Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => VSF Adventures => Topic started by: Calimero on 22 March 2010, 04:55:53 PM
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How far back can I use 1914 French? I know VSF is not "set in stone" but I would like to have some kind of "historical plausibility"… if that make any sense.
I know that épaulettes were sometime removed from the uniforms during the Franco-Prussian War and that the Lebel saw service around 1893… Am I missing something? Do you have any tips or thoughts?
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For me, I'd use them. But I'd remove any eppaulettes.
Are you planning on using renegade miniatures? I'd be interested too.
However, I think I might use the French from Warrior Miniatures' England Invaded line mixed with the ironclad French. :)
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The designation of the Lebel was the Fusil Mle 1886-M93. Entered service 1887. The '93' stands for an improved bolt system that was introduced at this time.
So it goes a little bit further back than you thought.
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Thanks Plynkes I've also found an Internet source that call the Lebel "fusil modèle 1885, modifié 1893" so I guess WWI figures could be use from the mid 1880’s then...
@rob_alderman, the figures I have right now are from Great War Miniatures.
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What a great force to create and paint. I would use 1914 line troops and colonials for the era. For mg support the last of the famous Franco-Prussian Era Mitrailleuses was removed from service in 1905 and the early version of the Hotchkiss was accepted in the late 1890's (most of my sources say 1897). A large number of Gatling Guns of various cal. were also purchased by the French Army and Navy from 1870-1900. The famous "French 75" field gun was model 1897 and was adopted in 1898, so it could also be included in a late VSF force.
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Lots of good ideas here. Remeber that this is VSF, so you can take liberties with uniform details.
Also look out for the Parroom Station Foreign legion wearing breathing apparatus (available from Brigade Games).
I currently use Warrior's 'England Invaded' VSF Foreign Legion in gasmasks, supported by French sailors from Redoubt's Boxer Rebellion range. At some stage I will expand this force - probablt with zouave type figures to start with.
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Bullshott, that's what I'm aiming to do. However, I have far too many forces on the go now... ;D
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With the figures I already have for WWI, I think that I’m also set for VSF… for now. Later I would like to expand my WWI/VSF French force with the upcoming Gripping Beast figures (particularly the Tirailleurs Sénégalais and the Fusiliers Marin).
I was thinking of buying GW plastic Kroot and Lizarmen (the smaller one) as "aliens" (would they be Martians or Venusians, I don’t know yet). I do not need lots of them as I’m more likely to do solo games anyway.
Also, I’m thinking that I should start looking for a figures that could be a good representation of "Napoleon IV"… ;)
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1914 French and Frenchies after Franco Prussian War ar nearly the same. Only minor differences. So I think you can use them.
Here are example:
(http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/953/33658084.png)
Left- 1870, right 1914
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Well they are basically the same aren’t they? ;)
What would be cool is to have a few figures converted and change their kepis for shakos like the one in the lower right corner of the first picture.
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That would be cool!
Interesting to know and consider. :)
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So far I have got the Warrior England Invaded French and Parrooms French, I think early WW1 would be eminently suitable too. I am surprised there are not more French VSF forces around , with Tirailleur Algerian, Senegalise Tirailleur , Chasseurs D'Afrique , Zouaves, Spahis, Alpines and French Foreign Legion it would be a very colourful force. The Askari Miniatures site would be a good place to view the colonial options.
Bon chance
Mors
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As the pre-1919 French uniforms all look the same to me, I bought a few Renegade WW1 French and a unit of Brigade French Chasseurs Alpins to start my VSF force and then while looking at Foreign Legion figures got distracted by Pulp ... and then DA .... and then BoB .....lol
My thought was a small cavalry unit, a couple of steam carriages (using Golden Compass carriages as a base) and perhaps a balloon unit (or two). .... hmmmm..... ::)
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I was thinking of buying GW plastic Kroot and Lizarmen (the smaller one) as "aliens" (would they be Martians or Venusians, I don’t know yet). I do not need lots of them as I’m more likely to do solo games anyway.
I use both the small and large lizardmen from GW for Venusians and mad scientist's genetic constructs. Here are some samples of the larger models:
http://worldhistoryprof.blogspot.com/2010/03/lizardman-warriors-on-march.html
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Interesting!
I might have to pop off another order to renegade. How quick are they? I have been waiting on some early war germans to turn up for quite some time now... :(
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A consideration may be to use 1870 Imperal French, you can then take advantage of the eppaulettes to add a spot of colour - The were all red except for the Chasseurs who had Green with yellow crecsents. However you could do some in white with red cresents or similar.
For small games I have some Foreign Legion and Turcos on indvidual bases, for larger games I have the French I Corps, based in strips of 4. Remember it is VSF no one can say what is right or wrong, except of course where rivets are converned!
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@rob_alderman - Renegade are not super fast at the moment. I emailed them to check on the status of an order, and their reply was that they were snowed under with orders, and they expected to get to my order the next week. Not a problem, and not really a surprise, as their Regiment Deals are ridiculously cheap at the moment, working out less than 50p a figure. For that price, I'm happy to wait a little longer, :).
(I ordered their WW1 French to use for VSF as it happens, lol)
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I've got some of the Renegade Chasseurs that I'm using as the bulk of my French VSF force.
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I use Renegade for my French. Here's one a nearly finished:
(http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5052/policestation001.jpg)
I've got some of the Warrior mins too but I'll be using them for off word shenanigans.
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My renegade minis came today! Very nice they are considering the price! Mike Owen(?) sculpts no less!
You can still see how he sculpted the original flintloque minis, there's some key parts that are similar! Same from Warrior Miniatures range.
For French, I would use these and Warrior miniatures ones, for sure. Both very cheap and very versatile. :)
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I was thinking of buying GW plastic Kroot and Lizarmen (the smaller one) as "aliens" (would they be Martians or Venusians, I don’t know yet). I do not need lots of them as I’m more likely to do solo games anyway.
Here's what I did with some GW Skinks using rifles from the Wargames Factory Brits;
(http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x292/grapperyeah/tharks/P2040654.jpg)
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(http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x292/grapperyeah/tharks/P2040654.jpg)
@ Laflin and Rand, that’s interesting… and really inspiring, thanks 8)
@ Thunderchicken, lovely painted French figure :-*
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You can still see how he sculpted the original flintloque minis, there's some key parts that are similar!
lol
He doesn't like that being mentioned, not a range he's proud of ;)
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Well he should be proud. Sure, some of the minis are weaker than others for one reason or another, but he has given a huge amount of inspiration to a handful of very odd wargamers and that HAS to be worth something.
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I was thinking of buying GW plastic Kroot and Lizarmen (the smaller one) as "aliens" (would they be Martians or Venusians, I don’t know yet). I do not need lots of them as I’m more likely to do solo games anyway.
For our Venus games Dewbakuk invented the Venusian parrottmen (GW Kroot). I have a unit of these as native allies to my French:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=8832.0 (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=8832.0)
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... and they look good too Bullshott 8)
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My renegade minis came today! Very nice they are considering the price! Mike Owen(?) sculpts no less!
You can still see how he sculpted the original flintloque minis, there's some key parts that are similar! Same from Warrior Miniatures range.
For French, I would use these and Warrior miniatures ones, for sure. Both very cheap and very versatile. :)
Actually, I took a look at them tonight and they look like they were rushed out of the moulds! Most of them have no bloody noses! That's an awful lot of reconstruction work on my side. :'(
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Actually, I took a look at them tonight and they look like they were rushed out of the moulds! Most of them have no bloody noses! That's an awful lot of reconstruction work on my side. :'(
Take a pic and send it to renegade. I'm quite sure they'll replace them. Does mean you'll have to wait again though...
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Take a pic and send it to renegade. I'm quite sure they'll replace them. Does mean you'll have to wait again though...
That's great news. I'll get into contact with them. :)
Planning on buying more anyway, so I'll see what they say.
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Sorry for the threadomancy but I've started working on my French using the Renegade mini's.
(http://rotanddrivel.com/IMG_2129.jpg)
I took my dremel drill to the puttees to make them look more like gaiters. I think I will be adding epaulets in future.
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They look good, Skrapwelder :-*
So far I’ve only painted a few of my WWI French. I think that I will keep them as close as possible to their historical counterparts and I will not add anything on them so they could serve for both Historical and VSF games… I think that I will rely more on character figures to give my army the suitable VSF look when needs be 8)
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That's sort of what I'm doing with my prussians.
Not that I'll ever game franco-prussian really. lol
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This is the picture of my WWI French I entered in round 7 of the current LPL. I think they fit the "VSF period" quite well as they are…
(http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll206/Calimero_34/Photo2069.jpg)
If someone’s interested in buying French Dragoons for their VSF army, don’t do the same mistake that I did. I assembled the whole figures before painting them and I ended up having problem to reach certain places. The Horse and the rider are a single piece but the right arm, the carbine and the sword scabbard are separate pieces.
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I was thinking of buying GW plastic Kroot and Lizarmen (the smaller one) as "aliens" (would they be Martians or Venusians, I don’t know yet).
the GW Saurian heads fit very well to the Kroot, and then You get rid of the typical look and create something different - I did this and used a variety of weapons
I even fitted Skink heads on Tau bodies and added a tail
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the GW Saurian heads fit very well to the Kroot, and then You get rid of the typical look and create something different - I did this and used a variety of weapons
I even fitted Skink heads on Tau bodies and added a tail
Interesting...
Do the kroot heads fit on the lizzie bodies? :)
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This is the picture of my WWI French I entered in round 7 of the current LPL. I think they fit the "VSF period" quite well as they are…
(http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll206/Calimero_34/Photo2069.jpg)
Sacredieu! Who makes those lovely figures (both infantry and cavalry)?
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I think they are Renegade miniatures... ???
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Actually they are both (Infantry and Dragoon) from Great War Miniatures available in UK thru North Star or Maelstrom Games.
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My apologies.
But remember, Renegade, 50p per miniature. You can't beat it...
However, I do like those great war cavalry... lol
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Interesting...
Do the kroot heads fit on the lizzie bodies? :)
basically, they fit on the Saurian bodies (since it works the other way round).
Saurian heads are actually a bit larger (than Kroot heads) with the neck guards, but I even converted some skinks with saurus heads.
However, only the skink heads are small enough for the Tau bodies.
I didn't try, but I would guess the Kroot heads might even work for Skinks.
Need some Kroot heads? I have plenty
if it works out You could "repay" me with skink heads ;)
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I don't think I have any!!!
I'm planning on getting some Kroot for some Green Martian conversions, which will make me end up with lots of legs and heads... ;D
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I don't think I have any!!!
I'm planning on getting some Kroot for some Green Martian conversions, which will make me end up with lots of legs and heads... ;D
Rob,
You can pick up Kroot torsos on Ebay. That's what I did to keep from wasting all those legs.
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eBay isn't so hot on that in the UK. You'll end up spending £1 per part and may as well just buy the bronze age ones, or even ship them from Parroom in the US!!! ;D
Though the bronze age ones are quite purdy... :)
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what bronze age Kroot? are You talking about?
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Bronze Age Green martians, sorry!
;D
http://www.bronzeagemin.com/miniatures_html/25MM/SCI-FI/Wasteland%20Mutant/Wasteland-Mutant.htm (http://www.bronzeagemin.com/miniatures_html/25MM/SCI-FI/Wasteland%20Mutant/Wasteland-Mutant.htm)