"28mm Greek Line Infantry" Topic

I am putting together a small Greek VSF force and would like a unit of line infantry, I will be using Tigers Miniatures evzones and irregulars. The type of uniforms I am looking for is the first or third from the left here
link

Similar to some of the Strelets French Light Infantry with the plume here link

Any help greatly appreciated

John

What about Eurekas 1864 Danes?

You can use French light infantry Chasseurs. "Strelitz" is a term used only in the old Russian army. A search for Franco-Prussian war figures for 1870 might help. Foundry has a line, and you can also check the French and Austrian figures for the 1866 and 1859 wars of the French and Austrians. Battle Honors has French and Austrians, available through the US manufacturer Old Glory 15s -19th Century Miniatures, at link

Thanks for the info, I had not thought of the 1859 / 1866 conflicts. I will go through the ranges tonight , as its only one unit in a VSF force Im not going to be too fussy though I like to get as accurate as posible with the figures that are available.

I appreciate your help
JOHN

CaptMors,
I have three units of 1898 Greek infantry converted from Foundry Maximillian Mexicans. Modifications, as I recall (it was about 9-10 years ago):
1. Square up the crushed kepi with green stuff
2. Carve a bit around the rifle breech to make it look like the bolt action Gras rifles the Greeks used, and
3. Trim the moustaches to look Greek
For officers, Eureka makes 1898 Greek evzones. Officers paid for their kit out of an allowance, and they tended to get transferred around enough that they usually didn't think it was worthwhile to buy an evzone officer outfit, so they just used their regular uniform (the Eureka officer is based on a drawing form the 1898 war in the Illustrated London News). French officers can also be converted by filing off the buttons, since the Greeks used a tunic with hidden buttons, Austrian style.
The Foundry Mexican sets include some characters, like the bugler and the fat officer with cigar. I made the officer with cigar into a colonel to command my army. I have him both mounted and dismounted, and I have a mule with cases of ouzo to accompany him. I also have a major when competent leadership is called for.

I've periodically mulled over VSF equipment for my Greeks, but haven't come up with any scathingly brilliant ideas. Have you thought of anything?
Grelber

Grelber
Some good ideas there. I particularly like the Foundry officer set. I intend starting the Greeks when I have completed my Japanese infantry and steam samurai, hopefully within a couple of weeks. At the moment I am planning on a 10 man unit of Evzones from Eureka which if in stock with Fighting 15s I will get at selwg, units of Evzones, Irregulars and Cretan Gendamerie from Tiger which I will be ordering today I know they are on the large side of 28mm but I dont normally worry too much about scale creep!

As far as VSF equipment is concerned I too am struggling, I have in my mind that the Greeks as a newish nation would be a bit behind the major powers.If I was going to give them a available steam contraption it would be the threee wheeled armoured car from Ironclad which has a nice dome feature, but I have allocated that to the Grand Turk!
I have bought the components from B&Q etc to make a steam contraption based upon a Trojan horse, it will be a iron and wood affair and quite large capable of transporting a unit (probaly the cretans or the eureka evzones) and armed with some form of gun.
My blog will contain pics etc as I progress
kapitanmors.blogspot.com

John

I like the idea of a Trojan Horse! You might consider backing up the debate most armies had in the 1920s-30s about keeping horses or motorizing and paint your Greeks in cavalry uniforms. I mean, if the cavalry has to motorize some way, a Trojan Horse is definitely the way to go!
Grelber

Umm , not got round to thinking about cavalry yet. I would like to add another VSF item to the force. I was thinking about a contraption based upon greek coloumns etc like a miniature pantheon on wheels , but decided thats too silly. I may consider a flying cavalry unit, possibly riding something like a steam pegasus which combines horses wings and greek mythology…….perhaps Im getting carried away.
John
PS Dont suppose you know of any historical books relevant, in particular about the 1897 conflict with Turkey? I been googling it but not too much info yet, lots on the Balkan Wars but nothing much about that bit earlier.

Now Ive written that bit about the pantheon type vehicle, Ive decided its not too silly, I got unicyle riding Lancers in my Brits after all. The columns could be done with wedding cake pillars.

The 1897 war was during the golden age of war correspondents, and nothing else was going on just then, so they all headed there. In addition to being paid by their papers for their articles, they came home and wrote books and got paid for that, too.
Ashmead-Bartlett, Ellis. The Battlefields of Thessaly, with Personal Experiences in Turkey and Greece. (London, 1897)

Davis, Richard Harding. A Year From a Reporter's Note-Book. Harper & Brothers, New York. 1903. Has a chapter on the war, as well as photos Davis took.

Mersey, Captain Clive Bingham. With the Turkish Army in Thessaly. (London, 1897)

Nevinson, Henry W. Scenes in the Thirty Days War Between Greece and Turkey, 1897. (London, 1898)

Palmer, Frederick. Going to War in Greece. (New York, 1897) Another photographer.

Pollock, Wilfred. War and a Wheel: The Greco-Turkish Was as Seen from a Bicycle. (London, 1897)

Rose, William Kinnaird. With the Greeks in Thessaly. (London, 1897)

Steevens, George W. With the Conquering Turk: Confessions of a Bashi-Bazouk. (London, 1897)

Strantz, Viktor von. The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 from Official Sources. By a German Staff Officer. Translated by Frederica Bolton (London, 1898) This is probably the closest thing to a real history.

The War Dispatches of Stephen Crane

Hellenic Army General staff. A History of the Hellenic Army, 1821-1997. Army History Directorate Publication. (Athens, 1999).

Wars of the Nineties has a long chapter on the war, as well as illustrations from the Illustrated London News.

Born to Rebel: The Life of Harriet Boyd Hawes by Mary Allsebrook. Oxbow Books, 2002. Ms. Boyd (as she was then) was a nurse with the Greek army, and later conducted an archaeological dig on Crete.

Active Service by Stephen Crane is a historical novel dealing with the war. Some useful stuff since Crane was actually in Greece as a correspondent. So was his lady friend, but that was a secret.

Richard Harding Davis also wrote a play, The Galloper, about the war. This was during the period when playwrights wrote up long, detailed descriptions of the sets, so it has good stuff like the color of Greek ammunition boxes (blue).

I have the books by Clive Bigham, W. Kinnaird Rose and Mary Allsebrook in fairly new paperback; the rest you'd need to get through interlibrary loan or a used book dealer.

Best of luck!
Grelber

Wow!! Thanks for that