"20th Maine french Infantry." Topic

There are more pics about the french reenactors of the 20th Maine from france (Loire).
I had post another ones a month ago.
Here you had to avoid "other" reenactments pics form other Eras, but I hope you would enjoy even those.

link

Incredible enthusiasm from french guys about the ACW!
And I hope their uniforms are well done.

Amicalement
Armand

Someone is confused.

Allen

ils ressemblent plus à Iron Brigade reconstituteurs jusqu'au 20 Maine.

I think this is the link he is referring to:

link

And yes, their uni's look pretty good.

That is much better. Yes, they look good. I like the Zouaves, too, though.

Great. Yet another link to third-rate reenactors.

Nope. I'm with Dan.

Allen

Overall, they are not too bad looking. Most of the Jackets are of better quality. Can't see enough detail for the shirts, shoes, and guns for and opinion. Their hats are a bit off to say the least. More western than eastern army (see the iron brigade quote above). The tan hats are generally incorrect for Yankees. The 2 guys in the shot were they are wearing blanket rolls look pretty bad. 1 guy has the canteen on the wrong side. The other has a modern blanket of some sort. I'm not sure what the Yankee officer is wearing for a blanket roll. Awful short. A towel, maybe?

Damn, that dog looks tough. Should have been a Nazi rather than a viking.

I wonder who enjoyed the best meals? At the end of the day, that might seem very important.
cheers,

"Their hats are a bit off to say the least."

How many more photos of long-haired morons do we need? The man looks like a runaway from a Doobie Brothers concert.

Good Lord.

How many more photos of long-haired morons do we need? The man looks like a runaway from a Doobie Brothers concert.
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Preach it Brother JCB! How bout the long haired dismounted cav festooned in yellow and pistols everywhere!

And don't forget the fat, Santa Claus looking reenactors with their dry cleaned uniforms! lol!

Bob

"How many more photos of long-haired morons do we need?"

I dunno, how many pics of you have you already got?

Each to there own, I am sure re-enactors get bored of button counters and toy soldier merchants in the same way your bored of re-enactors.

If you feel this strongly, don't read the post or click the link, or if you hyave nothing constructive to say, just a general put down, just walk away.

The unit would look a LOT better if they made simple changes: button the jackets, wear what they have correctly, either get the right blankets or have none at all, cut their hair and ditch the odd hats. Make these simple changes are they'd look 100% better.

Oh yeah… if that officer with the sword is actually leading that compnay he sould stand on the other side of the unit and read the drill manual.

At least none of them are sporting any 2010 World Cup France jerseys. No vuvuzelas in attendance as well. Got my vote! :)Y'all need to lighten up on these guys.

"If you feel this strongly, don't read the post or click the link, or if you hyave nothing constructive to say, just a general put down, just walk away."

Great point. Encouraging the spread of third-rate reenactor photos as anything like indicative of historical reality is good for all of us.

After twenty-one years of being exposed to this nonsense, bad reenacting gets tiring. As does an apparent need to post six or seven random links a day.

Well post good links as a counter, rather than just being negative and down on them.

JCBJCB,

Exactly. People that complain about finger pointing are usually the most farby. They know they are that way but don't really care. They will claim that the accurate items are more expensive, they don't like sleeping on the ground, I can't do without my cell phone, I don't like period glasses because they are too small, Brogans hurt my feet, the rifle is too heavy, there isn't enough space in a dog tent, they might get wet or hot and no one would really care or see… we've heard them all for years and years and years. That's the sad fact. Reenactors that care, take the time to do it right, all the time.

Fredd,

I WISH I could help the guys in France! I would love for them to contact me or other reenactors that knew their stuff. We would love to help them. The problem is 90% of farbs know they are farbs and won't listen or do a thing you advise them to do. I know because I have tried in very nice ways to suggest things. I'm not even talking about buying expensive items but just doing some reading, drilling the proper way, wearing what you have correctly, acting correctly and they don't want to listen.

Perhaps the guys in France don't know any better? Okay, I can accept that. Maybe they don't have books in France about the ACW or have the chance to look at websites that offer the right stuff for sale? That's all possible. Personally, I would not reenact anything until I knew I was doing it correctly or at least hooking up with people that _did_ know and was working to get better. The very first thing a better reenactor would tell these guys are the simple things, which they clearly have NOT done. If they looked at period photos they would see they are doing it wrong. It's obvious and easy to take the first step if… if they cared.

"Well post good links as a counter, rather than just being negative and down on them."

If one did not post links willy-nilly, oblivious to whether the content was good or not, there would be no need for comments at all.

In this case, the thread title focuses on the 20th Maine. There is nothing resembling the 20th Maine at that link.

"Y'all need to lighten up on these guys."

Why, Steve? They no more resemble the appearance of the regiment than the Irregulars' gaming place resembles the Alamo!

Allen

Exactly. People that complain about finger pointing are usually the most farby. They know they are that way but don't really care. They will claim that the accurate items are more expensive, they don't like sleeping on the ground, I can't do without my cell phone, I don't like period glasses because they are too small, Brogans hurt my feet, the rifle is too heavy, there isn't enough space in a dog tent, they might get wet or hot and no one would really care or see… we've heard them all for years and years and years. That's the sad fact. Reenactors that care, take the time to do it right, all the time.>>
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You beat me to it!
Some of us put a lot of hard work and dedication into our hobbies,be it wargaming or living history/reenacting. Some of us like to do it as close to 100% correct as humanly possible. Others,not so much. AG said it well,they all have excuses as to why they don't want to do it correctly. The same is true for Wargamers. The research is out there,yet Joe wargamer will still paint his unit with that parade ground uniform even though he knows,its not right. Or use that flag "just because".
Reenactors are the same in this respect. Some choose to do the research and be better,some don't. I for one do.

Bob C.

…but how often do you get to make a Dobbie Brothers reference in an ACW post? Hilarious!

It seems to me that the re-enactment hobby, like miniatures gaming or any other hobby, is actual many hobbies. Some gamers strive for the mythical "simulation" and spend countless hours researching the details of their chosen obsessions trying to get it just right. Some just like to slap some figures on the table and have a good time. I see both as valid and neither deserving of the scorn I see here.

Personally my own love of history was sparked by some very "farby" renactors in polyester uniforms I stumbled across at a county fair in 1976. Somehow I fell in love with colonial history on the spot even though the Indian was wearing some old bedroom slippers and I'm quite sure the Continental had on a wrist watch.

Personally my own love of history was sparked by some very "farby" renactors in polyester uniforms I stumbled across at a county fair in 1976. Somehow I fell in love with colonial history on the spot even though the Indian was wearing some old bedroom slippers and I'm quite sure the Continental had on a wrist watch.
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As did mine! But I also love to do research and get things RIGHT, not just,and I hate when reenactors say this, "good enough". Good enough for what?? A County fair? Or a battlefield in 1863?
Will I be perfect? No, of course not,but I like trying..

Bob C.

Good enough for a bunch of ACW history buffs in a field in France I imagine. If they are aiming to please anyone else with their hobby time and budget they are pretty foolish IMO.

Hello,
I'm the re-enactor with the "modern" blanket and the canteen on the wrong side. Sorry for the mistakes, I should have pay more attention to these things but don't judge the whole group through the errors of a beginner.

"2Oth Maine" is the name of our association but we don't re-enact this unit. On the pictures, we were re-enacting an Ohio regiment on the Trans-Mississipi front. We're a campaigner group and work with the EAGLE SOCIETY. I don't pretend we are 100% right but we try hard to improve as much as we can, so comments and criticism are always welcome as long as they are justified.

Concerning the officer haircut, for me he is the only member of the group to have a correct period haircut (OK, he should perhaps have greased his hairs)….but it's not easy to have a 19th century haircut everyday.
Thank you for you interest anyway :o)

Hello, i'm the second guy on the photo(the too fat for the civil war period!!)

i am surprised of these violent sentences on our group without more info !

As vonzieten said, we do not represent the 20th maine, but westerners regiment , with hardees or slouch hats and open collars (typical of this front as "every one knows !!!!!)

The blanket (the white and blue one of course, the other is a good one!!)is truly awfull that's right and the canteen (on the same man not on me!!!) is on the wrong side!Would someeone tel me what else is farb ? Hairs ? In the group theres is only one personne with long hairs (the officer), there wasen't any long hair during the civil war? all yankee's had "US marines" hair style cut?

To explain my surprise, i had to give some interesting thinks to those who pretends to judge our group as "farb":

all the jackets are Schuykill Arsenal Sack Coat , hand sewn, trousers idem, shoes are brogans wooden pedged without hobnails, canteens are without chain only a ribbon,with grey jeans cloth covers.
shirts are 1851 Federal Issue Shirts hand sewn and civilian shirts hand sewn too!(more civilian than federal issue due to the front!)
the riffle musket are farb. this is a real point of criticism (seen by anyone?)

for JCBJCB
We use to sleep to eat or to live with accurat gears (shelters, blankets (except one!), some boilers and that's all!) as you should have seen if you had look at the photos before criticism and insulting us . we are not the perfect group, but we are not "farb" too! As you , i'm bored by all "foot cavalry men" with yelow ribbons every where,with two or three guns, drinking cola or alcool (alcool is forbidden in our group!)seated in rocking chairs (there grand father ones!!)with two or three generals for a five men group (the other are colonels!!)!!……

paco

As vonzieten said, we do not represent the 20th maine, but westerners regiment , with hardees or slouch hats and open collars (typical of this front as "every one knows !!!!!)
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You guys are making a good effort with your impressions,and I applaud that. My one criticism would be the open collar thing. Look at period photos,most shirts/uniforms were kept buttoned on top,open at the bottoms.
Aside from the blanket and the canteen on the wrong side,you guys look pretty good.

Bob

I'm a reenactor as well (US, National Regiment).
For the record, I did comment that your coats looked good.

Overall, you need to understand not everyone here appreciates your hobby, nor you attempts (fail or not) to do a good job. Please, don't take it personal. In the same vein, many reenactors think some fat, socially awkward guy who sits all night painting tiny toy soldiers (sometimes well, sometimes really badly) is a bit, well, strange. In the world beyond both are hobbies most people think we are all nuts (including my wife at times).

So, are you Americans who happened to be in France, or French born citizens?

As far as us gamers, we should keep in mind that reenactors are a prime pool of recruits for our hobby. (In reality they are already gamers at 1830mm scale.) I will try to remember that.

Thank you for these messages!
we are french reenactors! and i'm a french painter of minis !!

for open collar frock coat it apears a lot in the western front on photographs!!

regards
paco

I'm french born citizen too with a deep interest in the ACW.
Being a miniature wargamer and a re-enactor, I can assure you that I'm considered as a complete nut by other people….but i don't care :o)