I thought this might be my final Hinton Hunt French battalion so I decided, with some irony, to represent them as the 1st Line. However, I now find I do acually have enough troops to cobble together another one. I'm tempted to paint them as one of the French foreign regiments, still that's for another day and future post.
The 1st line were present in many actions since their formation in 1792 but according to my trusty "Napoleon's Regiments" they only had one battle honour which was Wagram. As I hand paint all of my flags this came as some relief as I could actually read the finished lettering!
My passion has always been the Waterloo campaign. My imagination was fired by many visits to Dover Castle as a youngster where Siborne's battlefield model was displayed for many years. In most cases I have therefore based my collection around regiments that took part in that campaign. The 1st Line appeared at both Quatre Bras and Waterloo as part of Reille's Corps. At Waterloo they were engaged in the fight for Chateau Hougoumont brigaded with 2nd Line in Prince Jerome Napoleon's Division and commanded by Brigadier-General Soye.
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| The figures used are: FN 07a Fusilier marching, FN16 Voltigeur in greatcoats marching, FN11 Officer in great coat charging and BN90 British Light Infantry Officer (converted to Eagle Bearer) |
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Although my Hinton Hunt French Line battalions now number 11 (inc 1 Swiss) they all differ in appearance and composition in some way. I don't usually mix greatcoated troops in the rank and file but as I had a lot of reasonable copies of FN16, courtesy of ebay, I decided to break the habit of a lifetime.
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| The Eagle Bearer was a copy of a British Light Infantry Officer also bought via ebay which came with a French grenadier head stuck on! I didn't realise what he was until I started painting when some of the detail became more evident e.g. a waist sash and shoulder wings. As the moulding was not pronounced I decided to press on and use some artistic licence. I found a couple of pictures of early revolutionary soldiers with tricilour sashes (and one of Napoleon) so I've given him one rather than file and paint it out. I think he captures the spirit of a fervent officer/NCO who has just picked up the flag from a fallen comrade perhaps. |
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| FN16 is in1807-12 uniform which is a little bit of a mismatch with the1812-15 fusiliers. That said I don't suppose they all got their new uniforms in 1812! |
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| I have favoured scenic bases for 30 years or so having been swayed by some of the magnificent examples in various wargame magazines. Mine are a bit different than most in that for the past 25 years they have had some actual soil from Waterloo mixed in with the scenic scatter. I picked up a handful opposite La Haye Sainte during my last visit to the battlefield in 2000 with the Waterloo Association. (How sad is that!!) |
Not at all sad. We all do what we can to make our troops live for us, Ian's actually started animating his if you saw his latest post. Likewise, playing fast and loose with uniform regulations is inevitable when using vintage OOP figures - I doubt any two of my units will be the same.
ReplyDeleteOne thing though, how about investing in a terrain mat that's a better match to your bases?
Thanks Rob, always good to know that there are people out there on the same wavelength. Yes, that piece of baize used for the photo was a bit too much of a contrast.....they look better on my wargame terrain but I couldn't be bothered to get some down from the loft!
DeleteThey look great and I particularly like the eagle bearer. You have been lucky to get those marching FN7’s as after 15 years I still don’t have any although you would think they would be a common figure type. The soil from Waterloo is a brilliant touch!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ian. I spent many an hour monitoring ebay for voltigeurs/grenadiers then, just like buses, 26 came along 5 years ago.
ReplyDeleteSimon, I know it's rather late now the unit is finished, but I might have some spare marching elites (not sure what code or if copies) in gaiters and not wearing greatcoats. It would make a more coherent unit. If you're interested I'll have a quick look up in the loft. I may even have some marching in greatcoats but although I doubt it I could look for them at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThat's very kind of you Rob but I've got used to this mixed unit and in fact my next one will also be similar although with all 1812/15 uniforms. My mindset now is that greatcoats were the in thing during the Waterloo campaign because of the shortage of uniforms. I suspect the figures you have are 1807/12 FN257, voltigeur marching as the 1812/15s have trousers except FN07a. I'm actually short of just one FN3 grenadier firing if you have any of those in the loft.
ReplyDeleteYou're mixed battalion looks very smart indeed, Simon! I've also been a bit reluctant to mix up the styles in single battalions up till now, but now that I've seen what you've done with them I may give this a go.
ReplyDeleteThanks Matthew....the greatcoated troops are also a little easier to paint!
ReplyDeleteI can't say how many times I have said to myself, "well, they wouldn't have all gotten their 1812 flags or uniforms yet!" It's one of the reasons I like the 1811-12 period. It was a time of transition so just about anything is possible!
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly I'm just trying to use up the troops left in the drawers but I do quite like the mixed up look now.....it also makes them easier to pick out on the table.
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