All of the pieces in this review. Note that some do not yet have crews in this picture.

 In North America, artillery proved its worth during the Mexican American War, just a few short decades before the Civil War broke out. When the American Civil War came, both sides were well stocked with artillery and its massed use was planned. The US had largely escaped the earlier wars in Europe that had utilized the cannon to great effect, and now was about to relearn those lessons. 

The timing was perfect, new production techniques had reduced both cost and delivery time, making artillery plentiful, if a bit dangerous to use. American observers who would later serve on both sides were present in the Crimea or shortly afterward, and brought back lessons on artillery and transportation. The stage was set for a conflagration that would utilize the artillery piece in ways the US had not yet seen.

We brought Eureka Miniatures, GFI, Old Glory Miniatures, Quick Reaction Force, and Stone Mountain Miniatures Parrott Rifles and Napoleons into our painting area for review. While we were ordering for all of our upcoming ACW reviews, we ordered entire armies from Stone Mountain and Irregular Miniatures. It is unfortunate that Irregular’s army does not include artillery, but watch for them in both the Army Boxes series and the other two reviews in this series.

Thanks once again to Scott of PaperTerrain for reading this for us.

Edit: 12 May 08 - Fixed references based on OG actual package contents.

Note (13 May 08) SeattleGamer on TMP has observed that the spoke counts for the pieces in this review are varied and some incorrect. See TMP for the thread, but a summary is that GFI and Stone Mountain have the correct spoke count if that is an issue for you. 

Note (14 May 08): Some gents have commented that they believe the color of the carriages should be green - they may well be right. Since this observation does not invalidate the review - which is about vendors, not paint jobs, though that might be hard to tell from the frothing going on at some sites - we will not be making changes, but if you came here hoping for painting examples, please note that OD green or a gray green is considered correct by most for the carriages. In the future perhaps those with concerns will comment on the site where the review is hosted.

Introduction

NapoleoN Miniatures is a new and growing company that specializes in 20mm Napoleonic models. I received two sample figures, one French Voltigeur and one French Artilleryman.

Here are the unpainted models. I mounted them on bottle caps for painting.