Early War French in Flames of War

All French jokes aside, the French Army, in 1940, was a powerful force. Let down by their leaders and  Generals, who were still trying to fight a World War 1 trench  style battle, the French Army and their British Allies learned first hand the power of Blitzkrieg.

Speaking of Blitzkrieg this is also the the name of the first of the Flames of War Early war books that covers the Invasions of Poland and France. (See what I did there? Neat segue).

Being Primarily a US player in Flames of War, I was without an army in Early War. The US didn't join the fight until early '42, Mid war period in Flames of War so, baring some wacky time travel accident) I was going to have to pick a new country. the playing field was open to me.

I could have gone with the Germans, Polish or French.

I considered the Germans because I like painting blue, but comparing their plain paint scheme to the Poles and French put them in last place.

The Poles were attractive, and offer cool and unique options like Cavalry and even an Armored Train!

However I finally decided to go with the French, Primarily because of the different types of tanks available to the French, from tiny light tanks to hulking behemoths,  and the great camouflage paint schemes available for them.
It will be a nice break from painting American OD tanks.

I ended up buying both box sets of French troops, the Tank Army and the Infantry Army boxes.
While this is not a review of the Army Boxes I will say that I was very pleased with these guys. The Tanks are up to Battlefront's excellent standard and I really like the infantry and guns as well.


Char B1

First Up, the mighty Char-B1 Bis. Ironically this tank is not found in either Box set, and can only be purchased individually as German version, which includes late war Flame thrower, etc. Fortunately you can assemble them as a stock vanilla French Char-B1. I stuck an extra French tank commander from the tank Army box set  on the turret and the illusion is complete!

These detailed minis are impressive, especially the detailed panel lines and rivets. These are large tanks and make an impression on the battlefield especially in an Early War Battle. They are some of the toughest armored tanks in Early War.

Another great aspect to these guys is the camo. The Green, brown and tan make for a striking look in the table, and the markings, with French roundels and squadron and name markings make them look even better.

Painting the camo was pretty simple, I base coated them green and used a sharpee  to mark the camo areas and then just filled them in. Using this method even gets you the black line between colors.

These bad boys are almost done, just some dust and mud, a little flat coat and they are ready to face the German Blitz.

Somua S-35

Here is the first platoon of the French S-35. Personally my favorite French tank, it features good armor and a decent gun.

Where the huge Char B1 was an infantry tank, the Somua was more of a Cavalry tank, faster and more maneuverable.

1st platoon

Again a fun camo scheme and some cool markings make the tank. I love the fact the French use playing card symbols to denote their Tanks platoons.

The dashing French tank commander getting some air

H-39 Hotchkiss

A neat little light tank, the H-39 comes in two flavors, with a long gun for tank busting and a machine gun version.

This guy is even more dashing, it's all about the scarf

Panhard Armored Car

The Panhard is a cool little armored car. Bigger then a light tank it's got a great tank busting gun and an interesting fact about the real car is that it carried two drivers, one pointing each way, it made backing out of an ambush a lot faster. Though I don't know what would happen if both guys floored it at the same time.

with a roomy turret this is one of the few French vehicles that can effectively move and shoot at the same time.

I found this paint scheme on the Flames of war website and really liked it, I liked the variation from the other armored units.

Our last unit today is the 75mm Artillery Battery.

These guys are out of the French Army Box. On forums I've read some complaints on these figures that primarily complain about the accuracy of the helmets.  As far as I'm concerned they look pretty good and the there are a nice assortment of poses available.

As far as the battery itself you can assembly these babies with spoked wooden wheels or steel wheels, I went for the more archaic looking wooden ones. The guns also have an ammo caisson to add to the detail

Here is the Platoon Command and Observer teams

One of the gun teams.

The entire 4 gun battery ready to lay the smack on the Germans

I still have lots more to paint and have  begun an arms race as my son rushes to complete his Early war Panzer company. More to come soon!

Jon