GBACW and 28mm Napoleonics

Painting totals for August have been amended to reflect the 24 French figures I forgot to add into the totals. So, August nows includes 2 x 12 figure French battalions for the Second Italian War of Independence. I also missed counting a gun and crew in July.

While I have long been a fan of the Gamers' Civil War Brigades series of games, my first, serial taste of ACW boardgaming was with Richard Berg's Great Battles of the American Civil War (GBACW) series. At one time, I owned Cedar Mountain, Jackson at the Crossroads, Corinth, Bloody April, Gleam of Bayonets, Guns of Cedar Creek, and Pea Ridge. From this collection, only Cedar Mountain and Guns of Cedar Creek remained. I kept Cedar Mountain since it is one of my favorites and Guns of Cedar Creek because it was a review copy I received from The Wargamer.

Also added to the ACW regimental collection was Road to Washington (RtW) by Command Perspectives. RtW is a regimental treatment of Second Manassas which I have been eyeing for more than 30 years after reading a bio of the designer and his designer's notes in an old issue of Fire and Movement. RtW infrequently appears for sale and I snatched up a used copy when I had the chance. RtW appears to be a game ahead of its time and The Gamers' CWB series seems to have its foundation on many of the concepts. My thought is to explore both series for ideas for translating into miniature rules.

28mm Napoleonic Project:
Painting progress on the British line infantry (to be designated the 26th) has been halted to make way for the British light dragoons. The dragoons jumped ahead of the infantry in order to have these troopers available for Kevin's Napoleonic game on 23SEP2012. The Front Rank cavalry will become two squadrons of the 14th Light Dragoons. Painting will resume on the infantry once the cavalry have moved off the painting table.

Arriving into my mailbox this week was an order from Brigade Games. In the package were French dismounted dragoons and French Gendarmerie from Lon's excellent early Napoleonic line. These are some of Paul Hicks' latest figures and they are the best to date. Exquisite detail and superb casting. Photos of these figures can be seen on Brigade Games website (http://www.brigadegames.com/French_c_346.html). In hand, these figures are even better than in the photos. Well done! The dismounted dragoons will become a welcome addition to the collection and I may field the gendarmes as consular guard or grenadiers.

I went back to the mounted command figures and gave each a treatment of the Minwax dip. The problem I am having is that a few selective, spots on a few figures are not being dulled by the topcoat. Repeating the process seems to work on some figures. What is going on? Is it a bad can of dullcote? The last batch of Dullcote I bought has a different label. I wonder if the recipe changed?