60’s Flashback

I couldn’t resist putting this picture up. It is a detail from the front cover of the December 1968 issue of Miniature Warfare and features a unit of the same French Fusilier Figures that I have just completed.

The reason I am showing this picture is that it inspired me many years ago to want to collect a Hinton Hunt French army. Being reliant on pocket money at the time I had to finish my Prussians before investing in any more figures and it was a while before I finally got some. I ordered Grenadiers, Cuirassiers and Horse Artillery - if you ordered over 100 figures in one go you got a fairly decent discount.

When the order arrived I was disappointed to find that the French infantry were not the same figures as in the magazine photo. I couldn’t work out from my catalogue which figures were pictured so I had guessed and ordered Grenadiers by mistake. The identity of the figures remained a mystery to me until I picked up some Fusilier from ebay a couple of years ago and was able to read the code numbers under their bases. It took some time but I got there in the end.

I never did paint up any of those French figures (except for the Horse Artillery) and they all went the way of my Prussians – I wish I still had those castings!