Hussar

Here's the final update.. I might try to reach the hundred mark next year, but for now I'm going to work on MOCs. The entire army, comprising 70 men. High-ranking officers. Captains and lieutenants. PFCs. Artillery (3 cannons). And some photos with a different background. The entire army again. Mounted infantry. 15 privates and their drill sergeant. Cavalry.

Very impressive. The cuirassiers look especially well. My 70 soldiers are obviously no match for yours! :-P

Haha. Oh man, they look fantastic. I love the choice of heads, headgear, bandanas.. And also the tusken raider torsos! I also like it how the photo looks vintage thanks to that sepia effect. Nice work!

Wow, western torsos + shakos.. Looks interesting, to say the least. I had used bicorne and tricorne hats on my minifig army, but the shakos definitely seem like a good idea. Such a shame they're expensive.

Zouaves. ;-)

Thanks for the opinions and suggestions. I've just acquired 10 more western soldiers (plus weapons, horses and such) and 15 soldiers pertaining to the other faction, the latter were cheap as hell at a particular BL store. Just couldn't resist. :-$ I also got some castle helmets with angled cheek protection that should make for some fancy cuirassiers. A US army, rather not. More like a pot-pourri of my favorite LEGO uniforms and weapons.

Holy Mother of all things sacred. Also, did you just say 10.000 castle minifigs? As in TEN THOUSAND? The words "in awe" are not enough to describe my feelings.

The mountain fort version 2.0 (46 + 6 minifigs) Front view. A dozen infantrymen and some officers. The side of the fort you don't want to be on. *sweet* Lookout tower. Bird's eye view. The corner of the baseplate was slightly bent during transport (ordered it from BrickLink). Entrance. Notice the pirate torso I used for the artillery/supply soldier in the lower left. Inside shots. The six fine gents pertaining to the opposing faction. Whatever that may be. I like it how the color scheme and headgear are completely different to the ones found in my larger army. (Inspired by the "Tabnerian Rifles" on MOCpages) @ZeekyBoogeyDoog: Shakos?! :-P A complete minifig (legs assembly, cavalry torso assembly, head, kepi, bandana and gun) is probably cheaper than a single shako.

I've managed to get a hold of some Adventurers and Tusken Raiders torsos (plus pith helmets), they look pretty interesting. Although that small group wouldn't really stand a chance against my 40+ soldiers, so for the moment I'll think of them as POWs. *sweet* As for the fort, I've updated it, with photos to come. No gates I'm afraid, but now it has a roof, two extra lookout towers complete with bullhorns, lots of weaponry and a couple more soldiers and horses. Call me stubborn, but I haven't let go of the bicorne and tricorne hats. Although those bicorne hats look a bit silly. And I never know which way to put them! Are the tips of the hat supposed to go over the ears (Napoleon style) or over the forehead and back of the head? If I could add plume to the tricornes, I'd just stick with those. Probably my favourite LEGO headgear, bar none. P.S. I've read some of the older posts around here and I too wonder why the Wild West line was discontinued. It had so much potential.. Perhaps the level of sales wasn't satisfactory? I just wish TLC would choose more historic themes over the evil-skeleton type of sets. This will sound like a cliche, but kids get enough monsters, gore and violence from video games, throwing in something that is even slightly educational wouldn't hurt. But what do I know.

Hehe, I was there a few years ago. Had some wonderful beer at a local tavern where they had Napoleon's chair on exhibit. The legs were quite short. :-D

I don't know if I should buy different minifigs and create an opposing army or use the money to increase this one. Tough choice. I do have a few minifigs with Adventurers torsos and pith helments (similar to the "Tabnerian Rifles" on MOCpages), I might add on to that, since my army is not necessarily a Civil War army to begin with. Again, thanks for the warm welcome. ;-)

Thanks for the welcome and the comments, everyone. I hadn't played with Lego for six or seven years when I started to put this army together, in April this year. I had just recently turned 20 and my parents thought it would be funny to buy me a Lego set, like they would usually do in the old days. It was some Exo Force robot thing and I wasn't impressed.. Melancholy got the best of me and I got my old bricks from the attic. Western, Spyrius, mid-'90s castle, Pirates, Aquanauts, lots of town stuff.. Western soldiers were always my soft spot though. It did get slightly embarrassing when a friend walked in on me when I was putting a little Adventurers cars together, but we ended up playing with Lego until midnight, heh. Putting bricks together is probably the most relaxing thing ever. Anyway, back to the fort. I mostly bought the baseplate by accident. At first I just wanted a plate to put my soldiers on, then I figured it wouldn't hurt for it to be elevated, so the troops in the back would be more visible. A few logs later, so to speak, I had myself a fort. :-) As for the pirate hats.. I've always liked the "classic" look of Imperial Guard soldiers. While kepis are more practical (and apparently much cheaper) than shakos, I could easily go with tricornes instead of the cowboy hats. Plus, you can do more things with them. Black hats, brown hats, medium plume and triple plume for the bicorne hats.. I also put black legs on my minifigs because the blue-from-head-to-toe alternative makes them look like they're wearing coveralls. P.S. I do have some brown doors, but placing the hinges would be a nightmare as I would have to modify the entire geometry of the log panels. I'm also not too satisfied with that lookout post on top of the main fort, should've probably given it narrower openings - the soldiers in there are sitting ducks :-P . I'll give it a try when I have some spare time.

Hello to you all. I've always loved Western uniforms (except for the cowboy hats) and I've managed to put together a little minifig army. I chose to use bicorne and tricorne hats instead of the cowboy ones, it makes the entire army look from the early 19th century instead of mid/late 19th. Oh, and those are supposed to be rifled muskets (or early rifles). Colonel has bicorne hat with medium plume (I'm planning to get a bicorne w/ triple plume for a future general :-P ) High-ranking officers have black tricornes Lower ranking officers and NCOs have brown tricornes and bandanas Privates wear kepis and backpacks, while PFCs wear kepis + bandanas Entire "army", consisting of 43 minifigs. I used 4 pirate torsos (and a rag hat) for the artillery soldiers. Up close. Empty fort. Cavalry officers. Some lieutenants and a particularly young captain. Drill sergeant and infantrymen. Other view of the fort.. And the commander's outline. Any thoughts welcome.