ACW Union XIV Corps Completed

Thanks to a good friend, all of the units of the Union XIV Corps are now painted and based.  Commanded by Major General George Thomas, the XIV Corps was, in my opinion, the elite corps of the Army of the Cumberland from the beginning of the Tullahoma Campaign  through the smashing of Bragg's Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Missionary Ridge.  I've replicated in 15mm for the "On to Richmond" rules.  Please click on each image for a larger picture.

For "On to Richmond" each maneuver unit is either a brigade of infantry or cavalry or a grouping of 12 artillery pieces.  Each infantry stand replicates about 300 men.

The last part of the corps to be completed was Brigadier General John Brannan's 3rd Division.

Brig Gen Brannon (left) and the divisional artillery (right), consisting of D Company, 1st Michigan Light Artillery and C Company, 1st Ohio Light Artillery

1st Brigade (82nd Indiana and 17th, 31st, and 38th Ohio) in line of battle.

1st Brigade in a reinforced line of battle.

2nd Brigade (10th and 74th Indiana, 4th and 10th Kentucky, and 14th Ohio) in reinforced line of battle.

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3rd Brigade (87th Indiana, 2nd Minnesota, and 9th and 35th Ohio) in reinforced line of battle.

And the entire XIV Corps in its "barracks box" with the corps command and artillery in the left center, the 1st Division on the upper left, 2nd Division on the lower left, 3rd Division on the upper right, and 4th Division on the lower right.

The only unit of the corps not yet included is Colonel John Wilder's 1st Brigade, 4th Division, the "Lightning Brigade."  This brigade was a mounted infantry unit and was used by Major General Rosecrans as a mobile striking unit along with some of the army's cavalry.  The Lightning Brigade and Colonel Robert Minty's 1st "Saber" Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division are still "being raised."  They will join the XIV Corps at a later date.

Now on to the Confederate forces who will oppose them.  I've only been working on this project since January 2016 and hope to have it completed before the summer of 2021.  That's only about 5-1/2 years, longer than the American Civil War lasted.

15mm Union Cavalry

My friend Electric Ed is developing a club game for us to play on September 21.  He is using the "Fire and Fury" rules with the 1st Day of Chickamauga as the setting.  But the challenge is that Ed doesn't own any 15mm ACW figures.  So three of us are helping him out - Phil with Union infantry and artillery and most of the Confederate cavalry, Larry with Confederate infantry and artillery, and me with Union cavalry and the balance of the Confederate cavalry.  So for the past month or so, I've been working on painting enough Union cavalry for 11 mounted stands (at 2 figures per stand), 8 dismounted stands (at 3 figures per stand), and 3 horse holder stands.

I'm using almost all of my Union cavalry figures in this endeavor from several different manufacturers.  Although they are currently based for "Fire and Fury" rules, they will eventually be permanently based for the "On to Richmond!" rules.

Eleven stands of Union cavalry which will later be divided into Wilder's mounted infantry ("Lightning") brigade and Minty's cavalry ("Saber") brigade.

Eight stands of dismounted cavalry and three stands of horse holders, which also will later be divided into Wilder's and Minty's brigades.

I know that the dismounted command stand's flag is incorrect for a cavalry unit, but it will go to Wilder's Brigade which carried the standard Union infantry colors.

Now to get to work on the Confederate cavalry, which will be reported separately.

By damn! Those are Regulars!!

With apologies to British Major General Phineas Riall.

I finally completed the last brigade in Brigadier General Absalom Baird's 1st Division of Major General George Thomas' XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland.  This is Brigadier General John King's 3rd Brigade, "The Regulars."  It was the only regular US Army brigade in the Army of the Cumberland, composed of the 1st Battalion, 15th US Infantry, 1st Battalion, 16th US Infantry, 1st and 2nd Battalions, 18th US Infantry, and 1st Battalion, 19th US Infantry.  Although they were part of the regular establishment, not volunteer regiments, they were no better than the volunteers who made up the vast majority of Baird's 1st Division.

King's Regular Brigade in attack column

A "bird's eye" view of the brigade

The figures are all Old Glory 15s with Warflag paper flags, mounted on Litko bases.

They are organized for the "On to Richmond" rules where the basic infantry maneuver unit is the brigade.  Each stand is approximately 300 real men.

They join the other two brigades of Baird's division, completing three of the four divisions in Thomas famed XIV Corps.  I still have to paint Brigadier General John Brannan's 3rd Division of three brigades to complete the corps.

But now I've turned to catching up my Confederate force by beginning on Major General Patrick Cleburne's Division of Lieutenant General William J. Hardee's Corps.

My American Civil War forces are from the 1863 Union Army of the Cumberland and Confederate Army of Tennessee who contested central Tennessee in the Tullahoma Campaign leading to the decisive battle of Chickamauga.

Union Reinforcements

I'm continuing to slowly add to my 15mm American Civil War forces, this time some Union elements.  My ACW focus is central Tennessee with the Union XIV Corps of the Army of the Cumberland facing a modified Hardee's Corps of the Army of Tennessee.

Please click on the photographs for an enlarged image.

The figures are all 15mm Old Glory miniatures.  The units are organized for the "On to Richmond" rules.

Major General George Thomas' command group, XIV Corps

Brig Gen Absalom Baird, 1st Division command group, XIV Corps, and his division artillery
(4th Indiana Battery and H/5th US Artillery, armed with rifled guns)

Brig Gen John Starkweather's 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XIV Corps
(24th Ill, 79th Penn, and 1st and 21st Wisc Regiments)

More will slowly be added.

From ACW to FPW

Although I haven't made any posts lately, I have been painting away on my Franco-German War (as I call it) figures as well as mounting some ACW pictures painted by my friend, Larry the Marine.

After hosting a FPW game in late July, I got on a painting kick to finish some French and Prussian figures.  I already had one battalion of the French Republican Volontaires de l'Ouest painted.  I bought enough figures at Historicon to complete the other two battalions of the regiment.  Here is the 1st battalion, minus its flag which has since been prepared and mounted.

The Volontaires de l'Ouest were formed from the old Pontifical Zouaves and were probably one of the better regiments in the Republican armies to the south of Paris.  In my army, they form part of the XV Corps, Army of the Loire.  The figures are actually Union zouaves from Sash & Saber's ACW line since I couldn't find any appropriate zouaves wearing kepis.

Continuing with the FPW theme is the headquarters of IX Korps, 2nd Prussian Army which in my army is deployed south of Paris to keep the Loire rabble from interrupting the siege of Paris.

This HQ group utilizes a mix of Foundry, Castaway Arts, and Irregular (I think) figures to depict General der Infanterie Albrecht Gustav von Mannstein and his battle staff.  His uhlan aide is handing him a dispatch from a subordinate commander while his artillery staff officer keeps track of the battle through his binoculars.

Turning to the American Civil War, my gaming friend Larry the Marine recently painted a division of Union troops for me.  I'm organizing Union and Confederate forces for the Middle Tennessee campaigns of 1863 using the On to Richmond rules where each brigade is composed of 3 to 8 stands of figures.  Here is Beatty's 1st Brigade, Negley's 2nd Division, Thomas' XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland.

Beatty's battleline ready to give fire into the attacking Confederates.

Right flank of the line.

These are Old Glory 15s Union figures from which I have trimmed the bayonets as they are in firing poses.  I use 8 figures on all the bases of each brigade except for one upon which I place a mounted officer (the brigade commander) and 6 figures.

I've made previous posts showing some of my first Union and Confederate units which you can see by clicking on the "American Civil War" label in the list below.

Turchin's Brigade, 4th Division, XIV Army Corps

Today I welcomed Brigadier General John Turchin's 3rd brigade of Major General Joseph Reynolds' 4th Division, Major General George Thomas' XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland to Col Campbell's Barracks to join my very slowly expanding Union forces.  John Turchin was a Russian émigré from the Don District of the Ukraine who had been a Russian officer.  More information about him can be found here.

Turchin's Brigade, at the start of the 1863 Tullahoma Campaign, in which I place my forces, consisted of the 18th Kentucky and 11th, 36th, and 92nd Ohio Infantry Regiments.

These 15mm figures, except for the mounted officer, are Old Glory 15s, while the mounted officer is a Battle Honors figure.  The figures are mounted for the "On to Richmond" rules in which the basic maneuver unit is an infantry or cavalry brigade of 3 to 10 stands, each stand representing approximately 300 actual soldiers.

Moore's Brigade versus Reeves' Brigade (ACW)

Just some snaps of my first two 15mm ACW units facing off on the battlefield.

Moore's Confederate Brigade advances from a copse of woods.

Across the field, Reeves' Union Brigade is also advancing.

And they meet in the middle.  Moore's Confederate brigade is in a standard formation with all regiments in a single line.  Reeves' Union Brigade is in that "new fangled" reinforced line where some of the regiments are in a second line as supports.

In the "On to Richmond" rules the reinforced line has a slight advantage in close combat.  If the first line is defeated then the attacker must fight the second line immediately.  As the attacker will now be disorganized, the second line will get a small bonus.  I haven't tested this out yet on the battlefield.

The scenery is courtesy of my son's Battle Mech game last Saturday.  It is actually jungle foliage made from plastic aquarium plants that I've cut into irregular shapes.  But it worked as a backdrop for these "pick-up" snaps.

My second Confederate brigade is coming along, albeit a little slowly.  I'm hoping to have it finished by the weekend, along with the division command group and the supporting artillery.

December 2015/January 2016 Work

With January about over, here's what I've been dabbling with over the past two months or more.

First, I finally completed a 28mm supply wagon using a 4Ground wagon kit, a Foundry driver, and a Fife and Drum draft horse.  It only took me 2+ years to complete the wagon!

This will provide supplies to my 28mm Imagi-nation SYW era forces.  I have another wagon kit to put together as well as finish the draft horse and rider.  Hopefully it won't be another 2 years to get that one done.

Although not painted recently, I've been examining my 15mm medieval armies (based on ca 1100 in southern Italy) to use with BigRedBat's "To the Strongest" rules (see previous post).  Here are a mounted command group and two Norman mounted milites units:

The mounted command group and the unit on the right are OOP Table Top Games (TTG) figures.  The unit on the left are vintage Miniature Figurines Norman knights.

And finally, I am making a foray into the American Civil War, using Old Glory 15s and "On to Richmond" rules.  OTR uses brigades as the basic maneuver unit with each composed of three to ten stands.  Each stand represents about 300 men.  My Marine comrade Larry Reeves gave me an extra group of painted Union infantry to which I've added a mounted officer and based on 2" x 1" Litko bases.  They will be called "Reeves' Independent Infantry Brigade" and will form a reinforcement to the XIV Army Corps (commanded by General George Thomas) of the Army of the Cumberland, ca. 1863.  I'm currently painting my first brigade of their Confederate opponents from Hardee's Corps of the Army of Tennessee.  We'll see how quickly I can get units painted so my battles won't be too far away.

Each 2" x 1" base has 8 figures except for the "command base" which has 1 mounted officer (the brigadier) and 6 infantry figures.

Here the "command base" is reversed so the unit label is visible.

That's all for right now.