Introduction 2

ACW Gaming News 3 Converting Perry Cavalry 4

History in Miniature: The Battle of Chattanooga 10

Osprey’s Confederate Cavalryman Versus Union Cavalryman 13

Peachtree Creek – East Flank: General Bate enters the fray 16

Colors of Confederate Clothing, Part III 20 LEADBEAR’s Tufts and terrain accessories 34

Active Clubs 38

Trading Page 40

Summer 2015

ACW Gamer is a publication of Raven Banner Games. Raven Banner Games is registered as a business operating in Pennsylvania, USA

ACW Gamer logo by Chris Ward

Cover photo: Union cavalry from the collection of Russ Justice; all the figures are Dixon Miniatures with some conversion’s both large and small.

Above: A 25mm dismounted Union cavalry firing line by Cory Ring.

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Welcome to the ACW Gamer: the Ezine The Electronic Magazine dedicated to wargaming the American Civil War on the tabletop.

Issue 8 Summer 2015 Page 2 ACW Gamer

Welcome to ACW Gamer! As I mentioned in the last issue of ACW Gamer, I was a passenger in an automobile accident that resulted in some serious injuries. I have had many readers and friends inquire about my health and I just wanted to say that I continue to heal and I plan on attending Historicon. ACW Gamer will have a booth in the vendor’s area and I hope you stop by to introduce yourselves! We have some nice cavalry focused articles for you this issue. First, we will review Osprey Publishing’s Confederate Cavalryman Versus Union Cavalryman: Eastern Theater 1861 - 65 for our readers to review. I also recruited Dutch gamer and painter Arthur Van Der Ster to write an article for this issue on how to customize Perry Miniatures’ plastic American Civil War cavalry. Arthur has a talent with the Perry plastics and I have been impressed with the photos of the armies he has shared on line. I hope this article encourages you to get the most out of your plastics! Fredrick Adolphus also provides some thoughts on the color of horses in the final part of his series on Confederate Uniforms. This series has proven to be insightful and a great aid to gamers researching the painting schemes for their Southern armies. This issue we also look at a unique documentary on the Battle of Chattanooga that I think ACW gamers will find not only interesting, but might inspire them to create their own documentaries using wargaming figures.

Gamer Barry Scarlett from Australia has created

some interesting terrain pieces which we will review, and I think you will find them most useful.

Finally, we have another scenario from The Devil To Pay design team for playing with their fast pace rules. Nathaniel St. John and his club have repeatedly played this scenario out and he has deemed it ready for prime time! This issue I am trying out a ‘trading page’ as a way to help ACW gamers in exchanging unneeded figures, terrain and supplies for the things they do need. This new feature is experimental but I hope it works well.

All-in-all, something for all ACW gamers in Issue 8!

Stephen M. Huckabyinfo@acwgamer.com

The official miniature of ACW Gamerpresented to contributors -Photo by Bill Gilson

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ACW Gaming News

Issue 8 Summer 2015 Page 3 ACW Gamer

Stephanie Hill, daughter of late game designer John Hill, has designed a tribute site for her father.

The site can be found at www.acrossadeadlyfield.com

Although not a wargamer, Stephanie Hill has provided several resources to support John’s game systems such as Across A Deadly Field, Johnny Reb and Squad Leader. Included among these resource is a library of downloads to assist ADF players.

To visit the site, click the picture to the right.

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ACW Gamer Page 4Issue 8 Summer 2015

Back in 2008 (or perhaps early 2009) Perry Miniatures released their second historical plastic miniatures set: American Civil War cavalry.

Now these figures are meant to be generic, like their first set, American Civil War infantry. In other words, you can use them as both Union and Confederate cavalrymen.

Right: Perry Miniatures painted by Jim Bowen and Chris Adcock illustrating how the figures can be used for either Union or Confederate cavalry. Image from the Perry Miniatures Website: https://www.perry-miniatures.com©Perry Miniatures

Introduction

“Draw....modeling knives!”Spicing up Perry Miniatures plastic cavalry

By Arthur Van der Ster

Box art by Peter Dennis from the Perry Miniatures American Civil War Cavalry set. ©Perry Miniatures

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ACW Gamer Page 5Issue 8 Summer 2015

As with the infantry, you can glue on either field caps or slouch hats. However, other than that, there is little room to personalize your figures. It can be argued that the uniforms of Union and Confederate soldiers looked very much alike, especially regarding cavalry uniforms. To some extent this is true. Both Union and Confederate infantry wore the same types of jackets, just in varying degrees. Some people however will cringe at the thought of this.

As for the cavalry, Union shell jackets were far more elaborate compared to Confederate shell jackets, the former being trimmed with yellow piping, the latter, usually ranging from cavalry branch colored collars and cuffs (yellow or black) in the first half of the war, to completely featureless near the end. As to equipment, Confederate long arms varied greatly in quantity, type and quality: short barreled muskets and shotguns being present among various types of carbines. Union troopers were equipped with Sharps and Burnside carbines.

In any case, going back to the Perry plastic cavalry set, you are provided with 12 generic cavalry troopers which most people find looking too rigid and well, for lack of a better term, too ‘generic.’ This article will give you some pointers to make them look a bit more exciting.

One of the disadvantages of this set is that the heads are attached to the bodies. When you leave them like that, the entire unit is looking forward in the same direction. This looks really unnatural and I think is the main cause why these figures seem stiff. Most of the other Perry cavalry sets afterwards came with loose heads. This allows you to create more dynamic poses.

Plastic however is the best material to convert so it is really simple to make these cavalry figures look more alive.

Above and Right: “Pre-conversion” miniatures.

Take a sharp modelling knife and slowly cut the head off (not sure how to describe this without sounding morbid.) Make sure you cut it off neatly, i.e., don’t cut off the collar or a piece of the head itself. You still want to use it!

So now that you’ve removed the head, it’s time to replace it. There are several options. Perry Miniatures sell a pack of

Head Swaps

Metal Heads

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ACW Gamer Page 6Issue 8 Summer 2015

36 metal heads with slouch heads (12 different heads). These are ideal for Confederate cavalry. They come in a sprue of six each.

After removing mold lines and flash you can start the fitting process. Cut off the metal head from the sprue and start filing the underside until it fits the neck of the plastic body. Before gluing, you will want to dry fit both pieces to see if they fit and how you want to glue them. If you’re happy use a dab of super glue and simply glue both parts together.

Another option would be to use the African American heads from Perry Miniatures to create U.S. Colored Cavalry. They also come in 12 variations and 36 to a pack.

The great thing about plastic historical sets is that you are usually left with a bunch of spare heads. These are great for conversion work and gives your units a more varied look. Not one soldier needs have the same head.

I use a lot of the spare heads from the plastic Perry Miniatures ACW Zouave set. By carefully cutting off the turbans, you will be able to fit on the kepis and slouch hats that come in the other sets. You can of course use many others. I have also used quite a few of the Napoleonic British set. Simply take off the shako and glue on a kepi or slouch hat. You really don’t need to be an expert modeler to pull this off.

The last option is to use the separated heads from the cavalry figures themselves. Just make them fit properly and glue the head sideways.

Plastic Heads

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