My "A Gentleman's War" Project, P.1

I've been knocking around the idea of an AGW project for a while. It's been hard to figure out what is the perfect period for such a stylish set of rules! My requirements are:

1. Large figs with simple shiny paint: 40mm to 54mm preferably.
2. A war that one struggles to take seriously
3. Alternately, a "what-if" war; somehow, I prefer a "what-if" to an Imagi-nation war. It's odd, but while I love the Imagi-nation work of others, for me, it just doesn't work...if they're sorta Prussians, then why not just be Prussians??
4. Given the nature of the war, the people and units must be ripe for humor. If COL Balderdash and SGT Whiskers can't march upon a field against Gen. Rimskey-Kutitoff and Prince Putinov, then why bother?
5. There needs to be enough Figures that I like to motivate the painting.

Given the nature of the requirements, I came up with a few ideas that caught my interest:

• The War of 1812
• The Belgian War of Independence, 1830
• The American Civil War, 1850
• The Crimean War, 1853-6
• The Invasion of Belgium, 1890-ish: precursor to WWI

THE WAR OF 1812

Pros:

• Particularly silly war as few even understand why it was fought
• British are Napoleonics; Americans similar
• Figures in 40mm from Sash and Saber
• Figures in 54mm are plentiful: mostly plastic Napoleonics; best are Armies in Plastic, which has Naps and 1812, Indians, ACW in kepi for French, and Crimean War cavalry!
• Lovely crazy expensive plastics from Singapore
• Shorter Range than ACW
• No one games war of 1812, so would be "different"
• Easy access to resources here in USA, including visiting Battlefields in Maryland and US - Canadian border
• Much of the generalship was so poor, it begs for satire and whiskey
• Several boardgame options
• Comes with interesting naval actions that really matter

Cons:

• Historically, hardly any cavalry actions
• Did I say there's hardly any cavalry actions?

Overall, this is a great choice!

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, 1860 OR 1850

This has a lot of potential, and is an favorite period all over, but especially in the USA. Also has interesting gaming potential as a "What if" on a smaller scale in the 1850s - the war came close to breaking out during a few crises.

Pros:

• Figures in 40mm from Sash and Saber
• Figures in 42mm from Spencer Smith
• Figures in 54mm are plentiful: plastic ACW is everywhere; best are Armies in Plastic
• Variety in weapons and Ranges: smoothbore carbines to breechloading repeaters, smooth bore 6lb cannons to 20lb rifled Parrots
• Easy access to resources here in USA, including visiting Battlefields in Pennsylvania and Maryland
• Some of the generalship was so poor, it begs for satire and whiskey
• Infinite boardgame options, tons [literally] of books, a number of movies

Cons:

• Not a very silly war because of slavery; politically loaded perhaps
• Everyone games the ACW and has an opinion about it
• Historical uniforms have variety but usually lack panache [except militia companies]

Altho I did look into the other options listed above, I decided to go the simplest route, and put in some quick orders through Armies in Plastic and Michigan Toy Soldier Company where I found additional bits and some nice Cavalry.

Below, the first order arrived fairly quickly from Armies in Plastic.

Nice variety of figs. There are some "generally the same" poses, such as firing and loading, or running and marching, but still variety within the pose style.

Rebels with a gun. Of course, they could be Union, Also.

Rebel firing line.

Four different shooters. One dude has his kepi backwards to see better - hilarious!

They take up about 8-12" on the table - depends on your basing style.

Sorted as a Kepi unit - could be Union, of course. Nice firing line!

This could be a firing line out west - all slouch hats.

Defending Richmond? Petersburg?


With clapboard house in the background, and fortifications in foreground.

Same, with cannon entrenched.

By the Dawn's Early Light? No, it's the Twilight's Last Gleaming.

Closeup of house: has room for several figs on porch!

another angle - the officer has exited to see what the shooting is about!

The union fellows. Iron Brigade in hats. Energetically charging. In the background, some Rebels are sneaking into a house on their flank!?

Nice variety here, also, both Firing and Running poses.

Looking a lot more blue in the flash - they are actually darker.

Closeup with cannon and crew - very nice figs. Firing line looks great, also.

overhead shot...

And both sides in opposition. At 6 feet, pretty discernable figures!  Eye-catching spectacle could look great at a convention game.

Forward! Looks like some just prefer shooting, however...

This is a nice force!  The big question is painting them up. They are sorta fun to play with as-is, and might make a good example of what you can do with minimal effort to have fun wargaming. Lots to think about going forward!