1859 French

After tackling the Austrians for the 1859 war and putting a dent in that lead pile, I turned my attention to some French.

I painted up five battalions of line and I was pleased with the results but I had some issues with the matte varnish. I sprayed them on a very hot and humid day and the varnish dried leaving the clear coat more milky and white. I sprayed them with more gloss varnish and reapplied some matte but it wasn't entirely successful. At some point I will spray them with gloss and then matte to try and rectify the splotchy varnish coat. Below is a small sampling.

Here are some zouaves below. I painted two battalions in formed line and I must say these sculpts were both enjoyable and easy to paint.

And now a battalion of skirmishing zouaves. I plan to use Field of Battle 3 for these armies, some troop types can form skirmish formation but I can't recall if the zouaves are one of them. The Chasseurs a Pied can but I haven't painted any of those yet.

Speaking of Chasseurs, ypou will find below some that are "a Cheval". Cavalry didn't feature heavily in the Solferino campaign and I believe both the Austrians and French used primarily light horse (chasseurs, hussars, uhlans, etc.) and my armies will represent that. I went with a brighter green than how they are normally depicted however I always like to go brighter in 6mm.

And now some hussars. I have to admit something...I don't think these uniforms are accurate for 1859. According to the Casali campaign booklet, the only hussar unit with light blue uniforms would have been the 8th regiment but Casali lists their trousers and cuffs as white. I have seen several examples of painted miniatures online showing the 8th wearing red trousers for 1859 so who knows. Perhaps the red was more of an 1870 thing, I am not sure but since this army will also do double duty for the Franco-Prussian War, I'm not too concerned...they are French hussars regardless.

Here is a battery of cannon. I really have to cram the crews on so that they fit the bases. In Firld of Battle, a battery is depicted with two bases of guns (so that you can point one gun in reverse to reflect they are limbered). I have two batteries thus far and will probably paint up at least two more batteries.

And here are some French commanders. I like the little fellow who is holding his shako (or is that a kepi?), add some character. I will paint up a total of four or five command bases.

Thus far, I have finished 8 infantry battalions, 2 cavalry regiments, e artillery batteries and 3 command bases. I suppose I am about halfway done for the French and about the same for the Austrians. It will be nice to finish up these armies and get them on the tabletop. At some point I will pain the French heavy cavalry I have but that isn't a priority at this point.

On a Wing and a Prayer...

After painting some small 6mm Swedish and Russian forces for later 17th century, I started on a Polish army, painting up pancerni initially. I later finished a base of Winged Lancers but never photographed them until today. The figures are nice sculpts but the horse ankles are a bit delicate with some of the poses. The goal is to paint up a small army with a few bases of winged lancers, a few more of pancerni, maybe some irregular horse and then some of the lesser know infantry types and a base or two of artillery. The Poles can fight my Swedes, Russians and ultimately Turks (whenever they are painted up).

This project has languished a bit and at some point I need to finish the Poles, tackle the Ottomans and flesh out Russian and Swedish forces...I also have a partially painted Danish army. I really like the Tercios rules for this period and it would be fun to get some of these other exotic Eastern European armies painted up and on the tabletop.