Creating a 20mm 1940 French Infantry Platoon - Part One or Un

Sébastien Romero, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

3D printer - check, ocean of resin to hand - check, lack of understanding what I was getting in to - check.

The challenge with wanting to 3D print and then field a 1940 French platoon in 20mm for Chain of Command is you have to search for the models that you like and have enough options to cover the extensive support options as well. From my research and trawling of the interweb, I discovered there are two main sources of suitable files - those of Eskice and Colonel Muller - both French nationals which is a nice coincidence. 

After much deliberation I went for Colonel Muller as the primary source of my squad although I will add in some of Eskice's sculpts when they can fill a gap.

All the links below are to Wargaming3D, just through personal choice I use this one (I am not affiliated or any such thing so use your wargaming STL site of choice).

There are a few main types of infantry squads in 1940 Chain of Command, so I am going to focus on sourcing figures that can be used to make up most of the core infantry squads - they all share common types of figures, giving me the flexibility to make up many different types of platoons.

Pictures below are from Colonel Muller so all copyright etc due to him.

Senior Leaders

To start with I want these to be distinguishable from the general infantry so I am looking for either officer with caps or distinctive poses to make them stand out as Lieutenants or Sergeant-Chefs.

They are armed variously across the types of platoons with either a pistol, rifle or SMG.

So looking at Colonel Muller's excellent sculpts there are some great choices for officers;

A suitably relaxed Officer and if you want De Gaulle and Cpt. Rochefort. For a more general selection of officers that would also fit well there are several choices in the French HQ group. There is also a lieutenant and adjutant in this group with some NCOs.

Junior Leaders, NCOs and more Lieutenants

Again, a great selection to choose from with some strong character sculpts that add some fun to the squads.

My favourite sculpt for an Inferior Senior Leader is this chap - he just looks slightly incompetent but has only a pistol and no rifle.

There are several groups of NCO sculpts that Colonel Muller has created: 

• French NCO and Officer - Two officers with pistols, one with SMG and one with rifle.

• French Veteran NCO - One officer with pistol, three with SMG.

• French Reserve NCO with rifles - Four NCOs with rifles.

• Dragons Portés NCO - Two officers with pistols and one with SMG.

• French NCO - Single NCO armed with a choice of rifles.

Rifleman

There are a lot of choices from Colonel Muller to make up the choice of the bulk of your platoon - whether it is front line or reserve regiments. I mix them up as I see fit to give the variety of poses amongst a squad or team.

• French Reserve Infantry combat group 1

• French Reserve Infantry combat group 2

• French Reserve Infantry under fire

• French Reserve Infantry throwing grenades

• French Reserve Infantry at rest

• French Reserve Infantry on alert

• French Reserve Infantry charging with bayonet

• French Regular Infantry combat group 1

• French Regular Infantry on patrol

• French Regular Infantry group scouting

LMG Teams

• French LMG Team

• French LMG Fire Team 1

• French LMG Fire Team 2

• French LMG Fire Team 3

• French LMG on the move

• French LMG with sandbags

Rifle Grenadiers

• French Reserve Infantry VB grenade launcher

These choices give me the core of a Platoon Headquarters, V-B Team and Group de Combat in various squad combinations. 

I will post soon with other French infantry squads and also the support and vehicle options to print that I have found on the interweb.

So off to the 3D printer I go, bottle of resin in hand to start printing like my life depends upon it - bring on the soon-to-be mountain of unpainted grey resin shame...