This installment (will Evan ever publish a standalone article?) of my journey to build a platoon of French defenders for a Battle of France Chain of Command clash will be a rundown of the miniatures I’ve chosen to use.

I kicked this project off at Adepticon 2023 by purchasing some Crusader Minis from the Badger Games booth. Ben had me interested in the idea of a companion force for my Blitz Germans we did for the event. So while could skip paying for shipping I grabbed a pack of officers and two packs of riflemen. I figured I would stash these for a while and eventually come back around to them. I was wrong.

Only a few weeks later I found myself making an order from Kickass Mail Order yet again. This time it was filled with French goodies. First was box of Wargames Atlantic WW1 French (which can be used to make WW2 troops). Next came a Warlord Games 25mm Hotchkiss anti-tank gun, and a Warlord Games Hotchkiss machine gun. However no sooner did I assemble the Warlord Hotchkiss to find one I liked better….

Enter Colonel Muller Miniatures. I was on wargaming3d looking for parts for another project, when I saw the thumbnail for it, a wonderful looking Hotchkiss with better detail than the Warlord I was admittedly underwhelmed by. Upon investigation I found it to be the only product from Colonel Muller Miniatures. Being pressed for time I simply bookmarked it for later.

That later arrived a few weeks down the road when I went to go acquire the file and get it printed. Much to my surprise the store page had added even more product in the form of some LMG teams, observers, and some infantry. I eagerly snagged them and set to printing them.

I had also decided to add some small armor to the force because I’m a sucker for vehicles. Just in time arrived an STL file in the form of a Renault FT-17 from Trenchworx. I love these little tanks and I’m resisting the urge to make an entire platoon. I’ve got one printed off, and when I went to make the print file for it I checked in on Colonel Muller and happily found even more files available.

Colonel Muller Miniatures continues to drop multiple files a week, rapidly expanding the range of options available. They are quickly approaching half of my French force. Unfortunately for the excellent box of Wargames Atlantic miniatures I’ve only built five, and I’m not sure any more will find their way into this project. With the recent addition of Colonel Muller’s VB launcher models I have almost everything I need for the project printed or assembled.

So as it stands I have my entire platoon built following the force organization for Chain of Command I laid out in the first article in the series. As a quick rehash that is:
2x Senior Leaders
3x Squads of 1x Junior Leader, 1x LMG gunner, 1x LMG loader, and 8x riflemen
1x VB Launcher Team consisting of a Junior Leader and 3x riflemen

I also have assembled a small handful of support options for the force:
1x Sniper
1x Forward observer
1x Fixed telephone operator
1x Renault FT-17/31 with 37mm cannon
1x Hotchkiss 25mm AT Gun with five crew and one Junior Leader
1x Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun team with five crew

This brings me to roughly 54 miniatures in the project at this time…..and that’s enough for me right now. I’ll be moving on to the painting stage soon, and I will be sure to post up an article covering that process when it is completed.

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If you want to know more about the new entrant to STLs, Colonel Muller Miniatures, I was fortunate enough to recently interview the designer Stéphane and you can find that interview here. As for that unused box of WGA French, well who doesn’t need some Senegalese Tirailleurs in their collection…