On the Painting Table – John Stallard’s American Civil War Lancers!

Any time Warlord Games founder and CEO brings one of his latest projects into the office, we know it’s sure to be something worth talking about, and this time was no exception, as John appeared with some Black Powder Epic Battles: American Civil War cavalry in hand – tell all, boss!

John: What we have here is a little unit of ‘Rush’s Lancers’ – more properly the 6^th Pennsylvania Cavalry. I noticed we’d had a few emails from Black Powder fans asking if we’d ever produce these chaps, and while the answer is “no”, it did get me thinking about how easy it would be to make some of my own!

The 6th Pennsylvania are one of those weird and wonderful units that always seem to grab peoples’ imaginations. Established as an otherwise perfectly ordinary cavalry regiment of the Union Army in 1861, at the suggestion of General McClellan they would be equipped with lances in the French style. This was something entirely new to US horsemen, whose traditional equipment was pistol and sabre, and the new ‘Rush’s Lancers’ (named for their Colonel) were certainly a dashing sight on parade – although we must imagine a certain amount of mickey-taking went on from their less exotically equipped comrades!

There’s no conclusive evidence that the lance was ever used for its intended purpose of a glorious headlong charge, but we do know that the 6^th Pennsylvania carried them on campaign until May 1863, during which time they took part in a number of engagements. Clearly, the lances were not well-liked (imagine having to carry a 9ft pole around all day!), and in May 1863 they would be retired in favour of Sharps carbines. With these weapons, the 6^th would go on to serve well in the war – but it’s their period spent as lancers that we’re concerned with!

Because the 6^th was equipped like all other Union cavalry (apart from the lances!), the standard plastic cavalry from the ACW Cavalry and Zouaves sprue work perfectly! I simply clipped off the swords and revolvers from the hands, and then deployed my secret technique. Lances in any scale are pretty notorious for ending up bent or broken after hard tabletop campaigning – but not mine! I went to my trusty household broom, and clipped off a few bristles. For this to really work, you want the nylon type, as it flexes without becoming bent over time. Then I simply glued the bristles to the hands, and voila! Instant lances that won’t bend or snap, no matter how much use they get – all in all this took a matter of minutes to achieve! You can also use exactly the same method to make radio aerials for your Bolt Action and Achtung Panzer! tanks, and it goes a long way towards really making your vehicles stand out.

I’d read that Rush’s Lancers bore red pennants on their weapons, and of course these were a must-have for this unit! I made some nice and simple ones out of paper, and glued them on just as I would for any other kind of banner. I did make them a little larger than they would have been in real life – but that’s to make sure they stand out on the table and look really cool, which is what it’s all about, after all. Once that was done, they got the same paintjob as the rest of my Union cavalry!

Unusual and one-off units like this are great for adding character to your forces, and bringing something a little ‘different’ to the tabletop! If you want to make your own Rush’s Lancers and field them, we’d recommend a browse through one of the many Napoleonic Wars supplements for Black Powder, and ‘borrowing’ some rules for French lancers – with your opponent’s consent, of course!

So there you have it – the boss’ top tip for unbreakable lances (and we should know, we dropped one of the stands to prove it, but don’t tell the boss…)! If you want to try your own hand at this conversion, you need only grab yourself a nylon broom and a frame or two of Cavalry & Zouaves.