French Artillery

Today I show you my french foot artillery battery.

I'm quite happy with the unit and they are ready to deliver some steel to any thin red line that would appear.

It's composed of two 8 pdrs and a 6 inch howitzer.
In addition to the artilleryment, there is a command base with and officer and a drummer.
The unit is a mix and match of four different manufacturers:

The artillerymen from Brigade Games. I love the style of this company.
The guns and the officer are from Front Rank. A classic
The drummer comes from a limited edition of miniatures from the here and were purchased back in 2013.
Finally, the muskets are some spare parts from Eureka miniatures.

All of them painted using Vallejo Acrylics and sepia wash.
I still need to figure how to take some good pictures.

Italian artillery and Italian Guard artillery train 1808

The “Corps d’Observation des Pyrennés Orientales” under Duhesme which entered Catalonia on February 1808, included several Italian troops. De 11^th company of foot artillery (3 officers and 73 men) and a company of the Italian Guard artillery train (2 officers and 59 men) composed the Italian artillery, included in this corps within division Lechi. More artillery would follow under Saint-Cyr corps in 1809: 9^th company artillery on foot, 1^st company horse artillery, and 3^rd and 5^th artillery train companies. The Italian foot artillery fought in all the sieges that occurred in Catalonia: the three of Girona (1808-1809), Rosas (1808), Hostalric (1810), and Tarragona (1811) and in some battles as Molins de Rei (1808) or at the ambush of el Bruc (6/6/1808) were the 11^th company was present with a section of 2 4pdrs. During the withdrawal to Barcelona from El Bruc one of the 4pdr was lost in the Llobregat while crossing the river.

THE MINIATURES

There are eyewitness accounts of the Neapolitan troops in Catalonia wearing its 1807 uniforms so I think that the Italian artillery were, at the time of their arrival in Catalonia, still wearing the old uniforms. In addition, the line artillery train was not created until 1809 so at the time when Duhesme’s troops entered Catalonia the only artillery train available was that of the Royal Guard.

For the artillerymen, I used Eureka miniatures French revolutionary artillery in regulation uniforms (superb miniatures) and for the mounted soldier of the train; I made a conversion between a polish lancer and a British artillery train driver (Front Rank miniatures). I know that the troopers wore high boots but I am not so good making conversions and using green stuff.

The gun (a 12 pdr) and equipment are from Front Rank and as the Italian artillery were painted dark grey, they will be used for my Spanish army as well (the driver is not glued).

As allways, miniatures painted with Acrílicos Vallejo.

REFERENCES

-          Ilari, Virgilio; Le truppe Italiane in Sagna. I do not have more information about this paper that I found as a pdf in Internet.

-          Martinien A. Tableaux par Corps et par Batailles des Officiers Tués et Blessés pendant les Guerres de l'Empire 1805-1815 , Paris 1899.

-      A lot of information about the Italian troops in Napoleon’s service can be found in at Jean-Pierre Perconte web HISTUNIF: http://www.histunif.com/