The Verdun Project: Tirailleurs Marocains and Artillerie Speciale

One of the things I promised myself when starting a Late Great War French army is to make sure that I didn’t have a lot of random figures left at the end of the project. I turned out to be more than slightly over-optimistic in this regard. When I ordered the figures for the French infantry at the start of the year from Brigade Games, I over-ordered. Partly this was the usual rush of enthusiasm, and partly this was because I wasn’t quite sure how many formations I was going to build and I wanted to combine the orders into as few parcels as possible to save shipping.

I was left with a couple of dozen figures at the end of the project. Rather than file these I a drawer and forget about them, I cast around for a way to use them which didn’t involve painting them as basic infantrymen. Here’s where I got to.

Three have been enlisted into the ranks of French tank crews from the Artillerie Spéciale – more of this to come later this year, but suffice to say that I’ve purchased enough French tanks to form a small force from the Nivelle Offensive at Berry-au-Bac in April 1917. I’m hoping to paint these up in November and December, so watch this space. Sadly, only one manufacturer makes French tank crew – which are the Old Glory figures featured here. This is a great shame as the heroics of the French Artillerie Spéciale are inspiring and very interesting material for any game. Anyone wanting French tank crewmen with British Tank-Corps style face masks (such as the one shown in the Osprey French tanks of World War One volume), has to resort to green- or brown-stuff versions.

The wounded/ shock markers are from generic casualty figures I bought a while back from Silent Invader at the Lead Adventure Forum. Regular visitors to this blog might remember these from British and German casualty projects in the past.

The remaining figures eleven figures I converted as Tirailleurs Marocains, using the Woodbine miniatures’ Zouave heads. I was really pleased how easy these were to use. Simply saw off the head of the figure, drill a hole and insert the new head. I added a collar of brown-stuff on most of the figures to disguise the join. I sawed off the helmets as well and added these to the Zouaves’ field packs to try and give the figures a Late War “feel”. I’m very much aware that any sensible Tirailleur would have worn his Adrien helmet in action, and depicting the Zouaves in their dress caps is probably viewed by many as a crazy affectation. I admit it – you’re right. It’s unhistorical, but I liked the appearance. And since I’m unlikely to do an Early War French army any time soon, this was my only chance. So, confession over, here’s how they lined up post-conversion:

You may be wondering what on earth I am going to do with just eleven Tirailleurs Marocains!!

It’s a fair question, mes braves, but I’m sure there’s a scenario they can fit into. Perhaps as a group of Tirailleurs pinned down in No Man’s Land, or as a bunch of stragglers, or as a scouting patrol. I’d not be surprised if they end up being used more than the typical Pinard-drinking Poilu!

And why the Tirailleurs Marocains in particular?  Almost entirely because some of the Moroccan regiments seems to have been equipped with Horizon Bleu uniforms throughout the war, as opposed to being equipped with khaki uniforms (as were more common for the French African regiments). That, and they offer just a glimpse of the huge contribution to the French war effort made by African soldiers in the Great War. With that in mind, it was very hard to resist their allure for the wargames table....

I’ve still got a platoon of Tirailleurs Sénégalaise to paint, but they’ll be lucky to get painted this side of Christmas.

Next up will be the next instalment In our Chain of Command Campaign, so here’s hoping you can join me for that. Have a great weekend!