(Army Painters) French Foreign Legion 1910-50; reboot 2014

[former user]

hehe  
it is actually real Sahara sand, collected by me, but from the eastern Sahara...
but Matt is right, they really look a bit chunky and are concealing the feet a bit.

and thank you for the flowers, I am happy that some improvement is visible.
from my POW I perceive an improvement in the control of the paint, I (re?)learned a few things.
And the perseverence....
as for the project, it is on hold for now, but I will continue posting plans and thoughts...

more later

[Mason]

The latest additions look wonderful, sir!
 

They look great, I think you've improved since the start of the army.

There is no doubt about that at all.
These latest offerings are very good indeed.
Very good!

Practice makes perfect, eh?
 

[former user]

Well thank you very much!
perfection lies in the eye of the beholder...
I simply try to have painted miniatures 

[syrinx0]

I think the Belgians are my favorite of the new addition.  Great work.

[former user]

THX
I will let it settle a bit and then start my own discusion about the miniatures. I find it remarkable how different from the pictures I perceive the real paintjobs - I shall experiment into this as well

one hypothesis:
the two group shots show seven miniatures both, same lighting and set up.
While the belgians are all one manufacturer (brigade miniatures btw), painted in a restricted palette (the rank and file have two tones for pants and tunic - does it show that they are switched for half of them?), the officers are a bit darker, all are shaded in the same technique with thinned dark washes (this is the bit where I learned something new) and all done in the same batch;
The saharan group are about variation - different techniques, uniform styles, two different manufacturers and four different ranges, and all done at different times.

the Belgians jump me too as being very coherent looking, so I understand now better why some people prefer their collection from one manufacturer.
I however remember them as being a real pain in the behind to paint, with messy undercuts, unsatisfactory detail and the paint peeling off, so maybe this is where I improved. I wouldn't call it turd polishing right away; they really have nice proportions, very good and natural dynamics and a good period representation, but I have painted better sculpted (or better molded? or cast?) miniatures.

[former user]

OK, so - as I said, I am taking a small break from the project. I have to step back a bit an reassess:
I can conclude the following: While there are plenty of regular french for WW1 and WW2, for whoever wants to collect interwar FFL that is NOT Beau Geste Narrativium style there are a few problems to face:
No infantry support weapons. The heavy MG are from the Woodbine and GWM ranges, and there are a few lMG from Artizan. No artillery, armoured cars, cavalry or whatever. Sure, no harm in gaming the Western Front FFL, with greatcoat and Adrian helmets etc, but here the unique character of the legion simply vanishes in the mud.

Yes, Askari Miniatures FFL is a nice effort, and will be great when they settle for human anatomy (which works great for their other ranges, I wonder why?)
So essentially, the 28mm Interwar FFL stays a pre-GW infantry force. It's up to improvisation.

here is my current idea of how to continue:
GWM and BG have nice artillery crews with Kepi, these will be fine, and I want those 6.5mm Mountain guns. I will have the Perry ACW plastic artillery, the limbers will be just fine, the carriages might do for Hotchkiss revolver cannon, and the artillery crews could work for rank and file staffers. I will see what can be done with the available hMG, and Woodbine also has some interesting other figures too to fill in.
I will get some early trucks and cars for the portee infantry.
I might even make some legion camel troops to complement the small unit I started. The Artizan Tirailleurs Algeriens look just the right stuff for it.
And I have some leftovers to chop up for even more infantry.
Eventually, Lon from BG might actually cast the Legion packs he has had for some years, but this is again - infantry.

I will continue to elaborate on my ideas for WW2, because in this field I have to put up with five miniatures or so.....
But I already have some nice vehicles for them

[syrinx0]

It's definitely a problem getting figures when your into niche periods others are not.  Lon say why he wasn't casting the other legion infantry up? Just not enough demand?

[former user]

I understand that he is busy with other things and does not have enough time. I contacted him months ago and he promised he would cast them, but I don't want to nag him too much 
I also could understand that the demand does not justify the investment - but the sets are the best I have seen so far for late interwar and I don't see the point of spending a lot of money on sculpts and then not casting them (or am I wrong and the major investment is not the sculpting, but the molding?)

And I would not say that Interwar Legion is a niche - every pulp manufacturer does have a few in their range, the legion is a major trope in any desert pulp game and there is no other unit in the world that has been portrayed in so many movies, I am really surprised they did not appear in the Indy franchise...

[former user]

  that being my point, btw a rather accurate depiction, apart from the egyptian ruins in the desert controlled by France....

did they simply forget Libya?

[pacofeanor]

I've just seen this post ...fantastic  !

i will follow it seriously!!

best regards
paco

[former user]

thank You very much - I noticed that You read it for some time, greatly appreciated!

[former user]

here is a possible solution I came upon:
since I have a few leftover doubles and I was already about to headswap them (see above), I might even try to shorten the fusil lebel to the R35 carbine size

which is 3/4 the size of the rifle. Which might even work since the sculpts are rather thick.
this would also solve the problem of incorporating the Old Glory legionaires
of which I have only 5 into a larger unit.
Another problem is  that they actually are a bit of a fictional hybrid, with pre 1930 tunics and post 1930 kepis...

I shall try cutting the rifles at the barrel band

[former user]

back to practice after a bit of theorizing

here is the latest bunch done with the Lebel conversion (and some head swaps too again)
to be combined with the above Old Glory ones (but I got better casts of these now)

[former user]

I see - I understand but I actually found him refreshingly different from the others

here the example for scrutiny, from left to right painted original to final conversion
the body is renegade miniatures, the head is foundry

[former user]

so, in general, as we can see, everyone who can hold a brush and paint can do simple conversions (You need a drill obviously and a sharp knife), and obtain astonishing results. The miniature looks totally different. One thing I actually realised recently (although I had done head swaps many years ago), is how much we can alter the appearence of the sculpt by simply lenghtening or shortening the neck. For instance, I could very well reposition all Renegade Miniature heads and a few of the old Artizan ones too (if I happened to be such inclined or that much anally retentive  ), but all I wanted was to fabricate unique miniatures, and I also happen to like to preserve the work of the sculptor because I am a collector too.

So, another immediate  experience of this project is that instead of complaining about the miniatures we'd like to have and don't get, we can just as well assess how much effort it takes to simply convert the features we want and then do it. See all the threads that do this (@Mason or @Captain Blood are very good examples here). How much easier is it today with all those plastics? If the effort exceeds my skills (or the time I am willing to invest), I shall simply buy something else but otherwise shut my yap and enjoy the wonderful plethora of sculpting styles the talented ones undeservedly present us with all the time  . I mean, remember the time when we had command packs and unit builder packs with one posture to make up our armies? (hello Wargames Foundry and Pulp Figures  )

Discussing and comparing the sculpts however is something different. In this particular case (interesting how I get to pick up a theme I introduced nine pages earlier), the best rifle sculpts in all the ranges I encountered in this project to date are the ones in the hands of the Foundry legionnaires by far - as anyone can see, they even allow for the real-life barrel shortening and still do the "suspension of disbelief" thing. Thank You whoever did these (by the head proportions it might have been Mark Copplestone??) and please do some more (unless You already did and I am unaware of it  )

Hopefully, when I wrap up the project (Camerone Day is coming closer...) I will be able to report the "best of" experience to the ones interested, because a few of the manufactureres/sculptors are yet to be ogled.