Helion are publishing a guide to the uniforms, organisation and weapons of the armies of the Imperial phase of the Franco-Prussian War.
It’s due to be released in the autumn of 2021. If this sounds like your cup of tea, you can register your interest at their website here.
The Franco-Prussian War started 151 years ago this month. To commemorate that, the Real Time History YouTube channel just has launched its week-by-week series on the war.
They’ve released a few videos which help set the scene for the upcoming war, and have now started on the weekly videos.
If you’ve ever wondered what the Franco-Prussian War was all about, now is your chance!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB1eDEd1AYG3YrRIJSZzMOQ/playlists
After a week of work on my VASSAL module to play the Franco-Prussian War using The Portable Wargame, I’m nearly at a suitable place to catch my breath. I probably could’ve finished it by now but I succumbed to feature creep and implemented a battle start time generator and day/time turn tracker inspired by Donald Featherstone’s “War Games“.
I’ve also created some Day / Twilight (as shown above) / Night visual effects so that the turn time could be used to affect play. And finally I’ve made it easy to deploy Fieldworks + Fortifications (also shown above).
If I behave myself and don’t add any more bells & whistles, I should be able to finish version 1.0 this week and get it play-tested with a live opponent.
Well lookee here! A new edition of Michael Howard’s “The Franco-Prussian War” has just been published. I’d been holding off on buying the previous edition because it was around £25. But at over 500 pages, that’s probably not unwarranted. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that not only had a new edition been released but also that it was a bit less of an outlay.
For those of you who aren’t aware of this tome, here’s the publisher’s blurb…
In 1870 the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck ordered the Prussian Army to invade France, inciting one of the most dramatic conflicts in European history. It transformed not only the states-system of the European continent but the whole climate of European moral and political thought. The overwhelming triumph of German military might, evoking general admiration and imitation, introduced an era of power politics, which was to reach its disastrous climax in 1914.
Michael Howard’s The Franco-Prussian War is widely acclaimed as a classic and the definitive history of one of the most dramatic and decisive conflicts in the history of Europe. Evoking a palpable sense of the struggle and the high stakes of the war, Howard analyses the tactics, political dynamics, morale and actions that determined the course of the conflict. He also describes the crucial role played by key figures in the war, including Bismarck, the Prussian military commander Helmuth Von Moltke, and the French generals MacMahon, Chanzy and Trochu. He also sheds fascinating light on how difficult it was to bring the war to an end, with extremists in both France and Prussia pushing to prolong the conflict.
A tour de force of both European and military history, The Franco-Prussian War is a superb account of this dramatic and hugely important conflict, ideal for the student, historian and general reader alike.
This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Foreword by Bertrand Taithe.
I’m delighted to say that mine’s is in the post!
I took a wild punt on a job lot of Franco-Prussian figures from Chariot Miniatures the other day. I wasn’t really sure what I’d be getting, but I thought it might be a good way to get started with the FPW, as regardless of what I got, it would be something that I could build from. I mean, I’m going to need lots of everything really. Though I’m not going to rush in to all the Prussian allied states *just* yet!
After a bit of internet sleuthing it seems that Chariot Miniatures are no longer trading and their FPW range may have been acquired by Magister Militum. Certainly some of the sculpts and catalogue numbers are similar. So that’ll be handy if I want to top up any of the units in the same style. Though it does look like some of the packs aren’t available on the MM website. I assume they’ve combined certain packs eg the command and the line infantry. Also the Chariot packs have 12 infantry and 6 cavalry, as opposed to Magister’s 30 infantry and 12 cavalry.
There is a Chariot Miniatures website still partially accessible courtesy of the Internet Archive, however their Franco-Prussian War page is sadly absent. So for the benefit of anyone who is trying to find out any information about their FPW range here’s as much info as I’ve managed to work out.
Anyhoo, these are the first 10mm figures that I’ve seen close at hand, and I must say I’m amazed at the detail in such small miniatures. They’re quite remarkable! I’m looking forward to picking up some Pendraken 10mm next to see how they compare.
Whilst trawling through old issues of Wargames Illustrated, I stumbled across a set of wargames rules for the Franco-Prussian and the Russo-Turkish wars. The memorably-named Schlachtenbummler (it translates as “away supporter / fan”), by Richard Brooks, clocks in at only 4 pages long, and can be found in Wargames Illustrated #5.
I’ve updated the earlier post on Franco-Prussian War resources, to include this omission. That post also includes details of how to get hold of WI back issues.
The wargaming butterfly strikes again! I seem to have found myself exploring the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) of all things. As luck would have it, I actually had the Wargames Illustrated FPW special (#313) secreted on the bookshelf waiting for this special day.
But WI being WI, they’ve covered this conflict many times over the years. A bit of digging later, and I unearthed a treasure trove of FPW articles. They too, can be yours. Simply get a WI Prime membership and search in The Vault on their website. Membership costs £5.99 per month.
I’ve listed the issue numbers below with some explanatory blurb where the subject wasn’t clear from the article title.
Do let me know if I’ve missed any!