Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:21 pm
The game itself looks as if it is going to be great. My small quibble is with the "realistic uniforms" as depicted here. They may in fact have come from early war sketches or official specs as to what a uniform might look like, but few of the uniforms, and virtually none of the poses, are realistic.
In particular:
* The muskets all seem to be two-banded, instead of three-, and are more representative of carbines than the Springfields, Enfields, and other muskets and rifle muskets most of the infantry carried.
* The poses do not resemble anything I have ever seen in Casey's or Hardee's, the drill books most common among the Union (the former, which was really just a rewrite of Hardee's) or Confederate armies. Infantry 5, 6, Marine 1, etc., are all holding their weapons in a manner that vaguely resembles something called "shoulder arms, rest," but if that were it, the men would be standing at attention, and the lock would be in the crook of the arm, not facing outward.
* The hat brass on Infantry 6, not to mention the hat itself, would not have been a likely sight anywhere.
* What is that on the front of Infantry 1 and Ranger 1's belt? A sporran? Haversacks were worn high over the left hip, and cartridge boxes high over the right hip. It is not clear what this item might be. Speaking of, I don't recall any Federal "Ranger" units anyway, and there were never entire regiments of Pioneers, to my knowledge, unless these had (possibly) been brigaded from various platoons taken from other units. Most of the men, by the time the war was well underway, were their own "pioneers,"
with more than adequate skills of entrenchment and fortification.
I am sure this is all nitpicking, but I have always felt that it is just as easy to do things right as to do them wrong, in a case such as this. Lest I seem to harsh, I will add that BOA is one of my favorite games, and I am very much looking forward to this one, too. I am sure I will survive the art boo-boos!
B.C. Milligan