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.