"ACW Zouaves vs. Franco-Prussian War Zouaves?" Topic

Some of the guys in the local club are talking about doing skirmish-level Franco-Prussian War games in 28mm. I see his as my chance to *finally* do some Zouaves, but I am on a very limited gaming budget. Perry Brothers make a very nice box of ACW Zouaves, one box would fill all of my gaming needs this time around. Sure, the French lost the war and were generally the underdog, but… Zouaves.

What I am hoping to find out is how similar ACW Zouaves were to 1870 French Zouaves. I know the firearm is different, but yo me (and my fellow gamers) that is passable, even if bayonets need to be clipped off (would they?)

Any comments, both for and against, would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Question; Would in not be just as simple to do a google search and compare the images between ACW and Franco-Prussian War?

I did a quick search of Zouaves in the Franco-Prussian War, and it appears to me that the uniforms match, with the only difference being the braiding on the pants, which can be painted on.

The biggest difference is the kit and the sash. Since the Perrys are based on the 5th NYC Zouaves

vs. French zouave

or here

I think you should be fine as long as you are fine with some inaccurancy

Miniatureships, I did just that. But I trust the TMP Hivemind far more than a Google image search :-)

KTravlos, thank for pointing out the differences in kit.

Blue jacket, red floppy pants, funny hat. Close enough.

It is funny you posted this punkrabbitt. I had the same idea and I already have a couple of boxes of acw perry zouaves. I was going to use them for colonial gaming however to fight the Perry Ansar.

Close enough for government work. I think as long as you use the Perry plastics wearing the true baggy Zouave "trousers" as opposed to their metal miniatures that wear chasseur trousers, you will be okay.

I'm reasonably certain that the zouaves in France in 1870 were the real deal: that is they were native to north africa so they should be painted with darker skin tones.
Bob

French rank insignia for enlisted personnel was on the lower arm, American on the upper arm.
For what it's worth, I used the Brigade Games female ACW zouaves for a French unit: the Belle Zouaves de Monmartre. They carry American carbines, but I believe the French bought American guns for their army after the initial debacles in 1870 (I don't remember specifically what guns the French bought, but I don't think it was Springfield rifles).
Grelber

Zouaves in 1870 were volunteers but not necessarily from North Africa at all. No muslims or if any ver few ( therse were in Turcos). Tanned, yes as serving south, in the sun…
They had a rowdy trouble making reputation. My grand father used to tell me " ne fait pas le zouave" when I was say an agitated little lad.

I think by 1870 the Zouave regiments were mostly made up of French settlers in Algeria. The Trucos were still made up of Muslim soldiers. In both cases they were volunteers I believe.

KT is correct; the Zouaves by 1870 were entirely 'white' being recruited (mostly) from white French settlers, the so called 'pied noir', tough and a tad wild (excellent story about selling their boots before Froeschwiller and blacking their feet with burnt corks to avoid detection) they were superb soldiers (the Malakoff, Froeschwiller). The Turcos (Tirralieurs Algerien) were native north Africans although the commissioned officers were european, their skin colour varied from very light to sub Saharan black, also superb soldiers, huge losses at Froeschwiller. I tried to use ACW Zouaves in 10mm to double as 1870 Zouaves but the absence of the very characteristic big pack spoiled them for me.

With kepis you can build the volontaires de l'ouest, like another gentleman did.

For me the big thing is the back packs -if you leave those of you could be in business also ACW Zouaves will need a haircut to pass for French and a different shaped canteen.
This unit is a mixtures of all sorts but there are some ACW ones in there.
link