Aux Armes, Citoyens!

Long ago and far away (well ok, 1998 and 1,600 km.) I crossed the border into the USA and drove down to Pennsylvania for 'Cold Wars', a US wargame convention (That's another story.), to run a 54mm 1812 game using my  "With MacDuff To The Frontier" rules which had been published in 'The Courier' magazine the year before. To my surprise, some guys were running a  French & Indian "With MacDuff" game using homecast 40mm figures, and another game using Prince August homecast figures (Yes, that's how I started home casting figures) and Charge! one of my first wargame books which had been read over and over, especially the pictures......, a few hundred times since I bought it with my first paycheck at military college at the old age of 17!

Rob and I became friends and co-hosted 40mm games until Covid hit.  French & Indian skirmishes, then a 16thC Anglo-Scottish affair involving the English trying to get a supply train into a defended city, (A game we ran three times ending up with twice the number of players in the last game as they teamed up, and which got us a "Best of show" award). 

A few years later, we ran a French Revolution sort-of-skirmish/character game involving the Scarlet Pimpernel and all. The figures were largely homecast from Meisterzinn moulds cast and painted by Rob. I think all that I added was to sculpt and cast some peasants but the games were fun. Well, things change, people move, etc etc, and the last time Rob and I ran a game in Portland Maine, roughly 1/2 way between us we were using our mutual horde of Prince August semi-flats and Rob was moving to a different house and had decided that his French Revolution figures would be better elsewhere, like in my game room!

(btw his blog is:  https://sharpbrush.blogspot.com )

40mm French Republican Infantry

Each of his units were 12 single figures, a good choice for the kind of games we had been playing, but I have recently decided to settle on 4 stand battalions, preferably with 16 figures for line infantry but not necessarily. So, I added the handful of standard bearers then scrounged a few extra figures to boost the numbers to at least 14 figures. Rob's painting style is a bit different from mine but I think I managed to copy his style close enough to fit in. 

40mm French Regulars, still wearing their old uniforms.

Austrians and British to follow, I think I'll leave the civilians and peasants as singles!