Franco Prussian War S Range Limber and Box riders conversions

Following on from my previous blog showing the Crimean War limbers, these are my Franco Prussian War limber teams.

Unfortunately, John has been very busy and not able to get around to producing more horses for me so the French and Bavarians are presented on 'borrowed British Limbers'.

The French outriders are made from the French General with the FPW Artillery figures used for the head swap.

French FPW or late Crimean War Artillery riders

The Prussians and Bavarians are both based on the mounted Generals available from John Cunningham.  The key difference is the 'box riders'.

Many years ago I brought the Minifigs Napoleonic carriage WAGX 4 complete with 2 French Generals (a one piece casting).  I wanted the carriage for my ACW Governor.  The two French Officers went in a spares box.  I had a sudden idea that maybe I could convert these to make 'box seat' riders for my limbers.  So as usual it was off with the heads and the bits of extra sashes etc., and on with different heads.  The FPW Prussian and Bavarian Officer figures both have 'large heads' compared to the line infantry figures and fitted very nicely.

I had to adjust the arms to get them to sit on the Warrior Limber.  I also put a piece of vinyl floor tile between the limber box and the frame to raise it to allow for the legs.  I am not sure whether I actually like these or not.  To para phase the song 'Should they go or should they stay'?

Prussian Team - without and with box seat riders

Bavarian Limber Team - without and with box seat riders

Bavarians and Prussians seated in carriage.  These have the 'new style' Minifigs horses, but the carriage itself looks very similar to the one in the catalogue on the Lone S range blog site but with S range horses.

Crimean War S range limber riders

In our FPW game, I showed some pictures of a couple of limbers I had put together using some Minifigs S range horses and figures.  I was inspired by a French limber by Wellington Man on his Hinton Spieler blog site.  There were no S range limbers available but decided that my artillery should have something. 

First up my Crimean War Limber teams

I used the S range draught horses available for John Cunningham and the Hinchcliffe French Limber and for a limber with a box seat I settled on the Warrior ACW limber (very good casting and well priced).

The team riders are really simple conversions and I explain how to do it later in this article if you are interested.  The French are made from the French General with the French Crimean artillery head swapped and the British are a straight forward repaint of the British Crimean mounted Officer, together with a head swap to give them a team in forage caps.

John doesn't provide any 'traces' with his French limber and nor do Warrior so I added my own. Over did the French ones.  The 'traces' are made from cheap costume jewelry chain from the 'Pound shop' you can get a lot of chain for a £. Guess there must be 'Dollar' and 'Euro' equivalent shops.  Great also for ships, chandlers wharves etc.,

French Artillery Team

British Limber Teams - shakos and forage caps

Russian Limber Teams

In the case of the Russian cavalryman I just left the blanket roll at the back and cut of the horse blanket right up to the legs.  On reflection I could have left some of the blanket and saved a bit of effort.

The Russian Guard and line team are the normal cavalry figures with the swords cut off, a hole drilled in his hand and a whip made from florist wire. Florist wires it is easy to bend to shape.  

The Russians do have green limbers painting and waiting. Unfortunately John has run out of horses, so the project is on hold for the moment. So for this article I have just put them on the British horse teams.

For the Turks you have a choice of the Officer, which I used as the basis of the mounted rider on my Turkish Telegraph team or the Turkish cavalry figure with the sword substituted as above. A set as Sardinians using the French artillery with plume figures would should look rather fetching with yellow piping.