They look good, and useful, guard duty, camp life and so on. Boring, yes, but still a necessary set of poses. Also some conversion options might be in here too, remove the rifles and you have some prisoners waiting to be taken away. But I'd also like some soldiers with the rifles upside down in the air surrendering.

Either way this is a good set for diorama makers and I'll buy it.

... and for wargaming. These will be beaut as a stand-alone unit (punny, hey?!) but also to use for a range of characters on command bases, markers and other uses that I have not yet thought of. Not to mention merely to admire for the quality of the sculpting.

Another fine, interesting and unique set from Strelets that compliments existing offerings rather than merely adding an alternative version of the same.

Thanks team-S

James

p.s. I think I'd rather remove epaulettes that I do not require/want, rather than adding some which are needed--the second most frequent 'conversion', after adding plumes, by this little black duck

I agree on removing the epaulets, but didn't see an officer figure in the masters so it might just be a cosmetic point - as some said, Photoshop could fix it.

As James said, several Confederate officers who had resigned their commissions in the "Old Army" to serve in the Southern Army still retained their epaulets at least in the early days. At First Manassas (Bull Run to Yankees ) there was much confusion over uniforms as some Southern officers, such as JEB Stuart were still wearing their old uniforms. At least one account I read credited JEB Stuart's blue uniform, the fact that militia regiments from both armies often wore gray, and the first Confederate National Flag was mistaken for the US National colors for turning the Northern flank and causing the route when the Union troops mistook Stuart's troops coming up on their right (I think, off the top of my head here - I can provide a thesis with footnotes later, if desired) for reinforcements. Later on in the war it might be problematic.

The epaulets might serve to make the troops useful if someone wanted to paint them up blue for Union troops - they might be more useful as Western troops - particularly during Sherman's march as the Army of the Potomac has always struck me as being better equipped and more uniform in appearance.

Bert's Catch: "The officer on the box is wrong. Rebs didn't use epalettes to distinguish rank. It's on their collars. This fellow has both."


I think you guys are actually talking about what are called Officer's Shoulder Boards, Bars, or Straps. At least one of Strelets' Confederate Officers has Shoulder Boards. Apparently Epaulettes were for dress occasions.

I think this detail is a really good catch by you, Bert, as I've gone my entire life not really knowing any of these things. Personally, I'm not cutting anything off any of my my figures since many of the Confederates just wore the U.S. uniforms at the beginning of the war. But you're right, if the jacket is gray, the shoulders should be bare. However I do miss the Chevrons on the upper sleeves of some of the superiors, or the Sleeve Badges. The separate Mounted C.S.A. Commanders set does have some really nice ones though.

Below is a link to a Color Plate showing various ways the U.S. and C.S.A. Officers distinguished rank:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_of_the_Union_Army#/media/File:War_of_the_Rebellion_Atlas_Plate_172.jpg