Battle of Wissembourg, 1870 - Heinrichsen 40mm

Here's another 40mm set from Heinricshen, # 4906: Schlacht von Weißenburg, depicting the opening battle of the Franco-Prussian war with Crown Prince Frederick's corps rudely kicking in the door to Alsace.  They represent a departure from Heinrichsen's rich selection of flats: the difference being the figures are not flat but semi-flat or semi-round, halbrund or demi ronde bosse as you prefer. They date to 1893, re-issued in the late 90's. What we have here is a 57 piece set, I suppose the 19th Century equivalent of a Marx playset.  Of course, not all of the castings are figures: besides soldiers singly and in groups, a number of castings feature scenic items or vegetation, as well as explosions and battlefield debris.

Unusually so far as Franco-Prussian war figures go, there's not a spiked helmet in sight.  The Prussians in this case are Bavarians, vs. French colonial troops.  Also, there seems to be about four distinctive sculpting styles in play here. First, the group castings are consistent in style with each other and fully 40mm. The Bavarians are distinctly smaller and on the flat side, very close to actual flats in style but in bolder relief. Then we have the more toylike Turcos, a bit larger and rounder than the Bavarians, finally most of their French command figures are very close to fully round. I suppose that back in their era, these figures were mixed and matched into different sets depicting battles of 1870-1871. 

Without further preamble, let's take a closer look. First, the reverse of the group figure shown at the top of the post.

Here we have some Tirailleurs Algériens.  I enjoyed painting their colorful uniforms. The damaged pillar in the backdrop comes with the set.

And some Bavarians.

And thankfully, the Scad molds have arrived.  Suffice it to say for now, they did not disappoint.  I will report soon on how the casting and painting is going with these.