How I Paint Things - Speed Painting American Civil War Infantry

There's a wealth of games available covering the period of the American Civil War (my stand-out favourite is Osprey's Rebels and Patriots!) and if you're wanting to get painted reinforcements to the table quickly, I've got you covered! READ MORE:
Without spending a lot of time on extremely thin highlights, you'll find it's easy enough to get miniatures painting for battle very quickly. Try switching up some of the blue colours for the Union troops for lighter choices if you'd like a bit more contrast between shadow and highlights - something like Macragge Blue might work pretty well with a black shade, if you want a lighter finish. These guys average about 15 minutes per painted miniature, so a whole unit could be a couple of afternoons of hobby time if you can leave your tools and paints set up between sessions.
Thanks to Producer level Patrons Jonathon Harris, Alan Nuttall, Ben Hicks, Bosyn and Kyrie Crawford, and the other Patrons that made this video possible, as well as Exit23 Games for recording equipment that helps keep the channel ticking over! Find out more at the following links:
/ sonicsledgehammer
exit23.games
Remember you can follow/reach me at the following places:
/ sonicsledgehammer
/ sonicsledge
If you like what I'm doing and you'd like to chip in, why not check out my Patreon or Ko-Fi? How I Paint Things will never be behind a pay wall, but anything dropped in the tip jar is greatly appreciated and really helps.
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PAINTS USED:
PRIMER:
Army Painter Uniform Grey
ARMY PAINTER:
Strong Tone
Dark Tone
Quickshade Mixing Medium
Monster Brown
Tanned Flesh
Fur Brown
Leather Brown
Dirt Spatter
Wolf Grey
Greedy Gold
Ash Grey
Banshee Brown
Barbarian Flesh
Electric Blue
Griffon Blue
Ice Storm
VALLEJO:
Flat Black
Black Grey
Flat Brown
Off-White
Mahogany Brown
Beige Brown
CITADEL:
Iron Hands Steel (Base)
Kantor Blue (Base)

[@APHILLWAROFRIGHTS]

I am 3 years late however this is the best tutorial on KZbin for this specific category of miniatures. I have been practicing on some BMC infantrymen, mainly confederates and i have been able to achieve the exact same results as a complete beginner

[@jimbowoodward3875]

The best thing about videos like this is that it reminds me that good painters can paint minis that don't look special until you get towards the end. I always find myself getting disheartened as I block in the first few colours, failing to remember that it's how it is supposed to look until you plop a few washes on it!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Couldn't agree more! Sometimes a miniature doesn't look right until the very last couple of brush strokes, and keeping your nerve until then can seem like a bloody long wait!

[@riddcowler8547]

I undercoat my Union troops with black as it covers the Union leather for shoes, belts, ammo pouch and kept peak (and hair for most troops!). It also lays down a good base for his tunic and the barrel of his musket. I undercoat my confederates with a darker grey but other than that my style is virtually the same as yours and, as you say, really suits painting up regiments of the period in double quick time! Keep up the good work! :-)

[@LordDickBelvedere]

Oh

[@jd.3493]

It’s a rifle in the 1860’s. Minnie ball and percussion cap!!! 😊👍🏻 Your videos taught me to paint. Thank you so much!

[@TheConfederate1863]

I think it’s a musket. The confederate didn’t have riffled guns.

[@drunkenirishmstr]

It’s an Enfield musket. Which I believe was a smooth bored barrel. For the union it was a Springfield rifle because the barrel had rifling

[@garybullock5917]

Great cant wait for the next one glad your doing some historical figures and not all GW thanks for your vidio

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Glad you like them! I try to make sure there's a mix. :D

[@tracygrove3484]

Is it just me or does Johnny Reb here look a lot like Teddy Roosevelt?

[@ethanevenson3855]

Love these historical videos you do. The 15mm ones you did a while back were great, and the American WW2 infantryman with Contrast the other week was good too. Like to see that you aren’t just doing the trendy stuff, and still appeal to the more traditional stuff.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I try to make sure there's a little of everything. Ultimately, from time to time I'm gonna do the popular stuff - the channel is devoted largely to helping folks get their mountains of grey plastic painted, after all! - but I like having the freedom to touch on other stuff, and do pretty much whatever interests me from week to week.

[@TitusCastiglione1503]

For late war confederates, one might consider that the South imported lots of dark blue grey uniforms and uniform cloth from England (I suspect Vallejo Luftwaffe Uniform would be a close match). The amateur historian Frederick Adolphus has done a lot of useful research into this, and is well worth a look.

[@BigMrFirebird]

Positive and encouraging video for anyone starting on this.

[@johnkelley9877]

Fantastic work Sonic! It is nice seeing ACW figures. Thanks for sharing this.

[@demosthenessirony4774]

I love your historical painting guides

[@morisgagula7950]

wow beautiful painting work I love it those small soldiers

[@Volgan16666]

You might also like to look at the MP range of paints - lovely pigment heavy paints. Also I must be a odd painter. Been at it for thirty years or so but I undercoat in grey (sometimes black for Union but mostly grey) and I kinda paint the figure from the outside in. That is boots, belts and cartage pouch in black. I am simply drawing a brush accross these items to paint them black and then I do the muskets in Vellajo mahogany brown which is again a quick brush over. Then the bread bag, blanket roll if present and trousers in whatever is appropriate. Its then the jacket that i have to take some time so as to "fill in" around the belts and musket arm and then the flesh and hair. After that nuhl oil over the lot just like yourself and then shading. Everything up to the shading is a quick bish bosh. Its the shading and highlighting that needs time. Love your vids btw.

[@7bootzy]

Perfect! I literally just got my shipping notification for the Perry ACW Battle in a Box! Also, they were rifles. The tragic part of the ACW was that technology outpaced tactics with catastrophic results. The much more accurate and deadly rifles replaced the old inaccurate muskets. This, alone, would have increased casualties dramatically. But when you also consider that tactics remained the same as the Napoleonic era - shoulder-to-shoulder line formations - you get the horrifically destructive results seen at places like Gettysburg (50,000 casualties in three days).

[@awordabout...3061]

Depends on the army - the Confederates weren't likely to have many rifles available, and there was quite a bit of pushback from the generals that giving men rifles would lead them to doing silly things like aiming and not shooting as much! You're bang on with the big problem of the war though, it was a bit similar to WW1 in that old tactics and new equipment make a painful mix!

[@pdogone1]

rifled musket

[@Volgan16666]

@@awordabout...3061 I dont know about that. Its a common argument to compare the two conflicts and it is true that some things like barbed wire and trenches made their unwelcome appearance. But those things did appear in conflicts before (not sure about the wire mind you) in siege warfare but it was the absence of the ability to maneuver and find a flank on the western front that put the generals into a thought loop of cant go around so blast a big hole in the enemy lines and hey ho its maneuver time again. When that failed for about the hundredth time the conclusion was we need more shells and bigger artillery. There was never a conflict before WWI with a continuous line of defense that run hundreds of miles from coast to mountains like it. In the ACW there was always flanking and maneuver to be had. Just my ha-penny worth.

[@themagicalcactus1941]

Oh brilliant! I was hoping someone I already watched would tackle this.

[@philRminiatures]

Wonderful looking figures and stunning job on them! The blue lightening of the pants is perfect...inspiring, even if I paint 15mm!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Thank you kindly! I think the really bold, sharp highlights would work even better on 15mm figures.

[@stephendavinson4441]

Thanks for this video.ive been waiting for sometime for you to get around to doing it and you have done it justice. Much appreciated 👍

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

My pleasure!

[@georgecate4228]

These are great! If you ever make it back to Virginia, visit the manassas battlefield! Very stunning!

[@pbeccas]

I’ve always struggled to pick a good butternut colour. Thank you sir for your guidance.

[@justanothercaptain6566]

Thanks for the video. Love the US Civil war minis. As to your question, they were using rifles, but using 1815 Napoleonic musket tactics. It’s why their battles had such huge death rates. Poor lads. But nice to see you paint them. Thanks!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I've heard it referred to as the 'first industrial age war' and that seems apt. It's a fascinating, but tragic period for the men at the bottom of those long command decisions.

[@justanothercaptain6566]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio For sure. I walked the Gettysburg battlefield when I was a young Tpr/Cpl. And with my very limited knowledge of weapon ballistics and how they would have marched into battle...It left a very sour taste in my mouth. Especially the battle site of Devil's Den... Now that was depressing! On a happier topic, Thank you again for painting these minis! I love how you're doing everything from every type of war game out there. Thank you again. Cheers!

[@MrSphinchee]

That looks the business!!!

[@michaeljdauben]

Nice, quick ACW paint scheme! I'd love to see you do some Perry ACW Zouaves too!

[@julianwarren7770]

I recon, depending on the unit, as per the uniforms, there would be a mixture of rifles and muskets.

[@ethanevenson3855]

There was a mix of both. The Revolutionary war had largely smoothbores with the occasional rifle(mostly for marksmen/proto-snipers). The Civil War had largely rifles with a few muskets.

[@duanegregg6222]

Great job, they look very cool…thx

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , Sonic .

[@gardensbytheminute2668]

Exactly what I needed. Thank you sir

[@cydixon6972]

Every How I Paint Things is a very special How I Paint Things

[@OwenBudd1]

Just a couple of points on the uniform colours for Confederates and their weapons. Current understanding of Butternut is that it doesn’t really reflect a seperate clothing or homespun uniforms. The Confederacy used a Commutation system early in the war to uniform their troops, but paradoxically theyre more reliant on British imported cloth (look up British Army cloth) later in the war. So the butternut and grey are more typical for early war, while the high quality darker greys are typical for later war, in the eastern theatre anyway. It’s suspected that the butternut effect may reflect either walnut hull dye batches, or faded grey uniforms which we know now will fade to butternut too. Generally speaking both sides are equipping with Rifled Muskets. These are rifles, and regarded as such, but they’re musket LENGTH. This distinguished them from rifled carbines, for example. A rifle can be a musket, but a smoothbore can be a musket too. The musket term is principally a description of its overall length.

[@michaelgrant7663]

I love your painting figurines videos I been thinking about getting back into models and I Love history so I think this is awesome!! Oh by the way I would not worry about making them look too much clean and distinguished because they been fighting a long exhausting war in the dirt so we would expect them to look a little dirty. Unless you have a new unit of new recruits or a new regiment. Oh and a cool piece of historical information I am a descendant of Ulysses S Grant

[@kennethmay5624]

Awesome!!!! Would love to see you paint ACW 1:72 scale figures!

[@idbrown937]

Most Confederate soldiers had enfield muskets which had black barrels, some, but not near as many, had springfield muskets which had silver barrels.

[@maryhinge6334]

Great tutorial. 👍

[@kevingallagher2366]

Hi sonic great painting can you use soft tone or the new light tone what is different with strong tone dark tone and soft tone and light tone

[@bougeac]

These look fantastic! Do you have any tutorials for specifically painting faces?

[@AluVixapede]

Oh cool :3

[@ziongarner4485]

What paints should I use for my zouaves? More specifically their bright red trousers

[@scarfacejosh123]

Can you please do Late War French Line Infantry by Warlord? I got a bunch of French troops with overcoats in my pile of shame!

[@a6mzeke1]

Rifled Musket

[@caleb2507]

The American Civil War was the advent of the “rifle” due to the spiraling of the barrels as opposed to smoothbore barrels in muskets. This is also what made the war so deadly and horrific i.e. higher accuracy/ range and a stronger “punch”. Nice looking minis!

[@s.scottstaten1852]

Well, Rifles had been around for quite a while (Before the american revolution) Mass produced rifles and the Mine ball bullet which was quick to load (Comparatively) increased range, accuracy and rate of fire substantially over muskets (As did paper cartridges)

[@caleb2507]

S.Scott Staten I did not word my response well. Yes that is true I merely meant in mass quantities.

[@ShipWreck68]

Very good. Nice, simple and looks great on the table. One other thing that might save you time is on the highlights rather than choosing another color a scale up, just add some ivory to the base color and use it. Saves on paint in the end.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Good tip! I've heard of using Ivory a fair bit, but I can never quite get the mix right without it turning into 'tinted beige.' ;D If it works for someone else, though, all the more luck to them!

[@ShipWreck68]

Sonic Sledgehammer Studio If ivory or light sand color doesnt work, try using a sunny flesh (bright pastel orange). That is the way Scale 75 suggested bringing the color up for highlighting.

[@georgegouldman6176]

I from Richmond. Let me know if you come back.

[@RockinL7BuckingBulls]

You missed there brass buttons on both of there coats as well as the buttons on the side of the yanks Forage Cap not Kepi. There should be a bit of brass on the yanks Cartridge Box as well on his cartridge box sling. Oh ya the Bayonet Scabbard has a Brest tip as well. Nice little video you made.

[@markvaughan3171]

Anyone else like videos before you even see it? 😊

[@JZStudios2]

The Union soldier looks so sad for some reason. Still great work man.

[@pdogone1]

served under Burnside lol

[@ZarliwyOskarzyciel]

@@pdogone1 A man of culture, I see ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@sophiewylie2521]

Well painted will we be seeing English civil war minis in the future perhaps

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Eventually! It's something I'd like to tackle at some point. I do have a few pike and shot miniatures coming soon, trying to keep a fairly broad range of things on display.

[@alexgramm5170]

Sometimes they were referred to as rifled muskets...anyway thank-you...I am AWI collecting....Britains Ltd swoppets(some first purchased in 1980)...also Men of 76..Accurate..LOD /BARZO. Soon to purchase paint. Learning from all painting vids. Thank you for yours..cheers from the States..and huzzah! for Rev War 250!

[@OwenBudd1]

Something I learned recently, the reason the term is “rifled musket” is because they’re rifles, but they’re musket length. This terminology actually persisted into the 1870’s and 1880’s to designate longer weapons, long after smoothbore was thoroughly out of use (shotguns excepted)

[@alexgramm5170]

@@OwenBudd1 Excellent thank you!..I sort of intuitively understood that a musket at some point became rifled..that that was a mod if you will.. to an already existing firearm...then later it was changed and developed. Seems to be how human kind develops technology.

[@alexgramm5170]

Yes..right ...I believe rifled musket was used to describe the arms of the American Civil War.

[@Stoth22]

Plot twist....Some guys had "rifles", some guys had "muskets", most guys had "rifled muskets"

[@2013jpm]

I've never used the post-painting wash before, gonna give it a try. My figures are 1/32 scale. How many do you suppose that "two drops plus one drop" combination will cover?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

In that case I might honestly try a 1:1 mix and see how you get on with it. On larger figures I'd think a more subtle shading effect might work better, although that's largely down to personal preference.

[@danieldruckman9216]

Informative and entertaining as always! Do you prefer Army Painter quickshades washes to the ink versions, or does each have it’s own uses? Thanks!

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

I'm fairly certain that with Army Painter their 'inks' and quickshade washes are the same thing, though I know a great many recommend true inks from Winsor and Newton, for example. For the most part, Army Painter Quickshades and Citadel Shades are my go-to choices!

[@badge1094]

I must have missed but what is the main dark blue color for jacket ? And does Testors or another brand carry it ? Or what brand do you recommend? Thank you …

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

All listed with brands down in the description. :D The main dark blue was Kantor Blue, from Citadel.

[@joemama8808]

But where do i get the minatures

[@francoantonelli4264]

Some troops have muzzle loaded smoothbore muskets, muzzle loaded rifled muskets, others breach loaded rifles...

[@jd.3493]

True, especially the south at the beginning of the war. But it’s fair to say that the standard arm was the rifle barreled Minnie ball percussion cap rifle for both sides.

[@davidodonnell1807]

I have had a few problems with the shading. When I apply it looks like the soldier has been spattered with mud. I am painting 54mm scale though. Any advice please?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

The short answer is likely to thin it down. The shade or wash will ordinarily collect in recesses on smaller scale miniatures, but on much larger figures you're having to guide it much more carefully to where it's meant to settle. Try thinning it with medium roughly 3:1 medium to wash at first, or dab in a couple drops of water to loosen up the surface tension and let it run more freely.

[@jimothytohns]

What’s your favourite brown from Vallejo?

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

There's so many! I don't think there's really a right answer to this one. If I had to choose I'd just revert to Flat Brown out of desperation!

[@AmateurBarbarian]

Doo Doo Brown 💩

[@MrKidOcelot]

Minnie ball - rifled barrel

[@danielmcbriel1192]

You have gray soldiers? YOU MONSTER!!!

[@Brissebrajan]

rifled musket =)

[@zaynevanday142]

I got the battle in a box 📦 one but I’m painting 🧑‍🎨 them all as confederate’s

[@perrykuehr5538]

Does anybody ever mention that the rifles are way too big(thick) for this scale? These rifles look like clubs, even thicker than baseball bats. The colors of course are fabulous but jeez ...those nanoscale rifles....

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

It comes up fairly regularly depending on where you stand on the scale question. For wargaming purposes, 'true' scaled weapons are far too fragile for regular gaming purposes - I have a fair few snapped rifles to attest to it!

[@perrykuehr5538]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio thanks for the feedback, I'm not a regular on these modeling topics anymore so I was just wondering if it was an existing issue..as a kid I had those Marx soldiers of the world...and none of the spears, swords, rifles, bows etc survived my play...they started out pretty much to scale though. As an adult I restored a ww2 german panzer..I had some fabulous samples of TRUE colors, always an issue with german equipment modelers...the result?: NOBODY gave a sh** about finding out true shades of yellows tans and greens...they argue these points online till today...anyway thanks.

[@rcspaintservice]

Horses..........can you do a video with horses?

[@michaelgrant7663]

1860s I believe they were still muskets

[@jd.3493]

Rifle barreled muskets

[@NSYresearch]

They looked awful until you added the tone ... then they came to life. You make this look totally doo-able

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

Flat colours can be a little uninspiring, but luckily just a splash of some magic goo does most of the work for us. ;D

[@NSYresearch]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio And i dont think the plastic casting helped. But damn you made them look great.

[@annmarieblanc6363]

The sculpts are great and of course your painting is a work of art. My pet peeve with the smaller scales is how the rifles are so disproportionately huge compared to the the accompanying figure. I'm not just talking about these two figures I've noticed this with many other figures. Look at the union soldier's rifle, it just doesn't look right. Why is that? Just for the record I'm Andy, Annmarie's husband and I'm responsible for the content of this post not her.

[@SonicSledgehammerStudio]

This is one of those 'How come?' questions that actually has an answer. In short, it's a matter of durability. For wargaming figures at this scale that are expected to see a lot of handling, even metal miniatures will tend to have thicker rifles, swords and the like so that they'll take a little punishment on the table.

[@annmarieblanc6363]

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Now that makes a lot of sense! Thank you for clearing that up for me! Respectfully, Andy Annmarie's husband