"Help with French Foreign Legion Eras" Topic

Gents

Started looking for 15mm French Foreign Legion of the classic "Beau Geste" era, and assumed that the Blue Moon line of FFL was for that period -- but now I'm not so sure. Are the Blue Moon figs for 1830s or for the 1920s Legion?

What are the best 15mm lines for these two periods?

This got me wondering which period I should be looking at for 15mm. Is gaming the Beau Geste era essential the same scenario wise as gaming the 1920s era (other than weapons)?

Probably getting ahead of myself since I'm just starting reading about the FFL, but wonder which era would have more versatility gaming wise.

Thoughts appreciated.

Well, first you'd have to think through what time Beau Geste is. The publication date is 1924, but it appears to be set pre-WWI. Alsatians are joining the Legion for instance. If it was me, I'd rate "classic" FFL from the 1870's to just prior to WWI. All kinds of fighting in North Africa, the uniform doesn't change much after I think 1879, and it's the classic dark blue, not the post-WWI khaki.

Also here for "Hollywood" classic FFL:

link

link

I love Stone Mountain's FFL and Arab miniatures. I have more than 600 in my collection plus their small FFL outpost. The SM minis go nicely with the Blue Moon FFL fort.

The Blue Moon figures also go really nice with the Blue Moon fort and the OG army card gives you a 40% discount.

Regards
Russ Dunaway

Re: classic "Beau Geste" era for FFL gaming, I agree with Robert Piepenbrink and would suggest the slightly adjusted era of 1880-1920, as explained over at my favorite website devoted to wargaming that particular place and time, "The Amazing Adventures of the Red Shadow," which you can reach at the other end of this link:

warflag.com/shadow

It is filled with useful resources for wargamers interested in gaming French operations throughout that period in Morocco, Algeria, the Sahara, and West Africa.

It takes a somwhat "Hollywood Daring Do" approach, but does so in a self-aware way and also includes legit historical elements, references and resources.

It's an "Old School" site in the best sense of the term (at least IMHO) and I highly recommend anyone interested in "Classic" FFL gaming pay a visit at least once.

foreignlegion.info/history

Breaks the history into eras

Brian,
I painted quite a lot of the Blue Moon figures for a client. They are very nicely done. Read the lsitings carefully though, as they have FFL with and without greatcoats.

Ya -the classic great-coated Legion is from 1886-1914. During and after WW1 they adopted the khaki uniforms completely by 1920.

Mad Guru, thanks for the link, Red Shadow is a fun blog.

This has always been a tanatalising period — ooooh that Airfix Fort Sahara!

But I have always avoided the temptation because the scenario options always seemed a bit too limited for me.

miniMo, very happy to hear you enjoyed the "Red Shadow"!

Not sure about the "limited" nature of FFL scenarios, though of course for your gaming purposes the only opinion that truly counts should be your own!

I think such limits are more about size and diversity of the armies and terrain involved, and can perhaps be more than balanced out by how much work goes into researching and/or preparing scenarios.

There is a lot of real military history involving the Legion in Algeria and later in Morocco, covering a rather wide variety of military actions, from big stand-up battles to small skirmishes, ambushes of supply columns, attacks on isolated outposts and forts, etc, plus fighting in major built-up areas, such as Casablanca and Fez -- and if you are open to reaching back to earlier periods of FFL history, major sieges, like Constantine.

Maybe start with a small force for both sides and see what you think.