Friday, 27 July 2018

The Look of the (ACW) Thing


 
The storming of Fort Wagner - note the monitors providing fire support


I have always enjoyed the series of chromolithographs produced covering battles of the American Civil War by Kurz and Allison. These pictures had a naïve simplicity about the subjects depicted and are stylised, almost comic-like in their depictions of battles. The figures are quite stiffly posed and every time I see one of their prints I have the words 'Spencer Smith' screaming in my head! As well as the ACW Kurz and Allison also produced pictures in a similar style covering the Spanish American war in 1898.

 
The Battle of San Juan Hill with the Roughriders leading the assault


I shall try and find a catalogue of their prints as it would be something nice to add to the library. My set of Battles and Leaders features four of their prints on the dust jackets and just seem so evocative.

You may recall that I mentioned I would soon be coming into some Spencer Smith ACW figures which, along with the small number I already have will be forming the nucleus of my Balkan project by the simple expedient of alternate paint jobs.

I am having second thoughts about this.

I am becoming more inclined to use the Spencer Smiths as intended and tackle the Balkans using another medium - as yet I am undecided as to how best to do this although I have an idea I am exploring.

Alongside Kurz and Allison being a source of inspiration I was recently reminded of the superb work of Jim Duncan using Spencer Smith figures. These look superb and I would recommend reading his full series of blog posts about the same - very inspirational!

 
Standard Union Infantry from the collection of Jim Duncan

 
Berdan's Sharpshooters - again from Jim's collection
 
The quantity of figures I will need to realise this project is very small and as previously mentioned would be organised as per Charge!
 
NOTE: The two pictures above are copyright to Jim Duncan and are included purely to illustrate his superb technique painting these figures - many thanks Jim!
 


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4 comments:

  1. Jim Duncan Wargamer27 July 2018 at 19:47

    All OK by me Dave.

    Thanks for the credit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. David Crook29 July 2018 at 19:04

    Hi Jim,

    Many thanks for the links to your posts on this project of yours - the figures looked superb and really capture the kind of style I shall working towards. Do you still do much with your collection of these beauties?

    All the best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jim Duncan Wargamer30 July 2018 at 22:13

    Hi David

    I am in two minds about this collection at the moment.

    I am refurbishing some of the older based figures to make them consistent with later basing.

    I am due a meeting with my Oncology consultant and that might provide a timetable for me to live within.

    I might decide to put up the collection for sale and I wouldn't want to split them up. It might need a well off collector or perhaps a club.

    It would be nice to have another big game with them all on table at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. David Crook31 July 2018 at 08:58

    Hi Jim,

    It would be good to see the whole collection in all its glory at some point - in action would be even better!

    As a collection it would appeal to me certainly but I suspect it may be a little on the large side for my taste. Lots of figures equals lots of storage and more importantly, lots of money!

    Good luck with the Oncology consultant - I hope it is positive news.

    All the very best,

    DC

    ReplyDelete