28mm FPW 1870:1st French Brigade

 Six battalions of the 1^st French brigade under General de Brigade Montmarie.16^th Chasseur regiment, three battalions of the 50^th ligne and two battalions of the 74^th.

That's about half of the infantry I have planned.

28mm FPW 1870: 3e Regiment de Tirailleurs Algerians,1st and 3rd BTNs

 I finally finished the second battalion of this Turcos regiment and so I show both together. I assume the second battalion is elsewhere and that the heavy backpacks have been dropped of along the road somewhere.

I'm planning about 12 battalions of French with attached artillery and cavalry. Six have been done. The Prussians will be about the same size.

28mm FPW: General de division Jean Pellé

 

My French army will be one division with an attached cavalry brigade. Here is the commander, Jean Pellé, who historically commanded the second division of Ducrot's first corps. He proudly wears his sash as a grand officier of the Légion d'honneur. It's interesting to note that most of his military career was spent in Algeria and he rose through the ranks from corporal to brigade general. During his distinguished career he had 47 years of service, 28 campaigns, 6 wounds and 9 citations.

As you probably know the Perrys only make one French general officer figure so I had to think outside of the box. I've converted figures from the Carlist Wars range namely CAT2.

Heads have been removed and replaced with plastic left-overs from the sprues. The figure of Pelle (Don Sebastian) has had epaulettes added as well. Purists will forgive the sash which was awarded in 1871.

28mm FPW 1870: 3e Regiment de Tirailleurs Algerians

 

I bought a box of Perry plastic ACW Zouaves because they have not got round to doing these in metal and I hoped I could use them to field a Turcos regiment in my army. So here is the first battalion and I have the figures to do the third as well. When, and if, the Perrys get round to metals then I could do the 2nd battalion with them.

These figures work fine except for the backpack and I'm not such a purist to condemn them for light equipment – maybe they dropped their kit off at a nearby railway station.

Anyway here is my painting guide: “The three regiments of Tiraillieurs Algeriens wore a uniform of identical cut to that of the Zouaves, but differed in colour. The jacket and vest were sky blue with yellow distinctions. The waist sash was garance. The trousers were plain white linen in the summer and sky blue with yellow stripes in autumn and winter. The different regiments were identified by the colour of the false pocket or Tombo. Colours were 1st - garrance, 2nd - white, 3rd - yellow.

The officers wore the Zouave officers uniform with a sky blue coat, garance sash and trousers. The Kepi was garance with a sky blue band and gold edging. Buttons were gilt. “

28mm Perry metals FPW 1870: Chasseur battalion

 

This was not an easy unit to paint but I have finally finished them.

This is a Chasseur battalion attached to the first brigade of every division. The first thing to note about them is the heavy kit they are carrying, which seemed to be the 'French way'. The Prussians, on the contrary, appear very lightly encumbered, be they jaegers or line infantry.

There is also a uniform dichotomy relating to trouser colour. Half the on-line sources show a paler blue trouser colour (perhaps the 1868 model) while the other half show the coat and trousers to be the same (perhaps the 1860 model). I offer you two compilation plates showing these differences. I have gone for a slightly lighter trouser colour but the difference is subtle. There is also this reference:”Chasseurs à pied:coiffure et tunique bleus foncé à passepoils (coutures) jonquilles,boutons blancs, pantalon gris bleu à passepoils jonquille.” So the trousers appear to be a paler different blue while the lace is 'jonquille'. Trouser model 1868 were in dark iron grey cloth (which is this lighter blue) with jonquil piping. I have also seen a reference to the older 1860 model of trousers (the same dark blue as the coat) which may well have still been in service in 1870. So both are correct!

Lovely figures from Perry brothers but weak chassepots.

28mm Perry Plastics FPW 1870: French Infantry (2)

 

I've done a third battalion and made a change to the flag arrangement. Previously I just had the flag on the second battalion (as was historically correct) but now I have added flags to all battalions. It is a question of what looks good to me and 'looking good' sometimes has to trump what might be historically accurate. The notional regiment has turned into the 50th Regiment too as I have decided to press on with this project and paint eleven battalions for this army. The mounted officer is Marshal Canrobert but I will be using him as General de Brigade Montmarie.

28mm Perry Plastics FPW 1870: French Infantry

 

Here are the latest FPW French infantry from the Perrys. I have painted two battalions, the first and second of a notional Regiment. The Eagle and flag are carried by the second battalion. They are nice figures but the coats are so voluminous that it's quite hard to fit all the figures on a stadard plastic green base.

I posted a Prussian battalion back in August 2021 and actually I prefer the poses of those figures although the French uniform is quite pretty. The Perry uniform quide is, as always, useful but not detailed enough concerning the kepi so I have posted here a more detailed picture of the kepi from a reproduction company in France.

28mm Perry Plastics FPW 1870: Prussian battalion

 

I bought a box out of curiosity as soon as they became available. I had started an 18mm FPW project that I soon abandoned as I like the 18mm scale but did not enjoy painting the figures – I have realized that as I grow older so the figures need to get larger to paint half decently.

These Perry figures are very nice indeed. Each box has 39 figures – one command sprue of 4 figures, two skirmisher sprues each of 6 figures (one of which is a dead chap) and 5 sprues of line figures (each of 5 figures). That adds up to 41 and I suppose that includes the 2 dead guys.

I have done 24 figures in this battalion and will add 6 figures of skirmishers. Effectively one will be able to throw forward one company of skirmishers out of four. Unused in the box remains another 6 skirmishers and a sprue of line. The formation in the pictures is in column which will be murdered by the French chassepot so it may be worth painting the second skirmisher company as well.

Whether I continue with these is unknown. I will certainly buy a French plastic box when it becomes available. I should also mention that the painting guide included in the box is a great help as are the two flag examples, one of which I have used here. Note the lovely black/silver pennants which were battle honours and were of greater status than the flags themselves.

Franco-Prussian War Prussian 4pdr gun?

In my town in France there are two war memorials, one WW1 combined with WW2, Algeria etc and the older one, which is pictured here, and ,which is, I suspect, for the Franco-Prussian War. The statue looks like a Garde Mobile (in heroic pose) but the reason why I am showing the post is because of the four steel gun barrels at the four corners. They look like Prussian 4pdrs from that war and I recall reading that they were lethal guns and, oddly, had better performance than the heavier 6pdr. I say I think they might be Prussian 4pdrs going by the design but someone out there will know better and might comment below. They are certainly steel barrels and breach loaders too.

Whose makes these figures?

Does anybody know who is the manufacturer of these very nice Franco-Prussian War French?
They look like 25/28mm and foolishly I saved the images without noting who sold them.

15mm Old Glory French Infantry of the Franco-Prussian War (2)

Here is the second battalion of the 18th Regiment. My thoughts on this project continue to evolve. As usual, when I start a new project, my thoughts go BIG and then BIGGER. An OOB starts with 12 battalions and then grows to 24 battalions and then grows again to 36.

So I have sliced back. After all, I have to paint both sides to this conflict! So the new project is to do a French Division of 12 battalions, a few batteries and I'll throw in some cavalry. I'm keeping it simple. No flamboyant Zouaves or Turcos......well not yet anyway. Then when that French Division is done, I'll do a Prussian one which will be much stronger to reflect historical reality. A few battles (hey, what are those? I've had one battle in the last 10 years) and then we will see. This period is a time filler so don't expect anything on a regular basis. But I do like the look of them..........

15mm Old Glory Prussian Infantry of the Franco-Prussian War

Here is a Prussian battalion painted up as a trial. They were about 1000 men strong so they often operated tactically in half battalions (two companies) so I have shown them in two distinct lines. The bottom picture shows the size difference between a French and Prussian battalion.

I'm still not sure whether I will do this in 15mm. Do I have the stamina?

15mm Old Glory French Infantry of the Franco-Prussian War

I’ve always been fascinated by both 1866 and 1870. I’m no fan, as you probably know, of 15mm but if you are going to refight 19^th century wars you probably need to drop down to smaller figures as the ranges of weapons increased. So I have bought a few sample bags to see if I both like the figures and enjoy painting them. I tried 10mm a couple of months ago and they were just too small – these are 15mm from Old Glory and are really nice figures.  Faces are difficult to paint in this scale but that is only because I am out of practice and will get in my stride. Plus I’m a little surprised that my phone-camera is quite so good – it shows that I am a little out of practice in 15mm!

The FPW is interesting because, on paper, both sides of the conflict have technological strengths and weaknesses. The French have an excellent infantry rifle, indifferent artillery, an early machine gun and generals who are unsure of themselves – not knowing whether to attack or defend. The Prussians, on the other hand, have an indifferent infantry rifle but aggressive and effective artillery. They have generals who seem less insecure and who know to march to the sound of the guns. In almost every battle the Prussians, and their allies, achieve success because they bring vast numbers of troops to bear and French generals, too often, order withdrawal.

Translating this to a wargame, where good generalship can be shared around and where troop numbers will be limited, will mean that a wargame will not reflect what actually happened. The French certainly can win individual battles even if the y cannot win the war.

I will paint up some sample units on both sides and see whether I like them of not. If not, they will be sold, If I like them, then I will slowly start building armies. I would particularly welcome your comments.