David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Thursday 29 October 2020

The 'Peculiar Institution'...

 As I mentioned in my recent blog post on completing my Carthaginian army I just needed a break from bronze. The first 'intermission' project if you like is a small terrain feature which can be utilized in American settings from the AWI through to the ACW. Woke Wargamers should probably look away now, but for the overwhelmingly normal majority, please proceed to read on.

I've planned this piece for several months really. I got the pack of five female field hands from Eureka Miniatures UK a while ago. I wasn't sure what context I wanted to use them in, certainly two of them were obviously suited to a cotton setting, but cotton plants were entirely another matter. Quite by chance though I saw Ray Rousell's Haitian Revolt blog where he had utilized plants sourced from Vietnam! A quick Google search located the firm in question and a scroll through their web page located cotton plants! Success! So an order was placed, a confirmation email and despatch email received, and then, I waited... Sure enough, well within the timeframe quoted, they duly popped through the letter box! Then they waited their moment patiently in the queue, and now here it has finally arrived.


The MDF base is a left over offcut from some MDF building I did last year. I fixed the plants by bending 3mm of the bottom of the twisted wire stalks at right angle and gluing them into place a row at a time using UHU glue and a drop of Superglue to harden it instantly. Each row was textured then using Dried Earth Basetex and four of the five field hands fixed into place similarly row by row. (The fifth figure I've put on a seperate base as I felt it was a tad crowded. In all the piece took an afternoon to finish off. The figures probably a day or so to paint, mixed in with whatever Carthaginian figures I was working on that week.

Slavery is an uncomfortable historical truth, but in representing this in a small vignette I have no intention of giving the 'peculiar institution' my approval. It was a fact of life then and will add something to the look of the game. (As a counter I can field a Brigade of US Colored Infantry, something incidentally you don't see much of in ACW armies on the wargames table.) Now I have to consider a building to house the cotton gin... Oh, a Wargamer's work is never done!

29 comments:

  1. Neatly done there, an unusual piece that I cannot recall seeing on a table anywhere before.

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    1. Thanks Phil! Always a hobby trailblazer, that's me.

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  2. "Where no man has gone before."

    This is a very interesting vignette for a game. I expect the comments to be equally interesting...

    Nonetheless, a nice bit of modelling.

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    1. You see it as controversial perhaps Jonathan? Glad you like it though.

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  3. What a superb vignette David. We model a lot of things that we do not agree about nor celebrate, don't we? Take war for instance...!!
    What is really sad is that slavery is not the historical anachronism that it should be. Far too much still goes on around the world.
    Regards, James

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  4. Many historical truths were uncomfortable, this one just seems to be getting an inordinate amount of coverage lately. The world changes, we like to think for the better and looking back 200 years for inspiration to further divide todays society seems like an exercise in madness to me.
    Nice vignette, the cotton plants are a great idea.

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    1. Glad you liked my rough efforts Vagabond.

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  5. Atmospheric and beautifully done!

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  6. Very well done. I see no problem with this, of course I would think most would take to the hills if a battle started in front of them. :D

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  7. Very nicely done David and as you say, not many 'colored' troops seen on the table. If I do get some ACW troops, one of my Battalions will certainly be 'colored'.

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    1. Especially the late war. They should be at least one Colored Federal Regiment.

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    2. Thanks SteveJ! The lack of Colored Troops in ACW games from 1863 onwards has always struck me as odd. My own small Colored Brigade has done good service, often alongside the Oirish!

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  8. A nice looking vignette David...
    Produced with style and consideration...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly. I'm glad it's been received in the spirit I carried it out.

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  9. Well done; certainly the role that slavery played in our history is not to be ignored nor glorified, but it was reality, and a very up front and center one during our civil war.

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    1. Thank you Gonsalvo, I'm pleased by the overall response to my efforts.

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  10. Very nice David and will add some colour 👍

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    1. Thank you Matt, I hope it will add to the period look.

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    2. You’ve made me think I need some cornfields !

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    3. Snip the ends off a cheap artificial Xmas tree, dry brush and base, job done.

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  11. A wonderful pice David, thoughful and well executed. Many of us choose to ignore the uncomfortable truths of our past so it is great to see one of them depicted with respect and a care for those involved.

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    1. Many thanks for your kind words and encouragement.

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  12. Very nice vignette and I agree with other commentators - but then are we all middle aged White guys - I suspect we are! Totally agree its all just history - the Romans and Vikings did barbarous things in the UK, the European colonisers massacred native populations everywhere they went, Ghengis Khan and the Mongols almost over ran Europe, the Nazis killed millions of Jews and Russians - crying about it doesn't change any of it. Being too interested in keeping alive old squabbles just perpetuates them - look at N Ireland in the last 150 years!

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    1. Thank you rross! I'm inclined to agree with you there.

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