I just finished my first set of French Marins. I’ve been playing mostly Spanish and English but I’m branching out into some of the Brethren of the Coast and Pirate factions where I can use these sailors.

Two of my friends have been playing a lot of French lists so I’ve been on the receiving end of the Marin charge many times over the past two years! Marins are arguably the best charging unit in the game for their cost. Pay 4 points per model and these fierce Frenchmen will hit on 4’s on a charge with re-rolls with pistols. I’ve seen many Marin charges where they score 100% hits. Their second Fight action isn’t always as good, but most of the time a second Fight action isn’t needed! One charge and the job is done.

I know I’ll be painting up at least another 8 of these models so I felt fine using a fairly narrow color palette. I can’t seem to get away from the red/white/blue scheme though! I noticed these guys’ colors are nearly exactly the same as most of my Marineros. I need to find a new set of colors I’m happy with…

This set of models is heavy on the pistol pointing… 3 out of 4 figures has a pistol held straight out at arm’s length. I think the figure with the feathered hat is my favorite pose of these 4 models, but I like all of them.

I used this guy to break up the color scheme a little. I wouldn’t be caught dead in that coat!

My French force is slowly growing! I now have 2 commanders, 4 Flibustiers, 8 Boucaniers, and 7 Marins painted (8 of these models were painted by someone else and I acquired them on eBay). Getting a few more French models painted up will open up the Pirates, Brethren of the Coast, French Buccaneers, Logwood Cutters and Kidd’s Privateers up to me as playable factions.

With their impressive charge stats, I’ve been thinking Marins are an ideal choice to have manning the 4 Swivel Guns on the front of ships like the Tartana, Fluyt and Brigantine. If you’re trying to board your enemy the combination of a full 12 Swivel dice followed by a Marin charge could sweep anything away!