Tedious but rewarding: Hand painting miniatures

I won't carry on with a big intro. Here are some photos of my work painting miniatures the last few months. You'll see the platoon of marching infantry, the supply and ordinance wagons, generals and staff, a cameo by President Lincoln, and a half-done platoon of cavalry. As of this post, I have two more staff figures almost done, and have started my first artillery pack. I also realize there are a few figures in these photos that are not perfectly placed. It was tough enough to get the time to set these up for a shoot, so I kindly ask for a little slack on that. Enjoy!

The trains have taken somewhat of a backseat lately, mostly due to the wall I've hit in their progression. I'll explain more later. But over the last few months, I've focused squarely on bringing more life to the layout, and the only way to do that was get painting. Following my reviews of both GHQ and Good Ground Minis, my mind was set on which company provided the best figures for what I wanted to do on an N scale railroad layout: GHQ.

Infantry platoon

I ordered these in the first batch back in July, and were one of the first packs I started painting. There are 24 soldiers in all, including an officer, drummer, and color sergeant. The men are wearing mostly sack coats, and a 50/50 mix of blanket rolls and knapsacks. I figure this is about the size of a platoon (half a company) after early 1862. Attrition took a toll quickly following the very early battles, and most regiments fluctuated between 300 and 600 present for duty throughout the war in the east.

Cavalry platoon

When I started writing this post, the pack of 12 mounted cavalry was unfinished, but now I'm pleased to show you the final result. The officer and bugler at the head of the column, with 10 troopers behind them. I'm excited for this because of how sharp the yellow cavalry piping on the uniforms contrast against the dark blue jackets. My abilities as a miniatures painter are getting better with each set.

General staff and President Lincoln

These are actually a mix of GHQ and Good Ground figures. The riders in this scene are Good Ground U.S. mounted command set, but the officer is different than the example shown on the GG site. The horses and all standing figures are from the GHQ headquarters set. You can't really see it on the GHQ site, but the field officer in the set has his sword drawn. That didn't really work for what I was going for, so I removed the sword and bent down his arm. The wall tent was used in another part of the layout.

The addition of Lincoln to the set actually helped me decide how to use these figures. The scene you see in these pictures depicts Lincoln arriving off the train, being greeted by a Union general and some staff, with a mounted escort at the ready. I may order another one of this set, even if I don't use a second Lincoln for anything. The officers, horses, and tent are very good and very useful.

General staff in camp

Good Ground made the Slovenly Yanks set I fell in love with, and here's another scene I just had to have. It's called Richmond is a Hard Road to Travel, featuring a standing general, standing staff officer, and two field officers seated on a church bench, and a table with map on it. Hey! I have a church! How perfect is that?

I really wish GG figures were closer in size to GHQ, because this set would go unbelievably well with the GHQ headquarters set. As I had mentioned in the original miniatures/figures post on this site, the two brands are too different in size to place any figures together in a scene.

Wagons

I'm writing an entire post on wagons, so you'll have to just check back in a few days for that one.