More FPW French

Painting output has been a bit slow here lately, with the usual excuses of work and other commitments. However, I have tried to make some progress with my 6mm 19th century collections and have managed to complete a further (and possibly the last, although you never really know do you?) French infantry division.

This one contains some of the more exotic units that I fancied doing. Having already done Zouaves and Algerian Tirailleurs I decided that the Foreign Legion (present in the 1859 Italian campaign) and Marines (present in 1870) would be nice to add too. As my French army will be used in a variety of campaigns I don’t mind the fact that these two troop types weren’t really deployed side by side in either of the major wars.

The division is the 6th one I’ve painted over the years, completing 2 full Corps, and is structured the same as the rest. I use the To the Last Gaiter Button rules from Realtime Wargames, with a few minor modifications to formation structures. The French regiments are represented by 2 battalions instead of the 3 they actually had, to reflect the reduced regimental manpower in the field compared to the Prussians and Austrians. I also omit one of the brigadiers, to re-balance the command and control capabilities in line with the smaller number of wargame units compared to the actual OOB.

All in all, we have the following: 1 Divisional Commander, 1 Brigadier, 4 ‘line’ regiments each of 2 battalions, 1 chasseur battalion, 2 field batteries and 1 mitrailleuse battery. This represents about 9,000 men and 18 guns. This takes the French to about 60,000 in total, which won’t stop them losing on the table, but will help them look more impressive when they do!

All figures are Heroics & Ros as always. All but one of the flags are home-made (and a bit over-sized to look better) with pin and foil as I’d run out of H&R ones. I’ve also started giving some command bases a flag to help them stand out better.

Next up, a composite Wurttemberg and Baden division and 1859 Austrians!