Union cavalry (1 Viewer)

[Spanish soldier]

Hello, new figures will be released soon by the Union cavalry?,I like collecting the cavalry

 

[Spanish soldier]

When the set is released D.C.4 (Officer and bugler) ?

 

[Spanish soldier]

Frontline figures range ACW no passion in the forum:

 

[Spanish soldier]

spent more than a year, that interest is still no:smile2:

Francisco

 

[Fubar]

Francis, I have a very few Front line ACW Union Cavalry, And 2 Confederate cannons with crews. I like the Cavalry, but collect very few for my ACW battles. Napoleonic Cavalry on the other hand, I must have near all of them save the Brunswick Hussars. Hundreds upon hundreds of Front line Napoleonic Infantry too. They are the backbone of my Napoleonic collection and I enjoy them very much.
FUB

 

[Jefman]

I do not think that Frontline has done too bad of a job depicting ACW Union Cavalry. There line is a bit thin but they managed to do a couple nice six figure dismounted sets although they featured three figures of each pose making the look a bit too redundant. Same is true of their sculpted mounts. But they are serviceable and can be spliced into plausible and credible scenes and depictions. Having said that keep in mind in the classical sense ACW Cavalry was deployed in rows of four. To fight dismounted the first trooper would grab his mount along with the mounts of the other three troopers and hold the horses in place. In turn the other three troops would be deployed along a skirmish line as sharpshooters. Confederates were extremely apt to fight in this motif particularly as the war raged on as they would routinely wear out there mounts from hard riding, had limited forage for the horses and had to make the best use of the steeds thus they did not want to battle in pitched, high attrition mounted actions as often because any horses lost in battle were not as easily replaced as the northern counterparts mounts. The southerners also enjoyed greater success fighting dismounted as they were primarily armed with muzzle loading carbines and rifles that had superior range and kept that at a decided distance advantage fighting against Yankee cavalry primarily armed with quicker firing breech loading carbines that had less range. Frontline to their credit has sculpted a few Union horse holders and thus it gives off some semblance of them possessing a knowledge of how cavalry was actually deployed in the ACW. Based on some other manufacturers they either omit to produce cavalry, make too few pieces or when they do tend to be too piecemeal or contrived in their depictions of mounted or dismounted troops for the rollouts to be spliced into tangible, workable and believable displays. WB changed this perception with last years terrific Union dismounted grouping and FL made tremendous albeit expensive in roads with their recently rolled out Gettysburg period dismounted 8th Illinois Cavalry but no one has done dismounted in a complete setting with horse holders to date on either side and the mounted portion is in glaring need of a firm to step up and blow us away with say an eight plus figure grouping that captures the essence of ACW mounted fighting from both a Union and Confederate angle.

 

[Terp152]

Jeff, nice post on the ACW cavalry series by multiple manufacturers. Quite agree, WB is top of the pile with their rendition and hope to see some horse holders in the future. FL has some horse holders on their work bench photos. But, they only have one with two horses. Look good, but maybe they will add more to truly depict the dismounted scene. Certainly they need two more horses for the historical perspective. The main problem with the FL dsmtd figs is they are not realistic/historical. They look straight out of a '50s movie. It's as if they marched (rode) straight from their garrison barracks to the battlefield. Too perfect with all the brass and most of all, carrying sabres! WB has really captured the period IMO. Additionally, no unit would be perfectly fitted with the knee high boots and firing pistols to the extent FL has done. More of a Custer's last stand than an ACW battle, especially Gettysburg, again IMO. Purchased only two FL figures to fill out the WB ranks, and one of those is the prone casualty fig. Just my thoughts. Chris

 

[Jefman]

Thanks Chris...I sent you a PM.

 

[Jefman]

Chris and other Union Civil War Cavalry afficianados: The placement or usage of slouch hats on Federal Cavalry should be avoided or at worst be extremely constrained (mostly just for officers). Quite simply the 1861 regulation Hardee hats were eventually phased out in favor of a bummers cap as standard issue. Therefore when one sees slouch hats or kepi's a rakish billed cap not too different than a bummers cap in a depiction be skeptical. Knee high boots were not regulation issue either rather the standard ankle boots were so a trooper who wore knee high boots was probably someone who could afford to buy them.The common Union cavalry trooper was not always from a privelaged background able to afford this high end luxury. Therefore not that common. Also when you refer to all that brass it refers to mostly the top of bummers caps or front of slouch hat crossed sabres, numbers and letters. Again hard riding and lack of availability mitigated this ornamental look on par with brass shoulder scales all being rarely seen particularly as the conflict dragged on. Be skeptical when you see troops with yellow stripes on their trousers. NCO's (Sgt's and Corporals) wore this feature not regular troopers. Furthermore consider when a trooper was promoted (a frequent occurence in the high attrition ACW) to non com status did he immediately inherit some yellow striped mounted trousers? Emphatically no they did not. A good amount of Union Civil War Cavalry photo's still survive. One of the things I noticed about them is troopers were extremely prone to ditch the over the shoulder strap on their sabre belts. As for battling the enemy dismounted the standard technique was to form a skirmish line and to direct concentrated long arm (carbine) fire at the enemy position. Therefore the usage of pistols in that type encounter is not that common and reflective of sheer ignorance if one were to portray multiple revolver usage in a skirmish line application.Realism gets accomplished by examining period photos, accessing official records and newspaper accounts, reading actual participants biographies,clever examination of surviving tintypes and drawings and interaction with historians, museum curators and memorabilia collectors. Ask questions and don't get seduced by movies and books that interpret the look but have no historical data to support their viewpoints and depictions.

 

[Terp152]

Chris and other Union Civil War Cavalry afficianados: The placement or usage of slouch hats on Federal Cavalry should be avoided or at worst be extremely constrained (mostly just for officers). Quite simply the 1861 regulation Hardee hats were eventually phased out in favor of a bummers cap as standard issue. Therefore when one sees slouch hats or kepi's a rakish billed cap not too different than a bummers cap in a depiction be skeptical. Knee high boots were not regulation issue either rather the standard ankle boots were so a trooper who wore knee high boots was probably someone who could afford to buy them.The common Union cavalry trooper was not always from a privelaged background able to afford this high end luxury. Therefore not that common. Also when you refer to all that brass it refers to mostly the top of bummers caps or front of slouch hat crossed sabres, numbers and letters. Again hard riding and lack of availability mitigated this ornamental look on par with brass shoulder scales all being rarely seen particularly as the conflict dragged on. Be skeptical when you see troops with yellow stripes on their trousers. NCO's (Sgt's and Corporals) wore this feature not regular troopers. Furthermore consider when a trooper was promoted (a frequent occurence in the high attrition ACW) to non com status did he immediately inherit some yellow striped mounted trousers? Emphatically no they did not. A good amount of Union Civil War Cavalry photo's still survive. One of the things I noticed about them is troopers were extremely prone to ditch the over the shoulder strap on their sabre belts. As for battling the enemy dismounted the standard technique was to form a skirmish line and to direct concentrated long arm (carbine) fire at the enemy position. Therefore the usage of pistols in that type encounter is not that common and reflective of sheer ignorance if one were to portray multiple revolver usage in a skirmish line application.Realism gets accomplished by examining period photos, accessing official records and newspaper accounts, reading actual participants biographies,clever examination of surviving tintypes and drawings and interaction with historians, museum curators and memorabilia collectors. Ask questions and don't get seduced by movies and books that interpret the look but have no historical data to support their viewpoints and depictions.

Jeff, you nailed it. :wink2: Chris

 

[Firebat]

Well this timing couldnt be better. We just finished a long over due project for Frontline.