"french light infantry for the peninsula campaign" Topic

I went to my local shop (Michigan Toy Soldier) to pick up some paint and even though I said no more periods after I get some AWI, I bought a box of Perry plastic British Infantry. I have been reading the Sharpe series (currently on Sharpe's Enemy) and have been using Sharp Practice for FIW so Nappy Skirmish seemed a logical step. Right? I mean the figures are nice!

Now the problem; the Perry French were mostly in marching poses so not quite right for skirmishes and my budget for figures in 2009 and 2010 for that matter has been expended. I also don't know what units would be appropriate for British my light infantry. Can anyone recommend suitable French units as opponents and who sells the figures for them. For the best value?

And no periods after this except for AWI…..promise. (God, I need a seven step program for my wargaming)

You might want to look at the Alban Miniatures range sculpted by Richard Ansell.

The Victrix plastic French have a mix of poses and types and lots of options to consider when you construct them. Or there are the Hat 28mm plastics which are cheap and paint up nice if you are not fussy about uniform correctness, plus they are light infantry. Either of these options are even cheaper than Perry plastics, although the Perry plastics are nicer.

hat.com/current28.html

Are the HaT figures the same size as the Perry Miniatures? In otherwords do they blend well?

Any comments about Victrix?

I think they are a smidge thinner than Perry, but you wouldn't mix them in units anyway so not a problem for me. Their height is fine.

I liked both Victrix and Hat very much for different reasons. Victrix because the detail and variety of poses is very good, although they take a bit of time to assemble and have some flash to clean up. I was initially disappointed with Hat (limited poses, a bit skinny, no standard or musicians) but liked them much better after painting them- they were a breeze to paint. Now I wish Hat would hurry up and do more ranges. I head swapped some Victrix spares onto Hat bodies to make Chasseurs and it turned out okay- Victrix heads area a little big but heck, these are for playing with after all.

So I recommend either, depends on what you want.

Cheers-

Dave

Victrix are good value and score for variety and detail but you only get 16 elite company figures from a box of 60 figures, the rest are centre company fusiliers, officers, NCOs and drummers. The French fusiliers were often deployed as skirmishers, though. Recommended unless you really don't want to get involved in gluing figures together (which a lot of people seem to find difficult!)

Certainly nothing wrong w/ using march poses for skirmish gaming…I always thought the march poses looked as "in place" as do the action poses for skirmish games…I use a mix of action & march order…