WWII Tirailleurs Sénégalais(1)

If you came here because you followed a link from TMP, you have been duped. Tango01 does not exist, he is a sock puppet account of TMP Editor and the post you followed was just a pathetic attempt to drive traffic to the cesspit that is TMP by using SEO. Don't support TMP it steals content.

Just before we went on our trip to the UK last month I noticed that on the Northstar Twitter feed that Crusader Miniatures had released some lovely Senegalese Tirailleurs in their early WWII French range. I did not know why I needed to have them but I did know that I had to have them.

I picked up the platoon deal, and as that is not quite enough to do a full platoon for Chain of Command I also picked up a few more troops and a few support weapons.

I initially concentrated on getting a full platoon painted for Chain of Command and the support weapons will follow in later posts.

The painting was done using the Crusader Miniatures guide by Michael Farnworth as a guide for my usual base-coat, was, two or three highlights method. I painted these in groups of four figures. All colours are Vallejo Model Colour unless noted.

After cleaning up and basing the figures they are give a coat of Rustoleum Camouflage Khaki primer. Once dry the figure is blocked in with Vallejo Brown Violet pretty much all over. The Adrian helmet is painted in Russian Green, the small pack and most of the machete scabbards in German Camo Beige and the leather and some of the rifle stocks in Flat Earth. The shoes and some of the rifle stocks are painted in Saddle Brown then the flesh tones and the remainder of the rifle stocks in Chocolate brown. I then picked out the fittings on the rifle in black. The fez was painted Army Painter Viking Red.

Once dried I gave the figure a coat of Army Painter strong tone.

Once the Strong Tone has dried I went about highlighting the figure. Brown Violet, Russian Green, Flat Earth and Saddle Brown are initially repainted with the base coat, then two highlights each with a little more Iraqi Sand added. The German Camo Beige is repainted with the base-coat then a couple more highlights of Pale Sand added. The Chocolate Brown on the flesh is just re-painted while Chocolate Brown rifle stocks are highlighted by adding Beige Brown. The Viking Red is repainted then given a wash of Army Painter Red Tone to dull it down. The metalwork is picked out with a glaze of Gunmetal Grey and Black. Each figure is then 'brown-lined' with Windsor & Newton Peat Brown.

Here are some shots of the constituent parts of the platoon.

Headquarters:

The Sergeant-Chef is a head-swap on one of the figures from the French Infantry Command pack, while the office is the one from the platoon deal. The Lieutenants Kepi is initially painted black and then glazed with Black and Dark Prussian Blue. The braid is picked out in Gold Brown.

First Groupe de Combat:

I base the leaders on 30mm bases while the troops are on 25mm bases, the LMG team and one pair of riflemen per section are based on a 40mm base.

Second Groupe de Combat:

I'm not too sure about the colour of the small packs, I think they are probably a bit too light and I should have started with a greener and darker base-coat than German Camo Beige, probably Khaki or WWII Russian Uniform.

Third Groupe de Combat:

The bases are done using Pumice Gel with small patches of coarse sand stuck on then base coated in US Field Drab with a drybrush of Iraqi Sand then Pale Sand. I then repaint the edge with US Field Drab to tidy them up then add Army Painter tufts, Woodland Scenics clumps and static grass.

 V-B team:

The last troops are the V-B rifle-grenadier team led by a Caporal.

I'm looking forwards to playing with these. I don't have any Germans painted specifically for 1940 in France, but my early Eastern Front troops should suffice.