Fifth Challenge Submission - 28mm French for the Second Empire & Franco-Prussian War

French Imperial infantry ready to defend their country against Prussian invaders...while their senior commanders prepare to fail them utterly...

Well, no marks for originality with this fifth submission to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - why it's yet more infantry for the Franco-Prussian War! My last submission was a pile of Prussians, and here now is the completed force of French infantry to take them on. These are 28mm castings from "Eagles of Empire".  There are 31 of them in the pictures, but as with my previous submission, there is a bit of propaganda at work in the photography - a number of figures in this group shot that were painted previously or prior to the Challenge. Only 12 of the castings counted for scoring purposes. I just liked the group photo, so piled the whole lot in together!

Bugler figure serving as an NCO on a square base

These are based for skirmish games, with NCOs on square bases and more senior officers on hex bases.  As with the Prussians, there is a senior command base that adds a standard bearer to a senior officer that will be used to represent a higher status officer on the table. I was not able to find a proper eagle to affix to the standard unfortunately, but I still like how the fellow turned out.

And I may have sourced an eagle to add later on...stay tuned!

NCO directs the deadly fire of his unit's Chassepot rifles

While the sculpting style of these castings is definitely a little different, something I have remarked on in previous posts, I do give full marks for the sculptor capturing the feel of the period.  Where the Prussian sculpts feature many figures charging forward, the French are in a variety of firing poses, working the deadly effect of their Chassepot rifles, holding some manner of hopeless position. I think the sculptor clearly had a good sense for the dynamics of the war.

Great selection of firing and loading sculpts

A lot of detail on the kit...different pans, canteens, tent-poles and other supplies for the march

And as before, I just LOVE the uniforms of the Imperial French infantry. Those kepis, baggy red pants and epaulettes are just SO cool. Can't wait to get these fellows on the table!

Senior command stand with a flag - from the 70th Regiment

The flag on the command base is also from "Eagles of Empire" - they offer flags for two of the French infantry regiments in the War.  This is fine for skirmish purposes, but for my larger plans involving games of "Black Powder", the lack of available flags from providers of nice flags like Flag Dude, GMB or Maverick Models is frustrating - Warflags has some for free, but you have to print those yourself, and the quality is just not the same...plus I don't have a colour printer so I have to bother Byron to do it for me...

An eagle would be nice for the top of the standard...oh well...

The battle honours of the 70th Regiment

Anyway, this submission will provide another 60 points toward my target of 1000 points, and represent the conclusion of my initial mad rush of this edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. I wanted to get enough 28mm figures painted to do a decent-sized skirmish game of some sort for the Franco-Prussian War, and between these chaps and the Prussian regulars and Jagers, I think we will be able to have a game very soon! Time to take a little bit of a break from this period and switch gears to another subject...see you soon!

Fourth Painting Challenge Submission - 28mm Prussian Infantry for the Franco-Prussian War

Prussians charge to battle for their King!

My fourth submission to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge continued my early established theme - more 28mm infantry for the Franco-Prussian War. Hopefully you are not bored yet!  In these photos you see the bulk of my Prussian infantry that I will be using for skirmish gaming in the setting - they are all 28mm castings from "Eagles of Empire".  There are 29 figures in total here, but some have already been submitted (see if you can spot "Mr. Glowing" among the mass) and others were painted before the Challenge started - so only 14 of these will counted for scoring purposes in the Challenge.

Nice, aggressive posture on many of the castings

These castings show that distinctive sculpting style of the Eagles of Empire figures - the castings are tall (essentially 30mm) and thin, with more sort-of "true scale" Dreyse rifles and spikes on the helmets.  This already caused one casting to lose his pickelhaube during shipping, but as I am keen to have as many Prussians jump in on the table as possible, I painted him up anyway, figuring some manner of franc-tireur shot the spike off his helmet in a skirmish behind the lines...

The Prussians sporting their distinctive pickelhaubes and rolled coats

This is meant to represent four full squads of seven troops each, as well as a couple of senior officers - the equivalent of two boxes of figures from Eagles of Empire - but I'm two figures short to represent the full group of four squads. This is because the Prussian boxes come with two different types of musician, and I had no use for the drummers...so I'll need to scare up two extra figures to balance this all out.  When combined with the Jagers it is still a substantial force for a skirmish, ready to enforce the will of the King and bring the pesky French to heel on the battlefield!

I quite like the once NCO, on the right, beautiful animation in the pose

Rear view, showing the kit the Prussian infantry hauled with them

The NCOs are on square bases, the senior officers are on hex-shaped bases, and there is one very-senior officer (would be something like a status level three or four leader for Lardy-style-games) based together with a standard bearer on a hex base.  I have tried to use different colours of flowers to help with unit identification, but as I have worked through this I have seen I need to be careful a bit as the overall effect can be a bit too bright.  France is a beautiful, beautiful place (and the "Imperial phase" of the War of 1870 did take place in the summer) but it is not Lothlorien and too many bright flowering bushes has a bit of a detrimental effect to the overall game.  I may go back later and scale it back a bit more still.

An assortment of close-ups - the arm of the officer was a challenge, as the part was mis-cast - his shoulder must have been wounded at Sadowa or something...

The Prussian flag is from GMB.  Finding flags for this period is a challenge - GMB is the only source I have found for Prussians, and nobody is making any for the French as far as I can tell, with a small exception that you will see in my next submission!

Senior command base - flag from GMB

Ready to conquer in the name of the King!

These guys got me another 71 points toward my goal...up next - vive la France!!

Third Painting Challenge Submission - 28mm Prussian Jagers for the Franco-Prussian War

28mm Prussian Jagers for the Franco-Prussian War from Helion

Happy new year everyone! Well, no big surprise for my third submission to Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - more 28mm Franco-Prussian War stuff! This time it is two squads (I think?) of Prussian Jagers for the Franco-Prussian War.  These are 28mm castings purchased via Eagles of Empire, but the castings are actually from the Helion range, and are being sold by Eagles of Empire through some manner of partnership arrangement with the good people of North Star Miniatures. This was clever and useful for gamers, as it adds some "one-stop" shopping!

One squad of Jagers - I used tufts of blue flowers to help with quick ID on the table

Where the Eagles of Empire castings have certain unique characteristics - thin bodies, skinny weapons and necks, and are rather tall - these Helion castings are much more classic and robust "heroic" 28mm wargaming miniatures.  They were a real treat to paint, and unlike some of my Eagles of Empire figures, these rifles will not snap off at some point.

Senior officer on a hex-shaped base - this is a system used by Curt to help with quick table identification, one I have copied repeatedly...

There is one senior officer (on a hex-shaped base) and two squads of seven figures, each led by an NCO on a square-shaped base.

The Jagers add a splash of colour and dash to the otherwise dour appearance of the Imperial Prussian Army in the 1870 period.  They are also devoid of the goofy pointy-helmets, clad in shakos that are more reminiscent (to me) of the earlier Napoleonic era.  Generally speaking, each Prussian corps had one battalion of Jagers attached to perform the various and sundry "light" infantry tasks that somehow rendered them to be considered as "elite".  While Jagers were a smaller proportion of the overall infantry contingent of the Prussian army in 1870-71, for skirmish purposes I'm pretty sure they would be a common sight, so I wanted to include some in my Prussian forces for skirmish games in that setting.

The "red-flowered" squad

I was confused by the different colour references I found for these troops - whether the buttons and cipher etc were gold or brass, whether the facings were red or white, and what shade the green was supposed to be...I think it varied depending on whether they were in a "guard" unit or not.  I wanted my lads to be a regular joes, and so hopefully found colours that matched the regular battalions.

A view showing the mess kit, and of course, the ubiquitous long coats tied around the bodies of the troops...

As for the shade of green, well, sometimes you have to go with what paints you happen to have on hand...so to the surprise of nobody, this shade of green rather closely matches that seen on the armour plates of my 16th Legion forces for 30k sci-fi gaming *cough*.  Just a coincidence, I'm sure...

There are fifteen 28mm figures here, which added a 75-point shot in the arm towards my goal of 1000 points of painting.  Stay tuned for more Prussians!

Second Painting Challenge Submission - More Franco-Prussian War Troops in 28mm

28mm Franco-Prussian war castings from "Eagles of Empire"

More fun painting from the lake for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge! Similar to my first submission, these are "28mm" castings (really closer to 30mm) from Eagles of Empire.  There are six French infantrymen and four Prussian infantrymen, all from the Franco-Prussian War, or the War of 1870.  These will be used for skirmish gaming for the Franco-Prussian War.

French Imperial infantry ready to engage the Prussians - bugler is on the left

The French bugler is mounted on a square base, to help him stand apart as an NCO/leader/character or some sort when the time comes for a game.


As before, I absolutely love the French uniforms from this period! Red pantalons FTW!

Always love how the French infantry are carrying a full load of cooking kit on their backs :)

The Prussian uniform in this era is not quite so dramatic as the Imperial French uniforms, although those silly Prussian spiked helmets do stand out a fair bit! One thing about the Prussians is that they wear their longer rain coats tied around their bodies, and that tends to obscure a lot of the detail on the figure, but it does make things a little easier in terms of painting.

Spiked helmets for the glory of Prussia!

One of the Prussian figures has an eerie finish to it - that's because I thought I would try a paint-on matte finish product.  As you can see from the gross, glowing finish, it's not even close to matte, and will be the last f*cking time I try that sh*t product again.  I can't spray out the lake, so I thought a paint-on product would work...no luck...I'll try and save that casting when I get back home to Winnipeg after Christmas.

 

The rolled coats obscure a lot of the detail on the Prussian infantry, but this was a common style for Prussian troops in 1870, particularly in the summer

French infantry painted in the Challenge so far...

There are 10 different 28mm castings in this submission, which added another 50 points toward my 1000 point goal. A pretty good start to this edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge!  And I'm already looking forward to a Franco-Prussian War skirmish game with the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts some time in the new year!

Merry Christmas everyone!

First Painting Challenge Submission - 28mm French Imperial Infantry from 1870

28mm Franco-Prussian War French infantry from Eagles of Empire

The 8th annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is underway! It's fun to be back at the brushes again this year, and I'm pretty excited to get going at the latest edition of the Challenge.  This year we have traveled to our cabin near Sault Ste Marie, Ontario for Christmas, and I was able to bring my paints and some primed figures along with me for the express purpose of getting an early start in the Challenge.  I was pleased to crank this opening submission out during a beautiful winter day at the cabin!

A lovely winter day at the cabin!

No swimming in December, so bring on the painting! Lake Superior in the winter...

These are Imperial French soldiers from the War of 1870, the Franco-Prussian War. These are 28mm castings sold by "Eagles of Empire", a fairly new provider that has brought some lovely castings to a period and setting that is otherwise (compared to subjects such as WW2, Napoleonics and others) somewhat-niche-and-neglected by sculptors and figure companies.

Lots of nice detail on these tall castings

I did a debut post on my interest in this period earlier in December. While I have a desire to play some "Black Powder" games in this period in 28mm, it will take a long time, likely at least a year, before I have enough figures gathered and painted before I can put on a game for our local group in Winnipeg.  While I hope this edition of the Painting Challenge will help me reach that goal, I still don't want to wait that long for a game, so I thought some 28mm skirmish gaming in the period would be a much quicker route to getting a game going on the tabletop.

I'm not so crazy about how narrow the "true scale" Chassepot rifles are...tricky to paint...

So while I am using the range from Wargames Foundry for my regimental/brigade/division gaming plans, I settled quickly on the range from Eagles of Empire for skirmish gaming purposes.  These castings are lovely - tricky, but lovely. 

The French sure seemed to carry a lot of cooking pans around in 1870...but of course!

What do I mean by "tricky"? Well, as hobby types we all have our own preferences, ticks and quirks - for me, sculpting styles is one of those things.  The figures from Foundry, sculpted by the Perry Brothers, have a sort of familiar and forgiving feel and shape to them. These sculpts, on the other hand, are from a very different sort of "school" of sculpting - these are tall, nearly 30mm tall, with slender builds and a more "realistic" proportion (in some ways) to them. The rifles are very narrow, the fingers very slender, etc. They do not, in my opinion, mix well at all with the figures from the Wargames Foundry range.

A first volley fired...hopefully more to come...

But they will do just fine for skirmish gaming! And I just LOVE the French uniforms from this setting. Red kepis! Baggy pants! And epaullettes everywhere!! These seven figures gave me 35 points against my target of 1000 points - an opening "skirmish" in the Black Powder side duel and inspiration to keep going on this project through the Challenge. And these fellows bring me closer to the goal of running a skirmish game of some kind set in this period very soon.