Going Small p.2 - 6mm Bacchus Fig prep

EDIT: Started this post and it was basically finished before I got busy with 1:1 Army and departed for a while.  Returned and things have just been too busy and motivation was not there.  I then departed again for more 1:1 fun and while away got a great email from a gaming pal who sent me Neil Thomas' "Simplicity in Practice" which I devoured in my tiny amount of down time in billet. Anyway, here's P.2 of the 6mm saga...

Having decided on the 6mm project, I'm pretty excited to see how the figs prep and paint up. I'm very much hoping that it will be faster than 10/15mm and certainly than 25mm. Needless to say, this will depend on technique and some practice working with them. I've put some thought into it and am also timing the project so that you can see how long it takes for yourself.

Below, pic of the Bacchus figure blocks - they come in groups of four figures marching side-by-side [meant to stay together] or in file [meant to be cut apart and mounted in skirmish groups].  The blocks are very easy to work with and I highly recommend using them instead of Adler if you are interested in speed. I cleaned them in warm water with dishsoap then a quick brushing with a soft toothbrush to clean off any casting residue - about 30 min.

Below, final concept for these ACW brigade bases.  The bases will be 6x3", with six stands of 1.5" x 3.4" representing about 3-6 regiments. Each stand fits 16 figures in two ranks, or four blocks. The pennies represent one small base for a mounted leader - the Brigadier - and two small bases for skirmishers. They'll look good on the Unit base, but also I'm still toying with using them as indicators for skirmish deployments in the advanced rules.

Below, I took the blocks and organized them into Brigades as above, each craft stick has 32 figures so are two bases of the six, ergo three sticks is a Brigade. The file blocks of firing figures - skirmishers - also make perfectly good shooting regiments, and as I've plenty of them and little need for many skirmishers they're becoming a Brigade also, but have half as many figures per stick, so you can see them clustered together in the left column.

The total is five Units - Brigades - plus several bases of gunners, mounted generals and enough skirmishers for two small bases per Unit. Combined with the painted figures I have from the trade, this'll give me nine Units of infantry and 2-3 of Artillery. No cavalry yet. The gluing process went quickly, about another 30 minutes for one hour total thus far.

Below are the primed figures. I toyed with a few ideas including using white for them all, or sky blue for the Union. As most of the leather is black, I went with black for the Union to block paint the jacket blue. The Rebs are grey and brown [butternut] so I'll have to paint their leather at least in part. I'm hoping to figure out if it is easier to paint the grey primed figs some brown or the brown figs some grey! The Union sky-blue trousers should be easy to hit with paint, especially in the blocks. This took an hour to spray then hit again with a brush using thinned-down pain, so I'm at two hours for about 500 Bacchus figs - that's FAST!

Below, some close-ups of the figures, the lighting shows the details much better when they are primed than when they are bare metal, especially the straps and pouches.

So far, very happy with this project. It is going quickly and I think the blocks of 32 small figures will look good on the bases. I put a lot of thinking into it, and so far I seem to be correct in many assumptions and approaches - hope it stays like that!

Despite feeling a bit overworked on the big-battle ACW rules, I like the concept of where the 6mm is going, and am considering a few other options like using Simplicity in Practice or perhaps Altar of Freedom, and I've a pal who thinks Volley and Bayonet are "all that and a bag of chips / crisps".  We'll see!