Go West, Young Man

I am off to Texas in a few hours. I'll have my laptop with me, and I'll be checking in from time to time, but my wife has to go to El Paso for an operation and I will be riding shotgun - posts will be sparse for the next ten days or so. However, Flag Monday will proceed as scheduled with another Virginia flag tomorrow and a series of variations on the stars and stripes lined up for the entire month of July!

North Carolina Militia

I finally got my photography (and painting) lights worked out and I was able to snap some pics of my latest militia unit. I really like the way the stumps and logs worked out. I am also very happy with the way the flag looks in action!

Thought this unit was worth some more photos...

The third unit is underway...

The Boys From Carolina

Here's a finished unit sporting one of the South Carolina flags I posted a few days ago (as usual, you can click on the photo to see it full size). I purposely chose a plain, pointed flag pole so I can easily swap out the flags for different scenarios.

My plans for the militia are to build nine stands of marching troops (like the lads above), nine stands of shooting troops, and four stands of advancing troops (these will be mostly in hunting shirts to represent the Virginia militia). Along with the separate command stands, this will allow me to field five units of four stands, six units of three stands and one of four, two units of six stands, and many other combinations (you get the idea) and still preserve the basic marching/firing/advancing battalions. Being able to swap the flags lets me change the weight of states represented as well.

I'll post a pic of a shooty battalion later this week...

Militia Vignettes

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my armies will be based on 50x50mm stands of 4-6 models each for infantry. I want to build a lot of character into the units and maybe one in four stands will be true vignettes...

My plan for command is to base three models on half hexes in the manner of the Napoleonic units Barry Hilton and Dave Imrie. This makes it easy to combine the rank and file stands in any combination and still ensure that the unit's colors will be in the center of the unit, no matter the formation.

I'll have shots of a couple of finished units next week!