15mm Essex (and Minifigs) French and Indian War - The French - Pt 1

The "Montcalm"       Like the British, the bulk of these were painted some 20 odd years ago - soon after they were released. There's a few exceptions that I'll point out along the way.

I don't think I got Osprey's Montcalm's Army until later so for much of these, I used the paint guides in Habitats & Highlanders (H&H).

A beastly big Ligne Regiment - Regiment de Royal Roussillon. With The Sword and the Flame as my rules, these units could hit hard and stick through a relatively long fight. Like all of these, I could easily split the unit in twain having a duplicate set of command.

It may already be evident that I didn't terrain these armies the same way - nor are individual units based the same. I wanted them to appear on the most likely terrain upon which they would find themselves so the line units got grassy open fields. More variants on that theme ahead.

Select figures from the Regiment de Royal Roussillon

Oh yes, I'll do eyes but not the fleurs de lis - even that was beyond my ability then - Now of course, I would make a more valiant attempt to do them.

Another monstrous Ligne Regiment Languedoc - this time in Summer attire - meaning in just the under coat without the heavy pearl outer coat.

Again it is splittable into two smaller units. Basing: grassy. I almost exclusively painted the landscape in these days. I wasn't happy with or skilled enough to use Turf and I dont think I discovered static grass until later.

H&H says brown and burgandy in the cantons though I see references to blue and brown in other sources. Again - no internet when I started this project.

Like the Brits, I added a fair amount of 5 o'clock shadow on various figures. I like the grizzled campaigner look.

This unit was done fairly late in the process so they look pretty solid relative to other units in the force.

One or  Two Compagnie(s) des Franches. I see there are colors for them but the command pack didn't have any standard bearers.

Clear evidence of being gaming miniatures, glossy bits, wear and tear on the bases. Black primed, no pre-washing of the minis.

I like these sculpts a lot.

The French Artillery - an even match against that of the Brits: a single gun, six crew, no limber.

On to the irregular forces: Surprisingly few Indians relative to the French Line - I've since bought many more that remain unpainted. I will probably not base many individually but in various sized washers since they don't ever need to rank up. Officers here are the Coureurs de Bois since there was no Indian "Command" from Essex. In a pinch I can strip out the 8 french from each unit and use the two Firing Indians as leaders for each unit.

Two distinguish one band from the other I attempted to do an Autumn forest litter scheme on one with paint. It's basically right but better when I got to the Mission Indians.

The coonskin and the skunk skin hats are the highest ranking officers for these units. Gotta get creative when they don't have suitable officer figs. Of the French, these are the first I ever painted - at the same time as Roger's Rangers as I recall it.

On the completion scale this unit of Minifigs Canadian Militia were the last unit painted from both armies. Very colorful unit - reminds me of a Summer salad, lovely greens and grays, with bright red caps. Like everything else, neatly divisible by two.

I think I will continue to paint the landscaping on the remainder of these armies rather than flock the bases. It takes a bit longer but I think it looks especially good here.

Yet one more angle because I like the look of them. The Minifigs FIW stuff is pretty good - I have British Lights and a lot more Indians from them to augment all the Essex stuff.

Here's the Essex Canadian Militia in Assorted Dress if I have it right. I liked a more uniform appearance back then - I probaly would mix it up more I guess these days. many more wonderful reference materials around now though.

Minimalist and random landscaping. I glue down railroad ballast of some kind and wherever it piled up after drying and dry-brushing, gets painted as clumpy grass.

Officer and rankers detail

Too dark on the 5 o'clock shadow but still ok.

The Mission Indians - historically the weakest links in this French force.

Still they are interesting figures, European command. Note the Fall foliage bases.

I like to have a shot with perspective - look at how small these guys are relative to the paints!

In sum:
Two huge line units
Two tiny Franches units
One field piece and crew
Two to three Canadian Militia units
Two medium Indian units
Two terrible militia units
That's just under 200 figures and a gun on the French side - plenty from which to draw units from for Muskets & Tomahawks. They definitely need more Indians though for bigger games.

Well, thanks for looking - Questions, comments and new followers are welcome and encouraged! I'm burnt out on actually painting at the moment but blogging is still a hoot. Much more to come both new and old.