Final Painting Challenge Submission - 10mm FPW Bavarians

10mm Bavarians for the Franco-Prussian War. Figures from Pendraken.

The tenth edition of Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has concluded. I had big plans to finish AHPC X with a bang, some big-time entries but world events have not cooperated, as work has been a bit of a scramble running into the final hours of the Painting Challenge (it ended at midnight last Friday).  But I did manage to finish these little fellows - these are 10mm Bavarians for the Franco-Prussian War.  The figures (and flag) are all from the excellent Pendraken.

The sculpts from Pendraken are really incredible...I just can say enough good things about them - I wish I had ordered more before the government "shut" the borders...

Infantry in cornflower blue tunics. You can't miss the Bavarians!

When war broke out between France and Prussia in the summer of 1870, the Kingdom of Bavaria sent a major contingent to join the forces of Prussia and the North German Confederation.  From the initial battle at Wissembourg through the seige of Paris and many battles against the stubborn French Republican regime which replaced the fallen government of Napoleon III, the Bavarians played a major role in the Franco-Prussian War.

Command group in the middle...depending on the system, each base could represent one battalion from the regiment...or the three bases together could represent one battalion...all depends on the rules.

In terms of approaching ways to game this period in any scale, I would like to start out "small". The Battle Wissembourg fits that bill, in the sense that it was one of the smaller encounters in the War.  It was also one of the first battles. A division (and more) of Bavarians were part of that engagement. These figures are meant to represent part of that force, representing a regiment of infantry and a regiment of cheveauxleger cavalry.  There are two individually-based mounted officers as well to represent relevant layers of command, depending on the rules system being used.

Chevauxlegers - Bavarian "light" cavalry.

The Battle of Wissembourg saw an understrength French division hold off elements of one Bavarian and two Prussian corps for the better part of a day.  Had any of the nearby French forces come marching to the sound of the guns, the engagement may have turned out differently, but the lethargy shown by the French command would turn out be the rule, not the exception, in the summer of 1870...

Again, these could represent one regiment, two regiments...it all depends on the rules being used.

There are several different sets of rules for gaming the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 at larger scales.  I am hoping to use the "1871" rules, and will probably also try "Black Powder", and maybe even "Polemos".  It will still be some time before we get to the table, as even the "small" Battle of Wissembourg still calls for something like 44 bases of infantry, nine bases of cavalry and 21 bases of artillery...the war in 1870 was short, but the battles were big!

Mounted officers to serve as command markers.

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge was a lot of fun - I should not here that moth Mike F and Byron M also participated, painting lots of really cool stuff.  I encourage everyone to head over to the AHPC Blog and scroll through the entries to check out their work!

Certainly current events may now allow for more time to paint, even though the crippled economy may not allow for much money to buy paints or figures (not that I "need" any more figures)...I'm fortunate enough that my job is still holding up for now.  But I know Thousands and thousands of others are not so lucky, so I hope everyone out there can stay healthy and safe, and I hope our collective governments get their sh*t together in time.

Cheers, and stay tuned for more "social distancing" painting efforts...