15mm Mexican American War – US Regular Infantry.

With the cavalry and artillery out of the way, it was time to get to the regular US infantry. I only needed a handful of units to cover the early campaign and ordered these from the Gajo MAW line.

These come in the standard fatigue uniform used during the campaign. They a a bit brighter and lighter than the actual uniform colors, but it works better for 15mm figures. The smaller you go, the lighter and brighter you need to go to see color in scale. I decided that the US would all be done in regular sized units of six stands. To make them stick out better from the volunteers, I decided to go with two standards for each unit. In order to stretch out my figures for other units, I also went with two drummers per regiment. These are mostly straight the packs. I did have to do some creative work to put together all the standard bearers, which meant I had to touch up the hat bands for those and make flags out of metal rod, but that was it.

All the flags are from Virtual Armchair General. Their set has the standards for all the units in the army. After I got started with these, I found that the color was running badly (this was not so noticeable on the Mexican flags, as they are not so color rich). My normal process is to wet paper flags, apply white glue on the inside and fold over the pole. I then shape them and go back before they are fully dried and shape them some more. This usually allows me to give a nice folding effect. With these, I had to abandon the water and just use glue. This meant the flags were stiffer and could not be shaped as well… Oh well, I will have to live with it!

The basing is the same Muddy Paw mix with Scenic Express flock on Shogun Miniatures bases. All are on one inch squares. I use 1-1/2 square for the cavalry and artillery. With the regulars out of the way, now I have to move onto the volunteers. These will take a little more conversion paint work on the figures, but I think I am up to it!

• Manteuffel