French Command and Cavalry 1870

 

Cavalry had a very rough ride in the Franco-Prussian War.  Their time was nearly done.  Casualties were heavy.  Yet, there they were delivering charges from another era.  I'm limiting myself to one unit of each of the types I have.  Above the Lancers.

The Cuirassiers here.

The Dragoons, badly in need of a touch or two of paint.

The Spahis, can't beat them for colour.  Good troops too.  The Chasseurs de Afrique are on the to do list.

Here is the French General with his Brigadiers.  

 

Two more to come. Next the German Cavalry and then a bit of painting to bring the numbers up.

Return of the Qajars

 

We last saw my Qajar Persians back in ’22.  I got a fair bit done, but!  Ran out of figures.  By the time they arrived my attention had shifted.  It really doesn’t take much.

 

Caught in a painting lacuna, I thought I’d make some Qajar progress.  Here it is.

 

First, a unit of Kurdish mailed Lancers.  These are from QRF’s Turkish range.  They have some nice Persian style helmets.  I have another of these to do.

The next job was to finish the regular battalions.  Above, the Guard mainly Russians.

Mostly, this required painting 2 or 3 additional figures per battalion.

Job done and you see them here.

 

The regular cavalry next.

All lancers.

 

The Camel Gunners below-two units.  I intend treating them as ultra light artillery using cannister ranges.

There is some dispute about uniform colours.  Some favour blue others brown.  I did one of each.

 

Jezail armed skirmishers below.  Note the rests for accurate fire.  I'm tempted to have these lads fire on the Artillery Card and to give them a high dice.  Slow but sure sort of thing. Negible in close combat of course.  It is said the sound of jezails loading was like Church bells ringing.  Ominous to hear I'd say.

 

Horse Artillery, half a battery.

So, what is left to do?  A second gun and crew, a unit of regular cavary and some village militia.  I might do some Persian Field Artillery by means of conversions.  We will see.

I’ll fit them in between bouts of painting SYW French infantry. More of that anon.

Most of the above are from Irregular Miniatures.

More ACW Bits and Pieces

 

My second Coloured Infantry regiment.  A mixture of Mini Figs, MJ, Peter Pig and QRF.  Their flag proclaims Black emancipation- many such, unsurprisingly, did.

 

A second battalion for the Iron Brigade.  Figures are the usual mix.

 

A final unit for the Iron Brigade bringing them up to three battalions. All Minifigs for this one.

Limbers one for each side.  Confederates above.

Finally, some Coloured Folk, maybe slaves, maybe newly freed people following the Union Army.  Mainly they wear plain Osnaburg cloth with the odd splash of other stuff. That seems to have been the way of it.  These figures may find their way into a couple of Muskets and Tomahawks games too.  All from QRF.

Anything ACW left to do?  Two more regiments one for each side, a few Brigadiers ditto. another 22 limbers and some Confederate Horse holders.  Or so I tell myself.

ACW 15mm Bits and Pieces 2

 

I continue to work on various ACW bits and pieces.  Above, the 3rd Louisiana Infantry.  Frock coats seem to have been popular in Louisiana.  Blue too.  This caused problems with friendly fire now and then.  These lads can keep the Tigers company.  The command figures are MJ figures and the rest from QRF.  A good fit size wise.  I have had the flag since Pontius was a pilot.  No idea who made it.

The 1st Texas above.  These lads are mostly in their original uniform barring slouch hats are replacing their kepis.

 

A Peter Pig Confederate Brigadier. 

The Washington Artillery next. More Confederate Blue.   The guns are from QRF and the gunners from  Peter Pig.  Nicely compatible.  QRF's own gunners are charming but unfeasibly small.

The Union Cavalry horse holders are nearly all done. Two bases to do. You can see two units below with troopers dismounted for action. Fast moving troops and armed with breach loaders.  Note the Peter Pig mounted Brigadier.  Horse and men from Battle Honours.

One of the things about ACW gaming is that regiments often look the same.  It can make it tricky to keep track of who is who.  Even the flags don't help that much.  The odd unit has a distinctive one, most don't.

When regiments have different abilities that can pose a problem.  Like using the wrong size combat, defence or morale dice. It can be written off as the vagaries of war but I find that unsatisfying.  

My solution is shown below.  At a glance who's who is revealed along with their combat stats and Commander abilities.  I'm doing one for the Federals too.

I have a few more units to do. Iron Brigade, Coloured Infantry and maybe another Union Irish outfit.   Not that I need them.  It's more I have the figures and enjoy painting them.  More horse holders and limbers as well. I could do with another Union battery too.

Do we ever stop adding stuff?  Not often.

French 1870

 

I'm currently rebasing an old, and truth to tell, almost abandoned FPW project.  These pic's show far I've got with the French.  All true 15s from Frei Korps15, as was.  Above the artillery.

The line infantry above and below.  I have a fair few of these unpainted.  Luckily, as they are now out of production.

 

The Chasseurs next.

Turco's galore.  

 

Excellent troops.

The Zouaves, more of these to do.

All (more or less) based for Battle Command. As with the Prussians I'll show the whole army here once it is done.

1870- Another Revenant!

 

I was going to get rid of these little fellows.  They were saved by Battle Command.  As you can see they really are 15mm. Very much from the time before this.  

I have two smallish armies worth.  Pretty much all painted.  The job was to rebase and reflag them.  I have six or so bags unpainted.  Eight or 4 to a bag.  

Easy enough, except I ran out of bases.  Pendraken obliged.  I see they are selling wire spears at a reasonable price.  Ditto Colonel Bill's.

The basing system is (nearly) that suggested by Brent Oman author of Battle Command.  It suited the amount of figures I had.  The key line infantry ones no longer are available.  Luckily, I have enough for a decent sized game.

I'm liking the look of it so far.  The cavalry look dashing but doomed. We will see them shortly. The infantry like the coming thing.  Longer range rifles and looser formations.  They still carry flags which is nice.

I cannot remember when I bought the figures, certainly at least 15 years ago.  They are from QRF but, originate much older with Fei Korps 15.  I'm guessing mid 80s. If you know shout out.

I've surprised myself with this one.  I couldn't resist the idea of doing a few Battle Command Franco-Prussian War games.

I'll show the full Armies for both sides here shortly and a game or two too.

A blast from the past then but not without charm or utility.  I'm glad I kept them.

As you can see the formatting on this post has gone awry, Blogger is a mysterious thing.