The Plan
It's time to return to the ACW which I first attempted in 1999. Back then I started building 18 man units for Principles of War and produced too many Union and not enough Confederates. Although these units probably represented the pinnacle of my painting ability, I didn't like the bases and I sold them off (for quite a lot of money, so not all bad).
Nowadays I'm better at planning projects. I did have a second aborted attempt in 2021 but I made a mistake with the miniatures I bought and inspiration failed me. I switched to the Crimean War however, and completed that project fairly quickly.
Armed with this experience I'm off to the USA again.
I want to produce two armies, Union and Confederate obviously, with 28mm miniatures. Each army will consist (to begin with) of six infantry units of 16 miniatures each, two cavalry units of 6 mounted miniatues, 6 dismounted miniatures and a horse holder each and two guns with 4 crew each. Commanders will be a main commander fielded as a 5 miniature group of mixed mounted and foot and a sub commander fielded as a pair of mounted miniatues.
I shall be using Wargaming, an introduction by Neil Thomas which contains a nice set of ACW rules.
All my miniatures are coming from the excellent Redoubt Enterprises ACW range.

Painting
It took me a while to decide how I wanted my colour scheme to look. In the end, I opted for a very dark blue for the Union as opposed to the dark, highlighted medium blue I'd used before.

Here are the paints I've used so far for the Union. These will cover all the basic blue Union troops, Zouaves and Berdan's Sharpeshooters will differ. I've mostly used Valejo paints.
Jackets, kepi Dark Prussian blue
Trousers, some canteens Deep sky blue, Sky blue Off-white strap
Belts, pouches, kepi peaks, bayonet scabbards Black
Blankets, socks, some canteens Coat D'arms Grey triad, Panzer grey, Tank blue grey, Slate grey.
Haversacks Bone white, Ivory
Muskets, canteen tops Flat brown
Brassy brass, Oily steel
Sword scabbards are either black with brass trim (officers) or steel (NCOs)
Bases from Warbases (80mm x 60mm x 3mm) and flags from Flags of War. I have some flags supplied from Redoubt made by Body's Banners, If I use them, I'll mention it. Flag poles are brass from eBay.

1st Michigan Infantry Regiment

The second Union infantry regiment.

The 166th Pennsylvania Volunteers

The third Union infantry unit.

The 6th Wisconsin Volunteers (Iron Brigade)

All my Union so far.

Everything so far.

I've only got a couple of days before the end of the year so I've decided to do my Berdan Sharpshooters in order to get them completed before 2023. they're skirmishers so there's only eight of them.

Berdan's Sharpshooters

These gabions are from Debris of War. Whilst I was painting them I rebased my larger Empress ones as well.

My next Union infantry regiment is the 20th Maine. I've replaced the standard officer miniature with one of Joshua Chamberlain.

The 20th Maine were the first ACW miniatures I bought when I first attempted this project. Back then, I bought the regiment pack and added several more infantry packs to bulk it out.

The 20th Maine

Next up for the Union is the 54th Massachusetts, the famous coloured regiment from the film Glory.

The 54th Massachusetts

22.01.23 The union army so far.

Painting
Clean uniform. I want one unit in regulation uniform. I've decided that it will be the 1st maryland, Band of Brothers since they were the 'pristine' troops in my old collection.
​Once again, most paints are by Valejo.
Jacket, Coat d’arms Tank blue grey, Blue grey pale. Deep sky blue, Sky blue cuffs
Kepi Deep sky blue, Sky blue
Trousers and canteens Deep sky blue, Sky blue Off-white strap
Belts, pouches, kepi peaks, bayonet scabbards Black
Blankets, socks, Cavalry brown
Haversacks Bone white, Ivory
Muskets, canteen tops Flat brown
Brassy brass, Oily steel
Sword scabbards are either black with brass trim (officers) or steel (NCOs)
Bases from Warbases (80mm x 60mm x 3mm) and flags from Flags of War. I have some flags supplied from Redoubt made by Body's Banners, If I use them, I'll mention it. Flag poles are brass from eBay.

Here are my old Band of Brothers, followed by the new versions.

I damaged the state flag so I'm awaiting a replacement. This set of flags is from Redoubt.

I got a replacement state flag from GMB Designs.

The 1st Maryland regiment, the Band of Brothers

My second Confederate unit, Texans.

The 1st Texas regiment

My two Confederate units so far.

Everyone so far. It's starting to feel like I'm assembling armies now.

My third Confederate unit is the Virginia Military Institute cadets.

I gave my cadets historically innacurate white trousers this time around. They appear to have worn an all-grey uniform which is how I painted them the first time I did them but both Gods and Generals and The Horse Soldiers went with white so I took the opportunity to add some more variation to my Confederates.

My original cadets from the late 90s. My new lot didn't come with the distinctive cadet heads so I had to rummage around for normal kepi heads without beards. They were also missing their flags and field gun. I bought replacement flags from GMB Designs.

Everything so far at the end of 2022.

This is the first of my 'mixed uniform' Confederate units. These portray the traditional rag-tag look of the Confederate army. This first unit is the most decrepid with patched clothing. The next units will be mixed colours but still have decent uniforms.

The 11th Mississippi Volunteers

---