Wargames Foundry

25mm American Civil War

by David Barnes

Wargames Foundry's 25mm new releases, American Civil War artillery available from The Foundry Ltd., Hubert s Lane, off Doyle Road, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 1RG, Channel Islands, GB

American Civil War

And now the ACW artillery. I read in a "glossie" magazine an article in which the writer professes to have heard "people" say Wargames Foundry figures have no movement and don't look good en masse. I am no follower of the Hydra headed mob myself and feel generally sorry for "people," who cannot have much idea of proportion, musculature, articulation - or how people are put together in other words. As for "en masse" I wish I could afford to have GF and WGF figures in masses!

Enfin! I have been sent two crews and a Parrott 10lb Rifle and a 6 lber. The "deal" on offer is "one of each cannon plus 30 crew (your choice or leave it to us) or 5 cannon and 30 crew. The men are 70p each, the cannon £ 4. A cannon and six crew of your choice are $12 - at the time of writing. I will list these individuals and their weapons, comment and draw some, not to scale.

Crew firing gun

ACWart1 Lanyard. He has just yanked the,lanyard of the friction fire mechanism and it's whipping back past his right ear. Good rotation from the hips.

ACWart2 Ramrod. Kepi, shell jacket buttoned only at the top, which was a fashion about that time. Ramrod held waist high across the body.

ACWart3 Leaning back from the muzzle. A reflex action to miss the worst of the blast. Mouth open too.

ACWart4 Vent man. In shirtsleeves. Separate right arm. No. 3 on the gun who covered the Vent with his left hand when at "ready" and stuck his right thumb on the vent on "load." Warm work!! (cf. "Arms and Equipment of the Civil War," Jack Coggins, Fairfax Press, NY)

ACWart5 NCO shouting order. His whole body is tensed with yelling. A remarkable model, fists clenched, at attention. Reminds me of RSM Jones, Welsh Guards "Order mark time or the b's will march into each other! Sir!" This guy will be yelling "Load!"

ACWart6 Carrying round with haversack. Easier than trying to carry a smooth slippery heavy metal ball in one's hands - to the danger of everybody's toes!

Crew aiming gun

ACWart7 NCO, shirtsleeves, astride trail. Judging the range with an acute look. "How did the guys in the balloon figure that out?"

ACWart8 Trail spike, sack coat. Trousers tucked into his socks with a good pair of square toed brogues on, spike ready to alter the alignment of the gun. "Trail right!"

ACWart10 Lanyard. He's walking forward with the lanyard coiled ready to hook it to the primer and put it in the vent.

ACWart11 Hand on hip, shirtsleeves. "Them's comin' real close, do I fix the prolonges to fire while retiring?" An intelligent face on this one - all the figures have characterful faces.

ACWart12 Officer, binoculars, frockcoat. Spade beard, sword hooked up, bars on his shoulders (red surrounded by gold and insignia writing if more than a second lieutenant). I can see the type of binoculars. They're the same type left me by my great grandmother; she was around at the time of ACW (not a lot of people know that).

Now for the cannon

SSG81ACW Parrot 10lb rifle. Comes as wheels, trail and tube (barrel). Real thing had a tube of 74 inches, weighed 899 lbs and range of 1900 yards, at 5' elevation. The projectile weighed 9.5lbs. Some times it was called the 3" rifle and was a popular weapon. Every bolt can be made out on this casting and the railing on the wooden parts. A first class bit of kit.

SSG83ACW 6lber. That's all the sheet says, but it looks to me like the 1841-44 model, length of tube 60 inches, projectile weighing 6.1 lbs and range of 1523 yards. Smoothbore and could fire solid shot, shell, spherical case (38 balls in a container with a 2.5 ounce burster) or canister for close range (350 yards or so). The carriage is the same as the 3" rifle's which is quite correct. Wheels the same size too for interchangeability. Regulations for battery spacing were 14 yards interval per weapon - a 6 gun battery would take up about 82 yards depending on terrain and tactics. Now to draw a gun and some of the crew, not to scale.

More Barnes' Reviews

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© Copyright 1998 Hal Thinglum
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