Monday, November 15, 2021

Franco-Prussian War - 28mm French Artillery

28mm French 4-pounder guns & crew for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Metal models and miniatures from Perry.

After a nice long run of "Star Wars Legion", my brushes depart suddenly to return to a more familiar historical setting - the Franco-Prussian War. These are 28mm metal guns and figures from Perry Miniatures' new line for the Franco-Prussian War. These are 4-pounder rifled muzzle-loading artillery pieces, the mainstay of the French artillery during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

"Fire on those Prussians!"

It was great to see that artillery pieces and crews have been among the early releases for the Perry's new 28mm Franco-Prussian War figure range. Proper guns and crews from 1870 are otherwise lacking - even in the relatively complete Wargames Foundry range (also sculpted by the Perrys) does not have proper 4-pound rifled guns for the French side. So when these appeared as new releases from Perry Miniatures earlier this fall, I ordered a pair of guns right away. 

Spoked wheels are always terrible to work with - and these were particularly awful. Check out the tags that needed trimming...

Painting artillery is always a drag - the spoked wheels are generally a nightmare to work with, and these were no exception. While I won't pretend these guns were fun to build and paint, they are nonetheless a very welcome addition to my 28mm collection.

I do like the sculpt of the fellow pulling the lanyard...nice and dramatic....

While the guns were a pain in the ass, the French crew were fun to paint up - in general, the French uniforms for this period are just lovely, and I really like working on them.    

Ready for action on the table top, at some unknown time in the future...

The French artillery performed badly during the Franco-Prussian War, but even with whatever negative modifiers and other issues they might be saddled with, a French player will still want to at least try to use their guns on the advancing Prussians. These two pieces, together with the previously painted mitrailleuse can combine to represent the artillery complement of a French infantry division on the tabletop. I also still have the 12-pounder reserve gun, so the French artillery for my 28mm Franco-Prussian War is now in pretty good shape! 

That's all for now - regular "Star Wars Legion" service will resume shortly, I expect. 

6 comments:

Phil said...

Nice poses, sculpts...and wonderful paint job!!

Peter Douglas said...

They look great. Am always amused to hear about your issues painting guns.

Neil Scott said...

Some fine artillery pieces

Ray Rousell said...

Excellent brushwork Greg!

Moiterei_1984 said...

Good to see you back at the FPW project! Perry metals have always been a pain in the proverbial backside and unfortunately these don’t seem to be any different. Still wonderfully painted as ever Greg! The blue you use for the uniforms is just superb

Dallas said...

Great work dude!