This first line was an absolute nightmare from a painting perspective. I encountered two major issues.
1. My painting experience is almost exclusively 28mm. There is a learning curve to painting at 15mm and below. I do not mind not having the best-looking figures on the first go at all. They will still play well on the table. The figures do not look bad from an arm's length distance. I think as I paint more lines of infantry certain things will shake out. Specifically, the little details and where to use highlights and shadows to accentuate or not. Also, I think stronger colors for highlights and shadow will help pop the miniature on the table.
2. Army Painter paints...I am not sure where to begin. Some of the colors performed well. The electric blue on the pants and the monster brown on the bedrolls. I think the blue is too bright for the effect I want but it works. At least the dang paint was applied in two easily controlled coats of paint. Every single other color was hot garbage. Watery messes of consistency that were impossible to control. They would flow off the surface and into the detail like a wash. Just a mess. I used the strong tone wash. I do not get the love of this product. It applied like a gel. It didn't settle into the recesses of the miniature. Did not do a particularly good job of creating contrast in my opinion. I even used some of their wash media to "help." It just created a more diluted mess of gel posing in the form of a wash.
Anyway, here is the front of the line infantry. The dark blue and the brown/tan paints were a mess. Lack of coverage and the paint spread all over the place. I touched them up to be sufficient for a back line rank. I did not deal with the facial hair.
The back of the line. I spent some time trying to clean up the details on the back of the miniatures. I think they turned out pretty decent and will look good. There is a good amount of little details to help bring color to the ranks that I will paint more deliberately in the future. I did touch up a few pieces not shown here like the bayonet scabbard a canteen or two I missed.
I couple of other random thoughts on this initial experiment.
1. I generally really like the sculptures. However, Warlord should have done separate Union and Confederate sprues for the game. I think most wargamers would prefer their Union troops to have kepi hats and not a mix of kepi and slouch caps. This mix works for the Confederates as their uniforms were not as standardized. The Iron Brigade special models have the Hardee cap which is a nice distinguishing feature. I do not own any but have seen them in person. I may spend the time to trim the brim of the slouch caps for the union into kepis but it's a lot of work to add to an already time-consuming process. I realize it would have cost Warlord and ultimately consumers more but I think most would have preferred a slight price increase to better distinguish the uniforms of the two armies.
2. I will prime my next sprues differently. I will try a black base primer and a zenithal highlight. I am not sure how much this will really help the shadowing at this scale but it will help deal with the microscopic recesses that stick out after painting if you prime in a light color only.
3. I like Vallejo and Citadel paints. Neither paint line is perfect but I am very comfortable working with them. I have some Vallejo Model Color paints coming to replace the Army Painter colors going forward. Also, I will just use the Citadel shades. I do not even know why I tried something new other than to try something new.
