So What is Project Maximilian?

Having always a bit of a Francophile, I have had a growing interest in France's various military campaigns.  A number of years ago I had the chance to pick up a friend's figures of an aborted project of the French Intervention in Mexico in the 1860s.  I began to read up on the period and found the whole thing fascinating with its variety of allied units (Austrians, Belgians, even an Egyptian battalion) along with French troops in les pantalons rouge!  But, unfortunately, other projects got in the way and the figures languished in a box until recently when my interest in 19th Century warfare was rekindled (see Project Moltke for inspiration).  So this blog is intended to contain a record of all aspects of this project.