Assembling Clavery's Chargers

Assembling Clavery's Chargers with James Brown The brave and capable Lieutenant Colonel Amédée Clavery leads the Algerian veterans of the 9e Régiment de Tirailleurs Algériens (9th Algerian Light Infantry Regiment). Learn more about Clavery's Chargers here...

1918 saw great changes in the warfare of the Western Front. Russia pulled out of the war, freeing thousands more German troops to push the Allies back huge distances. The Allied counteroffensives, with the new tanks, evolving tactics, and the arrival of the Americans, forced the Germans back towards their own borders and defeat. Learn more about the Great War here...

In this article, I'll demonstrate how to assemble the contents of the French Great War box set, Clavery's Chargers. First let's ensure the contents of our Clavery's Chargers box set are all present and correct. Clavery's Chargers contains the following: Companie de Fusiliers HQ and Flame-thrower Section, two Rifle Platoons, Machine-gun Platoon, Light Tank Platoon, and a French Char d’Assault Platoon. We'll go through the assembly one unit at a time. If you have any problems or issues with the contents of your box set, please feel free to contact our Customer Service team at: [email protected]

The Companie de Fusiliers HQ & Flame-thrower Section

Companie de Fusiliers HQ a. 1x Standing officer figure. b. 1x Officer figure with pistol. c. 1x NCO pointing d. 1x Fusilier advancing e. 1x Leaning Fusilier f. 1x Advancing Fusilier

Assembling The Company Command teams To assemble the Company Command and 2iC Pistol teams, simply arrange the one of the two officer figures, an NCO figure and a Fusilier figure on Small three-hole bases.

Assembling the 37mm mle 1916 Guns
a. 2x 37mm mle 1916 Gun trail. b. 2x 37mm mle 1916 Gun c. 2x Kneeling gunner	d. 2x Gun loader on right side e. 1x Gun loader on left side f. 1x Kneeling NCO figure

Step 1. Using base plugs to fill the spare holes. One team will need two holes filled, leaving holes for the gunner and kneeling NCO; the other will need three holes filled, just leaving one hole for the gunner.	Step 2. Position the gun trail over the gunner figure and glue in place. You might find it easier to paint the guns separately before assembly.

Step 3. Next, glue the 37mm mle 1916 gun onto the trail - the small lug under the gun fits into the round hole to ensure correct placement.	Step 4. Add the other crew figures. One gun team will have one loader figure and the kneeling NCO. The other team will have two loader figures.

The Flame-thrower Section a. 3x Flame-thrower operators b. 3x Riflemen advacing (left foot forward) c. 2x Riflemen advacing (right foot forward) d. 1x NCO gesturing with right hand. Each Flame-thrower team has a Flame-thrower operator, a Fusilier, and either a second Fusilier or the NCO figure, on a Medium four-hole base. Use a base plug to fill the fourth, unused hole.

Below: An example of an assembled Flame-thrower team with a flame-thrower operator, a Fusilier and an NCO.

The Fusiliers Platoon (x2)

Note: Clavery's Chargers contains two identical Fusiliers Platoons; shown below are the assembly instructions for a single Fusiliers Platoon. You'll need to assemble both of these platoons to fulfil the compulsory requirements of a Companie de Fusiliers.

The Officers & NCOs a. 1x Officer figure with pistol. b. 1x NCO gesturing with right hand. c. 1x NCO pointing. d. 1x NCO kneeling and pointing.

Assembling The Command Pistol Team To assemble the Command Pistol team, simply arrange the Officer figure, one NCO and one Fusilier figure on one of the Small three-hole bases provided in the box set.

The Fusiliers

a. 3x Fusilers kneeling b. 3x Fusiliers kneeling shooting. c. 3x Fusiliers advancing A. d. 3x Fusiliers advancing B.

e. 3x Fusiliers advancing C. f. 3x Fusiliers standing firing. g. 3x Fusiliers advancing D.

Assembling The Fusilier Platoon A French Fusiliers Platoon consists of either one or two Fusiliers Half-Platoons (in Clavery's Chargers, both of the Fusiliers Platoons are a single Half-Platoon) each with an HQ Section containing the Command Pistol Team (already covered above), and two Fusiliers Squads. Each of these Fusiliers Squads contains two Rifle teams. The first Rifle team should have one NCO figure and three Fusilier figures. The second team just has four Fusilier figures. Rifle teams use four-hole Medium bases.

Below: An example of an assembled Rifle team with three fusiliers and an NCO.

Assembling the MG teams
	Each Fusiliers Squad also has a Machine-gun team with an advancing Chauchat LMG gunner and loader (left) and one Fusilier figure. The MG teams are modelled on Medium four-hole bases, using a base plug to fill the unused hole. The MG Teams a. 2x Chauchat MG gunner. b. 2x Chauchat MG loader.

Assembling The VB (rifle grenade) Teams
The VB Teams a. 3x Sitting VB Rifle Grenade figure. b. 3x Kneeling VB Rifle Grenade figure. Each VB team consists of three VB figures and a Fusilier figure on a Medium four-hole base.

The Rifle Platoon Bases a. 1x Small three-hole base. b. 8x Medium four-hole bases. c. 1x Base plug sprue.

The Fusiliers Machine-gun Platoon

The Command Rifle Team a. 1x Officer advancing with pistol. b. 1x NCO Fusilier figure gesturing with right hand. c. 1x Advancing Fusilier figure. Assembling The Command Rifle Team To assemble the Command Pistol team, simply arrange the Officer figure, the NCO Fusilier and the Fusilier figure on one of the Small three-hole bases provided in the box set.

The HMG teams a. 4x HMG gunner figures b. 4x Kneeling HMG loader figures. c. 2x Kneeling NCO figures. d. 2x Kneeling Fusilier figures.

Assembling the HMG Teams Each of the Hotchkiss mle 1914 HMG teams includes the two-man HMG crew consisting of the seated gunner with attached machine-gun, and the kneeling loader as. Two teams will also include an NCO figure. The other two teams are made up of the same two-man HMG crew and a kneeling Fusilier figure. Tip: Use base plugs to fill the extra figure hole on the base, as each Hotchkiss HMG team consists of only three figures. If you base the the loader figure first, you can then place the machine-gun so that the ammunition belts line up. Or (as below) you may prefer to position some or all of your loaders so that, rather than feeding the belt into the gun, they are holding a fresh belt at the ready.

Below: Two examples of assembled Hotchkiss HMG teams, painted as Metropolitan (left) and Colonial (right) troops.

The MG Platoon Bases a. 1x Small three-hole base. b. 4x Medium four-hole bases. c. 2x Base plug sprue.

The First Char d'Assaut Platoon

a. 1x Char Saint Chamond hull. b. 2x Tracks.

c. 1x 75mm gun.  d. 2x 8mm Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun sprue.

Assembling the Char Saint Chamond
Step 1. Begin by attaching the tracks to the resin hull. Note: The two track pieces are symmetrical, so you don't have to worry about putting them on the wrong side. Just make sure the large wheel is at the back.	Below: Correctly assembled tracks.

Step 2. Attach the 75mm gun to the front of the hull.	Below: The correctly attached gun.

Step 3: There is one hole on each side of the tank for an 8 mm Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun.	Below: Example hole for an 8mm machine gun.

Below: Locations for each 8mm machine gun.	Once you have glued in each gun you are finished! Below is what your Char Saint Chamond should look like.

The Second Char d'Assault Platoon

a. 1x Resin Schneider CA. 1 hull. b. 2x Schneider CA. 1 tracks. c. 1x MG sprue.

Assembling the Schneider CA. 1
Step 1. Begin by attaching the tracks to the resin hull. Note: The two track pieces are symmetrical, so you don't have to worry about putting them on the wrong side. Just make sure the large wheel is at the front.	Below: The Scheider CA. 1 with tracks attached.

Step 3: Remove the side-mounted MGS from the sprue using a pair of clippers, and trim any excess metal with a sharp hobby knife or a file. Glue each MG in place in the ball-mount on either side of the vehicle.	Below: The completed Schneider CA. 1.

I hope you find this assembly guide useful when it comes time to assemble your own Clavery's Chargers for Great War. Till next time, happy modelling! ~ James.