Going to build the 69th New York

People who know me longer then 5 years, or have been reading this blog that long, know that before I "returned" to Lego I was a wargamer for 20 years.

And my area of historical wargaming has always been the American Civil War, or ACW for short, as I was an avid Union player.

Little might it suprise perhaps that I have been tinkering with the idea of someday building something for the war of brother against brother.

When I saw this years coverage by Beyond the Brick of Brickfair Virginia, and HistoryLUG's builds of the AWI (American War of Independance), I bit the bullet and swore to myself to build perhaps for me the most intense moment of the war (and one I actually succeeded in doing in a game opposed to the historical outcome): the charge of the Irish Brigade.

Based around the 69th New York, this was a Union brigade made up of irish immigrants, and at the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862 they stormed up a hill to try and take the wall at Marye's Height, defended by a confederate... Irish regiment.  Casualties where horrendous, but their name of bravery was made and the 69th and her sister regiments became one of the most legendary Union units in the Army of the Potomac and the war as a whole.

Here you can see the famous charge as depicted in the Gods and Generals movie:

Now, my idea is to have the regiment (120 men) indeed storm the hill towards the defended stonewall, on a display that will measure 48x32.  The top will have the wall, defended by the Confederates (I`ve send an order to my regular printer for CS torsos) as they pour volleys into the charging 69th.  For the banners, I`m going to look at Crisis to my old hobby connections and get some there, a minifig is about the same size as a 25mm wargame figure, so those should be suited for the build.

I HOPE to have it ready by december 2017, marking the 155th anniversary of the battle...