28mm Napoleonic French Officers and NCOs

Here are a few French Napoleonic officers and NCOs that I've knocked out for a large skirmish game I'm organizing next month. The scenario will be set within the battle of Aspern-Essling (1809), specifically focusing on the bitter struggle for the churchyard of Aspern. (I'll post a 'Worst Case Scenario' once the dust has settled.)

Most of these castings are from Perry Miniatures except for the officer with the drawn sword and bicorne, which is a Victrix plastic figure. I've tried to do them up to fit in with voltigeur, line and grenadier companies. 

I've kept the groundwork fairly neutral so the figures can fit in with either North European or Peninsular games without too much squinting.

In the spirit of full disclosure I have to say that not all the uniforms shown here are correct for the 1809 campaign. A few of these chaps are wearing uniforms which follow the later 1812 Bardin regulations. Meh. I've found that with the greying of my hair I've become less concerned about straying from the period's orthodoxies - my toy soldiers' sartorial sins have very little to do with my enjoyment of them, especially once they're on the tabletop, the dice are rolling and the lads are having a good time.

Up Next: A few more French, perhaps an Austrian or two and a bit of Mechanicus.

From PeterD: 28mm War of 1812 US 13th Infantry (82 points)

From Peter:

So I got these guys finished just in time for the final deadline for the 4th Analogue Painting Challenge. These are 16 members of the US 13th Infantry from the War of 1812.  The are Victrix figures from the British Penninsula infantry boxes, with heads from the Victrix artillery box wearing the Belgic Shako.  Let's just say that the honeymoon is over with Victrix and I have deliberately not given any closeups of this unit.  I think that I've got bits from 3 different Victrix sets with torsos from the flank company box with left over arms from the centre company box.

For the 13th I gave them the regulation blue coat - the coats are blue but my lighting and camera skills give them a purples hue.  I have used the Belgic shako to represent the false fronted "Tombstone" shako adopted by the US regs in 1813.

Loki has mentioned the Fat Lady Singing.  Hopefully at our house Sadie (picture enclosed) will be singing- she's not over sized but certainly has some nice curves.  No Fat Ladies singing, only an out of shape middle aged dude bashing out Beatles songs on a guitar. 

Thanks for running the Challenge Curt.  Have a large glass of something strong - you've earned it.

I'm glad you made it in with these - nice work Peter. You've really had a great push over the past 3 months with your 1812 project and I'm looking forward to some games in the near future.

This regiment of US regulars will give Peter 82 points. Congratulations, you've almost doubled your original goal - Well done!

From PeterD: 28mm War of 1812 British Artillery & Command Stands (125 points)

From Peter:

I've got a bunch of odd bits that I've worked on over the challenge that I am submitting as one War of 1812 smorgasbord.  The enclosed pictures are of

• 9 Royal artillery gunners using the Victrix plastic set.  I like the Victrix artillery set, but am going off the Victrix experience as a whole.  The unit of infantry that I'm finishing off was a real bugger to assemble and paint.

• 2 Victrix 6 pounders from the plastic box set.  They went together ok, but a tad fiddly.  

• 2 metal naval guns from Brigade Hobbies picked up at the same time as the Meese.  I believe that these are an 18lber and a 12lber.  From what I can tell, fortress guns in North America often came on naval carriages (that is certainly the case at Louisbourg). 

• A US command stand including a General and a Light Dragoon escort (both on horseback).  These are modified from the Perry French Dragoon set.  The general has his lapels trimmed off and a Victrix infantry officer head.  The dragoon was modified as with my earlier unit of the 2nd Light Dragoons.  I really like the plastic dragoon set.

• A British command stand including a General and an Aide-de-camp from the Canadian Fencibles Regiment.  Again, these started life as French Dragoons.  I trimmed the lapels down but not off to represent the British officers' coat which frequently had a triangle of coloured lapel showing.  The general's head came from the Perry British infantry box and his aide de camp sports a Brigade Hobbies round hat (the ex-Victrix Royal Marine Hats).  The round hat was apparently the very height of fashion with the beaux sabres on the Niagara in 1813.  Much like the Dukes of Hazard hair and moustache in 1990s Biloxi I imagine. 

For the artillery, I opted to mount the gunners on one base and the pieces on a separate base so that I could switch the weaponry around to suit.  

I've had a good laugh at your CSA uniform.  In solidarity with your coming out, I enclose another entry in the "dumb looks from the past while in uniform" challenge. The year is I think 1976, my scout troop was one of the few to wear kilts, and yes that was a lot of hair.  

The only good thing is that given what was fashionable at the time, this picture would likely be more embarrassing if I was wearing pants.

That picture of you is wonderfully dorktastic so I heartily welcome you to the club, congratulations! I must say I get a bit of vertigo looking at the photo as you're pretty much upright but that building in the background looks like it's in the midst of a crash dive or being slowly dragged away by a Cthonian (who must be just off camera).

Great work on the artillery and command stands. I quite like those naval guns on their deck carriages. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to manoeuvre one of those monstrous things in uneven terrain. I have a box of the Victrix guns in the wings and I'm looking forward to giving them a go after seeing yours.

These guns, their crew and the mounted officers will give Peter 125 points. Well done!

From StephanK: 28mm Napoleonic French Sleigh (25 points)

From Stefan:

As one of the final piece for our participation game at Tactica convention in Hamburg I assembled and painted a sledge. It shall represent a sledge which the Grande Armée seized during their retreat from Moscow in 1812. It’s drawn by a single horse and provides enough space for three or four soldiers or some goods. I decided to put a single French soldier in the sledge who is defending its load against some marauding Cossacks. Luckily he has a second loaded musket at his side…

The sledge model itself is a kit from small but excellent Westfalia Miniatures. Kawe and his fellows offer awesome and unique kits and figures for French, British, Russian and Saxon Napoleonic miniatures as well as some fine vehicle kits. The soldier on the coachman’s seat is a conversion from a Victrix plastic Old Guard grenadier. I removed the epaulettes and changed the had to have him represent a simple soldier from a line infantry regiment. The barrels are actually two halves of a Renedra plastic barrel and the blankets are made of soaked tissues. For painting I used Vallejo model colours as usual and prepared the base with corundum sand, some snow covered grass tufts by Mininatur and some cork bits as rocks. I tried to plough the centre of the base a bit to represent the snow well-trodden by the horse.

As special feature I left the load of the sledge unglued and mounted it on a thin base itself. For the future I’m planning to make some substitute loads: wounded French, seated officers or just goods.

Lovely work Stefan! I've been mulling over getting one of these from Kawe for quite some time and your excellent efforts here chivvies me along nicely. I really like the special insert you've created for the sleigh - I'll be shamelessly nicking that idea, thank you!

This wonderful vignette will give Stefan 25 points. Well done!

From Lord Hill: 28mm Napoleonic British Infantry (480 points)

Another points bomb from the UK...

From Lord Hill:

I thought it might be a bit boring sending in company after company of nearly identical British infantry from my project of Halkett's squares so here are four at once rather than four separate submissions!  96 figures in total. These are the remnants of Companies 3-7 of the 33rd Foot after Quatre Bras (hence the number of bandaged heads!).  As always the figs are nearly all Victrix with a few Perry extras.

With them are some Sweeps from the 1st Battalion 95th Foot. These 6 companies were split between skirmishing around the sandpit and standing further back in line along the hedgerow with the rest of Kempt's brigade. 

Hence this grubby lot - half a company maybe - standing in a firing line. The second rank will have to be done later but I just needed a break from all those redcoats! The Rifles are a mix of Perry metals and plastic conversions, and Front Rank and Foundry.

Wow, what a huge stonking entry! Much like Dave's submissions the sheer mass of these units are incredibly impressive, well done Lord Hill! The only caveat is that it is difficult to focus in on one figure or even set of figures. That being said I do appreciate the slight variations in poses and the odd bandaged head does reinforce that these lads have recently seen action.

These four companies of the 33rd will give Lord Hill a very impressive 480 points! This will move him from his original 23rd position to 8th and within sight of his Challenge target. Wow. An amazing amount of work!

From PeterD: 28mm War of 1812 Canadian Incorporated Militia Battalion (40 points)

Peter adds some additional reinforcements to his War of 1812 collection.

From Peter: 

It's been awhile since my last submission but I've had several units on the go. These are a 24 man unit from the Incorporated Militia Battalion of Upper Canada. However, only 8 count towards the challenge as I had painted the original 16 last year. The unit is mostly made up of Perry plastics with with a few exceptions as follows (all in the 8 new additions): The two kneeling figures are Victrix plastics, but with Perry packs so as to have the same kit as the rest of the unit; the officer with the round hat is from Brigade (ex Victrix) and comes in a pack with 3 metal command figures and 30 heads to turn Victrix British infantry into Royal Marines. Apparently round hats were all the rage among the young Canadian officer corps during the war.

My old gaming buddy Ross had noted that my American infantry regiments gave the look of individual figures firing at will. With this unit I tried to get the impression of platoon fire by completing the new 8 figures in firing poses and basing them together. The remaining 4 bases hold figures in the process of reloading and readying to fire.

The Incorporated Militia Battalion was formed as a permanent standing force from men in the existing militia units of Upper Canada (now Ontario). They were well trained and pretty much as good as regulars and fought well during the War of 1812. Members of the unit served all along the frontier and fought in many of the battles.

The original plan was for red uniforms, but supply issues led to them getting green faced red for a time. This makes a nice contrast in the thin red line. 

Officers apparently got scarlet coats faced blue, and darned if I can find any reference to the musicians. In the end I decided that they got the regular green faced red with extra lace.

Great work Peter! I really like the variations in kit, colour and uniform that you've added to reinforce these as bodged together Canadian militia, especially that posh round hat for the officer - very nice. 

These eight fellow (doing great credit to the rest of their battalion) will give Peter 40 points. Well done!

From LordH: 28mm Napoleonic British Infantry at Waterloo - Companies 2 & 3 of the 69th Foot (178 points)

From Lord Hill:

Bit of deja vu now I'm afraid - here are two more companies in square - this time the remnants of No.2 and 3 Companies of the 69th Foot.  As before the figs are Victrix with a couple of Perry arms here and there. 18 men in each company so 36 figs.

Captain Charles Cuyler, commanding Number 3 Company, has lost his shako at Quatre Bras and is wearing a greatcoat slung over his shoulder. He was the son of a general and was promoted to Major in 1817.

Number 2 company had 16 casualties from a nominal total of 54 while Number 3 company lost 35 men from 61 - one of the worst rates for any British unit at Waterloo. Add to these figures the rear echelon men, plus all those charged with carrying wounded officers etc to the rear, and the 18 men shown here might even be too many!

I'm now heartily sick of doing all these redcoats with their endless intricate lace and webbing - I'm going to reward myself with some nice easy Rifles next!

Wow, great work Lord Hill! I really enjoy the historical background you provide for these units as it sets the figures in a wider context. Excellent stuff.

This company of the 69 Foot will give Lord Hill 178 points. Very nicely done - bravo!

From Lord Hill: 28mm Napoleonic British Infantry - The 33rd Regiment (178)

From Lord Hill:

Hear are two companies of the 33rd at Waterloo - 18 men in each company, 36 in total.

All Victrix with a few Perry bits.

In my opinion, the 33rd are the least pretty of any British regiment as their facings were red and thus there's not that nice contract you get with the blues, greens, and yellows of other regiments. But I'm quite happy how they scrubbed up in the end - I just need to learn how to take photos!

A wonderful group of figures Lord Hill. I really like the realistic sense of mass you get from seeing them all densely ranked up - even though they are technically static their overall arrangement is quite dynamic. Very cool.

Britain's 'scum of the earth' will give Lord Hill 178 points. Excellent work!

From PeterD: Challenge Desperado 'Zeke' & War of 1812 American 9th Infantry Regiment (65 points)

From Peter:

I am not sure of Zeke's exact origins, but the smart money is that he is a Minifig Boer commando whom I inherited via RossMac's spare parts bin.  The old style true 25mm figures aren't much in fashion thee days but I think that they have a certain charm to them.  They paint up very nicely with the right approach.  

To the best of my memory (never the best), I've never seen a Peckinpah movie so based him of Westerns that I have seen - True Grit (both of em), Butch Cassidy, Clint Eastwood etc.  I opted for a muted dusty appearance to suit the lone wolf who hasn't seen a bath or a laundry tub in a long time.

Next up for me is the US 9th Infantry regiment, but once again only 8 of the 24 figures should count towards the Challenge.  I've been beefing up my 16 man units to 24 strong and the US 9th was next to get the upgrade.  These are a mix of 16 Perry figures and 8 Victrix.  The new additions are all Victrix and I partially rebased the unit to mix the two makes.  These were all painted up straight out of the box - ok, out of the box and then assembled as per the box as closely as I could get.  

I've represented the 9th in the Official uniform - blue coat with red facings and white lace and the 1812 shako.  As with the 16th US,  the packs are a fudge as they regulation pack was shorter, softer sided and had black straps (not white).  More over there shouldn't be a blanket roll on top - I clearly painted these before I worked out that I should trim off the blanket roll like I did with the 16th.  I learn, but slowly, so the next US battalion will be the Perry figures with the shorter pack and the blanket roll trimmed off. 

I quite like how the unit paints up, but having looked at the photos I need to fix the flags a little.  RossMac noted that my 16th gave the impression of soldiers taking individual aimed shots rather than volleys, and I've aimed to get that appearance here as well.  I should really do a red coat unit that mimics the look of platoon volleys rippling up and down the line.

That's 4 units of Americans.  Now I need to work on the good guys!

Haven't seen a Pekinpah movie? Good god man, we'll have to correct that and damn quick! 

Great work here Peter. 'Zeke' is wonderful. I really like seeing these old Minifigs again, it makes me quite nostalgic, though they almost seem like a 20mm casting amongst today's ubber robust figures. The American 9th is very nice as well and my kudos to you for sticking through the Victrix assembly process - not everybody has the patience to deal with them.

Zeke and his additions to the 9th Infantry will give Peter a very respectable 65 points to add to his tally. Well done Peter!

From LordH: 28mm Napoleonic British Light Infantry (100 points)

Lord Hill adds to his monumental Napoleonic project with this excellent group of British Light Infantry.

From Lord Hill:

Here are the Light company of the 69th (South Lincolnshire) Foot. While the rest of the battalion was in square, this company (or at least what was left of it after being butchered at Quatre Bras) was thrown forward to skirmish, amalgamated as a "Light Battalion" with the other Light companies of the Brigade - the 30th, 33rd and 73rd.

The figures are 98% Victrix with a couple of Perry heads/arms/legs. One day I must learn how to take pics!

Great work Lord Hill! I like how you've mixed the two plastic ranges to make some variant poses - well done. Are all of those figures on one large base? It looks very good but making several of these must demand some strategic storage planning!

These twenty Light Bobs will give Lord Hill 100 points to add to his tally. Very nice work.