So first up, this has nothing to do with the American Civil War but it's a period I have always wanted to have a go at - the Crimean War. In some ways I guess I could claim there is a bit of crossover as the two wars were fought only a few years apart.
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| These 10mm figures are nice little sculpts although for some reason this pose was modelled without bayonets so I had to add some using staples. |
For instance, George McClellan was present at the siege of Sebastopol as an observer and this experience was said to have influenced his decision to lay on a full scale siege of Yorktown in 1862. The minnie rifle (used with deadly effect in the Civil War) made it's first battlefield appearance in the Crimea with British troops being issued with it just a few weeks before the Battle of The Alma. Also, it doesn't take much of a stretch of imagination to think that at least some British troops in action in the Crimea may have later taken part in the ACW, especially in the Irish brigade.
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| The idea is to have a unit represent a brigade just as with the ACW armies. The British only has 9 infantry brigades at The Battle of the Alma so this is doable. |
The troops I intend to use for this project are 10mm figures by Pendraken Miniatures. I've looked on and off for years for a decent range of 20mm figures but they don't exist, not with a sufficiently wide range anyway. This scale does at least make it feasible to collect and paint enough troops without breaking the bank and I already have plenty of useful scenery.
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| My last attempt at this period only got as far as this 1/72 plastic version of the Light Brigade before lack of figures coupled with a lack of enthusiasm caused it to peter out. |
We'll see how far I get this time.
Very pretty indeed Ian…
ReplyDeleteThe Minifigs ‘S’ Range are the closest to a 20mm range that I can think of… and I think Strellets make them in ‘soft’ plastic….
I think you made the right choice with Pendraken …
All the best. Aly
Thanks Aly - even the Pendraken range isn’t really complete but at this scale any gaps can be made up with a paint job conversion using other ranges. The Hinton Hunt range would be my preference but there are no British hussars and no Russian guns(!) and the figures are hard to come by.
DeleteNice start to your Crimean project, the Pendraken figures look very nice indeed.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie, the figures paint up nicely and look good at normal playing distance they are also much faster to do than 20mm so I may just see this project through!
DeleteThis is exciting!
ReplyDeleteIt is - just hope I can keep production at a steady rate.
DeleteI'm very impressed that you can see well enough to paint the detail on 10mm! They look really good and I'll be interested to see how your project develops...you have even tempted me to get the Charge of the Light Brigade DVD off the shelf.
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon the painting is really very basic but it's still quite time consuming. That film is one of my all time favourites, funny it got such bad reviews at the time of release!
DeleteIf you’re not going to do French and Piedmontese, I’d have thought the Tumbling Dice range (1/72) would be ideal. If not, I always thought Minifigs 15mm Crimean range were nice sculpts, especially the Russian staff officers on foot.
ReplyDeleteI have some Tumbling Dice and they are nice castings but all (including the British) are modelled in greatcoats and the range is limited.
DeleteI rather like the greatcoat look, especially for the Russian cavalry, but yes, I had forgotten that was the case.
DeleteActually, IIRC, Pendraken are supposed to be redoing their Crimean range, if they’re up to the standards of some of their later releases the cavalry ought to be pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI hadn’t heard that we’ll have to wait and see.
Deleteuth they have been promising a revamp of the range for a long time now, and it is currnetly pretty limited; only British dragoons (in helmet) and hussars, no light dragoons, lancers or Royal North British Dragoons.
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