I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the Civil War era, as this is the period in history that my father taught at the university. ICM has really delivered in this area, offering no less than four different infantry figure sets, each with a superb sprue of associated equipment, making it very easy to convert these figures as you choose.

ICM has now taken this a step further in introducing a full set of all four kits along with their associated gear for a total of sixteen figures and four equipment sprues. As you might guess, this is a real boon for figure modelers and certainly guarantees a good number of modeling nights in the garage for this particular enthusiast.

Molding is top-notch, with terrific facial expressions and dramatic poses, some of which will be a challenge to assemble simply because of the complexity. All necessary equipment is provided, either on the figure sprues themselves or the terrific equipment sprues, and you might find yourself varying some of the weapons, canteens, etc., just to make things more interesting.

All that being said, there is no realistic way that all sixteen figures will realistically mesh into a single setting, as two sets are essentially firing lines. You’ll probably do as I’m doing, and create perhaps three scenarios in total. Still, at least ten or eleven of the figures could be realistically portrayed within a single melee. It’s really up to you.

As you can imagine, I haven’t had the time to assemble all sixteen of these terrific figures, so I’ve included pictures of a selection from the set, just to give you a flavor. When it comes to painting, the Union figures are pretty standard, with the short jacket, light blue trousers and kepi. The Confederate figures are much more varied and will be an interesting opportunity to provide a wide variety of colors, including the elusive “butternut” used in the later stages of the war. The only thing missing from these are the rifle slings, which can be created with lead stripping or even paper.

Although ICM has provided nothing new with this assemblage, this does give you all the wonderful kits in the series in one great package – the kind of thing you might want to give as a special birthday present for your favorite enthusiast, or perhaps yourself. You really can’t go wrong if you’re a Civil War buff as I am.

My thanks to IPMS/USA for a chance to get my hands on this wonderful set, and to ICM for their persistence in creating such lovely products in the face of invasion. Stay safe, everyone, and happy modeling!