Union Officer

A few days ago, I received a sample Union officer from Steve Barber’s new line of Civil War Miniatures. I’ve got to say, I’m impressed with the sculpting on the figure. The detail is very crisp. Just look at how easily I was able to pick out shoulder bars!  Even better news came when I compared the figure to the Sash and Sabre and Perry’s miniatures that form the bulk of my forces. He is nearly a perfect match size-wise. If he was standing up straight, he might be a little taller than most, but I don’t think I’ll have any qualms about mixing Steve Barber figures in with the rest of my troops.

I’ll definitely be picking up a few more at Salute in a couple of weeks.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to experiment with Union blue.  In the next few months, I’ll probably be cranking up work on the Union forces, and I want to be ready.  The blue I have used here is a straight 50/50 mix of two Vallejo paints: Prussian Blue and Medium Blue, over a basecoat of Prussian Blue. The result is a color that is almost certainly brighter than Union blue. However, Union blue is such a dark color that much of the detail is lost at miniature size, so I’m happy to go with a little less realism in favor of more visual appeal. I might continue to tinker, but I’m pretty happy with it at the moment.