Forbodian Jagers - part 1

As part of my ongoing Funny Little Wars project, I decided that it was high time I painted more infantry.  Readers will recall that I have painted one small unit so far (the Palace Guard) for my fictional country of Forbodia.  Regular readers will no doubt be shocked to learn that a certain amount of toy buying has taken place over the past few weeks, and although the Forbodian Army is far from complete I have toys for parts of at least two other armies...  One is never enough.

While casting around for suitable toys I had a look at the ACW Zouaves made by HAT and decided that they would be suitable for the obscure Balkan principality that is Forbodia.  As Zouaves would also fit into a French-style army (or as H.G.Wells would have it, 'Army Horizon Blue') then I could justify buying quite a few of them. 

HAT actually produce two different sets of Zouaves, with 16 or 18 figures in each, so I bought three of each.  This enabled me to achieve some degree of uniformity in terms of poses and will give me four 20-figure battalions (at least one for Forbodia) plus 'spares' to be used as gunners, staff officers, medics etc.

These are really rather nice figures - seen here awaiting an initial coat of PVA.

Mine will look rather different to the box artwork!

The Forbodian Jager Battalion being formed.  The bases are only temporary to make them easier to handle while painting.

So far the figures have been sorted into units and the chaps who will form the Forbodian Jagers have been cleaned up a bit (there was very little flash to remove), washed to de-grease them, and stuck (using double-sided tape) to temporary card bases.  Next comes a liberal coat of PVA to provide a paintable surface.