From GregB: Franco-Prussian War, French Command in 28mm (44 points)

Assorted French command bases in 28mm for the Franco-Prussian War. All figures from Wargames Foundry.

Happy New Year to all Challenge participants! With the initial flurry of entries now behind us, it is time to settle in for some more "regular" posting.  It's great to be part of the Friday crew. For my first scheduled post my brushes return again to a familiar theme and setting - the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.  These are 28mm figures from Wargames Foundry, mounted to represent commanders in games such as "Black Powder".

As with my Prussian command bases, there are two different levels of command represented here.  The bases with two figures will represent "brigade" commanders (again, "brigade" used in the sense of the Black Powder rules, as opposed to commanders of a specific actual brigade), officers with a sub-command of several units, while the base with three figures will represent an overall command for the whole French force on the table.

French officers on foot ponder developments on the battlefield...

There is a bit more variability to the French officer figures in the Foundry Franco-Prussian War collection - some senior commanders on foot, and one courier-type mounted, and one large selection of different poses in the senior command vignette.  This Challenge submission gives a flavour of all of these options.

Without mounted commanders, there was a lot of extra room on the base, so I went nuts filling it up with grass tufts from Tajima - I love those things...

One "brigade" command features two senior officers on foot - while the regalia of the French senior command from the period was quite flashy, I mostly just bodged it so it looked good from a foot or so away on the table.

"Take this message to the Marshal!"

The second "brigade" command features a pair of flashy Hussars in their sexy bearskin shakos. They are a set, with the fellow on foot handing a note off to the ADC on the horse.  They were a little tricky to line up on the round base, so the hand-off looks a little awkward. But when it comes to this period, however, I kind of like that these French command figures give an aura of unease...

The message says "Why the f*** are we just standing here while the Prussians march all around us?"

That is because the performance of the French senior command during the Franco-Prussian War was utterly abysmal, hapless at best and incompetent at worst.  The French soldiers fought bravely. But through poor communication, indecision, indolence, and astonishing idiocy, the senior command group of the French managed to seize defeat from the jaws of victory on a number of key occasions. More than any other factor (and there were many), the performance of the French senior officers led to the envelopment and destruction of the French Imperial Army at the hands of the Prussians in the summer of 1870.

"J'ai aucune idee..." the command mantra for the French in 1870. 

And this is why I find the third portion of this entry, the French senior command base, to be so fun, because the sculpting (by the amazing Perry brothers, of course) is just brilliant.  There is a French Marshal, sitting to the corner of a bench, rubbing his forehead in confusion. A second ADC has no idea what to make of things either, while a third ADC just leans on the table and wonders how the first two ever got promoted...

Simply marvellous sculpting from the Perrys as usual - so much character in these figures, really amazing. 

Everyone is stumped by developments on the battlefield...

I continue to really enjoy painting this period, scale and setting.  Hopefully this edition of the Painting Challenge will bring me closer to my goals on this project - it's been great so far.  While the number of figures isn't large, things like command bases or (ugh) artillery are the things that are important to round out collections for games like "Black Powder" - but these are things I often find I never get around to.  So it's great that I now have a useful number of command sets for both sides.

Scoring-wise, with this entry we have six 28mm foot figures, one 28mm mounted figure, and a table & bench. I'll leave tables and benches to the minions, but that should be about 40 points for the figures, a respectable, if small, start to the weekly entries. Cheers!
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Ah, yes, for our next entry in the Friday Follies, we have . . . more French! Frenchier French, even. Perhaps the Frenchiest French, for “le pantalon rouge, c'est la France!" Or maybe that was the next war . . .

Another one of my  favorite periods, the Franco-Prussian War pits sartorial elegance, handsome moustaches and readiness down to the last gaiter button of buttonless gaiters against the severity of spiked helmets, bushy whiskers, and armor-clad Chancellors. I do look forward to seeing this project take shape, especially if you branch out into the Republican period of the war, where the French took a more bawdy and burlesque taste to their headquarters environs.

Now, after ample inspection of the kepi, and the maps, and the shading on the woodgrain of the table, by the power vested in me by the Snowlord, I award the munificent sum of a tenth the submission value, for a nice round total of 44! Perhaps, in honor, we shall see the 44^e régiment d'infanterie? 

But, until then . . . En avant!