Completed my WW2 colonial French army

Well, that’s it, I’ve finished painting my 28mm WW2 colonial French army  for Bolt Action wargaming (click picture to enlarge).

In the picture above, you can see in the front row:

• an infantry squad of 6 men (4 rifles, 1 sub-machine gun, 1 VB grenade launcher)
• a prone 2-man light machine gun crew
• the commanding officer and his aide
• an advancing 2-man light machine gun crew
• another 6-man infantry squad as per the first one.

These are all Perry Miniatures figures.

In the background are:

• a 75mm artillery piece with four crew (Perry Miniatures)
• an R35 tank (Neucaft Models)
• a Laffly AMD50 armoured car (Mad Bob Miniatures)
• a Dodge Tanake armoured truck (Perry Miniatures)
• two Berliet VUDB personnel carriers (Mad Bob Miniatures).

At the back is my desert terrain. After buying the wooden 4Ground model on the right, I later bought the two plastic kitsets on the left by Renadra to compare it with, intending to choose one manufacturer and sell off the other.  But I feel they actually go together quite well, so I’ve to decided to keep them all!

Here’s the commanding officer of my detachment. He’s a brisk looking chap with his dapper beard and jaunty kepi, his neck wrapped in the local scarf favoured by Legionnaires.

On the left is the advancing light machine gun crew. Beside them is one of the six-man infantry squads, including a Legionnaire firing a sub-machine gun on the far right. One of the obscured men in the back row is armed with a rifle grenade.

Here’s the other infantry squad. The third man from the left is armed with the VB rifle-grenade launcher, whilst the fifth man carries a sub-machine gun at his hip.

A closer look at the Perry 75mm artillery piece. I have left four areas of the base clear of texturing, so that I can simply glue-tac the figures on. This means they can be easily removed as casualties. It also allows me to replace the gun crew – for example, some of these gunners wear French helmets for Vichy or pre-war colonial action, but I could replace them with figures wearing British-style helmets for Free French.

The Dodge Tanake now has a crew. It looks hot work on that open back under the burning desert sun.

So that’s it – the French are ready for action. No doubt in the best traditions of wargaming, as an newly-painted army they’ll suffer a crashing defeat!