French 1870-1871 Zouave Regiment Completed

This past weekend I completed the 3rd and last battalion for my French 1870-1871 Zouave Regiment de Marche for the 15th Corps of the Army of the Loire.  After the fall of Sedan and Metz with the loss of the last original field armies, the French were forced to raise troops as quickly as they could.  Part of this reestablishment of the French field armies was combining depot units into 'ad hoc' regiments known as "regiments de marche" or march regiments.  These 'ad hoc' regiments did much of the heavy fighting against the various German forces covering the siege of Paris.

With the loss of the four regular Zouave regiments, their depots were combed and new recruits added to form one regiment de marche which was assigned to the Army of the Loire.  In my French force, it is part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 15th Corps.  It, as are all my Franco-German War forces, organized in accordance with Larry Brom's "Chassepot and Needlegun" rules.

Please click on the photographs for larger images.

 And here is the 3rd Battalion, Zouave Regiment de March deployed in battle formation.

The figures are all Askari Miniatures French Zouaves from the French Army of Africa range.

 Here is the battalion "command" stand that shows the battalion sergeant carrying a tri-color field guidon.  The three blue dots on the rear of the stand designate that this is the third battalion of the Zouave regiment.  All of my French and German are distinctively marked so the players will know which unit is in which command.

And the entire regiment with the 1st Battalion in the center, the 2nd Battalion to camera right, and the 3rd Battalion to camera left.  The mounted colonel is between the 1st and 3rd Battalions.  All figures are Askari Miniatures except the colonel, which is a Falcon mounted officer.

And here is the entire 1st Division in their storage boxes.

 The 1st Brigade with the Regiment Legion Entrangere to camera right, the Tirailleur Algerien Regiment de Marche to camera left, and the combined chasseur battalion and one of the light artillery batteries at camera top.  The two regimental colonels are in the center.

The 2nd Brigade with the Toulon Regiment des Marins to camera right, the Zouave Regiment de Marche to camera left, and the other light artillery battery, the two brigade command groups, and the Mitrailleuse battery at camera top.  The two regimental colonels are in the center.

Because of the size of the base, the division command group is in a different box with the corps command group, the 2nd Division command group, and other corps level troops.

Now that the 1st Division is complete I can move on to my next project -- more WW2 German  and British infantry to battle in northwest Europe.