Billy Yank and Friends

Both practice and a pastime.

 These three Union soldiers were painted as a "Thank You" gift to some contacts of mine. The recipients are all Civil War buffs, and one is even a fellow wargamer. These units were a good reason to practice on the Perry kit as well, since I will hopefully be able to transfer the experience gained through painting them to my Veruzian infantry project. They are all from the Perry Miniatures Skirmishing Infantry box, though the middle one is of smaller stature due to coming from the marching sprue provided in the box rather than the skirmishing sprue.

I tend to find the naval angle of the conflict more interesting, but that ties back to my continual interest in strange and oft-malformed technologies past and present. That said, early trench conflicts around Richmond alongside sieges like Vicksburg are still very fascinating to read about. These three are not intended for any specific theatre, though I did unsuccessfully try to aim for an area roughly around Northern Virginia with the basing.  The bases themselves were freestyled with a base of Vallejo Russian Mud drybrushed with Steel Legion and then Karak Stone. The flowers were directly from Army Painter. I chose them both to disguise the base itself, which I think came out too arid-looking, and to provide a complement to the otherwise very blue figures. They adhere oddly in places, so in the future I might want to mark out flat areas while putting down texture paste to prepare for foilage. In a similar vein, drybrushing with more chocolate-coloured browns should help to keep the soil moister-looking next time.

 

 On the topic of the figure's blue shades, they proved to be the most difficult part of the proceedings. I drew largely from this tutorial by Wargames, Soldiers, and Strategy for the steps. The sack coat was Vallejo Imperial Blue mixed with Abbadon Black, then highlighted with Imperial Blue, then Macragge Blue lightly, then washed overall with Nuln Oil. The pants started as Imperial Blue washed with nuln, then highlighed with a mix of Imperial Blue and Russ Grey, then highlighed with Russ Grey lightly at the end. This was difficult to achieve consistently and required several reapplications of wash and highlight to balance out. Both of these schemes came out very reflective and had to be matte varnished. They are less reflective in reality than they appear in the photos.

 

The canteens were Baneblade Brown washed Agrax, straps were Karak Stone washed Agrax and rehighlighted with Karak Stone. The black details were Abbadon Black washed Nuln and highlighted with Corvus Black, which I find surprisingly effective. Abbadon Black on its own tends to take a rubbery appearance, which is good for polished jackboots or industrial tubing but not so much for Civil War equipment. The skin was done with a standard Cadian-Reikland-Cadian-Kislev, hair was Dryad Bark washed Agrax. The wood was Mournfang Brown washed Nuln and the musket strap was Rhinox hide washed likewise. Steel was Leadbelcher washed Nuln, highlighted Ironbreaker. Brass was Retributor Armour washed with Nuln and Reikland, highlighted with Auric Armour Gold.

 

To close out, have some alternative photos. I have been trying to practice with camera settings more, although at some point it might be wiser to just create a proper setup rather than continually write disclaimers about how satin or not these figures may be in reality.  This one is my favorite of the three front-facing takes.

 

𝅘𝅥𝅯My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of The Lord𝅘𝅥...