French & Indian War Matchlock 15mm-Part 1

We are not badly served for 15mm miniatures for the French and Indian Wars. Essex, Minifigs and QRF all do some good figures.  Blue Moon 15mm seem to have an enthusiastic following including me.  I have figures from all of these manufacturers but this post is not about any of them. 

It is about Matchlock Miniatures because I think they are something special.  Currently, not all of the range are shown on the Minifigs website so I thought I’d post pics here so you can see them.

British Light Infantry with Essex officer.

A closer look.

 

British Grenadiers

British Rangers with a Minifig's officer.

Compagnies Franches de la Marine. Two Blue Moon on your left.

Indians

A closer look.

French regular Infantry

Another look at the fusiliers.

Matchlock French Officers, I find these full of style.

French Mounted Officers.

I also have these Highlanders that I’m pretty sure are Matchlock although they don’t appear in the current listings.  The command figures are Minifigs.

More next time including Highlanders firing.

Matchlock 15mm FIW Highlanders? Anyone know?

Back in the day Matchlock Miniatures were forever announcing new, exciting ranges of figures.  Maroons in 15mm for example. Somehow they never got around to releasing all of them.  Or maybe that was just how it seemed to me.  Perhaps distribution was a problem. Perhaps limited quantities were produced and sold.

That brings me to the point of this post.  About three years ago a bought a load of FIW figures on eBay. It was truly a great bargain.  Before they all got put into the FIW drawer I noted most of them were Matchlock with a few Essex.

I got them out today in preparation for Muskets and Tomahawks 2.  Among them were 20 British FIW Highlanders.  Two poses firing or marching.  They look very much like Matchlock to me. The size is near identical and so is the sculpting style.   

Here's one with a Matchlock Compagnies Franches soldier.  See what you think.

And from the front.

They don’t appear in the current Matchlock listings but that doesn’t mean that they never did.  If anyone can confirm who made these figures, I would be delighted to hear from you.