Perry FPW French La Hitte 4 and Crew

 This set was ordered along with the Chasseurs d'Afrique. Figured they could provide the French a little more fire support in Bolt Action games.

The uniforms are reminiscent of 1st Empire ones - with current fashion updates.

The sculpting and proportions of the crew are excellent as expected from the Perrys. The paired-stripes on the trousers are nicely detailed.

Vallejo Prussian Blue was used as the base coat for the uniforms, and then highlighted with white added to the blue. Without the highlighting, the uniform would look almost black.

The next image shows a comparison next to a Spencer Smith Mitrailleuse gun and crew painted a few years ago. The two size up well-enough, but the Spencer Smith crew are in greatcoats (with epaulettes), and the Perry crew in short jackets.The Perrys also make a Mitrailleuse, but will just use this one for games.

Waiting on an order from The Assault Group for some mounted Renaissance commanders to use in the Marston Moor game. The order also includes Ottoman troops for a future project to go along with Perry French from their Egyptian Campaign range. Thanks for dropping by and checking out the post. Until next time, wishing you all the best in health and hobby pursuits!

Perry Mounted Rifles Officer and FPW Chasseurs d'Afrique

Been off the blogosphere for a bit, but did manage to paint these figures up. The mounted Rifles officer will be used in the La Haye Sainte game as Major Baring. The Warlord Games set came with a foot figure for Major Baring, but he is noted as being on horseback for most of the battle (until the horse was killed). The Chasseurs de Afrique are more figures for future FPW Bolt Action games.

The were all painted in the usual block painting style followed by Minwax staining and finally some highlighting here and there. The uniforms are fairly simple in design, but very colorful - particularly the Chasseurs'.

Probably overkill with two officers for such a small unit, but as I only ordered a set each of Chasseurs and command. As I play FPW using Bolt Action for skirmish games, a lot of figures aren't needed.

Perry also has a set of Chasseurs with sword held out in a charge, but chose these with swords shouldered as they would be better for handling on the gaming table.

The red baggy pants and light blue tunics are a nice color combination. "They sure are pretty, but can they fight?" They indeed have an illustrious battle record in many wars fought on several continents.

The mounted Rifles officer is part of a 3-figure set. I've yet to paint up the other two, but as mentioned above, wanted one to represent Major Baring at La Haye Sainte.

He's on an oval 50mm long base as I didn't want him taking up too much space while inside the farmhouse complex.

The skirmish rules for this scenario doesn't have command distance penalties, but he adds +2 to any combat he participates in. He also cannot blunder - again per the scenario rules.

Thanks again for stopping by and wishing you all the best!

Perry FPW French Chasseurs a Pied

Nice sculpts that match up nicely in both size (large side of 28mm) and style with Eagles of Empire FPW figures. I had added these to an order of ECW stuff and was pleasantly surprised to see the match up as I was expecting them to be a bit smaller. I'm wondering if their plastic FPW figures will also be larger than their usual sized figures too. Anyway, as I only intend to do FPW as skirmish, not planning on getting too many of their figures.

Their uniforms being fairly simple, they painted up quickly with my usual block painting followed by a Minwax stain and highlights afterwards. The piping on their kepis being the hardest part of the whole process; and even this wasn't too bad as I painted them for effect, rather than accuracy.

Havings some spare 25mm round bases, went ahead and based some as singles and some paired on 50mm rounds. This is similar to how some folks base their figures for Lion Rampant and Rebels and Patriots, etc., and looks good, IMO.

Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue was used for the coats and kepis; a mixture of gray with a little bit of blue was used for the trousers.

A comparison shot below shows how the Perry Chasseurs size up well with the Eagles of Empire figures on the left. They are slightly larger and taller than their own ACW plastic Zouaves (painted as Turcos), but not really noticeable on the gaming table.

On the gaming front, I plan to host a La Haye Sainte Black Powder game next month at the Veterans Museum down in Chehalis. I'm also signed up to host two La Haye Sainte games and a Marston Moor Pike and Shotte game in May at our annual big convention, Enfilade. I wanted to host these games in part due to our Canadian gamer-brethren finally being able to make it down from the border. This will be the first time since 2019 that we'll be able to spend time gaming and carousing together again. Thanks for dropping by and wishing you all the best.

Franco Prussian War Bolt Action Skirmish Refresher/Playtest

Thanks to my buddy James, recently returned from his overseas deployment, we were able to get in a great FPW Bolt Action game. James, a retired Infantry Colonel, actually helped me playtest this game a couple of years ago. This is only the second game I've hosted and played since the previous year's lockdown. The scenario is set for 6 turns; Victory Conditions: occupy 2 of the 3 main buildings at the end of Turn 6, or destroy 50% of the enemy, which is first. Since the French have a few less units and no artillery except for a Mitrailleuse "machine gun" - 2 of the 3 main buildings are closer to their table edge. That is, the Prussians would need to be more or less the aggressors. 

Pictured below shows the end of turn 1 - we were catching up with each other and otherwise BSing prior to and during the game, hence the line up of the Class 6 items so early on. 

The old Enfilade Convention mugs are used to hold the activation dice and also the casualty/pin markers. This would be around Turn 2 on the French right - Chasseurs a Cheval moved up to protect the bridge; Tirailleurs and Zouaves to their rear. A unit of French Line occupying the large building. The Mitrailleuse was taken out by Prussian artillery early on and never a factor in the game.

Bavarian and Jaeger foot, and a Saxon 4 pounder in the center of the battle. Zeiten Hussars and more Jaeger to their right. I must've not been clear enough at the start about which of the buildings were the 3 objective ones. James thought that the one with the Bavarians were holed up in was one of them - which it wasn't. 

French Chasseurs a Cheval firing into Prussian Cuirassiers during a flanking advance - successfully causing a casualty and pinning them with carbine fire. The Prussian Cuirassiers were later wiped out by more fire from French infantry.

French left - a unit Tirailleurs looking to assault into the Zeiten Hussars - both have the Tough Fighter rule. Combat resolution in Bolt Action is very simple and severe. The side with more casualties is destroyed outright - no taking Break Tests like Black Powder.

Prussian Line in one of the Victory Condition buildings; the Jaegers taking cover in a ruin that wasn't one of the objectives. Although at this point (around turn 4), James thought it was one of the Victory Condition buildings. :)

French right - French Line occupying the large building. Zouaves and Tirailleurs guarding the fortified bridge head. I gave the Tirailleurs (in light blue jackets) the Tough Fighter rule - however, they never survived shooting from the Prussians before being able to use it. For the record, I plan to add a few trees to block LOS for future games. The red pin markers actually have "Disordered" printed on them for Black Powder games.

French Chasseurs vs. Prussian infantry. All the cavalry have the Tough Fighter rule. The French officer to the left is a "Hero" with the 1LT Bonuses - I think I'll up him to a CPT for future games - giving him a longer reach of influence to 12".

The Zeiten Hussars, having destroyed a unit of Tirailleurs have now advanced up to a unit of Zouaves inside one of the Victory Condition buildings. They successfully caused pins and casualties on the Zouaves with carbine fire (limited to 6" for cavalry). The assaulting Jaegers eventually finished off the Zouaves.

The Prussian managed to take two of the three Victory Condition buildings at the end of Turn 5 - and felt the remaining depleted French units would not be able to retake one or more of the building, so we called it a Prussian Victory. A few things we discovered during game play was the addition of "house rules" like giving the Jaegers a "Sharpshooter" rule (not in the basic BA rules). Something similar to the "Tough Fighter" rules for Assault/Combat. Letting the Jaegers re-roll Hits the same way.

Thanks for visiting and hope you enjoyed the AAR of this BA FPW game. Wishing you all fine health and gaming endeavors.

Spencer Smith Miniatures Mitrailleuse Gun and Crew.

As I was intending to host my Bolt Action Franco Prussian game at Enfilade in May, I wanted to add a Mitrailleuse "grapeshot" volley gun. I was hoping Soren at Eagles of Empire would have one ready in time, but it seems he had a few more projects in line before getting to it. Perusing the internet, I stumbled upon Spencer Smith Miniatures and found one in what is listed as 30mm. However, the site states that these match up quite well with current 28mm figures. As Foundry's range is quite smaller than most 28mm, and especially the largish Eagles of Empire figures, I figured I'd give Spencer Smith a shot. I'm glad I did as they do indeed match up very well, size-wise, with the 28mm figures I have for the period.

The sculpting is sort of "old school" with minimal details and somewhat static poses. The catalog list this range, as well as several others, as "Classic." In any case, the poses are fine for artillery such as these. Due to the these attributes, the figures painted up quite quickly. I haven't based them as I'm waiting until Hobby Lobby opens up again.

It's cool that the gun has a nice hand crank for the gun. There's a YouTube video showing the firing of reproduction of one of these.

The overall effectiveness of the gun in the Franco Prussian War was not impressive. A few contributing factors for this was its employment as field artillery and not used closely with the infantry. It was also slow to load and acquire targets, particularly with inexperienced crew.

Peter at Spencer Smith is a great guy and ended up sending me two orders. My original order was sent to my old address which was still in Paypay. Because of this the order was lost in the mail, and once we discovered this, Peter immediately sent a replacement set (free of charge) to m current address.

As mentioned, these "30mm" figures size and scale up nicely with 28mm, in this case Perry plastics.

Well that's all for now; wishing you all good health and the best of hobby endeavors during our current state of affairs.

North Star 1866 Prussian 4pdr w/Saxon Crew

The crew are actually the same figures from the 12pdr set, but I painted them up as Saxons in green coats. The helmet crest should be a sun burst, but I left the Prussian eagle and just painted it up to represent the Saxon crest.

Another nice set from North Star's 1866 range. Nicely sculpted details which make painting them a joy. I did use my usual Minwax staining over a block paint job, followed by highlighting.

This gun should be it for Prussian fire support, as the French currently have none. I'm waiting for Eagles of Empire to release a Mitraileusse set.

Wondering if I should use both this and the 12pdr next month at a game day at the Fort Lewis Army Museum. Might be too much Prussian firepower, even with the French Chassepot having a greater range than the Dreyse Needle Gun - 24" to 18".

I wanted to have this painted up before the Warlord Games El Alamein boxed set arrives - hopefully soon. Until next time, happy gaming and painting to you all!

North Star 1866 Prussian Cuirassiers

Finally managed to get motivated and paint these few figures up. Great sculpts that are very sturdy for gaming. Only six figures as they are intended for Bolt Action skirmish gaming - mainly as supports for infantry. They'll have 3 x Attacks in HTH, no carbines and a Damage value of 5.

They have nice detailing, yet not overly complicated to paint up. The horse are mostly posed at the walk or standing - which is good as they have all four legs firmly on the base. The Eagles of Empire French Hussars are more delicately sculpted - beautiful as they are, some have only the two rear legs on the base. This creates some handling issues; in fact, I had to add brass rods to some of them for stability.

The flag was downloaded from Warflags, and it might not actually be one for cuirassiers, but it looks the part. Edit: I now see that I put the flag on upside down. Lol!

The figures were block painted, then given a Minwax Tudor Satin stain. Highlighting was added afterward. The horses were sprayed painted with rattle cans from Walmart and also stained and highlighted. Quite a quick process to get them on the table soonest.

Next up is a North Star 1866 Prussian 4 pounder and crew. I might paint the crew up as Saxons in green coats; just to spice up the battlefield. Until the next post, best wishes and happy gaming and painting to you all!

Franco-Prussian War Skirmish Using Bolt Action

Had a great play test using Bolt Action for a Franco Prussian War skirmish game today thanks to my buddy, James S. He also didn't show up empty-handed, but had a 6-pack of Guinness Stout to add to our discerning rules review during the game. Both sides had 8 units a piece. The Prussians having the only cannon on the battlefield and the French a "hero" who could lend his Morale value to units in his area of influence. Here are some images from the game with captions of game play as best I could recall. James chose to run the French and I ran the Prussians. We set it at 6 turns, with victory conditions being the occupation of more than half the buildings, of which there were 4 total, and/or killing off more than 50 percent of the enemy. Oh, and we were using the 1st edition rules as neither of us have the 2nd edition.

Prussian Jaegers assaulting Zouaves occupying a building. The Zouaves lost the combat and were routed out - this even after using their 2 Attacks in HTH. We actually played this out after the game, which the French won, just to see how HTH would work.

Zouaves and Chasseurs a Cheval firing upon attacking Bavarian infantry. The Chasseurs were given a -1 to hit while firing their carbines from the saddle. This was at the end of Turn 2, I think.

French Line Infantry occupying a building - which they managed to do for the entire game, even after being shot at by Prussian and Bavarian foot, as well as the Prussian 12 pounder. The -2 to hit while in hard cover was very helpful.

Unit dispositions after the end of Turn 1. Prussians advancing on the left, and French on the right. Note the tree stumps in the "wooded" areas. The area in and around the stumps were considered light cover. I found them convenient to use, particularly with multi-figure bases, as they can be moved around a bit to fit the bases.

Zieten Hussars firing upon Algerian Turcos after making an advance move. They caused a Pin, but no casualty in this turn. Litko "Disordered" markers were used for Pin markers.

End of Turn 3. French infantry occupying two of the four buildings, and also in firing line along the hedges to stop the Prussian advance.

Two Bavarian infantry squads attacking the French right. They sustained a lot casualties during the game due to the longer range of the Chassepot rifles. I gave the Chassepot a 24" range and the Dreyse Needle Gun an 18" range. In spite of this disadvantage, the Bavarians still managed to inflict a good number of casualties on the French, particularly their cavalry.

Prussian infantry sustaining a lot of fire from multiple French units. They were eventually wiped out with the French ending up occupying the building.

Another Prussian squad advancing and firing upon the French behind cover.

Zieten Hussars taking long range fire from Turcos in cover in the distance. French Line Infantry along the hedges having taken a lot of Pins from both the Hussars and Prussian foot.

French left, with their "hero" lending his Morale support. It was not enough for the French Line Infantry on the right above, as they were eventually routed off the table.

That all said, the French were victorious in this skirmish. They held more buildings at the end of Turn 6, and had a few more units left than the Prussians. It was a see-saw battle for the most part, and if I had used the cannon a bit more effectively, it may have helped turn the tide. In any case, both James and I felt these rules work excellently for this scenario. He later admitted that he initially had reservations about using Bolt Action for this period, but he quickly changed his mind. I don't plan to change this scenario for an upcoming game day at Fort Steilacoom next month. However, I may add a few more units if they arrive in time. Best wishes to you all and thanks for stopping by.