Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Additional Hessians and French


Throughout the month of December 2019 I've been working on more troop units for our January MLK Day game.  Here's what I've completed so far.

Regimental Commander, 25th Regiment Gardes Mobiles de Gironde
The commander of the 25th Regiment Gardes Mobiles de Gironde is a Falcon Miniatures French officer.  So far only his 3rd Battalion has been completely outfitted (see previous post).

Commander, 2nd Regiment (Grand Duke's), 25th Grand Ducal Hessian Division
The second regiment in the 49th Brigade, 25th Grand Ducal Hessian Division, is the Grand Duke's Regiment.  Its commander is a Foundry (I think) Prussian dragoon officer.  His white collar designates the 2nd Regiment, as each of the four Grand Ducal Hessian regiments had different colored collars.  The white dot on his base also serves to identify the regimental affiliation for the players.

1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment (Grand Duke's)
And the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment has been completed, composed of Foundry figures.  This battalion shows a variety of the Foundry Prussian infantry figures since I bought some previously owned figures.  They were not very well painted, especially the blue coats which were too light, so I soaked and cleaned them, then repainted.  They'll be joined by the 2nd Battalion sometime in January prior to our January 20th game.

2nd Battalion, Tirailleurs Algerien de Marche
The 2nd Battalion of the Tirailleurs Algerien Regiment de Marche also joined the French forces.  Called "Turcos" this regiment is formed of soldiers from the Turcos' depots, survivors of one of the four regiments mobilized at the beginning of the war (which were trapped in the fortresses of Metz or Sedan), and newly raised soldiers from Algeria.  The Turcos were known as fierce fighters and were rightly feared by the Prussians.  This battalion consists of figures from Askari Miniatures.

Turcos Battalion Command
A close-up of the battalion command stand showing a French officer (in native costume) and one of the guidons that were flown by the battalions and individual companies.

January will see, as stated above, the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Hessian Regiment join the forces as well as a Hessian light artillery battery and a French heavy artillery battery.  I'm not sure in what genre I'll be painting after I finish these.  I think I'll be a little "burned out" with the Franco-German War and will go with something else.

Here's hoping everyone had a blessed and merry Christmas and will have a prosperous and joyous new year!!