With this title I´m sure I´ve captured your attention. This group is meant to be Marechal de Camp Jean-Luis- Brue brigade represented here by 95e regiment de ligne one of the units of D´Erlon Corps.
From this picture you can understand the "Chaos" term. This group was made from bits and leftovers of all possible origins: You can see many marching Airfix figures from the artillery set, some ex-Westphalians, all with new pom-poms made of Milliput; Esci figures with backpacks added, new Italeri, coated Hat and some figures with Zvezda heads.
After painting the group is more or less homogeneous.
I like the idea of old items of equipment and clothing being used at the 100 days campaign. Now read this story carefully as I will only say this once: In my last vist to France I found in a Bric-a-Brac shop (antique shop) in Paris, on a place I was asked not to disclose, a letter dated 1st of May 1815, from Jean Menteur, a Grenadier of the 95e de ligne, to his wife Marie de la Tricheur with the following text: "Chère Marie, je besoin de mon plumet de grenadier...", well. as most of you read and write in English and have no idea what French is, I´ll translate: " Dear Mary, I need my grenadier plume, as my shako has no pom-pom, please send it ASAP by post. Don´t forget the cords of the shako! From you husband who loves you. Jean". And here you have it, a living proof that the French used old items of equipment already phased out around 1812, still 3 years later!
This story is one more total BS but serves to illustrate my aproach in the finishing the French for Waterloo and also a bit of despair!
The Grenadier on the rear right is a 1808-12 Hat figure. What I already did to some of them is to cut the tail of the coat so it looks like the bardin coat. Then at the front a different paint job makes the rest.
Next: more 1815 French
A motley crew to be sure. But no doubt better dressed and better shod than some of their fellows on that fateful day in 1815.
ReplyDelete:) Thanks mate. I will transmit the information to the ranks :)
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