Toy Soldiers for my son

For years I have been intrigued with miniatures painted in the old toy soldier style.  Irregular Miniatures has a line of 42mm miniatures that are aimed at exactly that itch.  A while back (13 years ago), I started collecting some and put together two Waterloo armies, and a smattering of figures from other time periods, including Zulu, American Civil War, and The Franco-Prussian dust up.

A few weeks ago my younger son (Ethan) turned 8 and it seemed like it was time to get him his own set of toy soldiers so that we can start to play on the tabletop together. So, I decided to order two small armies from Irregular as a starter set to give to Ethan for Christmas. If he enjoys them, we can add to the set.

I chose the Franco Prussian war for the armies.  It seems like a great period for classic toy soldiers and I've been reading the history lately.

I had a few figures already from my foray 13 years ago, so I dug them out and gave them some new paint and a fresh coat of gloss. I then ordered the rest of the Germanic and French minis painted from Irregular.  They have a nice painting service available so their customers can order the figures already painted.  I think that this is a great service.

I received the figures yesterday and based them up and gave them an extra coat of gloss (I like my toy soldiers REALLY GLOSSY).

Here they are:

 Each Army gets 5 Artillery, 2 Cavalry, and 12 Infantry stands, which I think represents a pretty average force ratio on the battlefield in 1870.

 Prussian Uhlans

 Prussian Infantry

 Bavarian Infantry

 Prussian Artillery

 Prussian Infantry. These were originally painted as WWI 13 years ago, but I re-touched them to make them fit in 1870.

 French Dragoons.

 French Chasseur a' Cheval

 French Imperial Guard wearing their bearskins.

 French Infantry

 French African Infantry

 French Artillery

 Prussians

 More Prussians.

 Frenchies.

 More Frenchies.

 Prussians Artillery

One more look at the Uhlans.

I hope Ethan loves them, and that this is the start of years of playing together. :)

Napoleon in Europe Project

For a while I have had a vision of being able to play Napoleon in Europe with a larger board and painted 15mm figures.  When battles occur on the strategic board, I want to be able to fight them out with 28mm armies on the tabletop.  Phase One is now complete:  I have all the figures for every major and minor power in the Napoleonic Wars based individually in 15mm and the large board.

 The board is approximately 5 feet x 4 feet, and sits on a table in my office.

The figures are all AB Miniatures, which are incredible.  All paint and basing work by Ron Redworth...also incredible.  Vive L' Emperor!

 French troops invade Northern Italy.

 Spanish Troops.

Austrians.

 Prussians.

British.

British.

 Russian.

Russian.

 Russian.

 Ottoman Command.

 Grand Duchy of Warsaw (Poland).

 Bavarian.

 Saxony.

I also have troops for Baden, Westphalia, Italy, Portugal.

The next step is to complete the 28mm armies.  So far I have complete armies for France, French Allies, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia.  The Austrians are being painted now.  Once I get the Austrians, I'm going to start playtesting the rules.  Hopefully in December.  This will allow me to re-fight the entire Napoleonic Wars Campaign at a strategic level and also fight the resulting battles at the tactical level (with each unit representing a division or so).
Can't wait!  :)