An alternative to this is the 'black shading' method. In this case, the figure is under coated in black. Detail is then painted in, with each area painted covering almost the entire area of the detail. As more colours are applied, an small area of black appears between each of the colours. This causes a delineation of the colours and provides an appearance of a shaded figure. Any detail areas missed simply appear as an area in deep shadow on the figure. The advantage of this method of painting is that it is quick when painting lots of figures. I do not like this method for most wargames figures, however, I do find it a good method that produces an excellent result when applied to Civil War figures, especially figures from the Union.

And now, the Idiots Painting Guide to American Civil War Figures. There are two sections below (two sides in the war after all) and they contain enough of the basic information needed for a quick paint job of both the Union and the Confederates. The colours and descriptions are based on the way the troops appeared in 1862 and most of 1863. As the war progressed through 1864 and later, the Union forces became more standardised and the Confederate forces less so. In fact, it was sometime after 1863 that the Confederates really started to appear in butternut. Before that, they tended to appear in a more regular uniform.

The guide below allows you to build a reasonable representative set.

Union Troops	Infantry	Cavalry	Artillery
Jacket or coat	Dark Blue	Dark Blue with yellow trim	Dark Blue with red trim
Trousers	Light blue	Light blue	Light blue
Kepi	Dark blue	Dark blue	Dark blue
Felt Hat	Black	Black	Black
Officer's sash	Red	Red	Red
Officer's shoulder bars	Light blue edge with gold	Light blue edge with gold	Light blue edge with gold
Officer's and NCO's trouser stripe	Dark blue	Yellow	Red
Chevrons	Light Blue	Yellow	Red
Leather straps	Black	Black	Black
Pack	Black	-	-
Canteen	Black	Black	Black
Blanket	Red or light blue	Grey. Horse blanket is blue with orange stripe	Light blue

Easy then, isn't it. This guide will cover the major number of troops. There were exceptions to this. Zouaves, for example, tended to have rather bright uniforms. However, in the scale of Fire and Fury, we are dealing with brigades and divisions, so Zouaves would, as a regiment, simply provide a couple of stands in the brigade. Still, they do add some nice colour.