1962 Topps "Civil War News" Card Set

Apparently Topps put out a "Civil War News" playing card set in 1962. I love finding obscure things like this. You can see them all online at Authentichistory.com. Thanks to US Military Railroad for the link! Definitely something interesting to look at.

Johnny Reb's finished!

It's finally finished! It took me a lot longer then I'd expected, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. You can click on any pictures to enlarge them. I apologize for the photography, I took these inside with poor lighting (it's been raining ALL week) with a cheap camera. The shine is from the flash.

I limited my pallet somewhat to help create cohesion, but I think I need to limit it even more. I don't want them to seem too "ragged". One of the things I also did was to paint all of the canteens and haversacks the same colors, which seems to tie them together a bit too. My next confederate Regiment I will probably cut out the blue pants and limit it to 5-6 different grays, tans, and browns.

The quick among you may have already noticed that the standard bearer, Officer, and drummer are all on different bases... Well, I've come to accept that I'm more of a modeler/painter then a gamer, so I used some artistic license and moved them around a bit. My thinking it that the Officer would not always be positioned by the Regimental flag, and that the drummer would be one of the first towards the rear once they were engaged, so he is based on one of the single bases (which can be removed for casualty markers). Let me know if I am way off in my thinking...



I love the expression on the soldier in the middle with the blue/red striped blanket roll. Kudos to Sash and Saber for a great sculpt and casting.

I've still yet to designate my army, so this Regiment was given a generic Confederate battle flag. This was handmade and hand painted by me, so it's a bit sloppy, but from a tabletop distance it looks great! (In my opinion at least...)



I spent a little bit of extra time on the basing as well. I need to go back and put another coat of paint on the edges, but other then that I am pleased with how they turned out.



Some pictures from the rear...

(Sloppy edge...)



Here are some closeups of the flag stand.

And then closeups of the other stands as well.





I'm still not entirely happy with this stand. I still can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but this will probably get some color changes in the near future.



Here are the individual bases that can be removed as casualty markers.

This is one of my favorites from this group.



Wasn't sure if the orange was accurate, it doesn't seem to stick out too much so I will probably just leave it.

In column...

Any comments and criticism are welcomed, I'm still looking to improve and so any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

All figures are from Sash and Saber.

Up next? Well, I'm nearing my 100th post so I'll probably play things close to the vest and save up some great content for a special 100th post!

Johnny Reb's (8)

I've finished painting the last seven figures for this Regiment. It took longer then I'd liked, but I made it!

This weekend I'll be painting their flag and basing them. I'm still undecided what Regiment to make them, I haven't decided if I want to start added flags to all my units to make them a specific Brigade/Division or if I should just make them generic units.

I also painted another officer since I wasn't completely satisfied with the first one I painted.


Here they are side by side. Which do you like better and why? (I probably won't start basing these until tomorrow so opinions are welcome!)

All miniatures are from Sash and Saber.

Next post should have them all finished up!

Johnny Reb's (7)

I'm almost done with this Regiment, and I know I've already posted pictures of all of these, but while I'm finishing up the rest of their comrades I thought I'd post a few group shots I had taken a while ago. Please forgive the glossiness and bad photography.

I'm not a huge fan with how the Officer turned out, I may replace him with another figure...



Any suggestions for improvement?

Johnny Reb's (6)

Here's the next little group I've finished. This Regiment is definitely taking a long time to finish, but I've made it a point to paint them to a higher level, so I'm hoping that once they are all completed and based that it will be worth the extra effort.



This standard bearer is one of my new favorites!

The last week or so of work...