More FPW French - Guard Bde and a unit of Turkos completed

I have been a very poor blogger of late - posts few and far between - but I have not been completely idle as I've managed to complete some more French FPW (2nd Empire) figures.

This time its infantry.  To finish my FPW project (if 'finish' is the appropriate term) I needed to complete the same number of French infantry units to match the Prussians - roughly three brigades of infantry, one of cavalry and two artillery batteries.  For the French I only had five battalions of infantry (give or take) completed.  With various swaps and deals I acquired nearly a full regiment's worth (enough for two battalions of 18 figures each) of Guard Grenadiers.  This is the second lot of Grenadiers I have acquired as in a moment of madness some years ago I sold the first lot - beautiful Foundry figures they were too (there are some pics in my earliest FPW posts).

Hairy men in bearskin 'ats - Les Grognards of the 2nd Empire

Dunno who made the current lot but they're not bad figures if a trifle lacking in variety for poses - all are marching with shouldered arms - just the heads differ.  Still, musn't grumble as these Grognards have come up a treat once painted and based.

Only one thing different with the painting of this lot - as my own eyesight is failing with age, I didn't do the eyeballs on 'em! Quel Horreur! What is the world coming too?  Standards are certainly slipping!

Nonetheless I'm quite happy with the command stand - even eyeball-less they still look OK.  In addition to the Grenadiers of course are the Guard Voltigeurs, with another two battalions of them completing the rather small Guard Brigade.  These are all Foundry figures I painted some time ago, when my eyeballs were good enough to enable me to paint eyeballs!

Some of the officer figures are Maximillian Adventure French (how they got around in the Mexican heat with that clobber on I'll never know!) - very nice Foundry range that gave a nice bit of variety to the FPW French whose uniform was almost identical.

Last but certainly not least are my sky-blue coated Turkos Algeriens - French North African colonial troops that won respect of the Germans in the war's early encounters.  McMahon had a regiment of them in his 2nd Division brigaded with Zouaves and a very colourful lot they were too!  For the moment I'm going to brigade them with the Guard to make up the numbers and give the brigade some enhanced skirmish capability.

I had to experiment a bit with the skin-tone for the Algerians which in real life can range from swarthy European to Negroid. A few brown washes over GW Dark Flesh got the result I was after. Followed with a weak black ink wash to pick out the details. Can't remember who made the figures but the officer is Foundry - and they all fit in nicely with the other odds 'n sods of the Guards Bde.

Finally, the Guard Brigade, with mounted commander in front - Avant mes Amis!

I have three 18-figure battalions of line to finish to complete the army - but not even half-way through them at the moment.  I'll post the results when I finish the French army - then perhaps a game or two!

Between the last post and this 'Doc's Art of War' has ticked over 60,000 hits which is a bit of a blogging milestone I'm led to believe.  Many thanks to all my fellow bloggers who take the time to visit my humble blog and particularly those who leave comment, its much appreciated.

Cheers,

          Doc