Napoleon (2)

 

This is the Napoleon in Egypt personality set from Brigade Games.  Perry Miniatures don't have a Napoleon figure in their Egypt range, presumably because the range is more orientated towards the British intervention after Napoleon's departure in August 1799.  Before Christmas I put in an order with Brigade Games to take advantage of a sale and to buy some of their new(ish) AWI figures, and I couldn't resist this set and a couple of other Egyptian campaign things.  I was going to blog next about my recent ACW units but thought I'd just finish off these French bits first.  This is my second attempt at Napoleon, after the rather massive piece I did for a Salute Waterloo game many years ago (see here).  I won't both with any sort of potted biography of Napoleon, even one limited to the Egyptian campaign, but rather will post some observations on the paints and colours I used, in case of interest, and some inspiration.      

Back in 1799 Napoleon was 30, trimmer and fitter than at Waterloo.  His Egyptian adventure captured the imagination of French artists, and Jean-Léon Gérôme painted three depictions of Napoleon in Egypt which show a young man who is quite different to the corpulent Emperor of several years later.  Gérôme painted a number of middle eastern scenes and had travelled in the region in the 1850s.  His three best known Napoleon paintings are below.  These are very atmospheric paintings, a long way from heroic battle scenes like the work of Horace Vernet, for example.  Commentators have noted how these paintings are quite psychological, with Napoleon seeming deep in thought or contemplating some aspect of his destiny (there's a good analysis of the second painting here).  I found these quite inspirational. 

Napoleon in Egypt, circa 1863

Napoleon and his General Staff in Egypt, late 1860s

Bonaparte Before the Sphinx, 1886

I had to re-find the paints I'd used for the Dromedary Corps vignette.  The base coat was Citadel XV-88, then various layers/touches of Tau Light Ochre, Bestigor Flesh, Ushabi Bone and Foundry "Base Sand" and "Boneyard" paints.  I had to look up the colour of Napoleon's hair, which apparently was dark brown (I had thought it was black).  

Uniform information was sourced from the Osprey MAA and the first volume of Charles Grant's "Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign".  Those books suggested that the uniforms of the high command were often adapted at the whim of their wearers, particularly the hat plumage.  The chap with the telescope is supposed to be a general de brigade (hence the light blue sash) and the mounted figure is a general de division (hence the red sash and plumage).  I tried to paint as much decoration on the camels' saddle cloths as I could without over-cluttering.  The cloths on Napoleon's saddle are sculpted such that there's a lot more cloth on the left of the figure than the right, so the pattern looks a bit uneven.  I wasn't entirely sure what sort of animal the skin on the horse was supposed to be, but a leopard looked appropriate.  I had originally intended to place a few bricks and perhaps a bottle cork at the back of the base to suggest some ruins, but decided that would look too busy.  So I'm sure more could be done with this set to jazz it up, but I'm pleased with how it came out and it didn't take long to do.          

3 figures, 1 horse and 2 camels.  Painted January 2021. 

Général de Brigade Baron Pierre-François Bauduin

Bauduin was born on 25 January 1768 and joined the French army in September 1792 as a sous-lieutenant with the 59th Line.  He was present at the siege of Toulon and fought with Napoleon's army in Italy, serving on the staff of General Herbin.  Bauduin distinguished himself at the battles of Montebello and Marengo, where he was wounded, and was given command of a battalion for his troubles.  He fought in the major campaigns of 1807-1809 and was created a Baron of the Empire in 1810, by which time he was colonel of the 93th Line.  He was wounded again at Borodino but survived the retreat to be promoted to Général de Brigade rank in 1813.  During the final campaigns prior to Napoleon's abdication, Bauduin commanded a brigade attached to the Young Guard.  He was decorated by Louis XIV but re-joined Napoleon for the Hundred Days, which saw him in command of the 1st brigade of the 6th division in Reille's II Corps.   It was in that position that he was mortally wounded while leading an attack on Hougoumont at Waterloo. 

This sculpt of Bauduin was a freebie at this year's Partizan wargames show (and many thanks to John "Levied Troop" Francis for giving this to me).  It's a nice little figure (sculpted by Bill Thornhill, I believe), although with minimal uniform detail so you have to paint on all the fancy general's braid.  His companion is a light infantryman from Perry Miniatures.  Bauduin's brigade consisted entirely of French light infantry (from the 1st and 2nd regiments).  I don't know exactly how he died, but leading a charge seemed an appropriate use of this figure.  I was going to have two infantrymen with him, but the base looked a little crowded so I stuck with just the one.  It will be a good while until I get around to painting up this chap's brigade.  Next up are a series of posts on more AWI French.

2 figures.  Painted August 2015.

 

 

 

Général de Brigade Baron Jacques-Charles Dubois

At Waterloo Dubois commanded the 1st Brigade of the 13th Cavalry Division in  Milhaud's IV Cavalry Corps.  His brigade consisted of the 1st and 4th Regiments of Cuirassiers.  Dubois was a natural choice for inclusion in my flurry of French generals as I painted the 4th Cuirassiers a few years ago, and the 1st Cuirassiers are on my list of things to paint up this year.  Jacques-Charles Dubois (1762-1847) joined the dragoons in 1781 but left the service a few years later.  He rejoined soon after and by 1792 was lieutenant in the 16th Dragoons.  He served in the French Caribbean colony of Sainte-Dominque (modern Hispaniola) and then in the Vendée.  Like most French soldiers of his generation, he fought with Napoleon in Italy and then in the Prussian and Polish campaigns.  He fought at Eylau, as a major in command of the 5th Dragoons' elite company, and so distinguished himself that he earnt the praise of  no less a figure than Murat himself.  In 1807 Dubois transferred to the 7th Cuirassiers as their colonel and was appointed a baron of the empire the following year.  At the battle of Essling he had to assume command of his regiment's division, as all superior officers had been killed or wounded. In February 1813 he was promoted to général de brigade rank, in recognition of his regiment's performance at the crossing of the Berezina.  He seems to have been a brave and inspiring leader.

Milhaud's Corps provided support for D'Erlon's large attack on Wellington's centre.  Dubois' brigade appears to have been involved in the fighting around La Haye Sainte, initially to assist other cuirassiers who had had some success against Hanoverian infantry but have then been counter-attacked by elements of the Household Brigade.  Dubois charged into this melee and may then have also been attached by the Union Brigade as it charged into D'Erlon's infantry.  Apparently during this encounter the coloner of the 1st Cuirassiers had his epaulettes ripped off by a captain of the 1st Light Guards. It is not clear whether Dubois' brigade then took part in the later cavalry attacks on the allied centre or was sent to participate in the defence on Napoleon's right against the advancing Prussians.

So it seems that we don't know for sure whether Dubois was ordered to charge the allied square with the French cavalry in the late afternoon.  Which is a shame, as the Foundry figure here has a wonderfully angry expression, as if he's saying to his ADC "tell the Général de Division that I'm not throwing my command away by charging British infantry in square".  Maybe instead he's asking the ADC to ensure that the 1st Cuirassiers' colonel finds some new epaulettes.  The ADC, also from Foundry, is painted as a junior officer in the 7th Hussars, following a colour scheme in the Histoire et Collections French hussars book that is slightly different to the standard uniform for the 7th (I couldn't see a way of painting this figure in the more usual dark blue with light blue facings ADC uniform).  I'm assuming that there is no reason why a heavy cavalry general shouldn't have a light cavalry ADC, and the two figures seemed to go together quite well - Dubois is clearly rather agitated about something.

2 figures. Painted June 2015.

 

Général de Brigade Baron Pierre-Antoine Husson

Husson commanded the 1st Brigade of the 5th Division in Reille's II Corps.  I have all the infantry and artillery elements of Bachelu's 5th Division painted up, and needed command stands for Husson and Bachelu himself to finish it all off (the commander of the 2nd Brigade, Baron Campi, can be found here).  He was born on 21 May 1769 and joined the army in 1787.  He rose through the ranks, becoming a sergeant in 1791 and a sous-lieutenant the following year.  In 1795 he was a captain serving in the Army of Italy and in 1806 became colonel of the 111th Line in 1806.  He was made a baron of the empire in January 1808 and promoted to général de brigade rank in August 1811.  Husson died on 4 May 1833.  He appears to have had an impressive series of battles to his name, having fought in the Egyptian campaign and then at Jena, Eylau, Friedland and Wagram. In 1812, his brigade was part of Macdonald's X Corps and remained in Germany until after the retreat, and at some stage was moved to Danzig.  Husson and his troops held the city until the garrison surrendered to the Russians in January 1814.  He continued in some "desk jobs" after Waterloo, receiving promotion to général de division in 1826.

These figures are both from the Foundry range. There is a noticeable size difference between Foundry and Perry Napoleonic figures and so I'll have to keep them separate.  I put these two together because I thought Husson looks as if he's just let go of the reins to reach out for the ADC's despatch.  I like the faces on these earlier Perry-sculpted figures.  They are slightly more caricatured when compared with the smoother feature of later Perry Miniatures sculpts, but that style provides some excellent expressions.  When I finished this command stand I hadn't worked out that Hussons had just turned 46 at Waterloo, so making him one of the oldest brigade commanders.  I might add a touch of grey hair this evening.  This command stand has been on the "to do" list for literally years, given that I painted the last infantry battalion in the brigade at the end of 2011.  When I've based the Bachelu command stand I must take some photos of the completed division.

 

2 figures. Painted July 2015.   

Colonel Claude Charlet

Claude Charlet was the colonel of the 54e Régiment de Ligne in the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of d'Erlon's I Corps at Waterloo.  He was made acting brigade commander when the existing one, Général de Brigade Quiot replaced the divisional commander, Baron Allix de Vaux. Sources cannot decide whether it was Quiot's division or Donzelot's that was on the extreme left of d'Erlon's corps.  According to Adkin and some others, it was Charlet's brigade that made the first assault on La Haye Sainte at around 2pm.  In addition to the 54e Ligne, the brigade also contained two battalions of the 55e Ligne.

This command stand comprises two Perry figures, a mounted colonel and a sergeant from the "Line Infantry NCOs" box.  As I don't have mounted officers in my French infantry battalions I needed to find other uses for the 3 Perry mounted colonels.  I'm trying to convert one into a general de brigade and a second will go on the Bachelu divisional command stand.  Colonel Charlet was perfect for the third figure.  I don't know whether he appointed another senior officer to take his place as commander of the two battalions of the 54e Ligne, or just left each battalion to its own commanding officer.  But I thought the pointing NCO would make a good companion - perhaps Charlet's trying to work out where all four of his battalions are.  In order to have Charlet and the NCO looking at each other I had to position Charlet in a way that makes it look as it's he's wondering off, which perhaps looks a little odd.  There's no photo of the front of the grenadier sergeant because I see now that it's badly out of focus!

I'm now almost up to date with the things I painted last year, save for all the ACW stuff and cavalry for the First Carlist War and the AWI.  I'll try to post about those last 2 at the end of the week.

2 figures. Painted September 2012.

General de Brigade Baron Nicolas Philippe Guye

This is the second Young Guard command stand I painted last year, for the brigade under Baron Guye that comprised the 3rd Tirailleurs and 3rd Voltigeurs.  Again, these are Foundry figures and this time one is clearly a general (or even a marshal with all that fancy braid down his front) rather than a mere senior officer.  He is accompanied by an officer of Tirailleurs.  I can't find out much about General Guye.  He appears to have been born on 1 May 1773, became a General de Brigade in Janury 1810 and an officer of the Legion d’Honneur in March 1814.  Apparently he died on 15 July 1845.  Many of the Waterloo orbats refer to Guye as a "Maréchal de Camp".  I understand that this rank is pretty much the same as "General de Brigade", and that the latter name was used for this rank during the Napoleonic Wars.  For the sake of simplicity, I've referred to Guye here as a General de Brigade.  He wears the light blue markings of that rank on his sash.  It's a bit unfortunate that these two figures are both on the same horse sculpt.  I did try to find a different one from the various mounted figures in the Foundry packs I had bought, but none of the other horses seemed to work.

So I now have 2 generals to command my non-existent Young Guard, and no generals to command my existing Middle Guard.  I am very much hoping that someone, whether Perry Miniatures or Victrix, do Young Guard in plastic.  Perry do marching figures (and the chaps sitting on their packs), but I'd quite like a dramatic firing line for use in the Plancenoit fighting.  I bought some skirmishing figures which Foundry advertised as "Young Guard", but I didn't examine them sufficiently beforehand and they don't have epaulettes, which makes them useless for 1815 Young Guard.  (I've painted these as normal light infantry, and I'll post on them at the weekend).

Given I don't have much to say about old Baron Guye and his Tirailleur chum, I thought I'd take this opportunity to muse aloud about what I want to get done this year.  Of course the arrival of Son No.2 is now imminent (in fact he's due tomorrow), and I really don't know what long-term impact that's going to have.  But here's what I've planned out for the year.  Much of this depends on Perry AWI releases, as I foresee mainly AWI with a bit of 1815 this year:


- AWI British: I already have plenty of British regiments painted up in metal, but there are a handful of larger units that I intend to do and re-do in plastic when the Perry set is released in March (I have in mind these regiments: 17th, 40th, 57th, 63rd).
- AWI new Perry metal releases: so far the Volunteers of Ireland, northern militia for Bunker Hill and a couple more Continental regiments.
- AWI highlanders: lots of King's Mountain figures for both myself and their manufacturer, Bill Nevin (these are quietly progressing in the background at the moment).  I need to decide how to arrange my own figures for these; I have in mind some more skirmish-level actions that involved the 71st.
- AWI American cavalry: I started working my way through Eureka's Continental dragoons and then got side-tracked (I have a Carolina militia unit almost finished; it just needs a flag).
- 1815: Middle Guard - I want to finish Michel's division of the 3rd and 4th Chasseurs.
- 1815: 1st Brigade/1st Division/I Corps - again, I'm half-way through the 54th Line from Quiot's division and would like to finish at least the 1st brigade this year.
- 1815:  bits and bobs from Westphalia Miniatures - these guys are producing some amazing stuff that I really want to paint up sooner rather than later.
 

2 figures. Painted September 2012.

Just to finish, here are a couple of pictures of some of what I got up to over Christmas (the beginnings og the 54th Line in the background):

General de Brigade Jean-Hyacinthe-Sebastien Chartrand

Last year I painted 2 brigade command sets using figures from the Foundry French Napoleonic range.  Foundry sell various "generals" and "mounted officers" packs, which seem to contain a mix of pre- and post-1812 uniforms.    Initially I didn't know what to do with the pre-1812 figures, but a bit of research suggested that they would be ok for officers of the Imperial Guard, many of whom seem to have continued to wear cut-away coats rather than the Bardin coat.  So I picked out various figures to turn into the two brigade command stands that one requires for the Young Guard units that were present at Waterloo.  This is the first of those.  Now, I have to confess to being rather confused about how the Imperial Guard was organised in practice at Waterloo.  The regiments don't appear to fall easily into a division/brigade organisation like everything else.  Officers who are listed as "brigade" commanders in one orbat appear as a "division" commander in another; and to add to the confusion, because Imperial Guard officers held a higher rank than their equivalents in the regular army, their rank isn't a clear indication of what body of units they commanded.  A further problem with the Young Guard is that sources can't agree on whether the 2 brigades each contained a regiment of tirailleurs and voltiguers or whether all the tirailleurs were in the first brigade and all the voltigeurs in the second.  All very confusing.

In the end, I decided to follow the splitting up of theTirailleurs and the Voltigeurs across the 2 brigades.  So the first brigade, under General Chartrand will have the 1st Tirailleurs and the 1st Voltigeurs, whilst the second brigade will have the 3rd regiments of both.  Chartrand was born on 22 January 1779 and joined the army at the age of 14 (I love his christian name, particularly "Hyacinthe" - to English-speakers, Frenchmen sometimes have rather feminine sounding names...).  He rose swiftly through the ranks and by July 1813 was colonel of 25th Line Regiment.  He was promoted to General-de-Brigade later that year.  He appears to have met an unfortunate end, being executed on 22 May 1816 for rallying to Napoleon's cause in 1815.  The mounted officer here is not dressed as a General de Brigade, rather as a colonel of the Tirailleurs of the Guard (the cuffs are correct for this; if he was a colonel in the Voltigeurs he would have pointed cuffs like the legere infantry).  I have no idea whether Chartrand was actually ever a colonel in the Young Guard, or whether his rank was sufficient to have him assigned to the Young Guard's first brigade.  The foot figure is another Foundry sculpt, and it's not clear to me whether he is wearing the pre-1812 coat or the Bardin jacket but with the buttons undone (there are a couple of figures in the range that clearly have their coats unbuttoned).  I thought I'd portray him as the latter; a rather flustered adjutant of the Voltigeurs (note the correct pointed cuffs) who has lost his horse and has come to tell Chartrand that the situation at Plancenoit isn't going too well.  The uniforms aren't perfect for who these people are supposed to be, but they were the best use I could think of for these particular figures.  And it gives me an excuse to paint some more Young Guard (all I have so far are some Voltigeurs having a rest)!

2 figures. Painted August 2012.

Major-General Trip

I'd forgotten that I took a couple of photos of this command base during my last session with the camera. London has been very dark the last couple of weeks, and I've been unable to take photos of any of my new AWI things (2 commissioned buildings from Tablescape, the 55th and 57th Foot, Saratoga artillery). I'm hoping to have some more posts shortly, but in the meantime here is

Albert Dominicus Trip van Zoudtlandt (1776-1835) joined the army of the Dutch Republic in 1791. He was originally posted to the infantry but at some stage he transferred to the cavalry. Upon his country's annexation by France in 1810, his regiment was incorporated into the French army as the 14th Cuirassiers. He saw action in Napoleon's invasion of Russia and then at Leipzig. He transferred back into Dutch service after Napoleon's abdication and in April 1815 was promoted to Major-General. He was then given command of a heavy cavalry brigade that consisted of the 1st and 3rd Dutch and 2nd Belgian carabinier regiments. His brigade was heavily engaged at both Quatre Bras and Waterloo. In the latter battle it successfully charged French cuirassiers with the Household Brigade.


I painted this figure when working on Merlen's light cavalry brigade for Loughton Strike Force's Waterloo demo game of a few years back. This Trip figure wasn't needed for the game and so lay painted but unbased until the other week, when I decided to touch it up and base him with a French casualty (from the Perry plastic heavy cavalry box). Also posted are photos of the Perry Young Guard 1st Voltiguers that I painted last year, but this time with their flag attached.


As I said earlier, I will hopefully have some more posts soon. I am having a bit of an artillery thing at the moment - I have finished 3 guns and crews of British in their Saratoga uniforms and am about to start on some more American artillery. After than I might do some more Hessians or another American regiment. Incidentally, a reliable source has stated that Perry Miniatures will increase their prices in the New Year, to take account of not just the increase in the UK's VAT rate but also the rising cost of raw materials.

2 figures. Painted January 2007 and October 2010. Barns by Touching History.

Général de Brigade Baron Campi

Campi commanded the 2nd Brigade of 5th Division in Reille's II Corps. I've tried to find out something about this chap but have drawn a blank. There may well be something in Digby Smith's "Napoleonic Wars Databook", but I can't find my copy so can't check at the moment. Anyway, he led his brigade through the attack at Quatre Bras and, I think, was then wounded at Waterloo. This figure is a Perry Miniatures personality figure, and the casualty is from the Perry plastic heavy cavalry box set. The barn in the background is by Paul Darnell of Touching History. In close-up Campi's face looks a bit messy, but he looks ok from a distance...

2 figures. Painted September 2010.

1815 French Command (2)

The second vignette is designed as a generic corps or division staff set. The 4 ADCs are in a variety of uniforms; from left to right are an officer of the 5th Hussars, a Voltigeur of the Imperial Guard, and ADC in regulation(ish) ADC uniform and lastly a figure in a modified light cavalry ADC uniform which is based on a painting of Captain de Dreux-Nancre, the ADC to General de Division Gudin (from Osprey's "Napoleon's Commanders 2" again). Seated at the table are two Adjutant-Commandants. The figures are all from the Perry "Support Staff" pack, save for the walking adjutant who is the 6th figure from the "Staff and Generals Dismounted" set. The base size is again 100mm x 100mm.

Painted February-March 2007.

1815 French command (1)

These are photos of the first of the smaller command vignettes I prepared for Salute. The original idea was to have this stand and its twin sitting behind the Napoleon diorama, but there was no space. This stand was detached to command the Grand Battery of artillery that sat opposite La Haye Sainte. The figures are all by Perry, from the packs "Hangers-on" and "Staff and General Dismounted"; all save one figure from each pack are here. This vignette is designed to be the Imperial Guard command base. There are a General de Division and two Generals de Brigade in the front and a couple more individuals of General de Brigade rank amongst the hangers-on in the rear. Those are largely drawn from Guard regiments - the Dutch lancers, Empress Dragoons and the Tirailleurs of the Guard; the chap walking is an Old Guard Grenadiers senior officer in an undress coat. The gesticulating Carabinier officer seems to be modelled on a character pirctured in Osprey's "Napoleon's Commanders 2", General Louis Chouard (1771-1845). Chouard was promoted general in 1811 and led the 2nd Carabinier Brigade at Borodino. His uniform here is that of a general de brigade cut to resemble that of a senior officer of the Carabiniers. In 1815 he was not at Waterloo but rather in command of a cavalry brigade in the Army of the Moselle. The base is 100mm x 100mm, which is what I use for Corps-level command stands.

10 figures. Painted January-April 2007.

Napoleon

It's taken me a couple of days to upload all the photos I have taken of the Napoleon diorama, but here they are. Above are two general shots of the whole stand and various close-ups are below. The base size is 250mm x 200mm (made to order by East Riding Miniatures - thanks Tony!). Originally I was going to have a series of smaller stands but decided to consolidate all the figures that were specifically attached to Napoleon into one vignette - the logic was that I'm never going to have the Imperial Household and Chasseur escort on the table without Napoleon (and vice versa), so it made sense to have them all in one place. It also made it easier to build some symmetry into the layout. The aides, staff and general officers I did put on two smaller stands and I will put photos of those up shortly.

The "story" behind the way I position the figures is that things are not going according to plan; Napoleon is having a go at Soult, Ney is watching Soult to see his reaction, Drouot is trying to keep out of trouble and Valet Marchand is bringing them all a tot of gin to calm their nerves (dispensed by Mameluke Ali from his flask). Napoleon's aide-de-camp, General Gourgaud, is receiving a report from a divisional ADC. Napoleon and his "core team" are encased within the Guard Chasseur escort, the commander of which is hovering close to his emperor (apparently only the army chief-of-staff was ever allowed between Napoleon and his escort commander). At the back of the stand are members of the Imperial Household - a piqueur holding Napoleon's horse "Marengo", another valet, a page with Napoleon's telescope case and another Chasseur holding Napoleon's map case.

I think this turned out ok in the end, although it is a large set and I imagine won't see the tabletop all that often, which will be a shame because a lot of work went into it. That said, it was great fun to work on and for an AWI gamer it's something different to have in one's collection! The figures are of course all from the Perry 1815 French range.

17 figures, 1 horse and a table.  Painted February and April 2007.