From StuartL - Les petits Français - 72 Points

Hi all,

    So, after taking a week or so off from the challenge and painting to deal with some real life stuff, I managed to get back behind the brushes a bit this week. Todays post was largely inspired by minis painted by fellow challenger GregB. When I first joined the challenge back in 2018/19, Greg was working on some Franco-Prussian War minis in various scales. I had not previously heard much about this conflict, and I was rather impressed by Greg's fine work. 

    A couple of years ago, I was browsing My Mini Factory, and came across a 3D designer there by the name of Turner Miniatures. He was just starting to add some FPW minis to his tribe, so I subscribed, eventually getting everything that he released. I got some minis printed out in time for last year's challenge, but as I was unable to enter, they just sat there gathering dust. 

    So, with my entry to the challenge this year, I resolved to get some of these chaps done. Turner Minis are somewhere in the 6-8mm scale range normally, but these were printed at 135% so should be a bit over 10mm. The figures come in strips of 4 and I based them as full battalions.

   

    Each of these units is made up of 24 soldiers mounted on a piece of plasticard roughly 9cm by 4cm. The flags are all hand made. No-one I know locally is going to know what they should look like, and sourcing flags for minis that are not at any exact scale seemed like a bit of an effort.

    Normally, only the 2nd battalion of a regiment would carry a full standard with an eagle, and the other battalions would have fanions. But again, no-one I am going to play with will know or care about that. Simple French Tricolore make it easy to determine allegiance on the tabletop.

    I'm not a huge fan of painting smaller scale minis. I tried these at 6mm and didn't enjoy it. Even at 10mm, it felt like a huge departure from my usual style when I do 28mm. Perhaps these will grow on me if I do more of them, I'm not sure. I have a bunch more French waiting to be painted and after that I will need to arrange printing out some Prussians to oppose them.

    Scoring wise, there are 72x 10mm minis, at 1 point per model, so that should just be 72 points.

    My ongoing duels information:

Skulls - 206 (+0)
BSRoD - 16 (+0)
Squirrels - 11 (+1) - D&D Animals, 30K Militia, Plague Clowns, Afghans, Robots, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Polish, Clan Smoke Jaguar, 81st West Africans, Undead, 10mm FPW French

    Hopefully life will stop getting in the way and I can work on some more substantial entries for next week.

From Millsy:

Good to have you back on the tools Stuart!

Despite what you say about not enjoying smaller scale stuff these look great. I know next to nothing about the period but I like what I see and may have to dig a little deeper now. Probably a bad idea as we all know where that leads.

Such fine fellows all deserve their own eagle despite what the button counters might say. Anyone as well turned out as these chaps wouldn't leave home with a mere fanion.

Great stuff and another 72 points added to your tally mate.

Cheers,

Millsy

From MartijnN: Courting small-scale disaster in France (Books)(92 points)

After Württembergers and WWI Germans, I have the generation in between for you today. I have always been fascinated by the European wars of the 19^th century, the Franco-Prussian War among them. Once again, a book I picked up in my early teens was the main culprit: Cyril Falls’ Great Military Battles (or, rather, its Dutch translation, De Grote Veldslagen).

 

I first found this book as a schoolboy, on the bookshelves of one of my uncles, who still lived with my grandmother, and whenever we would visit I withdrew into a corner with a book like this, of which he had quite a collection. De Grote Veldslagen had a chapter on the battle of Gravelotte, which may well be the first I heard of it. I next began to recreate the battle using Airfix ACW Union troops as French, and Airfix WWI Germans as Prussians. I suspect some of you may have been doing the same at some point😉. It has remained one of my interests ever since, and I have been fortunate in having had the chance to walk the battlefields of Gravelotte and Vionville- Mars la Tour several times.

 

 

Look what I found inside the book! Must be at least 40 years old...

However, that is not the book I have chosen for this studio, for that it this:

 

La Debacle by Emile Zola. It is part of his Rougon-Macquart series, and first appeared in 1892. It vividly describes the (mis)adventures of the main protagonist, Jean Macquart, while serving in the French army, ending up at Sedan, where he is taken prisoner. I found it a great read. I don’t think it has ever been adapted for the silver screen, but it should be!

For this theme, I have painted up four brigades of 6mm Prussian infantry and four artillery batteries. Actually, there are probably going to serve in my 1866 Prussian army first, as I do have painted a sizeable force of Austrians but my tiny French are still in their bags. However, they are useable for both conflicts.

They are 6mm Baccus figures. Obviously, they are painted for the wargames table, so I skipped as many details as I could (even though these sculpts actually have lots of it, should you be inclined to strain your eyes to the max). Even so, I find painting and basing these take a lot more time than you might think. I tend to spend a little more time on the tiny Picklehauben, as that is what you see most, but that always seems to take forever. Nevertheless, I am happy about the way they came out. The flags are Baccus too.

The artillery are also fine, although these are the older models where you have to glue the wheels on. At this scale, that is a royal pain in the backside I can tell you. Luckily, Baccus has since replaced them by one piece castings. Still, even the old models look good don’t you think?

Progress so far:

So:

136 x 6mm foot @ 0.5 = 68 points

4x 6mm artillery piece @ 1 = 4

Books studio bonus = 20

Total 92 points and a squirrel! 

The Franco-Prussian War is an interesting period with colourful uniforms (at least for the French), but it doesn't seem to be as widely known as the earlier Napoleonic Wars nor the later World War One, despite the fact that it was influenced by the former and had a big impact on how the latter would be fought. 

Great work on these Prussian units, with troops like those you'll soon batter the French into submission.

From GeorgeS - Last points last figures! Italian WW1 and a Prussian 1:35 (140 pts)

One last post for this challenge and with that hopefully I reach my goal :)

Here we have 13 figures of the classic Airfix " Mountain troops" set in 54mm, 1:32 scale. Painted in a simple Toy Soldier standard in green uniform simulating Italian WW1 troops. 

 

 

 

 

Also one more 1:35 finished figure for the Franco-Prussian Diorama. The first Prussian of the set  painted in Box Art colours. Not based as these figures comes with no base and they can stand on their own. Also he will be based in the diorama.

So, with these 140 points I reach and overdo my goal for this year :)

Looking forward to the next year's challenge and hope to see you all there again!!

..'till then...

Keep Up The Brushes!!

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Beautiful brushwork, George. I really like the Prussian infantryman, especially the metalwork on his helmet. 

Thank you for joining us this year, George, it's always a pleasure to see your work.

- Curt

From GeorgeS: ICM 1:35 - French Line Infantry 1870 (50 pts)

Another diorama I'm working on is a Franco-Prussian war battle scene with ICM multi-pose figures.

The French part is ready and the figures are complete and sealed but not based. So,  if you think they can't be scored no problem by me.

       So, if they finally score , there are 50 points for them :)

One more post to come :)

Keep Up The Brushes!!

 

I'm very happy to award 50 points here, basing be damned. I'm spoiled with red-trousered frenchmen today. 

From GregB - A Heavy Cavalry Hero for Glorantha (30 points)

General de Bonnemains - 28mm figure from Eagles of Empire.

Greetings all! Work has been pretty busy for the past couple of weeks - which is nice, it funds new hobby purchases! But it also slows down the painting pace...that said, I was still determined to come up with some kind of submission this week, and I thought visiting another Challenge Quadrant planet might help. I started on Istvaan V, and looking at my collection and set of projects, an opportunity presented itself to visit the neighbouring world of Glorantha. The theme for this planet calls for "heroes", and with this in mind, I present General de Bonnemains, who led the 2nd Reserve Cavalry Division during the battle of  Froschwiller on August 6, 1870. This is a 28mm metal figure from "Eagles of Empire".

The Battle of Froschwiller was a major engagement that occurred early in the Franco-Prussian War. The Prussian coalition was advancing across the border, and Marshal MacMahon, commander of the Army of Alsace, was preparing for a defensive battle, having found an ideal position along the Sauer river. Orders to concentrate had been issued - the 1st Corps was already in place, and he was waiting for 5th and 7th Corps to join them. The Prussian side had similar notions, their III Army also planning to gather its strength before commencing a grand battle. Two armies faced each other warily across the Sauer valley, near the towns of Froschwiller and Worth. 

The plan was to wait until ready. But plans often don't work - and for the French in 1870 they, like, never worked. On August 6th, the pickets on both sides started to engage. Escalation followed. Artillery was committed. Troops were sent forward to deal with that. Maybe best to secure a town, you know, just to be sure? Can't allow that, right? 

Before long, the elements of the Prussian III Army were getting stuck in. The Bavarians led the way on the right flank, and the Prussians committed to follow their allies. Through the day, the French fought valiantly - 1st Corps containing some of the very top units in the French Army. MacMahon waited for help to arrive, but it never showed. As his lines buckled, he needed to buy time...and he bought that time with the lives of the reserve cavalry. General de Bonnemains led the charge, four regiments of Cuirassiers, the cream of the Second Empire's heavy cavalry. The odds were long, but the safety and glory of France were at stake. 

A very dramatic pose by the sculptor, perfect for the subject.

It was not to be...the rock-paper-scissors era of infantry lines and squares holding against the heavy cavalry were gone. The French Cuirassiers went forward, and were shot to pieces by the Prussians, armed with breech-loading rifles, backed by steel-breech-loading artillery, these glorious French cavalrymen never had a hope. In particularly tragic sequence, 700 Cuirassiers were caught in the village of Morsbronn and massacred in a matter of minutes.

The sacrifice of the heavy cavalry bought time for Marshal MacMahon to pull his shattered forces from the battlefield and fall back - many of these troops would meet their ultimate fate at Sedan some weeks later.

A white horse, perfect to lead a glorious charge!

I have not been able to track down whether General de Bonnemains survived this battle or whether he was one of the casualties of the fighting that day - apologies for the sloppy research! But I had purchased this character figure from "Eagles of Empire" - purveyors of beautiful 28mm metal figures for the period, and a quite interesting set of skirmish-type rules for the setting. He had been sitting, primed, for months, since he had arrived in the summer...a perfect target for an Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge submission! I thought he would make a fine submission for "Glorantha".

The "Eagles of Empire" sculpts are tall, lean and lovely - with one challenge in this case. The sword was bent during shipping, and I could not, no matter what I tried, get it sorted. It is tragic for this figure to defend the honour of France with a bent sword...but hey, things went really bad in 1870 for them, right?

So, for points, we have a mounted 28mm figure, and a planet bonus - should net 30 points. Thanks for reading, and I hope to have more to share next week!

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What a fabulous figure for Glorantha, Greg. There is something terribly tragic, yet somehow romantic about the French series catastrophes of the Franco-Prussian War. They tried so valiantly, but they experienced such incredible hubris during those campaigns that is makes your eyes water, especially when one realizes that the FPW largely paved the way to the rise of Prussian/German militarism and creates an inexorable path to the First World War. In this light, the bent sword is somehow perfect for this figure. Well done dude.

- Curt

From GregB - French Zouaves in 28mm for 1870 (122 points)

French Zouaves for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Figures from Wargames Foundry.

Every edition of the Painting Challenge brings forward some kind of unique, cool sub-themes. In this edition, I have loved all of the Zouaves. There have been Papal Zouaves. There have been Beetroot Zouaves (!) How do you top Beetroot Zouaves? Well, I can't...but I can offer my own contribution to the Zouave vibe - here is a unit of French Zouaves for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. These are 28mm metal figures from Wargames Foundry. 

The figures out front are used to denote skirmishers/mixed order on the table.

I just love the Franco-Prussian War setting. The uniforms are just glorious! And among the glorious uniforms, the Zouaves stand supreme! I had been "saving" these figures for years, telling myself that I needed to paint up a suitable amount of "regular" troops and cavalry before "rewarding" my brushes with the chance to paint Zouaves. With those Prussian Dragoons out of the way, I figured the time had come!

You can see some of the nice detail on the packs of the troops in the main formation.

These are based for games of "Black Powder" - 20 figures in the bulk of the unit, and the four individually based figures are used to denote skirmishers, or the unit fighting in a mixed formation. The flag is courtesy of Maverick - the first flags I have found on the market for the French in this period.

The Zouaves bring their deadly Chassepot rifles to bear...

These sculpts (by the Perry brothers) are very nice, although old. But the way Foundry packs these figures is a touch infuriating - the poses are at once consistent and yet many details too varied. For example, some have packs, others don't. Some have turbans, others don't. Some are wearing the "caban", and others are not, and all of this variance is found in a single eight-figure package. So if you are looking for a certain consistency among the figures you might use to make a unit, you can only use a few of them. This is...very annoying. I'm still irritated that they don't all have turbans...but then to do that I would have needed to buy another five packs of the Zouaves...enough is enough!

These sculpts are older, but wow, they are a treat to paint.

Another odd oversight in this old Wargames Foundry range is the lack of a standard bearer in the command pack - this was addressed by using a standard bearer from an ACW Zouave command blister, and a spare French Imperial Eagle standard.

The full unit, ready for the table.

These were a great treat to paint - I love Zouaves! And the best part is that you don't need to go fishing around looking for battles where they participated. The Zouave regiments were stuck in from the outset, and fought very hard for the French Empire (and the subsequent Republic!) against the Prussian forces.

For scoring purposes we have 24 different 28mm figures here, which should be good for 120 points! Thanks for reading - hope to have something more next week!  

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Magnificent work, mon ami! Gosh, I love me a fez almost as much as a czapka. Why don't we wear these today! They are fabulous - just add a set of earflaps for the Canadian winters and we're a go. :)  I'm stoked to see you return to this project as it reminds me of our visit to Les Invalides in 2010, where we spent a wonderful afternoon, slack-jawed, admiring the many exhibits, including those of the FPW. While there may be a little inconsistency in the headgear and accoutrements, these are still glorious figures to behold. I love the punchy reds and blues that you've used for this unit, and I appreciate the extra work you put in for the standard bearer (reflected in a couple extra points). I think that for the next unit that you do, we need an accompanying shot of the army as it stands. 

- Curt

From GregB: 28mm Prussian Dragoons for Franco-Prussian War of 1870 (120 points)

28mm Prussian Dragoons, ready to advance into France in 1870!

One of the great recurring themes of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is tackling overdue projects. Sure - we are constantly distracted by new things, or starting new projects (or maybe just me?) - but those figures you had purchased, set up and primed, but, for whatever reason, just couldn't get under the brush...this Painting Challenge is a prime time to tackle those dormant, stranded projects. In this spirit, I present these 12 Prussian Dragoons for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. These are 28mm figures from Wargames Foundry.

Red facings on this lot...

I started doing the Franco-Prussian War back in...2017, I think? Something like that - the "before times", at any rate. I so love the setting, I do it in different scales! In 28mm, I have been using the Wargames Foundry range for my "Black Powder" efforts in this setting. At the outset, for Prussian cavalry, I wanted a unit of Dragoons, as there was often a Dragoon regiment joined to the Prussian infantry units. I ordered some Dragoons from Wargames Foundry, enough for one unit - 12 figures. 

Painting horses is a drag, but I do love cavalry...

Yet when I finally got round to painting them in the summer of 2018, I saw there had been a mistake (either by me, or by Foundry - both are possible, although the former is more likely). I had two command packs, instead of one. This should not have been any kind of issue, but I have OCD-adjacent hobby quirks...I could not mentally resolve having two command figures within one regiment, even though the odds that anyone would besides me would ever notice were  vanishingly small. I sorted this by painting up two half-regiments...two units of six figures each...and told myself I would just order more regular Dragoon troopers to finish out the units. I noted to myself at the time that I would do this "very soon". 

So...fast-forward to 2021...lots of stuff going on, I was moving house...and as the 2021 Painting Challenge came about, I told myself "I am so damn tired of looking at those half-units of Dragoons on my display shelf downstairs! THIS year, I will get them finished up." I duly ordered the requisite figures from Wargames Foundry...I even built them and primed them...and...well, got distracted by other stuff, insert excuses here, etc. etc.

Dragoons were often attached to Prussian infantry divisions - this is why there were my first selection for 28mm cavalry for my Franco-Prussian War project

In the interim, the Perry brothers released their own new sculpts for the Franco-Prussian War in 28mm. This included brand new - and arguably, much, much nicer - sculpts for Prussian Dragoons. But I was committed to the Foundry range, at least for these figures. Having started with Foundry, I wanted to finish with Foundry (which, of course, are also sculpted by the Perry twins..but anyway)...nonetheless, such useless contemplation on whether to switch over to Perry Dragoons fuelled further procrastination on this specific aspect of this project...

Fast-forward to 2022, the Painting Challenge looming...THIS TIME I MEAN IT, I'M GOING TO FINISH THOSE DRAGOONS, FOR F*CK SAKES! IF I HAVE TO LOOK AT THOSE HALF-UNITS ON THE DISPLAY SHELF EVEN ONE MORE TIME...and I am so pleased to report success! So you see 12 troopers here...six with yellow facings, and six with red facings. They will be joining their previously-painted fellows in my display! I now have two full units of Prussian Dragoons in 28mm! 

While I would expect the newer Perry sculpts would look better, the Foundry ones are still classics - like painting up old friends. Yes, they are monopose...and the molds are getting old. But I just loved painting these up. It was fun! Why did I wait, anyway? Ah, the hobby squirrels in my brain...

I was pleased to be able to pretty-much match the paints and colours after a four-year gap in completing these units. It's not perfect...in this interim, f*cking Liquitex stopped making their "natural sand" product that I used for my basing, so they don't match perfectly, but I applied a liberal dose of grass tufts, and it looks more than good enough for me. 

Finally! Two full, proper units on the display table!! About damn time!!!

The best part is now looking at my shelf, and seeing all of the units in the collection at full strength! About bloody time!

For points, we have 12 mounted 28mm troopers - should be good for 120 points. Thanks for reading - and I hope you all have a chance to savour that moment when you knock off a long-overdue project! Now...what distraction will take my brushes?

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Ahh, it's wonderful to see you back revisiting your Franco-Prussian War project, Greg. While perhaps becoming a little long in the tooth, these dragoons look fabulous, especially under your talented brush. I expect you will find MANY sympathetic ears with you describing half-finished units and best intentions (I have run out of fingers and toes with my quick calculations). Anyway, they look great and will look even better when we get them on the tabletop for a game. 

Great work dude!

- Curt

From GregB - A Potpourri of Point Pandering (46 Points)

A random assortment of completed stuff as I scrape for points!

Holy crap! The end of AHPC XI draws nigh...all my glorious plans, my 1500 point target...alas...no time to dwell on my over-ambitious approach. I have all summer for that! No, now is the time to throw away pride, pull together the assorted random bits that I have painted-but-not-yet-submitted, and scrape every single point I can! Thus I present to you all a "Potpourri of Point Pandering"...

10mm WW2 German Panzers

Late model Panzer IIIs - 10mm castings from Pendraken.

These 10mm tanks were painted and based as German "test models" for my ambitions to (re)build my collection for the game "Spearhead". They are late-model Panzer IIIs from Pendraken, based on 50mm squares (to represent platoons) and one on a 50mm round (to represent a battalion command element). 

At these smaller scales I try and exaggerate the colours a bit so the contrast pops a little more.

Ready to roll out...but they'll need reinforcements first...

Obviously still a long way to travel on my 10mm WW2 efforts. I went into this edition of the Challenge so sure I would get more of these done...oh well. Next time, right? At least I have some starters to inspire me.

10mm FPW Command

10mm Prussian Command for Franco-Prussian War - figures from Pendraken.

In this edition of the AHPC I was able to finish a fair bit of 10mm stuff for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. These command figures - a senior command base for the Prussians, and a lower-level command for the French - got finished along the way, and I kept intending to add them in with another submission of a larger unit before the end of the Challenge. This "larger unit" will not happen before the weekend, so here we are...all figures and the flag are from Pendraken.

Having a flag on the base helps him stand out a bit on the table...plus flags are more fun.

The three-figure base, including a standard, will be used to represent a senior commander (i.e. corps command) on the table. 

Have to love those French uniforms from 1870...so lovely...

This individual French officer will likely lead a brigade, but of course there are all sorts of ways to scale rules up and down...bottom line, he will lead gloriously!

10mm Byzantine Cavalry

Byzantine heavy cavalry from Magister Millitum - based for "Warmaster Ancients".

When I love something in this hobby, I tend to paint it in multiple scales...but that doesn't mean I make progress, of course...oh well.  This unit of 10mm Byzantine heavy cavalry is comprised of figures from Magister Millitum, and they are based for use with the rules system "Warmaster Ancients".

These Magister Millitum Byzantines are lovely castings.

Perhaps in the next edition of the Challenge you will see some of the other figures that came with this impulse purchase back in the day?

28mm Arab Spearman

Ah, the poor test model, waiting for friends...28mm plastic figure from Gripping Beast.

I actually did manage to paint up a fair bit of 28mm Byzantine stuff during this edition of the Challenge. While my hope is to use these models to fight Dallas' Normans, I am also thinking of opponents for the Byzantines. That is where this figure comes in - a 28mm plastic figure from Gripping Beast, he is a test model for a unit of Arab Spearmen. The "test model" part happened during this edition of the Challenge, but the "OK, let's paint the rest of the unit" part did not. But five points is five points, right? Jeez...I feel like I'm in the naval part of the hobby or something...

So as you can see, having falling short of my target, I won't pride get in the way of trying to get at least a little closer to that target. This motley assembly includes four vehicles, fourteen mounted troops and one infantry figures in 10mm, and then a single 28mm foot figure...I think that is 46 points? Hey...it all counts :)

And my brushes haven't finished yet - the deadline is close, but it still not here yet. I have one more post in mind to cap things off...but for now, best to get the sweepings out of the way on the painting desk, to set the table for what I hope will be a more civilized final submission. Best of luck to all Challengers during the mad finish!