Bolt Action French Infantry: Plastic Sprue & Options Guide

With Bolt Action France receiving a major expansion for Third Edition, French miniatures are back in the spotlight. One of the most important kits in the range is Warlord Games' plastic French Army Infantry—a highly customizable infantry set that forms the core of the new all-plastic French army options.

There is one important distinction: the standard French Infantry sprue itself originally arrived in 2023. What's new for 2026 is the much larger French range surrounding it, including Armies of France: Third Edition, new plastic support weapons, artillery, Foreign Legion infantry, and the Hold the Line! starter army.

That makes this a good time to take another look at the French Infantry sprue, what you can build from it, and why it remains such an important kit for starting a French Bolt Action army.

Browse our Bolt Action collection for French miniatures, starter armies, vehicles, books, and accessories.

Quick Summary: Bolt Action French Infantry

• Scale: 28mm / 1:56 scale plastic miniatures.
• Six Bodies Per Sprue: Each infantry frame contains six dynamically posed French soldiers.
• Multiple Troop Types: The kit can represent regular French infantry, fortress troops, chasseurs à pied, engineers, and colonial troops depending on how the models are assembled.
• Weapon Options: Includes rifles alongside options such as the FM 24/29 light machine gun, submachine gun, grenades, and VB rifle-grenade launcher.
• Multiple Head Options: Different headgear allows the same core infantry kit to represent several types of French troops.
• Third Edition Relevance: The sprue remains the core infantry component of Warlord's expanded French range.

What's on the Bolt Action French Infantry Sprue?

The French infantry frame contains six bodies wearing the characteristic French Army greatcoat. From there, a large selection of heads, arms, weapons, and equipment allows those bodies to be customized into noticeably different soldiers.

This versatility is one of the strongest features of the kit.

Instead of producing a sprue designed around only one very specific infantry unit, Warlord created a frame that can serve as the foundation for several different French formations.

Six Plastic Infantry Bodies

Each sprue contains six bodies in different poses.

The poses are designed to give a unit some movement while leaving the arms and equipment separate enough to create different weapon combinations.

Across a full infantry force, changing heads, weapons, arm positions, and accessories helps reduce the repeated appearance that can sometimes occur with plastic infantry kits.

This becomes particularly valuable with the new Hold the Line! starter army, which uses a substantial infantry core rather than relying heavily on vehicles.

The Head Options Are the Star of the Sprue

The different head options are arguably what make the French Infantry kit particularly versatile.

Changing the headgear can substantially alter the identity of the finished miniature.

Adrian Helmets

The iconic Adrian helmet provides the classic appearance most hobbyists immediately associate with French soldiers of the period.

If you are building a conventional 1939–40 French force, these will likely form the visual foundation of the army.

Chasseurs à Pied

The sprue also provides appropriate head options for representing chasseurs à pied, giving players another way to distinguish units within the same army.

Colonial Troops

Additional head options can be used to represent North African colonial troops, including formations from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.

This is particularly useful because it lets players introduce greater historical and visual variety without requiring an entirely separate plastic infantry kit.

Characterful Extras

The sprue also contains additional character pieces such as a kepi, bandaged head, and even an arm holding a cigarette.

These aren't necessarily the pieces you'll use repeatedly across an army, but they are excellent for officers, NCOs, spotters, or simply making individual miniatures stand out.

French Infantry Weapon Options

A Bolt Action infantry kit needs more than rifles, and the French sprue includes several important weapon options.

FM 24/29 Light Machine Gun

The FM 24/29 provides an immediately recognizable French light machine gun option and can be built with an accompanying loader.

Including it directly on the infantry sprue makes it easy to build appropriate squad weapon teams without relying on separate miniatures.

VB Rifle-Grenade Launcher

Another particularly distinctive component is the VB rifle-grenade launcher.

The VB launcher gives French infantry a visually interesting specialist weapon and helps differentiate the miniatures from many other Bolt Action infantry forces.

Submachine Guns and Grenades

Additional weapons and equipment provide options for leaders and specialist models, while grenades and other accessories help add variety to otherwise similar riflemen.

How Many Different French Units Can You Build?

The strength of the kit isn't simply the number of individual pieces. It's the number of different roles those components can represent.

Using the standard plastic infantry as a foundation, players can assemble models suitable for:

• Regular French Army infantry
• Fortress troops
• Chasseurs à pied
• Engineers
• Colonial troops
• Officers and unit leaders
• Light machine gun teams
• Rifle-grenade equipped soldiers

That versatility makes the kit especially useful when you're building a large force and don't want every platoon to look identical.

How Does the French Infantry Kit Fit Into the 2026 Range?

This is where the older infantry sprue becomes particularly relevant again.

Warlord's 2026 French expansion adds new plastic kits that work alongside the existing infantry.

The new French heavy weapons range includes the Hotchkiss M1914 medium machine gun, medium mortar, and light mortar options. The crew components were specifically designed to work with the existing French infantry plastics.

That means the original infantry sprue effectively becomes part of a larger modular French plastic range rather than remaining a standalone infantry box.

New French Foreign Legion Plastics

The biggest completely new infantry release for 2026 is actually the French Foreign Legion Platoon.

This separate plastic kit contains 30 infantry and is aimed particularly at Free French forces fighting in North Africa.

The Legionnaires combine British-supplied uniform elements with French weapons and include the famous white kepi among their modelling options.

The compatibility between parts from the Foreign Legion, standard French infantry, and new support weapon crews should provide plenty of opportunities for hobbyists who enjoy conversions and kitbashing.

New Plastic Heavy Weapons

French commanders also gain dedicated plastic support weapon options.

The new heavy weapons components include:

• Hotchkiss M1914 medium machine gun
• Medium mortar
• Two light mortar configurations

For anyone who already owns the standard French Infantry box, these are particularly useful expansions because they allow an existing collection to gain more supporting firepower without replacing its infantry core.

The French 75 Joins the Plastic Range

The iconic Canon de 75 modèle 1897, commonly known as the French 75, is another major addition to the plastic range.

The new artillery kit includes three different wheel variants, providing additional modelling choices.

Combined with the infantry and heavy weapon plastics, it means players can now build a substantial infantry-and-artillery French force predominantly from plastic kits.

Hold the Line! Shows What the Kit Can Do

The new Hold the Line! French Starter Army is probably the best demonstration of how useful the standard French infantry plastics remain.

The box contains 42 infantry forming a large Rifle Platoon. These models can be assembled in combinations of regular French infantry, fortress troops, chasseurs à pied, engineers, and colonial troops.

The force then adds light and medium mortars, medium machine guns, and a pair of French 75s.

Rather than relying on a tank to provide the centrepiece, Hold the Line! emphasizes infantry and supporting firepower.

That makes the customization available on the infantry sprues particularly valuable because so much of the visual character of the army comes from the soldiers themselves.

First Impressions: What Does the French Infantry Kit Do Well?

The strongest feature is versatility.

Six bodies per sprue might sound straightforward, but the variety of heads, weapons, and accessories allows those bodies to represent several formations.

For army builders, that's more useful than simply having a large number of fixed poses.

The distinctive French equipment is another strength. Adrian helmets, the FM 24/29, VB launcher, and alternative headgear make the finished soldiers immediately recognizable as French rather than generic Second World War infantry.

Where Does the Kit Have Limitations?

The main limitation is simply that this isn't an entirely new 2026 infantry sculpt.

If you already own a substantial collection of the plastic French Infantry released in 2023, the core infantry models themselves aren't something you need to replace.

The more interesting 2026 additions for existing collectors are likely to be the new heavy weapons, French 75 artillery, Foreign Legion infantry, and Armies of France: Third Edition.

For a new player, however, the standard infantry remains the logical foundation of an early-war French collection.

Is the Bolt Action French Infantry Kit Worth Adding to Your Army?

If you're starting a conventional 1939–40 French force, this is one of the central kits in the range.

The ability to represent several different troop types means you can use repeated boxes without necessarily creating an army where every squad looks the same.

For existing French players who already own enough infantry, the new 2026 support kits may offer more immediate expansion options.

For completely new French commanders, combining these infantry with the new Third Edition releases creates a much broader plastic army than was previously available.

Shop Bolt Action French Miniatures

With Armies of France: Third Edition and the expanding range of French plastics, there are now more options for building French forces across different units and periods.

Browse our Bolt Action collection for French infantry, starter armies, vehicles, support weapons, books, and other Bolt Action miniatures.

Frequently Asked Questions About Bolt Action French Infantry