing solo! Seriously its an idea I’m considering for ship labels in solo naval actions.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, I don't normally need to know while playing, only when deploying the figures on to the table. There's no way zi want to double mark these guys!
DeleteSorry nothing clever to say about marking the bases, but the figures look great!
ReplyDeleteThey are a diverse bunch multiple manufacturers mixe together and painted by 4 or more people. Somehow it all works!
DeleteI like the coloured blob idea ross. And I like the figures too! And those new/old guns you threw down the other day.
ReplyDeleteOnward!
Greg
I finally found my ....reserve... of 'extra' painted guns, oh well I wanted to paint these guys anyway. The rest can wait.
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