6mm Adler AWI and Scenery

I've slowly been adding models to the 6mm AWI Southern Campaign project, and while I was painting today I had the urge to set some up for a photo shoot - that is, to distract myself with an unnecessary bit of fun. I laid out some buildings and terrain and added some of the figure models, and here is the result.

The buildings are from Dave Graffam models, which I love. They come as pdf files, and many of them have lots of different texture options so you can create a variety of pieces, just by making different selections in Adobe Acrobat. You can scale them however you like, and even in 6mm they are easy to assemble and look great. I like to paint the edges to blend in, so the white card stock sides don't show, and then cover them in matt varnish to protect them and prevent shine. They are very affordable, and for the price of one digital file you can print as many as you like. They are very lightweight, but in 6mm the strength of the card makes them still pretty robust.

The roads are from Battlefield Terrain Concepts. The fences are from Paper Terrain. The trees and fields I bought from folks in the flea market at Cold Wars, but I'm afraid I've forgotten their names!

A company of the 1st Maryland marching down a country lane.

Here some troopers from the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons charge down the road.

Continentals in hunting shirts march to the fence line.

Some South Carolina militia take up position behind a fence.

And here two guns have been set up to cover the crossroads.

6mm AWI Continental Line - Adler Miniatures

The beauty of 6mm miniatures is that you can pack a whole lot of them in to a small space, and create units that are actually close in number to their historical counterparts. Below are Adler Miniatures Continental Soldiers, in this case the majority of the 1st Maryland Regiment for the Southern Campaign. They don't have as much detail as the larger scales of course, but there is plenty to keep the painter busy and to please the eye at close range.

For realism I've included a fair amount of variation in "uniforms," a word that has to be used pretty loosely for the Continental Army. Some soldiers have mismatched outfits, some are completely out of uniform.

I also have not yet done much work at all on the bases, just giving them a simple coat of green as a temporary measure. I need a few thousand more of these, so the full base treatment will have to wait a while.

In addition to the march pose Adler offers two others for infantry: firing figures and advancing figures.

6mm French Line Infantry - Seven Years War

Slowly, very slowly, my 6mm Seven Years War French project is taking shape. The third piece of I have done is a unit of French Line Infantry, this time with "front turnbacks" in their coats - meaning the front edge of the coat is buttoned back against the sides, exposing the colorful lining of the inside. This was just a way for the soldiers to spiff up their uniforms a bit, and historically some units did and others did not. These gentlemen bear the flag of the Provence regiment, which I believe technically means they should not have these turnbacks, but I'm just not that much of a stickler. And I didn't have a flag for a unit with this uniform.

For information about the uniforms of the armies involved in the Seven Years War I've been using the excellent resource at Kronoskaf. You can find the project here: http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Main_Page

Once again these are Baccus 6mm models. The level of detail is really very good considering the small size of the figures, and I like being able to pack a lot of little guys in to such a small area. I've mounted them on wooden bases from Litko, which I give just a very basic scenic treatment.

This is the entire army at this point...not very formidable yet, but they're slowly expanding.

6mm French Artillery, Seven Years War

Here is another Baccus Miniatures 6mm subject from the Seven Years War - a french artillery piece with its crew. Nicely detailed little figures, considering the size.

This is the entire army at this point - a humble beginning, but it's slowly growing:

6mm French Line Infantry from the Seven Years War - Baccus Miniatures

For the first time I've tried my hand at some 6mm figures from Baccus Miniatures, French infantry from the Seven Years War. I was very impressed with the level of detail of these figures and, being one who likes to lavish all the attention I can bear on the things I paint, there was plenty here to keep me busy. The kit includes printed paper flags of various units, and I have modeled the Boulonnais Regiment here.

For such small sculpts, the bayonets are actually quite sturdy, and there seems little danger of them bending or breaking off unless they are really strongly abused. I've actually shaved them down a bit, as I felt they were at first too clunky and broad. Even so they remain strong.

The 24 figures of the unit sit on a 30mm X 60mm plywood base from Lithko, which I've just given a very basic terrain treatment, and I really like the effect  from a moderate distance. See the last photo for a size comparison.