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Redoubt's French Regular Infantry of the French and Indian Wars
The French and Indian Wars have been the subject of a steadily expanding range of 28mm miniatures by Redoubt Enterprises for a few years now.
Their production started with Indian warriors, then moved on to settlers, rangers, colonial miltia, and coureur de bois. Now French regulars have made their debut.
The
Kapiti Fusiliers were sent eight of these new French regular figures to
review. They were:
F&I 101 Standing firing in tricorne
F&I 102 Kneeling firing in tricorne
F&I 104 Standing at ready in tricorne
F&I 105 Kneeling at ready in tricorne
F&I 107 Standing loading in tricorne
F&I 108 Kneeling loading in tricorne
F&I 111 March attack in tricorne
F&I 112 Advancing with level musket in tricorne
The figures are well-sculpted and cleanly detailed. They measure 28mm to the eyeballs. Their stature looks a little beefy, but this is partly because of the voluminous coats worn in this period.
The clean-shaven faces are nicely captured, but seem to be almost the same on each figure. Hair is tied back in a plaited queue with a ribbon, and the hats are all tricornes, with a nicely cast ribbon above the left eye.
The
figures all wear the justeaucorps coat with big cuffs, collar and
turnbacks, and no lapels. The cuffs have three buttons with strips of
vertical lace. Where the pockets can be seen, they are of the horizontal
type.
All the figures wear standard gaiters, rather than the various Indian leggings that some soldiers sported during the French and Indian Wars. This, along with the fact that they are not carrying local weapons such as tomahawks, means they could be used just as easily for the European theatre of the Seven Years War.
Each
man is equipped with a cartouche (cartridge pouch) on his right
hip, and a sword on his left side. Figures 111 and 112 also have a small
bayonet scabbard above the sword.
I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the poses, but they are in proportion and well animated, and seem to capture a real 18th century look. I especially like the 'at the ready' figures with their muskets held upright.
The most contentious point about these figures is the length of their muskets. They are 30mm long, with a further 10mm bayonet. As the figures are themselves about 30mm high, this makes the muskets (without bayonets) as tall as a man, which looks very long compared to other makes. The real 1728 model musket was 1593mm in length, and later models not much different. It has been pointed out to me that Redoubt have got it about right, as a typical European recruit was about 5' 4" (or - you've guessed it - just under 1600mm tall).
Command
packs are also available for these figures (though none were sent for
review). With these, it should be possible to build up some very attractive
units of French regular infantry for both the French and Indian Wars and
the European Seven Years War.
These figures come in packs of six, and are available from Redoubt at £5.00 a pack, or $US11.00 from the Miniature Service Center.
Reviewed by Fusilier Roly Hermans
