Random pics to show i am still alive

Just a couple of pics which have been hanging around for a while. Both Foundry models, a chasseur d'afrique in manteau and a Guard Carabinier Officer i had kicking around. Both pieces will be more scenic that gaming models although the officer might look nice hanging aroound the command tent

1866-1870 prussian line infantry

Some Foundry 1870 prussian i have finally got around to basing, been painted for a couple of years. also they now have a flag attached. The flag is one of the beautiful Helion ones for IR24 to be precise. Unfortunately it is larger than the old foundry standrad poles and so a bit of canabilisation had to be done to keep the streamers and finial and replace the staff. not a perfect result as the flag does not now come up to the base of the finial but the best i could do. Maybe could ahve separated the streamers but would have had to have a less attractive top to the flag pole then. Anyway
next up will be an ECW saker cannon now completed

French Line Infantry 1870

I thought i would do a quick unit of FPW figures as it is meant to be the main focus of this blog even if i do get distracted quite often. These are Foundry models from the late 80s which i bought a while back in one of their 20% sales which bring the price down to a respectable level. I never by models from them unless in a sale as £11 for 6/8 models (or 3/4 cav) is just a bit too much for me. Despite their age these models are still some of the best and largest range of 28mm FPW models available (see previous grumbles about paucity of 28mm new models, excellent helion excepted).
Most of the models are in the standard charging poses with a few sergeants etc chucked in to break up the monotony. all are uniformed in the imperial phase outfits of greatcoat and epualettes. Interestingly the greatcoat was worn exclusively by the line infantry instead of the tunique a practice that apparently began in colonial conflcits in N. africa, where the temperature changes from hot days to freezing nights. Only one sergeant and the officer wear the tunique. Also i have painted the officer in an extremely dark uniform, virtually black, as officers presumably to show off their wealth and the quality of their clothes wore a much darker hue of the standard tunique with officers braid
Finally something i try to do on my french is add a few long service chevrons (upwards pointing chevrons on left upper arm only, coloured gold for sergeants and red for corporals and soldiers) and rank markers (single inner to outer upwards bar on both lower arms two gold sergeant major, single gold sergeant, 2 red corporal, 1 red private 1st class)
i normally have units of 16 models representing a full strength battalion of 600 men in 1870 (1 model=50men) although as you can see i painted 7 bases this time, theres no reason for this, i just had the models to hand and did them all together, c'est la vie. I have been looking to go back to trying the fire and fury mod fire and furia francese by nick dorell of the wyre wargames group http://www.wfgamers.org.uk/ as i realised i need to start playing again or this really does become a peculiar hobby. On the same not i have gone through and checked out what 15mm FPW models i have and so you may see some updates on these in the future as i try to organise them and finish off some units to use for fire and fury

French Garde Mobile

Ah the much maligned French Garde Mobile, often put down as a poor substitute for the regular army of Napoleon III but rarely remembered that they kept the war going for a full 5 months after the capitulation at Sedan. What they may have lacked in training and equipment, they made up for in motivation and numbers, with the French armies of the later/republican war often putting as many if not more men in the field than their German counterparts.
These are Foundry models which as ive said before, i am not a huge fan of these days as i think they are really dated in pose etc. having said that the mixture of poses i have used in this unit, mostly because they happpened to be the models i had, give a less uniform appearance which i think suits the garde mobile look.
actually thes mobile are very well equiped with the short tunique without epaulettes (as dispensed with by the republic, probably due to cost rather than imperial connotations, as they brought them back after the war i think), most have full kit and all have chassepot rifles with bayonets. I have painted them all in the standard pre-war mobile uniform of blue tunique with grey trousers with a large red side stripe, although trousers would have varied a lot even with garance red trousers being supplied to some units. i actually painted these models some years ago but have just rebased them on my standard base sizes 40x40mm. i used to base all my models individually but ive grown up since then and multi bases are so much more useful
next up will be an emplaced ECW saker (my last artillery for the ECW), FPW French regular infantry and hopefully when they arrive i will make a start on some more 1866 austrian infantry and hussars

French Turco Battalion

This will be my last post for a little while as too busy with work. Here again are some models i painted a while ago, these ones about a year ago.
anyway as usual this is a full strength battalion of 16 models (800 men) consisting of north african/algerian troops and ncos with french officers. The men are dressed in their traditional dress of baggy trousers, short zouave jackets and fez. The dress for the turcos and zouaves was virtually identical except for the colours used which were dark blue with red piping for the zouaves and sky blue with yellow piping for the turcos

Bavarian Artillery 1870

here are 2 bavarian guns i painted quite a while ago for my franco-prussian war collection. again they are foundry casts and i agree with matt that these are some of their best models. i dont have a lot of bavarians but i might get the few infantry i have painted up soon as well
anyway both guns appear to be 6lb guns although with the steel krupp guns its very difficult to spot any difference between the 6 and 9lb fieldguns anyway
the artillery crews are dressed in their dark blue uniforms which differ from the infantrys cornflower blue (i did paint 4 batteries of 15mm ones in sky blue once before i realised, presumbly this reflects the dirtier job these guns are expected to perform and theirfore keeping their uniforms more presentable

3rd East Prussian Cuirassier Regt

here are some foundry cuirassiers i painted back in June. I have painted them as the 3rd East Prussian Regt with their traditional white waffenrocks and sky blue facings. I chose this regt for no particular reason other than i liked the facings, simple as that. otherwise the cuirassier regts were all similarly dressed.
i have done a very minor conversion for the trumpeter model as foundry dont make any for the germans. I simply used a perry plastic trumpeters arm from their ACW cavalry boxed set
as stated previously i use a 1 figure = 50 men ratio. so this 12 model regt = a 600 man full strength regt
also i should explain how i base my models, i use a 50 x 50mm base for 2 cavalry men and 40 x 40mm for 4 infantrymen. i tend to glue my models to the base add the premixed plaster allow to dry, then i add sand mix and glue this on ebfore undercoating the whole in black. i know that this can sometimes make the finer details of uniforms difficult to get to but generally especially for 19th century models it is not a major issue and allows me to paint quicker than doing each model individually and then basing them

French Dragoons 1870

At last here are my first FPW figures in about 9 months.
i thought to get back in the swing of it i would do a relatively simple unit so french dragoons came top of the list.
i use the ratio 50 men to a figure for all my FPW units so a regt of cavalry for france or prussia will be 12 figures (600 men). A French battalion of 16 figs (800 men) or a Prussian battalion of 20 figs (1000 men)

The dragoons were quite easy to paint really although i must admit i hate painting cavalry as i really do find painting horses boring. although it is a necessary burden to get all those really nice units done. i havent done any socks or flashes on the horses mainly im sorry to say because i couldnt be bothered. i might add some at a later date if i feel like it.
a note on the models, these are foundry models which i quite like but i have t admit they are starting to look a little tired compared to some of the brilliant stuff that is coming out these days, especially from helion and the perry twins etc. i wasnt a 100 per cent sure whether the dragoon officer should have silver or gold epaulettes. i went for silver in the end based upon an old foundry painting guide but i dont know how acurate this really is
anyway it was good to do some FPW stuff again and i think i will have to put some more effort into some more, probably some prussian infantry and prussian hussars would be next.