How to paint French Foreign Legion miniatures

Blue, White, Red. It is not only the colors of France, but also those of the French Foreign Legion. Blue for their capote greatcoats, white for their pants and iconic havelocks, red for their sunburned faces. In this painting tutorial we will explain how to paint these three defining elements of the French Foreign Legion in 28 mm miniatures, for which we will offer different ranges of colors to represent different shades.

Materials

For this painting tutorial we will use different figures from the  French Foreign Legion range of 1898 Miniaturas, already available in our online store. We will use Vallejo Model Color paints (three-digit numerical references, eg 863, for options from other brands, consult this color chart) and Vallejo Arte Deco (Midnight Blue, Ref. 070) as well as primer spray of any brand (although I always recommend the one from Citadel).

Preparation and assembly

Firstly, although the 1898 Miniaturas figures come extremely clean of burrs, with our modeling blade we will clean all kinds of excess metal, we will glue the knapsack with cyanoacrylate and we will stick the miniature in an empty paint pot to be able to handle the figure to pleasure during the painting process without having to touch it. Finally, we will print the figure with a very thin layer of white or black spray, after which we will brush over with Black (950).

How to paint French Foreign Legion miniatures

To paint our French Foreign Legion miniatures we will use the same base color technique plus two highlights explained in previous articles. The key to this tutorial is not in the technique, but in the color combinations.

Blue

The capotes of the French Foreign Legion were a very vivid blue color… when they left the factory, but they soon faded from the effect of use and especially from the extreme weather to an iron grey-blue tone. Therefore, I propose different combinations to reflect different shades in our figures:

• For newer capotes, we will use Midnight Blue (Vallejo Arte Deco Ref. 070) as the base color, which we will mix with Sky Grey (989) for the highlights.
• For worn out capotes, we will use Midnight Blue (Ref. 070) plus Sky Grey (989) as the base color (the grayer, the more wear out), and we will progressively add Sky Grey (989) for the highlights. Both the covers for the canteens and the gaiters were made from old greatcoats fabric, so these same combinations are valid.
• For the officers’ coats I wanted to reflect a much darker blue, so I used Black (950) as the base color, Midnight Blue (Ref. 070) as the first highlight and Midnight Blue (Ref. 070) + White (951) for the second highlight.

White

As with capotes, it is to be expected that the demanding living conditions of the French Foreign Legion in the field would make it impossible to keep the trousers clean enough to escape the punishment of sadistic Sergeant Markoff. I also propose different combinations to paint our miniatures:

• For relatively clean pants, I propose Light Grey (990) as the base color, mixed with White (951) for the highlights (hey, I never use pure white in the second highlight, always with a hint of the previous mix).
• For dirtier tones, use a mix of Light Grey (990) with Raw Sienna (Vallejo Arte Deco Ref. 113) or a little Beige Brown (875). A reasonable ratio is 80% gray to 20% Raw Sienna (a bit less if using Beige Brown), but we can change for a greater variety of shades. We mix with White (951) for the subsequent highlights.
• If we want a pristine white, for example for an officer’s pants, we can use Sky Grey (989) for the base color, mixed with White (951) for the first highlight and, this time, pure white for the second highlight.

Red

As its name suggests, the French Foreign Legion was made up of volunteers of multiple nationalities. Until about 1900, up to 25% of the men were Alsatians (Alsace and Lorraine had been annexed to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War) and another 25% were German. The rest, French (18%), Belgians (17%), Swiss (10%), Austrians, Italians, Spanish, Russians, Turks, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, British… From that date o the origin of the recruits changed radically, dramatically dropping the percentage of Alsatian and German recruits partly as a result of German anti-Legion propaganda, and increasing that of French to approximately 45%. The second element to take into account is the age gap. Recruitment statistics from the late nineteenth century indicated that 27% said they were under 20 years old, 56% were in their twenties and 16% in their thirties and some even older. Information that, of course, was not verified and was considered valid. In practice, by 1900 the bulk of the troop was in their mid-thirties and had previous military experience, which gave Legion units a greater deal of veterans than that of the Metropolitan Army or the Navy. This disparity of origins and ages are two very interesting elements to take into account when painting the faces of our miniatures, to which we will add the mustache, that was required to grow in the French Army regulations (the beard was equally popular, especially in the field) and the effect of the inclement North African sun on the complexions of the soldiers.

To paint the faces of our French Foreign Legion miniatures, we will use the technique explained here, although varying the colors to reflect three different skin tones (any combination in between is welcome):

• For a conventional pre-COVID Caucasian skin tone (not the milky-cave current trend), we’ll use our usual color combination: Beige Brown (875) as the base color, Light Brown (929) plus Flat Flesh (955) for the first highlight, and Flat Flesh (955) for the second highlight.
• For a “Brit in Magaluf” skin tone, reddened by the sun (and cheap booze… also in the case of the Legion) we will add a bit of Cavalry Brown (982) to the previous combination.
• For a suitably tan skin tone, we will use Flat Brown (984) as the base color, Flat Brown (984) plus Light Brown (929) with a pinch of Flat Flesh (955) for the first light, and the above mix with a little more than Light Brown (929) and more Flat Flesh (955).

Other uniform elements

Recommended readings

• Gómez Valero, J. (2015): Painting Wargame Miniatures. Barnsley: Pen & Sword.
• Windrow, M. (2010): The French Foreign Legion 1872-1914. Men-at-Arms n.º 461. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
• Windrow, M. (2011): French Foreign Légionnaire 1890-1914. Warrior n.º 157. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.