15mm American Civil War Miniatures

15mm Johnny Reb

Here are some pictures of individual units from my 15mm ACW collection. This is probably my favorite period, and the period that I have the most painted figures for. I have played John Hill's excellent rules, "Johnny Reb" since the 80's and generally prefer the flavor of the older JR 1 and JR 2!

15mm Old Glory Confederates advancing!

A unit from Patrick Cleburne's division advances. 15mm Battle Honours figures.
Battle Honours makes some of the most detailed and proportioned 15mm ACW figs.
I always enjoy painting BH figures!

Patrick Cleburne and some of his men. Essex officer figure and old Vulcan Forge infantry figs.

15mm Essex CSA cavalry. I am building more units of mounted and
dismounted cavalry so that I can run a 100% cavalry scenario.

An old unit of Empire / Heritage figures. This was one of the earliest units I painted
as an undergraduate student when I first started playing Johnny Reb. This paint job isn't fantastic, but this is definitely a "veteran" unit!

Stretcher bearers! I love these little pieces that add character and charm to a game.
I picked this up from Wargames at a convention a few years ago.

The 4th OH marches to the sound of the guns!

A battery defends a wagon train. 15mm Essex artillerymen and mtd officer.

Kennesaw Mountain Wargamers at Nashcon 2011!

Greg M. and Bill A. will be marching to the sound of the guns this year, as it looks like they will be bringing their game to Nashcon on Friday evening and Saturday morning. They run an impressive 28mm Marlburin game on a huge table with approx. 2,500 figures. Greg and Bill are incredible painters and run their game using a quick and easy to learn variant of Fire and Fury. This is a game that you don't want to miss!  Here is a link to Greg's blog for more pictures of his figures: http://18th-century-studios.blogspot.com/2011/03/latest-efforts.html

A Marlburian game run by Greg and Bill at the Siege of Augusta.

Nashcon 2011

My hometown convention, Nashcon 2011, is coming soon! It will take place May 27, 28, and 29th in Franklin, TN at the Franklin - Cool Springs Marriott. This is the same location as the past few years. Nashcon is a great regional convention that always has superb games and just enough vendors to take your money! It's also a very family friendly convention, so feel free to bring the wife and kids! The mall is close by, as are numerous restaurants, and historic sites such as the Battle of Franklin, Carnton Plantation, etc.

Here is a link to the HMGS Mid-South webiste for more information:
http://hmgs-midsouth.org/nashcon/

Hope to see you there!

Cory

Why the name "Cigar Box Heroes"?

15mm AWI figures in a sturdy Cuesta Rey #1884 box.
These are individual figures mounted to a base approximately the size of a unit's frontage.
I use them for hidden movement markers in my AWI games. Some are fake, some are real, and represent a small unit
and others might represent an entire brigade! It definitely makes scouting, cavalry, and skirnmishing
more important in a game.

I have had a couple people ask me why the blog is called cigar box heroes? Well, when I started painting and collecting miniatures the tobacco shops put their empty boxes outside and you could take them for free. This was the best way for a high school and then college student to provide cheap homes for his toy soldiers. Over the years I have moved away from using only cigar boxes, but I still have quite a few figures packed in them for safe keeping and easy transport to away games and conventions! So there you go......

25mm American Civil War - "Johnny Reb" rules

25mm Johnny Reb Game

"Johnny Reb" by John Hill is my favorite set of rules for fighting miniature battles of the ACW. The historical accuracy, the hidden orders, and simultaneous movement all make for a very exciting game! I prefer to play JR 1 or 2 since they seem to work fine and I'm too stubborn to move on to JR 3. I wanted to teach my son's how to play JR so we set up a small scenario with each player controlling one brigade. I took the Yanks on defense and my two sons played the Rebs. The Yanks put up a good fight, but eventually they were flanked on their left and had to retreat back across the stream. Here are some pics from the first few turns of our game!

The 28 KY holds a fence line! 25mm ACW figures. These are a mix of Old Glory and Dixon.

The Union defensive line

25mm ACW figures. An overview of the Union line in our playtest scenario.

Advance! 25mm Perry Foundry rebs advance to the the sound of the guns! These just happen to be FL boys!

Another shot of the Rebs!

The view from the attic!

25mm Old Glory, 1st Corps and Dixon figures. They have been given the order to "Hold".

A Union battery anchors the line.

An overview of the scenario and the gaming room!

15mm SYW and AWI unit pictures

More 18th Century pictures!

15mm Old Glory Austrian Grenadiers

15mm Old Glory SYW Austrian Line regiment.

15mm Austrian "Hessian-Darmstadt" Dragoon Regiment

15mm AWI Polly Oliver figures. This is the 23rd Regiment of Foot, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
I made a note on one of the bases saying that I finished painting this unit on 11/28/1994.

15mm OG Prussian Line Infantry w/ mounted officer. This is the "Alt-Anhalt" regiment.

I really enjoyed painting these SYW and AWI figures. I spent a lot of time pouring over some SYW books I purchased in Berlin in order to get all of the button, cuff, and lace colors correct for each SYW unit. Uniform research is one of the aspects I really enjoy about painting miniature figures. I also referenced William Biles guides, "Uniforms of the Seven Years War" and a lot of SYW Association Journals. Thanks!

Cory