Franco-Prussian War in 10mm (Pendraken)

[Ray Rivers]

I'm off on a new project, the Franco-Prussian war in 10mm using Pendraken miniatures. I don't expect to do more than a Corps worth of troops per side, but that will be enough.

I've decided instead of going the 1871 rules route where you use "bases" as your units (irrespective of the amount of minis on the base), that I will instead use miniatures as the basic element instead. So I will model a French Regiment of 3 battalions numbering approximately 2,250 men at a 1 to 75 ratio, or 30 men per regiment. A chasseur battalion would then have 10 men and a cavalry regiment also at 10 men.

I've decided to go this route because 1 base of chasseus of 6 men per battalion and 2 bases of 3 cavalrymen on a base per regiment just doesn't cut it for me visually.

Here is where I stand ATM:



The photo represents 3 regiments in work (with the glue still drying  ). Each base will have 6 men. I will be adding another 9 men charging, 5 men running, 2 fanion battalion flag bearers on the two bases at each end and one addition officer to each regiment. As the work progresses I will post other photos, but I expect it to be slow as I will also be working on Commanders, cavalry and artillery at the same time.

I have an inbound shipment of command minis, Guard infantry, Zouaves, infantry running, hussars and dragoons.

So off we go... a new project. Haven't done one in years, so wish me luck!

[jambo1]

Good start, and i will be following with interest, i have some Magister Militum 10mm Prussians in the lead pile, you may just spur me on!!

[fred]

A good start, and these units will look very good once filled out.

These figures look very sharp!

[Sparrow]

Looking good!  (and a very sensible scale for the period 😉)

[Ray Rivers]

Thanks, guys!

I noticed last night that I had 2 rows of the same miniature, so I have moved them about a bit to give a more scattered appearance.

But yep, the intent was to say... this is how I'm doing it and I will show my progress as it goes along.

After that, only full units.

[vodkafan]

It's going to look fantastic 

[FierceKitty]

Pretty beginning. 

[Ray Rivers]

It's going to look fantastic 

I sure hope so! 

And thanks to you FierceKitty... let's hope I can keep it up!

I'll be posting a photo of my WIP charging minis tomorrow.

Thought folks might like to see the online links I have for reference for my project:

Painted Miniatures:

This is from one of our own, Dangerdaz, back in 2017:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=99107.0

Stephen Smith who has a bunch of YouTube videos on the FPW and a really nice style:


This is from the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts blog:
https://wpggamegeeks.blogspot.com/search/label/Pendraken

This is "Kev1964's" ImageShack album of 1675 photos of pretty much every era by Pendraken miniatures. He is the guy who painted most of the minis you see in the Pendraken store:
https://imageshack.com/user/kev1964

Pendraken photos found in the Pendraken store:
http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/board,112.0.html

Javier Gómez (aka El Mercenario pro painter) Franco-Prussian War thread on Pendraken forums. THIS THREAD is what sold me on 10mm FPW miniatures:
http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,11203.0.html

Photo and painting resources online:

Wargame Foundry painting guide:
http://vintagewargaming.blogspot.com/2009/09/wargames-foundry-franco-prussian-war.html

Les uniformes de la guerre franco-prussienne de 1870-71 (a French blog which I like a lot):
http://antan.unblog.fr/category/uniformes/

Mark Strachan's French painting guide (blog):
https://stracmark.blogspot.com/p/franco-prussian-uniform-guide-french.html

Flickr 1870 French Uniforms (click back to albums list for Prussians, Bavarians and Germans):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/59568506@N02/albums/72157706415837451

If you all have any links to comprehensive online sources, please don't hesitate to post them! Any and all help appreciated!

[Ray Rivers]

So here is a picture of my next batch of infantry ready to paint:



I post this to show how I prepare my minis for painting. Of note is that I have glued some sand between the feet of the minis before I primed them. Then the first thing I do is paint that area as it can be very sloppy and almost impossible to do later on, especially when attached to the base.

These folks I call the charging big noses! 

This batch of 18 will fill 2 regiments.

Painted project minis: French 45

[fred]

Interesting thought on adding the sand to the cast on base at this stage. While I tend to paint the cast base pretty early in the process, I've never thought of doing this. I tend to 'carefully' apply some PVA to the cast base when attaching figures to the MDF base - it works with differing degrees of success.

[Ray Rivers]

The reason I do it right from the start is because I have more control over where the sand goes. So if a bit falls alongside a boot, for example, I can take my scalpel and remove it at the moment. Even after it dries, if I don't like it, I can just hack away and not worry about scaring my troops pants.

It is in-between the legs that are the problem, because if I do it later I invariably end up painting the mini accidentally with my base paint.

For these guys they have a base color and a lighter shade which was heavily dry brushed. The entire base will get yet another lighter shade but it will be light dry brushing, which is more precise and thus I don't worry about it now, because even if it goes on the shoes, it just looks like dust.

[vodkafan]

Great idea, I will steal adopt this 

[Ray Rivers]

 

Just received another package of minis from Pendraken. Mailed on Thursday from the UK and arrived here in Spain Tuesday.

So now I have enough miniatures for 5 line regiments, 2 Zouave regiments, 2 Guard regiments, 1 Chasseur battalion, 1 Hussar regiment, 1 Dragoon regiment, 1 Cuirassier regiment, 6 guns and all the officers I will ever need.

Guess I'd better get painting...

[vodkafan]

Just received another package of minis from Pendraken. Mailed on Thursday from the UK and arrived here in Spain Tuesday.

So now I have enough miniatures for 5 line regiments, 2 Zouave regiments, 2 Guard regiments, 1 Chasseur battalion, 1 Hussar regiment, 1 Dragoon regiment, 1 Cuirassier regiment, 6 guns and all the officers I will ever need.

Guess I'd better get painting...

Er...what about the Prussians?

[Ray Rivers]

Er...what about the Prussians?

To be quite honest I haven't given it much thought.

First I want to see if I can maintain steady progress on my French army. To do this, I have decided, for now, to scale back my regiments to 3 bases. If everything goes well, and I can get this done, I'll look at enlarging them to five bases because I have dry fit my unpainted fanions and infantry to see what they would look like and I was pretty impressed. But that now becomes a long term goal.

As for opposition, I may well go with Bavarian's as their uniform is very swish. Dunno thought... I just need to push forward and make progress.