Quelling the Commune, 1871 - part 1

Or to put it another way, “Thiers before bedtime.”
This was a Funny Little Wars game played in London with an assortment of 54mm toy soldiers.  It is 1871 and the French republican government under Adolphe Thiers has finally lost patience with the Commune which controls the city of Paris. A corps under Marshal MacMahon is ordered to capture the outlying Fort Issy and then return the city to government control.
A word of warning at this point - if you might be easily misled into taking any of this seriously, or to taking offence at some period politics and language, then stop reading now and go and do something else.
If, on the other hand, you are confident that what follows is merely a sorry tale of some middle-aged men playing with toy soldiers, read on!
Above - our 100% accurate scale model of Paris.

Fort Issy. It’s commander was wanted for murder of a police officer. I wanted him to stop firing those bloody guns.

This and next three photos - the government forces assemble. The figures were an assortment of ACW Yanks and various French dating from 1805 to 1914!