1813-15 battles in 20mm and for AoE and V&F - (part 18) 3rd batch of French Line infantry

 

Two more brigades of Line Infantry for the French, Pégot and Aulard for a total of eight up to now. Some of Airfix figures were already painted by TC, while other Airfix and Hat were painted by me. The only extra piece in each figure is the pom-pom on the shako which was enlarged on the Airfix figures with small blobs of Milliput. 

I prefer to paint the greatcoats in one color - blue grey - as it looks to have been the most common. Like this I think the units get enough diversity, but not exaggerated.

The two officers and one drummer are Italeri and two of the eagle guard were nicely converted by TC from the artillery set with the help of Hat guidons. . 

Next: Trip´s heavy cavalry

1813-15 battles in 20mm and for AoE and V&F - (part 17) Imperial Guard artillery reserve (Napoleon´s "Beautiful Daughters")

 

These three batteries of the reserve Imperial Guard were big 12 pdr guns of terrifying power last time used at Waterloo but already with a deadly record at Wagram and Borodino, just as examples. In fact this group is intended for Waterloo but is a mixed bag: 

- the artillerymen are using the white gaiters, which were no longer used since 1813, just because they look nice;

-  General Drouot is here still a Major and this is how he was uniformed at Wagram;

-  the limber drivers are still using the uniform of 1812.

Drouot is the Airfix French officer with a Hat bicorne increased slightly in height with gel superglue. 

The limber is Zvezda and comes from one of the best boxes in the market, the French Foot Artillery, a box filled with marvellous miniature figures, 3 guns, a limber and one ammunition wagon. 

One of the artilleryman is in fact a Grenadier (Esci conversion) as the Imperial artillery had plenty of help from the Grenadiers and Chasseurs during many battles as these last ones didn´t like to stay iddle. 

The guns and crew are Esci with one of the 12 pdr barrels coming from the Zvezda set. 

Next: more French infantry

1813-15 battles in 20mm and for AoE and V&F - (part 16) 1st Infantry Regiment of Nassau

 

If you want to avoid trouble making converted Nassau infantry like this you can go to two boxes of Hat: one is the older Lutzow Freikorps & Nassau grenadiers, which gives nice Nassau figures with colpacks, and the more recent and larger set of 100 figures of exclusive Nassau figures.

I have none of them as I my Waterloo was entirely 28mm. Besides I have excess Italeri new French which can give very reasonable Nassauers. 

Some changes need to be done to produce voltigeurs and grenadiers. The voltigeurs were made from Hat figures with cut down shako plumes and coat tails as you can see to the left; the grenadiers are new Italeri with Airfix heads over 50 years old but nice for these ones. Besides using Hat or Italeri figures you are somewhat right as the uniform is mostly French influenced as the typical waist coat shown in many period images was discarded in the last adopted jacket. In both these boxes the buttons need to be carved out as all Nassauers only used them at the middle. 

The centre of the flag was handpainted on top of a Dutch print with two lions. 

Another interesting feature of the Nassau infantry was their waterproof covered white shako and (at least in Haythornthwaite Uniforms of Waterloo) also white covered cartridge boxes. MSJ1815 only places the 2nd regiment with shakos on the grenadiers but I like these with colpacks as this is a typical Nassau thing. 

The Hat voltigeurs had several coats of wood glue on the shako plates and cut out cords. 

The Italeri/Airfix grenadiers only have these two poses due to the sabre and epaulettes but the end result is reasonable. 

Next: Napoleon´s "Beautiful Daughters"

1813-15 battles in 20mm and for AoE and V&F - (part 15) Middle Guard Chasseurs

The Brigade Middle of Guard Chasseurs completes the French Guard at Waterloo. They were painted with white trousers as it seems they had few blue trousers in June 1815. All figures are Hat taken from both the Line Grenadier box and the big 100 figures of French infantry which includes also some 16 Grenadiers. 

The flags (company guidons) were hand painted and taken from the Mont Saint jean website.

 Next: The Nassauers at Waterloo.