The American Civil War is another popular subject with modellers and gamers, and there is no bigger battle than Gettysburg. Not only did it stop the Confederate advance in the Eastern theatre, it also effectively meant that the Confederacy would not be recognised by important foreign powers, which was a key part of achieving nation status for the South. It also boosted northern morale at a crucial point, and while the war would drag on for almost two more years, the north would only grow stronger as the south grew weaker.
By the time this set was released, Italeri had made several sets of their own for this conflict, so it must have been easy to put together a collection based on this most famous battle. No castles or tanks this time, just some figures and accessories on a battlefield. The figures in question are:
The accessories were a half set of the Italeri Battlefield Accessory Set, specifically two of the four sprues - the ones that allow construction of a watchtower, bridge and a couple of the chevaux-de-frise. Finally there is a vacuformed base 46 cm by 33 cm. Described on the box as 'a detailed replica of the battlefield', everyone should see the humour of that pomposity, but in fact it is a fairly common design with a flat area leading up to some trenches. The battle itself was a massive three-day affair involving over 170,000 men and covering a large area, so a tricky epic to reproduce in one box. However the figure sets used are all very nice, and there is some small justification for the accessories too, so while the marketing department may have gone overboard on the descriptions, it is still a nice set to have, even though it offers nothing that cannot be obtained individually elsewhere. The absence of any Confederate cavalry is an amusing touch, for while there were undoubtedly many Confederate horsemen present on the battlefield, the absence of much of the cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart was a controversial factor in the outcome of the battle both at the time and since.