Dismounted French Dragoons - Black Hat Miniatures

I picked these up a couple of years ago when I was thinking about doing Napoleon's Egyptian campaign but I never got round to finishing them. I have a small battalions worth of marching Dragoons and I have some mounted Dragoons from Campaign Games as well, and these will be getting used for my Marengo campaign. I'm very tempted to get some of the lovely new AB dismounted Dragoons as well.

Here's a little work in progress photo...

Skirmishers - Austrian Jaegers vs French Voltigeurs

I've painted up a couple of bases of skirmishers, putting four figures per base as a test to see how the bases would look. The figures are Warmodelling and quite nice, although I'm not 100% happy with the quality of the miniatures, especially the Jagers. The faces are a little rough. On the table they look fine though, and I'm happy with the base sizes, though I may cut down to three figure per base and have more bases.

First up is the Austrians...

Followed by the French....

 

I tried a couple of "action" shots but couldn't get the focus right on these. I'll need to figure out how to use the camera a little better to get some better pictures...

 

 

15mm / 18mm French Napoleonic Comparison - AB, Warmodelling, Blue Moon and Minifigs

A while back I did a quick comparison of some different manufacturer's Austrian figures and it has been one of the most viewed posts on my blog, so as I'm working on some French I took some pictures of a couple of figures from each range I have to hand.

So far my favourite range has been AB (which isn't much of a surprise), but as these are a bit pricey, I've been using Warmodelling to pad out the battalions and add variety. The quality of casting isn't as good on these, so its hard to tell if the sculpts were as good as AB but have deteriorated or if they are just rougher miniatures. With my painting it doesn't really matter though, as they seem to look much the same when finished.

Here are the pictures so you can make your own judgment...

 

Left to Right: Blue Moon x2, Warmodelling x2, AB x2, Minifigs x2

Left to Right: Minifigs x2, Blue Moon x2, Warmodelling x2, AB x2

The Minifigs are Revolutionary French Foot Artillery, the Blue Moon are 1805 Line Fusiliers in Greatcoat, the Warmodelling are Early French in Bicorne Line and Grenadier, and the AB are 1798-1806 Fusiliers.

Blue Moon Generals - Austrians and French

I've just spotted these on the Blue Moon website and had confirmation that they, along with the other General sets, are available and in stock from Old Glory UK (whose website is currently being rebuilt). I've now got the largest pile of unpainted Napoleonics that I've ever had, so need to get some more painting done before adding to the pile. But these are definitely next on the wish list, and I'll probably get the French as well....

15XNG-04 Austrian Generals

 

 15XNG-01 French Generals

Trees

I also based some trees while waiting on the paint to dry on under coated miniatures. I always feel that a good wargame not only needs good miniatures and rules, but the scenery on the table always plays a strong part of the game. I've spent a fair bit of time building bridges, sorting out a Fontanone stream, and creating little scratch-built card buildings, and it was tempting to just put the trees on the table without spending any time on them. I decided to put these on mdf bases from warbases.com, a spread of PVA, a dusting of sand and grit, painted with my earth colour and drybrushed and flocked, and I have trees that are up to par.

Unfortunately, I have no idea who manufactured these. They've been hanging around in my garage for quite a few years now. I would like some more in the same style, but my other trees will have to do, even though they are of lower quality.

Rivaud and the 43e Demi-Brigade

Olivier Macoux Rivaud de la Raffiniere was born in February 1766 in Civray, Vienne and commanded French infantry during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.

In 1794 Rivaud was with the Army of the Coast of Brest and then transferred to the Army of the Alps and in 1796 joined up with the Army of Italy. Rivaud fought at Roveredo, Bassano, and at Saint-Georges was wounded in the head. Despite his wound Rivaud continued to serve and later fought at  Arcola and Rivoli. after which he became chief of staff to Victor's division.

In 1798, while still a Colonel, Rivaud was assigned to the Army of England, but was not one of those who travelled to Egypt. At the end of 1798 he gained his promotion to Général de Brigade.

In the spring of 1800 Rivaud joined the Army of the Reserve and commanded the 43e and 101e Demi-Brigades as part of Chambarlhac's Division at Marengo, and performed a ferocious defence of the village as the Austrians advanced until being wounded by grapeshot.

 

Rivaud's Brigade

43e Demi-brigade de bataille              2x 30 Figures.    Grade: Line 

43e Demi-brigade de bataille              1x 30 Figures.    Grade: 2nd Line

96e Demi-brigade de bataille              1x 30 Figures.    Grade: Line 

96e Demi-brigade de bataille              1x 30 Figures.    Grade: 2nd Line

Skirmishers                                          12 Figures.         Grade: 2nd Line

4pdr Foot Artillery                                3 Guns               Grade: Line

 

43e Demi-brigade, 1st Battalion

At last I have finished my first French battalion. It has taken quite a while. Its not that I'm a slow painter, its that I never get the time. But a weeks much needed holiday as helped me move this project forward, and the first lose-end to be tied up needed to be this half-painted battalion.

With the new job also comes a little more spare cash, so the next two battalions for the 43rd and the two for the 96th have been order and mostly received. I'm using a mix of Warmodelling and AB for the next few battalions, whereas this first completed unit is purely built with Warmodelling miniatures. I'm still waiting on the last few packs from Warmodelling to finish off the 96e DB but have received all my AB orders. These arrived two days after delivery - the service from Fighting 15s is just as good as the quality of their miniatures!

So here is the first battalion of the 43rd...