H Troop, US 7th cavalry!

Here is the first of the 7th US cavalry painted for Mark, specially commissioned 20mm sculpts by the very talented Andrew Stadden (Son of Charles), riding Qualiticast horses. There will be 6 Troops each of 20 figures when complete and this is H Troop who rode Blood Bay mounts. The brief was to try to keep them as close as possible to Peter Gilders superb Pony Wars collection so the lighter (faded) blue coats, the light blue/grey shirts and the off white  hats with yellow braiding. As you can see they are a nice mix of uniform jackets, shirts with braces and greatcoats with the cape showing yellow lining as it flaps back over the shoulder. All are armed with a carbine and revolver. Each troop comprises 2 Officers (Capt. and Lt), 2 SNCO's and a  Corporal who is the standard bearer plus 15 troopers including the trumpeter who rides a grey. I have added rank as applicable to the figures. Each figure has a name label on the underside showing troop identity and the name of historical soldier present at Little Big Horn which is a nice touch.

It's almost impossible to capture the true shades of blue with my phone camera under my painting lamps, they are far more subtle and less 'bright' in the flesh! B Troop are now well underway and I hope to have them all finished for a midweek pick up by Mark, so 40 x 7th cavalry, 240 x mounted Indians and 100 on foot as phase1, so we still have a long way to go compete this lovely commission for the Summer.

On the subject of painting lamps I'm going to invest in a serious upgrade this month ( see below) because it has become clear that I'm struggling somewhat with the smaller scales recently. Whilst I'm fine with 20mm figures like these the 2mm bases are a struggle now. I'm hoping the new lamp will really help with  this, we shall see.