28mm Prussian Infantry for 1870 - Perry Plastics

Back to the Franco-Prussian War! 28mm Plastic figures from Perry Miniatures. Flag from GMB.

Hello again! Funny how when you stop posting on the blog, it is really easy to...stay not posting...isn't there some smart saying out there about a how a blogger at rest remains at rest? I have all the usual excuses...late August weather was just so lovely, I even managed to get a visit to Winnipeg in, being busy with work etc. etc. And then the NFL finally got going again...you know...all sorts of excuses...but through it all, I have been doing some painting, and I'm glad to share it now that I have finally made some progress worth sharing! Here is a unit of Prussian infantry for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. These 28mm figures are plastics from the new FPW range being released by the prolific Perry Twins.

The main unit figures are assembled from the "marching" frames, while the skirmishers are assembled from a "firing" pose frame.

If you are keen on a period, it is always great news when the Perry Twins take an interest - and this case, it is somewhat interesting because one of the only reasonably complete 28mm ranges for the Franco-Prussian War is found with Wargames Foundry, and it was sculpted by...the Perry Twins. So I guess they are "re-entering" this period now, all of these years later!

Another view from the front of the unit.

These plastic multi-part figures were one of the first figure sets released for the new range. Those who know me will know I am quite the grouch when it comes to historical plastic figures. But I must say, these are quite nice. There is a choice of poses (firing or marching, with the mix depending on the box you select), an assortment of heads allowing a range of options (can be regulars or Landwehr), and even different variants of picklehaube - so the little details are all covered. Thus, while I continue to believe that there are no plastic figures which would not be better off as metal figures, I will say these are brilliant - if you like this period, buy these figures.

Another view of the command group - officer, colour-bearer, drummer and trumpeter - the flag is from GMB.

View from the back, showing the rolled greatcoats, and fascine knife. On close examination you'll see how much trouble I had painting the frigging "swallows nests" on the shoulders of the musicians.

Assembly is pretty straightforward - just watch the fascine knife (hanging on the left hip), as that is a pretty tiny little bit, and will disappear easily into any flooring if you don't glue it just right...

WIP of an early test figure.

Another view of the test figure.

Do I have any quibbles? Well, plastic bayonets seems like a terrible idea...but I don't have any better suggestions either...so let's just hope for the best :)

My newly-reinforced Prussians await the call to battle from their assembly grounds on the living room map table...

It has been over a year, at least, since I have added a 28mm unit to my Franco-Prussian War collection - and boy, was I rusty! It was slow going at first, and I found that I was often distracted by my squirrel-brained desire to either paint even more 30k stuff, or just paint something else entirely (watch future posts for more on that)...so these fellows took a little longer to finish than I might have liked. But they are now finished - 24 figures all together, based for Black-Powder type rules, using the same basing system I adopted when I first started this project in late 2017 - 20 of the figures are grouped together to represent the bulk of the unit, and four are based individually, placed on the table to represent deployed/detached skirmish companies.

The line advances, with skirmish groups deployed out front...

It has been great to revisit 1870 on the painting table, and I'm sure it won't be long until I'm back at it again...the new Perry Range looks like it will be lovely, and there are already a number of new figures for it that I can't wait to add to my collection. Watch for more as we head for another winter here in Canada. That's all for now - thanks for reading!