Saturday, July 17, 2021

6mm Pony Wars - The start of the 7th Cavalry.

It seems like ages since I actually finished a unit, but finally the first of the Pony Wars Figures start to take to the field.

Ok not quite fighting men but at least the horses for elements of the 7th Cavalry. Possibly the weirdest place start for a project.



I was slightly nervous about 6mm having largely gamed in 28mm - Mirco tanks don't count as they are all green. The temptation was to paint the detail especially given the excellent castings from Baccus but as a good friend told me you are typically 3ft from the mini's so you can afford to be far more liberal with the detail.

I toyed with the idea of painting them on the sprues but in the end opted to base them first and then add the detail by adding in blocks of colour, horse blankets, neckerchief's flesh etc. It did mean that their were the occasional hard to reach area, but better that than ruining some of the painted mini's by adding in the base mix and dry brushing.

The plan is to use them for an adapted version of Sharp practice or the soon to be re-released Pony Wars Rules, basing the units on a single base will help with movement and 6mm will give me plenty of room for rolling plains on an 8ft by 4ft table with a mass of warriors against a beleaguered command. 

The US cavalry whilst having superior fire power will be encumbered by a long tail behind the firing unit, horse holders, pack mules etc, this should give the cavalry commander a real challenge on the table top.

Given the size and the need to identify the units from a far, I came a cross this plate which seemed to be the perfect way to identify the various companies.


Lot's to do in the weeks ahead but this is a good start to get my eye in.

10 comments:

  1. It looks very promising. In the future, I will also want to do US wars with the Sioux. I've been thinking over the scale and I like 6mm more and more. Such Battle of Little Big Horn no longer looks scary...

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    Replies
    1. Very true Bart that was my thinking.
      Cheers
      Stu

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  2. These look great Stu although an odd place to start - I always prefer the fighting men over the logistical tail! The scale is a good one for any conflict really, the smaller the better in many ways, apart from the aesthetics of course! Our group seems pretty set on 25/28mm for almost every era - the exception being FoW 15mm for WW2, as the range originated in NZ and was at one time part of Mark at "1866 and All That's" local figure producing business...so we all have LOTS of their earlier resin kit!

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    Replies
    1. To be honest I wanted to give it a try to see if I could actually get my eye on. Now on to shock markers and dismounted cavalry. It is a different gaming experience and much like your group it will always be 28mm :-)
      Cheers
      Stu

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  3. Such great painting of this small scale. As one who enjoys some small scale figures myself (2 mm), along with the bigger stuff, I like to see the figures of other's in 10 mm or smaller.
    Regards, James

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    1. 2mm James - wow.
      I guess that does give you a full battle to play out.
      Cheers
      Stu

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  4. I can remember a time when you were contemplating 6mm - now your into it Suart and doing a mighty fine job of Pony Wars. Cheers. KEV.

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  5. Love the Plains Wars! Really looking forward to your doing this in 6mm. You are right in that should give you much more manuvering room. I love your paint jobs too. I own an 18mm Blue Moon collection and Plains War games are a big favorite of our local group.

    Good luck and great start to your project too!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Joe.
      Really excited by this, just need a little more paint time :-)
      Cheers
      Stu

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