Chasseurs D'Afrique

The French Chasseurs D'Afrique are definitely in my top top three cavalry uniforms of all time and the addition of these beauties is long overdue. Perry Miniatures as per the rest of the collection.

They are off to fight at SELWG on Sunday, so if you go please pop over and say hello to the chaps from SEEMS and cheer them on. I will be miles away dealing with "life stuff" instead!

That concludes this particular stage of the 28mm FPW collection.  I will be re-visiting in the New Year.

As promised I will now be re-visiting some of my stalled 20mm projects; starting with the Classic 20mm ACW project.

Pennants Finally Added

 Having added the pennants at last the SELWG Uhlans are finally complete.

I just have to finish the bases to the Chasseurs D'Afrique and the French contingent cavalry are also finished and ready for SELWG. 

Unfortunately I am not and will have to send the toys to fight in my absence. Such is life!

2023 - Part II

It has been a while since my last post simply because of lots of real-life stuff. Broadside was the last time I fired any dice in anger and my painting table needed a dust down before I could pick up where I left off. The plan for the remainder of the year is simple; my club is putting on our FPW game again at SELWG in October so I need to add more troops, including cavalry for both sides. 

I made a start yesterday (although we are experiencing some very high temperatures here in the UK which makes quick drying paint a challenge).

First results are here:

A few touch ups here and there but otherwise ready for pennants and bases.

After SELWG I will be returning to my long neglected 20mm projects including some figures not painted by me.

Honour Is Restored

I start with a small apology. While I did take plenty of pictures I do not remember bouncing along on a pogo stick at the same time. The results on my camera show I clearly was.

I played the French side, consisting of 1 unit of Chassurs a Pied, 3 units of Line Infantry, a single artillery piece, a Mitrailleuse and of course, Corporal Tousan and his engineers, The Prussians were roughly double the size. The mission, to destroy the bridge over the River Pissoire at the village of Pot de Chambre.

The rules were an adaptation of Osprey's The Men Who Would Be Kings.

The furthest forward units, the Chasseurs took the brunt of the casualties and started to collect pinned markers from the first move.

Once Tousan gave the nod the French quickly advanced to the rear over the bridge.

This time there was no misunderstanding, the bridge blew in the faces of the enraged Prussians,

Having suffered less than 40% casualties (which would have resulted in a draw) Tousan had saved the day. His daring photograph standing by the destroyed bridge while under fire shows his steely determination to wipe the slate clean.

So impressed am I that I will actually paint his stripes on his right sleeve too!

Honour Restored?

 Since February I have been busy painting up troops for tomorrow's show, Broadside. It is a small Franco Prussian War encounter around the village of Pot de Chambre.

Here we see some of the central characters, Corporal Tousan and his squad of engineers.

Perry Plastic French Line with tools from Irregular Miniatures to look more "engineery".

Touson is from a long line of military engineers and hopes that tomorrow he will be able to wash away the stain of shame hanging over his family. 

You see, his grandfather Captain Jules Touson served the other Napoleon at a place called Leipzig. He too was charged with destroying a bridge but through an unfortunate misunderstanding earned the soubriquet of "Too Soon" Touson. 

And a reduction to the ranks for the Touson's  in perpetuum.

The Empire needs a new hero. Tousan needs redemption!

The Advance Guard Has Arrived

The next show game is coming up in a few months. This time we are putting on a 28mm Franco Prussian War bash. Here is a sneak preview of the French Chasseurs entering an apparently abandoned village...

Seems quiet enough...

The figures are Perry and I am particularly fond of the trumpeter figures, he looks like he has walked out of a Detaille painting. The release of the plastic French infantry next week is eagerly anticipated. My order went in within hours of news of the release.

For the moment I am wading through those coldly efficient Germanic troops. There are quite a few in the queue! 

Plans For 2023

 2023 has been dominated so far with a headache and chills. I should have been going down the club tonight but I don't believe infecting everyone else  is a good idea. Still it has given me the opportunity to photograph the first of my new 28mm Perry Franco-Prussian War figures.

In order to keep myself focussed this year I have put myself forward for three club show games.  Each requires a fair amount of effort to complete so I have been quite busy even through the "man-flu".

The 28mm FPW game is actually number 2 on the agenda. The first game requires me to beef up my 28mm ACW Union figures (cavalry and artillery bits underway at the moment).

These Union boys will fill my next few posts, perhaps with the odd vintage 20mm ACW thrown in for good measure.

But for now I'm off to lie down on the settee and wallow in self pity.

Merry Christmas To One And All

2018's Last Post

I have drawn a short straw this year and after today I am working all the way through to the New Year (including the big days), so this will definitely be my last post for 2018. It should have been posted much earlier but I cheated and used a spray varnish with that awful white clouding as a result. 

They are now sitting under several coats of gloss then matt varnish and while they look better than they did they are far from perfect. Essex Miniatures 15mm Prussian figures - a second battalion is undercoated but going nowhere soon. I have also been catching up on the 20mm early WW1 figures but again nothing showing until 2019.

Just remains to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all!

First Phase 1870 French Army Complete

Well it seems to have taken forever but I have finally finished the two outstanding French Command bases. Apologies for the fuzzy images...

Mainly Old Glory 15s with a couple of Essex Miniatures foot figures for good measure.

I am now going to turn my attention to the German forces, starting off with some Prussian infantry. Hopefully the output rate will  improve!

I also need to get moving on some buildings and general battlefield clutter.

Nearly There...

French line battalion number 6 is now complete. Another "firing line", but this time a couple of the troops are taking advantage of the prone reload capabilities of the breech-loaders.

 15mm Essex Miniatures once more.

This means I need just two command stands and phase #1 of the French army is complete. We have a bank holiday weekend coming up so hopefully I can pull that all together by then.

I need to get some buildings together as well, my few 15mm European building are all old Hovels range - I fancy looking at some of those laser-cut MDF kits which are now available. Any recommendations?

French Line Chasseurs 1870

Very smart uniforms!

 Another addition to the French army in the form of a battalion of Line Chasseurs in their lovely smart blue uniforms. Essex Miniatures once more.

This leaves one more Line battalion and a couple of command stands to complete for phase 1 of the French army. I hope to have these done by the end of March - and then I will hold a little 15mm parade!

Bavarian 4th Infantry Regiment-Shedding New Light.

The latest unit to add to the fledgling German forces is a battalion of the 4th Infantry Regiment with their lovely yellow facings. The figures themselves are Miniature Figurines once more, tweaked a little to produce the kind of look I like.

As you can see I have solved the poor lighting problem by investing in a clip on LED lamp from my local supermarket for the princely sum of £4.99! I have also taken the plunge and ordered a new desk lamp as my old broken one must be a museum piece as I cannot find anything like it anymore.

And while I was at it I re-shot the dim Minifigs French infantry from a couple of posts ago.

I am still forging ahead with the Franco Prussian War (resisting the temptation to dive back in to the Airfix Waterloo and Mons 1914 projects especially). I have cleaned up and primed the last two French infantry battalions which completes "phase one" of the French army.

French cavalry have no part in my first phase plans but these two Dragoons have been sitting primed up and ready to go for so long I couldn't ignore them any more.

Essex Miniatures on those lovely-to-paint-horses they produce.

Back to Business

15mm Minifigs French Infantry

 So here we are nearly a full month in to 2018 and I can finally post something new. For those keeping count this is line battalion number 5 completed which means I need one more line and a chasseur battalion to complete the stage 1 French 1870 army.

The "Furia Francese" in miniature!

The figures are all 15mm Miniature Figurines with a bit of bending and tweaking to get the "Furia Francese" result I wanted. I am now starting another Bavarian battalion. I need my German States stage 1 army to be roughly twice the size for the scenario I have in mind, plus some suitable real estate to grace the battlefield. If I can keep the pace going I am hoping for a fairly impressive opening game in around summertime. Finger's crossed of course.

13th Bavarian Infantry Regiment - first battalion completed!

At last I have made some progress on the German States forces, in this case the first battalion for the 13th Infantry Regiment. The Bavarian's supplied a full two Corps to the conflict; second only to the Prussian contribution.

I am making the German States battalions 32 figures strong - again in line with Shann's rules. I need to create significantly more German vs French forces for phase one of the collection, so the "simple" Bavarian uniform is quite handy!

Historically the Bavarian forces did OK-ish. However, apart from 4 of the Jager battalions, all units were armed with the Podwils rifle - a rifled musket converted to a breach loader but without the benefit of a firing pin, meaning the weapon had to be capped for each shot. The rate of fire was therefore little better than the original musket. It is claimed this was the worst weapon to see service in the war and its users complained it's only use was in making bayonet charges.

I am now working on some Minifigs once more - both French and Bavarian. All these next figures are being started as new so output will be slower than the part started figures I have been working on so far.

More Chassepots and Moustaches

One more addition to the French ranks in the form of another Essex Miniatures "firing line" battalion. This marks the last of the "substantially started but not finished" French figures. Next up will be the first of the Bavarian battalions which were also started over a year ago now.

The flesh tones are straight from the Foundry 3 colour palette after my old paints finally dried up. While they look good enough in the flesh (sorry!) they do not necessarily photograph as well so a little experimentation may be in order.

I know have 4 of the required 6 line battalions, I have one more Essex and one more Minifigs battalion to complete plus either an Old Glory or Essex Chasseur a Pied battalion to complete for stage 1 of the collection.

 

I will probably add some more command stands before I let them take to the field as well; but for now it's time to break out the cornflower blue and getting cracking on the first of the German forces.

A Little More Progress

Another small step in the right direction with a command stand to lead my fledgling Imperial French forces; plus a pleasant return to the "clean lines" of Essex Miniatures. The figures did not photograph as well as I hoped as there is a lot more subtlety to the shading than appears here.

No matter how smart the uniforms you just know these fellows will have negative command and control factors!

 I am working on another (Essex) French battalion now. The initial plan is for 6 line battalions, a Chasseur battalion with supporting artillery and command stands for the French. A slightly larger sized Prussian/Bavarian force is needed for a half-baked scenario I have in mind; so I am about half way there with the French at least.

After that I would need to roughly double the size of the German army and add some colourful French troops for the battle at Weissenburg on 4th August 1870. That may take a little more time!

French Artillery 1870

 At long last the first of the French artillery is complete. I had actually started painting these figures well over a year ago. Now, I have seen some of the Old Glory figures painted up really well so I am a little disappointed with my results. 

Old Glory 15s French Artillery 1870

This is not a criticism of the OG figures, but the Essex and Minifigs have "clean lines" and I can clearly see where the paint is meant to go; but not so with these. I am glad they are finished and while I have some Prussian Dragoons and French Chasseurs (which I will finish) I think thereafter I will stick to figures that suit my painting abilities/eyesight better. 

Size wise they are a little bigger than the Minifigs and Essex figures. When I finish the Chasseurs I will take some comparison shots for those interested in that kind of thing.

The high water mark for muzzle loading artillery technology!

The French artillery is much maligned in accounts of the war however it should be remembered that Napoleon III's choice was based on sound logic. They presented the pinnacle of muzzle loading technology at a time when breech loaders were considered by many countries as experimental, expensive and unproven. The world was in for a a bit of a rude awakening!

I am working on a few command bases (which were also started over a year ago) before returning to either more French infantry or adding the first of the Prussian and Bavarian troops

Minifigs Imperial French Infantry 1870

As promised in  my last post I have been able to finish this battalion of 15mm Minifigs French infantry (they were actually about 75% complete anyway so it is no great achievement).

The humble Minifigs - still looking good after all these years!

 The infantry come in one basic pose but with a little bending here and there they produce a nice varied look. Cleanly sculpted they paint up really well I think. I don't quite have enough for another battalion so another visit to the Minifigs site will be in order when I have cleared the backlog; however I am so impressed with the little fellas that I may experiment with their Crimean War figures as well.

More garance for the collection.

I am now working on finishing up some French artillery, Old Glory 15s this time. They really just need the guns finishing and basing so I am hoping for another post later this week.

Return to the Franco Prussian War

The surgery on my spine is now complete and I am (hopefully) on the road to recovery. Here are the reorganised and rebased 15mm French Line infantry I had hoped to have completed before I went under the knife and which originally featured in my April 2016 post. I had to add a few more figures to make up the two 30 figure battalions. 

The unit sizes are in line with my old "La Guerre a Outrance" rules by Stephen Shann which I used with some success in the late 1980's as I recall.

15mm figures from Essex Miniatures

 I may use Shann's rules again or "Black Powder", however the motivation for the change was purely aesthetic. I think the larger, more open bases look more like I imagine a 19th century firing line would have been. The previous incarnation just looked too cramped.

The 30 figures also make for good looking battalions "In the Grand Manner".

Currently my main impetus is with the French forces; simply because I have more figures cleaned up, primed and in some cases  nearly completed than any other figures, which is handy because sitting down for any length of time at the moment is not possible. I can however paint standing up for slightly longer  periods - so I can achieve some results while I recuperate.

2nd Battalions of the 45th & 78th Line 1870

I am working on two more units suitable for the non Eagle carrying battalions using Essex and Minifigs, I hope to post the first of them by the end of the weekend.