"28mm JJG Print 3D Ultramodern French Foreign Legion" Topic

All,

So here's my 'other' force for Ultramodern fighting. It's no secret that I'm a crush for the French Foreign Legion, so I just had to get some. Whether it's some real-life stuff in Afghanistan or Mali, or back to Perplakistan, I wanted to get some cool French dudes to go whoop some butt with. I searched around on the internet; I was going to go with Eureka Minis here in the US, but they're perpetually out of stock, so I ultimately find this guy over in France: jjgprint3d.com/boutique A little pricey, but not too bad, and really great minis. I picked out enough for a team or two and put in my order, received it less than a month later, and they're fantastic little minis.

As always, they were painted using Contrast paints. The camo was super easy: Militarum Green and Gore Grunta Fur over Skeleton Horde (over light gray primer), while the gear and helmets were Aggros Dunes over dark gray acrylic.

The whole mess, eight Legionnaires, consisting of a team leader (with HK416), a designated marksman (with suppressed HK-416), two machine gunners (with Minimi LMGs), and four riflemen (with FAMAS).

A rifleman with FAMAS, in baseball cap.

A machine gunner with facemask. I tried painting up the skull on the facemask but couldn't get it to look right. And I snapped one of his bipod legs off…

And the designated marksman, with spotting scope and suppressed HK-416, facemask under his helmet with NVGs.

To see a bunch more photos, please check the blog at:
link

So, pretty doggone cool, right? Bad news update: my boys were screwing around and dropped the box holding these guys, buncha stuff snapped off, still figuring out what I can fix…

V/R,
Jack

JJG print printed me a bunch ( a little more than 30 figures) of modern French in 15mm. Same figures just scaled down from 28mm. I have 30 figures from QRF but wanted/needed to fill out some units and have extras and their subjects fit the bill exactly. Great prints and a great outfit to deal with.

OUCH!. Still, resin is usually easy to glue together. You're a dab hand for painting cam gear, Jack.

Beautiful work as always.
I found it just as easy to order eureka from Australia as from the US.

If you want to beef up the numbers add some Eureka or there is the oft forgotten Dadi & Piambo line that is sold through Jerwood out of the UK I think. They are more of an eighties through 2000 type look.

I think JJG also do some extensive lines of 15 through 28mm French-Indochina figures, so i am interested in what you think of the FFL figures that you got from them.

Wow, these are by far the prettiest figures you've painted! Looking forward to learning of their rehabilitation.

a designated marksman

Or is he a sniper? Everyone who passes basic training should be able to shoot at least at marksman level.

I don't know the French-language terms used by the FFL, however, but the FFL does have an excellent sniper program.

Great work on the miniatures.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it!

The repairs are going okay, looks like I am losing one guy, can't find the pieces…

Interesting, troopwo, about ordering straight from Australia, I'll have to take that into account. And while I love these figures, I wasn't as impressed with what I saw online of their IndoChina stuff (which I REALLY want to get into; Empress has some nice figures, but pretty expensive).

When I say "Designated Marksman" I'm talking about a specially trained rifleman with accurized/specialized rifle that fills a role organic to a rifle team, squad, or platoon (depending upon country/service), which is doctrinally different to a sniper (at least in some countries' militaries), and also not a rifle qualification designation (like marksman, sharpshooter, or expert).

In simple terms, everyone in (my chosen example) the military qualifies with their service rifle, either as a marksman, sharpshooter, or expert. Expert riflemen in an infantry unit might be selected to attend assessment and training to become a sniper, moving into a new job (MOS) and new, specialized unit (e.g., Scout Sniper Platoon, or Surveillance and Target Acquisition Platoon), where he might, in some cases, be attached back to a rifle platoon. But that same expert rifleman might also be selected to be trained and equipped with a more accurate version of the standard service rifle and retained in the rifle platoon to fulfill a very narrow, specific role in the platoon's capabilities and fire plan. Admittedly, it's hard to get too specific as there are as many variations to terminology, roles, and tables of organization as there are different militaries, so I'm falling back on my own experience.

Yes, the Legion has their own snipers, but they use the FR F2 as their standard weapon. This guy has an accurized (or at least specialized) HK-416, so I called him a DM, though truthfully he's probably just meant to be the spotter in a sniper team.

V/R,
Jack

Yeah not everybody gets the designated marksman concept.

In the Bundeswehr of the seventies though nineties, everybody ina squad carried a G3. However, one guy usually had a ZF1 4x24mm scope on a quick detach mount for designated marksman reasons. To provide a bit more accurate fire at a better distance than the regular infantry were expected to.

With the current plethora of ELCANs and Trijicons coming in at a standard of 3.5 and 3.4 power, near most of a rifle squad will have the equivalent ability with anyone leftover having a red dot type for fast response. If modern designated marksman are around they will in all likelihood have a far more powerful scope than merely a four power but not on par with actual snipers.

With the current plethora of ELCANs and Trijicons coming in at a standard of 3.5 and 3.4 power, near most of a rifle squad will have the equivalent ability with anyone leftover having a red dot type for fast response.

The only problem with having a scope on every rifle, even a weak 1.5X like the old F-88 AuStyre, is that the troops concentrate on what they see through the scope. That was very apparent when the Styre came into service. Shooters forget there's a huge amount of the world that they aren't seeing through their scope- it was really apparent on SMR shoots, when the target could pop up outside the scope's field of view. Only about half the people I coached could get used to keeping both eyes open when taking aim (though only a couple had infantry training- the rest were support corps). A couple of mates in the infantry battalions had similar issues, though.

You'd probably know the problem, troopwo. Hopefully someone has come up with a (useful, not tick-box) training solution.

Ahh, yes, of course, don't always know who you're talking to on the internet, my apologies! Excellent!

So yes, during my time in the Marine Corps, we had snipers (in STA Platoon, part of H&S Company at Battalion level) but not DMs, until right before OIF
(~Feb 03) when the ACOGs came out (with M-16A4s). It's hard to remember anymore, but I think when we first got them it was one per rifle squad, then by OIF2 (~March 04) they were such a hit that it was three per squad (one in each fireteam).

I got out in Dec 04 so I don't know exactly what happened in the following years, but I know that optics became so prevalent that it probably rendered the DM concept moot, except I know that in Afghanistan they needed longer reach (organic to the rifle platoons) so some DMs were given M-14s and some sort of M-16 looking weapon with heavy barrel, bipod, and chambered for 7.62.

Dal – I always thought the Steyrs were cool, but then I was down at Shoalwater Bay in 2001; got to do a shootex with some of your guys (I don't remember what unit, but they had LAVs, and when we did the force on force ex all they did was run up and down the road blowing off blanks, for four days straight!). In any case, got to fire the Steyr and I really was not a fan of that little scope. This was the infamous Tandem Thrust 01, in which Wpns Co shot an emu (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1336407.stm). And the story says it was with semiautomatic weapons, but I assure it was not, it was with a Ma Deuce. We also had half a dozen Marines get their asses kicked by kangaroos…

Worked some with TF-64 in Afghanistan where they had sensibly gone to M-4s ;)

V/R,
Jack

I got out in 2000, Jack, just shy of 25 in green. I then proved I'm stupid by being a civvie in Defence.

LAV? Probably 2CAV or 2/14Light Horse. As for emu's, possums, dropbears, 'roos, wombats, bunyips, etc- they're often collateral damage in an EX area. Emus and 'roos make a terrible mess on the front of a Landrover.

The F-88 wasn't a bad weapon, mate, but the safety catch was a worry (put the weapon down carelessly and the safety would slide off) and I'm not a fan of 5.56 rounds. It was easy to teach marksmanship with it, though. I know our "Special People" had the M4, but that was more about the versatility of the weapon, compared to the F-88. The number of available accessories for it quadrupled its versatility.

Besides, it looked cooler that the F-88- and that's a major concern for the chook-stranglers.

Dal,

Excellent, and good stuff. I had been to Australia twice before that as well; either 97 or 98 I was on ship and we put into Townsville for some work at SWBTA, and in 99 we did some exercise called Crocodile out in Tyndale. All three times we took liberty in Brisbane/Gold Coast, some very fond memories.

I don't have any problems with the F88, I just wasn't a fan of the scope (back in the iron sights), I'm sure I would have gotten used to it, though the bullpup design didn't bother me, felt pretty natural. Never had a problem with 5.56, but preferred 40mm . Certainly used a lot more of it ;)

Chook-stranglers, eh? I like it ;)

V/R,
Jack

Bloody hell, Jack, you could probably qualify for citizenship with that many trips out. Don't do it, though, too many problems being ignored at the mo', and house, power, fuel and grocery prices are among the highest in the world.

The F-88 sight left a lot to be desired, but the new multi- setting jobbie is much better- if you remember to keep both eyes open until 2nd trigger pressure. I'm a dinosaur, though. I want the SLR back (with pic rails and a 40mm underslung), M60 MG (original, not the E1 or E3 abortions) and 10-body sections (squads), with properly trained scouts, gunners and riflemen- who don't moan if their pack weighs more than 10kg (well, perhaps only moan softly).

The only way I'll see that, though, is by buying them in metal. But nobody makes them…. ;-)

Dal, I enjoyed my time Down Under, and hey, things are tough all over. But not really, compared to where we've been ;)

Hey, no bad talking the -Echo 3, that's what I started on! But I must admit, the -240 (GPMG/MAG-58/whatever you guys call it) is a better (more reliable, more simple) weapon.

And what do you mean you'll never see SLRs and M-60A1? I've got some (plastic, not metal), in 28mm from Rubicon!

V/R,
Jack

Come on Dal. Let them liberate us in Canuckistan first.

Started on the FN or SLR as you call it in '84. Best we had were the Browning 1919s converted to 7.62 link and tripods. Talk about an art of love keeping them going. Funny when you're young and the muscle pain is forgotten about?

Went on through the Diemaco C7s and C8s and the equivalent M249 and M240s too. Strangely we kept our 1919s running into the mid nineties. Then all the iterations of C7A1, C7A2 etcetera until they finally realized how old a curmudgeon I had become and walked me out in 2022.

Hey, no bad talking the -Echo 3, that's what I started on! But I must admit, the -240 (GPMG/MAG-58/whatever you guys call it) is a better (more reliable, more simple) weapon.

I found the balance on the original M-60 was good, mate. You could patrol without the sling and, unlike the "lightened" versions (and the MG-3, MAG-58 and L4A4 Bren), it wasn't nose heavy. It would sit level at waist height and my neck wasn't sore from getting rubbed by a sling.

Not a fan of the MAG-58 in the GPMG role- too many burnt fingers and palm. Our armourers came up with a fix, using surplus M-60 forward grips, but some chair-polisher in Army HQ vetoed it. It was a great tripod-mounted, sustained fire gun, though.

And what do you mean you'll never see SLRs and M-60A1? I've got some (plastic, not metal), in 28mm from Rubicon!

I'm sure the boys and girls of today would prefer to carry 28mm plastic ones, mate, but they may have some fire-power issues if they get into a contact. :-))

Come on Dal. Let them liberate us in Canuckistan first.

Hang on, TW, I thought youse moose-molesters were going to be the liberators…..

6RAR trialled the M1919 as a replacement for their SFMG M-60's in the early 80's, but got the MAG-58 when the rest of us did. They may have been Canadian converts to 7.62- I only saw them at a distance. There were Canadians on EX Iron Man in '76 (my first "big" EX- and my first major foxtrot uniform). If (huge "if", these days) I remember correctly they were carrying Brens (L4A4?).

I miss those grunt days- 2nd proof I'm stupid. RAEME was pretty good, but it was only a job, if you know what I mean.

Enough trying to remember. My brain cell hurts.