French Colonial Marines - Boxer Rebellion painting assistance please

[JBaumal]

Good day hive, I’m working on some 25/28mm OG French Marines from their Boxer Rebellion line. The research I’ve found thus far shows them in all white, white pants with blue jacket, blue pants with khaki jacket and the Osprey book about the Boxer Rebellion shows them in a light or sky blue. Can anyone lead me in the right direction as to how to paint up these figs?
I’m also planning on painting up some French sailors for the Boxer Rebellion as well if anyone has any suggestions other than the standard all white for these too.
I plan on using them for the Boxer Rebellion and maybe Africa.
Cheers,
JB

[Arthur]

The French infanterie de marine wore a short-lived grey/blue uniform during the Boxer campaign.

First issued to the troops sent to Madagascar in 1896 and designed to replace the M1886 collarless khaki paletot, the M1895 uniform was a two piece outfit in a light grey-blue shade (bleu mécanicien, i.e mechanic blue). The dye was not terribly fast and the new uniform was apparently prone to fading, resulting in a sloppy appearance often denounced by field commanders in their official reports. The grey-blue M 1895 uniform was still worn in 1901 by troops sent to China, although it was abandoned shortly after that campaign.

A new white paletot had also been approved in 1895 : it was a simple single-breasted tunic fastened with six buttons down the front. It had red piping round the cuffs and blue naval patches piped red on its low standing collar. It was worn with white trousers and appears to have been widely used in hot weather in Indochina but not in China.

French sailors either wore white or blue jumpers depending on the climate.

[JBaumal]

Arthur,

Thank you VERY much for your thorough answer! That being said it looks like I will need (2) 20 man infantry units for my French Marines in my The Sword And The Flame games. One will be in the light Blue for the Boxer Rebellion and one in a mix of white and blue for elsewhere.
I also plan to acquire and paint up a Hotchkiss gun for this unit to be ready for an upcoming TSATF game I will be running on the TSATF table at Recon-17 in Orlando Fl early next year.

If all goes well I'll have a unit each of French and German sailors for this same game. Gotta get out of work and get started on these figs....

Cheers,
JB

[The Gray Ghost]

I've read mechanic blue, when new, was similar in color to new denim.
also the French blue and white caused some confusion at a distance for their allies as the Chinese also were variations of blue and white.
what figures are you using? I'm very fond of Redoubt

[JBaumal]

Grey Ghost,

I currently have Old Glory figs from their Boxer Rebellion range as purchased many years ago. I've got French Marines, French Sailors, and Austrian sailors all to paint up. I also plan to convert a Woodbine Design WWI French Hotchkiss MG crew to match the Marines. Once those are completed I'm going to arm up my awesome custom made steamer by "Last Stand Dan's Boatyard" with a couple of guns from TVAG. I plan on running a scenario called "The Frog, The Hun, & The Lion" as originally designed by Patrick Wilson from TVAG and Richard Houston from Houston's Ships. It's a play on The Wind And The Lion. The scenario is a real hoot.

Check out Dan's boats and TVAG's ship's guns.
http://laststanddan.blogspot.com/?m=1
http://www.thevirtualarmchairgeneral.com/500-houston
http://oldglory25s.com/index.php?cat_id=328&catname='Great%20Powers'

Cheers,
JB