UNIT REQUEST: French Trencher (Frencher)

I already sort of requested this in another thread but here it is again to catch more attention:

My request is a basic replacement for the French for the Infantry era units since they look more American, slightly British. The French uniforms of the time were unique enough (still bright and easy to mow down) to be worthy of a flavor unit.

Behold this FEARSOME soldier!!

Good, I thought this was going to be another "french joke", the newspapers here are full of them. I'd like to see this guy too. The french thought that having a brown or green "camoflage" uniform was dishonourable, trying to hide from the enemy. I can't imagine that this unform after a few weeks in the trenches make you much better a target than the british Khaki or german grey- Mostly what contributed to the british expeditionary forces better performance at the start of the war was fighting experience; The BEF was a small well trained infantry force with exelent marksmanship skills much differnt from the huge conscript land armies of the french and germans.

Ive just tried making this unit by doing a colour replace on the normal Infantry, but it is too difficult to do a simple swap, you need to freehand mask areas etc... It will take too long for me, but perhaps someone else may be able to do it.

Well I think the unit would still be satisfactory if the mask was ommitted as it is on pretty much every infantry unit of the time that was made for civ3. The key here would also be make no civ-specific colors at all, or very minimal or else we'd have him all pink or too blue. I use blue for the french in my games and leave the baby blue for the americans so to make the unit relevant, civspecific colors would have to go.

Ummm...nemesis rex? Any thoughts???

Who Me?

I've still got to finish the various riflemen I'm working on. Then probably an infantry w/pickelhaube. After that if I haven't burned out and no ones done it I'll put it on my list. If nothing else draws my attention.

The trick is going to be that firman's helmet.

seems like you got a lot to work on. this unit isn't really all that essential but would be kind of nice to have for the french so if/whenever you make it will be fine.

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Padma

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I think it's time to stop with that old, and very unfunny, joke.

Originally posted by zulu9812
I think it's time to stop with that old, and very unfunny, joke.

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totally agree , the first time was fun but now its lame and irritating.

im looking foward to see this unit , it should be very usefull to any ww1 scenario maker.

I swear, every stupid French joke makes me actually love the entire country that much more.

Originally posted by thestonesfan
I swear, every stupid French joke makes me actually love the entire country that much more.

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So... maybe I should tell French "jokes" as well !
Thanks for your replies Zulu, Feanor and thestonefan.

The "Frencher" name is just a quick arbitrary proposition for the name for such a unit. Anybody else have any generic unit name ideas?

I found a slang term for a French soldier in WW1 in a reference article. It's supposed to be analogous to the English doughboy. Perhaps Lou Long can confirm that it is not deragotory. I don't think so, but I don't speak French.

POILU

SYLLABICATION: poi·lu
PRONUNCIATION: AUDIO: pwä-lü KEY
NOUN: Slang; A French soldier, especially in World War I.
ETYMOLOGY: French, hairy, tough, poilu, from Old French pelu, hairy, from Vulgar Latin *piltus, from Latin pilus, hair.

cool. i'm not big on french either so i would think it would be a good name unless of course it's derogatory.

I'm willing to let a French-speaker (like LouLong) make the call on the name.

It's *probably* no more derogatory than the US doughboy or the British Tommy.

Well American troops were called doughboys in WW1, and GIs since. Do other nationalities have similar nicknames for their everyday infantry soldier? If so, the french equivalent would be appropriate for this unit.

"Poilu" sounds perfect to me but for its use during WWI only.

Basically the soldiers that thought they would stroll throughout Berlin within a month found themselves "entranched" often without much supply except the very basics (ammo + food in that order !). Lack of razor blades, encampment in a designed area for a long time ... and the fact that hair could protect from the cold (!) all contributed that quite many French soldiers let their beards grow a little. Of course that became the host of not so pleasant beetles with time.

Veterans were still called that name after the war ended when they became a real political and social force.
So I don't mind the name at all, even though he does not "sound" great because it really had a meaning. On the other end, "poilus" would sound a bit weird in a typical Civ3 game.
But for use in a WWI scenario, that is probably the best (nick)name.

Deregatory does not mean much in these cases I guess. Red Coats, Tommies or Poilus were used by their own countries, weren't they ? Now what about Fritz for German troops ? It originately refers to Frederick II of Prussia. I am not even sure it was a hateful word though it was pretty convenient to separate "us" from "them".

If you want, I can write a pedia for it the way I did for the unit it replaces : the red-trousers XIXth century infantry.

A note on the unit: maybe it could grow a little beard to "fit" in with the nickname. About the fiery moustache, well, I guess other countries had the same habit that looks real ridiculous to us now.
It is sometimes called the Renoir (the film-maker, son of the painter) moustache.


To Padma: thanks

Cool. Good to know we got a good name for it but still if it would be the same as Fritz would be from the german pov it would be a little unusual so maybe there ought to be some cooperation with the word infantry or trencher.

Originally posted by Smoking mirror
The french thought that having a brown or green "camoflage" uniform was dishonourable, trying to hide from the enemy.

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Well, that was true for the first uniforms (with the red pants...) This one is indeed camo. "horizon blue". I think the goal was to make the guys hard to spot when leaving the trench, with the grey sky of northern France or Belgium in the background.

Originally posted by Smoking mirror
The BEF was a small well trained infantry force with exelent marksmanship skills much differnt from the huge conscript land armies of the french and germans.

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The first time the German met the BEF, they fought they had machinegun, when they had only a very good rifle (I think the best of WWI), and were trained to use it very effectively.

Originally posted by Steph


The first time the German met the BEF, they fought they had machinegun, when they had only a very good rifle (I think the best of WWI), and were trained to use it very effectively.

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what rifle would that be?