Tag Archives: Black Powder

American Civil War

ACW Wargame – Boatswain’s Swamp

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We got together at one of the lad’s places for a game of Black Powder: Glory, Hallelujah. 2-3 players a side. A scenario from the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 (Boatswain’s Swamp which was part of the Battle of Gaines Mill). The scenario and army lists were from an article in Wargames Illustrated. It was first outing for my Union troops that I have painted so far.

Fun game – my first with this version of Black Powder. Played really differently to Black Powder Napoleonics.

Technically a Union victory in that the main Confederate attack stalled and Union still held the objective. My flank I got a pasting from the Rebs who saved pretty much every hit I got on them. Game was probably six or seven rounds (maybe more) and I did not even shake a single Reb unit despite getting numerous hits. On the other hand, I got the crap shot out of me and ended up with my infantry brigade falling back and off the board. I had a small cavalry brigade that tried to hold the flank but they got overwhelmed.

Sorry about the pics – lighting not that great and my camera is really getting past it’s use by date. Just some general shots and not a story of the battle.

American Civil War

ACW Union Infantry Marching Regiment

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My second completed unit for this project. Honestly, these took just over a day to paint and maybe half a day to base in between mowing lawns and cutting firewood for next winter.  They were so easy to paint, especially to the standard I am happy with. With two boxes of the Perry ACW infantry I was able to make a firing line regiment of 25 figures and this 30 figure regiment, with a dozen or so left overs.

What do I think of these figures? Like I said, they are easy to paint and they very much remind me of toy soldiers except in a smaller scale. They are a bit wooden and stiff but one must remember that these were the first plastic miniatures the Perry’s did. Later sets are way more animated.  But these guys probably make up the bulk of ACW armies that have been collected around the world in the last decade so they definitely have a place in wargaming history.

As an aside, one time back when the Perrys were coming over to New Zealand to do some work for Peter Jackson, they brought some sample frames of this set and gave me one. These were pre-production test moldings. On their next trip in I guess 2008 I asked them if they would sign this little framed ‘sprue’ and being good blokes they did.  Somewhat appropriately, there was one molding missing from the sprue – can you guess what it was?

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