Bowen's Command Group and Division Artillery

 

Major General John S. Bowen commanded a two-brigade division in the Department of Mississippi.  While his division was part of Pemberton's "Army of Mississippi," in my "imagi-nation" Civil War it and Forney's Division were transferred to central Tennessee prior to Grant beginning his campaign to take Vicksburg.  His First Brigade was featured in a previous post.  The second brigade (Green's) is being painted.

Bowen's command stand on left and division artillery on right

John S. Bowen began his Civil War career as a commander of Confederate Missouri infantry.  He was promoted to Brigadier General in March 1862 and led his brigade at Shiloh and Corinth before it was assigned to the Vicksburg garrison.  His efforts at Grand Gulf and Raymond led to him being promoted to major general and put in command of a division which he led at Champion Hill and then into Vicksburg.  He died of dysentery after the surrender.  Of course in "my world" his division was transferred to Tennessee and joined Hardee's Corps in the Army of Tennessee after Stone's River.

Bowen's command stand - a Battle Honors mounted general and an Old Glory 15s flag bearer

Bowen's division artillery consisted of three batteries - the Appeal (Arkansas) Battery (two 3" rifles and two 12-lb howitzers) and Guibor's (four 6-lb guns) and Landis' (two 12-lb Napoleons and two 24-lb howitzers) Missouri Batteries.  It is represented as having all smoothbore guns.  In the "On to Richmond!" rules, Confederate gun stands consist of 12 guns.

Old Glory 15s gunners and gun

The rest of the division, Green's Brigade is being painted and will be posted later.  The entire division, as well as all my Union and Confederate troops, will receive their "baptism of fire" in a game next Saturday.

Cockrell's 1st Missouri Brigade

 

Cockrell's 1st Missouri Brigade of Bowen's Division has now joined my Confederate forces.  Although it is assigned to Hardee's Corps, this brigade was actually part of Pemberton's "Army of Mississippi" during the spring and summer of 1863, fighting at Champion Hill and the siege of Vicksburg.  Even though formed from Missouri State Guard, it was one of the hardest fighting brigades in the Western Theater.  I decided to modify my order of battle for Hardee's Corps to include this brigade, presuming that it and its companion brigade, Green's, both of Bowen's Division, had been moved from Mississippi to Tennessee to oppose the Union forces there before Grant started his active campaigning to get around the southern flank of the Vicksburg defenses.

The brigade in its "reinforced line" formation.

Commanded by Colonel Francis Cockrell, it consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th Missouri Infantry Regiments.  It was about 1,500 rifles strong in the spring of 1863, translating to five stands for the "On to Richmond!" rules I'm using.  These Old Glory 15s figures are painted in the "drab" uniform with which this brigade was outfitted.  They are mounted on 2" x 1" Litko 8mm bases.

The brigade in march column, showing one of the regimental flags used by Missouri forces.

I tried a different basing technique with this brigade, mixing my Americana Hauser medium green paint with Delta Ceramcoat Texture Builder to try and add some dimension to the bases.  Although it was thick when I applied it, the mixture flattened as it dried.  And it got glossy so I'll need to either put some matte glaze or some more green paint over it.  Oh well,  live and learn.

I also completed enough 'morale markers' for all of the brigades.  "On to Richmond!" uses a system of disrupting morale markers to record the effects of weapons fire and close combat.  I represent these with 1" hex bases and a casualty figure.

Confederate and Union morale markers.

Brigades can accumulate up to three morale markers, represented by the number of dots on each of the three faces of the hex marker.  The more markers received, the less effective a brigade can be.  Brigades with a morale marker must check on the morale table at the beginning of their division's activation even if they will not perform any action.  The brigade must follow the results immediately even if it means the brigade falls back or launches a charge against the nearest opponent.  Makes things interesting as one can never be sure what a 'shaky' brigade might do.

Next up in the painting queue is Bowen's Division command stand and the divisional artillery 'battalion" followed by Green's Brigade.

Wood's Brigade of Cleburne's Division

 

This 15mm ACW Confederate brigade has been "hanging fire" for many, many months (since the fall of 2019).  But now its time has come, energized because I need more Confederate forces for my upcoming game at the regional Bayou Wars convention in June.  They are 15mm Old Glory figures and are based for the "On to Richmond" rules.  Please click on the pictures for a larger image.

Wood's Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General Sterling A. M. (Sam) Wood is a mixed Alabama and Mississippi brigade in Major General Patrick Cleburne's Division of Hardee's Corps in the Army of Tennessee.  It is the last of Cleburne's three brigades to be painted.

The brigade consists of the 16th Alabama, 33rd Alabama, and 45th Alabama Infantry Regiments; the 18th Alabama Infantry Battalion; the combined 32nd/45th Mississippi Infantry Regiment; and the 15th Mississippi Infantry Battalion, all told some 1,800 men.

The other units of Cleburne's division are Polk's and Deschler's Infantry Brigades and an artillery battalion (Calvert's Arkansas, Douglas' Texas, and Semple's Alabama Batteries).

I now have six Confederate infantry brigades with two more in the immediate pipe-line.  They'll be fighting against twelve Union infantry brigades.  The game will be a "what-if" scenario from the June 1863 Tullahoma Campaign.  More details to follow.

The Agandar of Chaladoor

 

This is my latest colonial figure to be painted.  He is an Askari Miniatures "Berber Cavalry Scout" that is patterned after the famous 'Red Shadow.'  My leader is titled the Agandar of Chaladoor and has, in other guises and with other names, led native forces in Soudan against the Anglo-Egyptians and in the North Central Frontier against the forces of the Raj.  In this guise he will be leading the local tribes of Aooghastan against both the forces of the Khan of the North (the Tsar) and the British Raj.  He is a fearsome warrior who can energize any tribe who he leads.

His name was inspired by the Witches of Karres science fiction novels of James H. Schmitz.  The Chaladoor is a region of far-off space containing a maze of navigational hazards, inimical beings, and disturbing and sometimes violently dangerous forces.  The Agandar is a notorious pirate leader who calls that region home.  Of course my Agandar is not as notorious but nevertheless is a force with which to be reckoned!

More Kashgari Falcons and an Indian MG Team

 After a long break due to recovery from laser cataract surgery, I was finally able to get back to painting.

Please click on pictures for a larger image.

My first new unit is an Indian Army Vickers machinegun team.

As with all the other Imperial figures I'm using, these are from Brigade Games WW1 in Africa line.  Since the Indian MG team only came with 3 figures I added a British infantryman to make it up to full strength of four figures for "The Men Who Would be Kings" rules.

The second unit is Detachment Two of the Kashgari Falcons.  They are commanded by Subedar Bahadurjit (Victory of the Brave) Singh.  He was lately wounded in a scrape with the Pashtuns and still carries his right arm in a sling.  These are Brigade Games WW1 in Africa line Indians.

If you will recall for my earlier post about the Kashgari Falcons, their turbans are in my high school colors.

I will be taking a short break from late 19th Century Aooghastan to work on some 15mm Confederate figures for an upcoming game of mine.

In Support of Ukraine

 

I don't normally post about current world events on this blog since I created it to showcase my hobby of military miniatures and wargaming.  But in this case I'm going to bend my "rules."

Today my wife and I provided flowers to decorate the sanctuary in our church.  We chose sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine.  The ribbon was supposed to be blue and yellow but I think that I goofed when telling the florist what I wanted.  Be that as it may, the arrangement was all I expected it to be and garnered a number of supportive comments.

If you desire to contribute to the humanitarian relief effort, may I endorse Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) as a worthy agency.  You can make donations here.  PDA is the emergency and refugee program of the Presbyterian Church USA and is responding to the conflict with emergency humanitarian aid through partners already on the ground.  PDA has been working with these partners for a number of years.

Thanks you and God bless!

Captain Krustache & the Kashgari Falcons

 

My latest endeavor has been a "mercenary" unit organized by the famous Captain Krustache of Kashgar.  He has recruited a unit of hardened mountain warriors who will follow him wherever he leads.

The captain is front and center surrounded by this warriors.

The captain is one of Bob Murch's special Movember sculpts.  The warriors are from the Brigade Games Great War in Africa Indian infantry.  These figures appear to be wearing a sleeveless overgarment so that's how I painted them.  Their name and color scheme come from my high school -- the Wingfield Falcons with blue & gold colors.  The skin tones and hair colors of the warriors are based on photographs of modern Afghan peoples - ranging from very light to very dark tones.  I've tried to capture that range in these figures.

There are another 12 figures in the painting pipeline.  I anticipate using them on whichever side needs some additional firepower.