First Painted Figures of 2023

Well, I don't know what came over me, but I knocked out a couple of figures yesterday.

Up first is a commander for my French Foreign Legionairres:

Rather than use the Armies in Plastic Foreign Legion officer, which I already use for the basic unit's leader, I decided I wanted the "army" leader to stand out. 

My British and Russians both have mounted leaders, but that didn't seem right to me, given that the French would be serving on Venus and in Lost World environs, where horses may be hard to come by. 

I recalled seeing pictures, in an Osprey that I no longer own, of legionairres in pith helmets. It was the choice for those serving in Vietnam or somewhere tropical in the late 1800s, early 1900s, I believe. A quick search of the web confirmed this was the case in Madagascar in the 1890s and that was good enough for me:

The figure is an Armies in Plastic WWI French officer, with the hand/pistol and head from a colonial British officer figure.

Here he is with the rest of the force:

They are a small group, but given their role against mostly lizard warriors, they are well-armed in comparison. This completes my French for Venus/Lost World gaming as originally conceived. That said, another 10 with red pants to serve as a second unit wouldn't be the worst thing!

Next, I brought my 1/72 US Marines up to strength for Dick Bryant's small Crossfire scenarios. 

Two MMG teams, a mortar team, and an FOO for off-table mortars/artillery, the bases clearly need some touch-up.

They only needed one MMG for the scenarios linked above, but since I was painting anyway, I did two.

I also painted a bazooka-armed soldier, but he will be based with a rifleman (painted eight or so years ago). 

To my surprise, it took just a few hours, start to finish, to knock these out. It helps that my eyesight is terrible, and I can't see my mistakes at wargame's distance, but I am also a lot more forgiving of my painting of the small figures these days.

Honestly, I kind of want to paint more of these little guys!