15/18mm French Revolutionary Infantry Comparison - Part 2

I posted a few comparisons on my blog in the past and they have all been very popular, so after doing one of Revolutionary and early Napoleonic era French, I thought I'd give you an other quick side-by-side comparison of some command bases.

This image consists of, from left to right...

1. AB French Line in greatcoats with Blue Moon also in greatcoats. These mix reasonably well. I would have used Blue Moon command figures but they came with an eagle whereas the AB had a standard flag pole. Blue Moon are nice models but the have very short bayonets compared to other brands.

2. French Legere in Egypt from Fighting 15s, previously Black Hat.

3. Demi-brigade using Warmodelling, previously Fantassin and now Capitan or Battle Models. Its hard to keep up with what this range is called. These are nice and mix really well with AB, but they are suffering from some poor casting. This is supposed to be getting sorted but I'd check before ordering.

4. These are the newest entry for this period and are from Campaign Games Miniatures in Spain. These are lovely figures and paint up really nice. There is a choice of two command sets and you can have the grenadiers in bicorne or bearskin. The standard bearer comes with separate flag pole or eagle, so you can use these as later as well.

Hopefully this will be as useful as the previous comparison posts.

15/18mm French Revolutionary Infantry Comparison

Its been ages since I had time and motivation to get any painting done. I keep trying to get back into the mood, but I just haven't been able to. I suppose a promotion to a management position, mixed with a hectic and very stressful family situation has to take its toll somewhere, but I annoyed that it has been my hobby that has suffered - and therefor the blog has slowed as well.

But then it only takes a couple of things to get you back in the mood - for example a new release of figures. And that's whats happened. Campaign Game Miniatures in Spain have just released early French infantry, and they looked great. I had to get myself some, even though I have about 6 or 7 unpainted demi-brigades already.

An order was placed for a 32 man battalion, and while I was at it I thought I would add in another Austrian set, as I've never used CGMs infantry before. The Austrians were just as nice as the French turned out to be. I'm a little annoyed that I hadn't got these earlier, but I'll do another comparison with the Austrians very soon.

So what do you get in a 32 man battalion pack? CGM have packs available with varying amounts of figures, as well as the separate packs, so that you can choose exactly what you want. This pack was perfect for my needs, and its great to get all the figures you need without wasting money on spares.

As you can see, you get a variety of poses. For the bulk of the infantry there are 20 figures in four poses, with five of each pose. For the elite/Grenadier/light companies you get another four poses, two of each, plus the four figures in the command set. You get separate standards, one flag pole for early battalions, and an eagle for later.

The figures look really well cast, with sharp details, and no flash or visible mold lines - so these can go straight into the painting stage without lengthy a clean up first.

The important question when buying a new range is always, will these mix with what I have already? I think they will, especially with AB or Warmodelling (or Battlemodels as these are now called).

In this picture I've shown them alongside (from left to right) 2x Warmodelling, 2x AB, 2x Old Glory (Saxons as I don't have French), and finally 2x CGM. As you can see the size and proportions are very close to AB. The equipment looks the same, whereas I found that figures from Blue Moon for example, the muskets look totally different from other companies.

All in I would highly recommend these figures from CGM. They mix well with others, they look great, they are top quality, and the service from the company is excellent.

Marks out of ten, I'd say a high 9. And if they paint as well as the other figures I have from CGM that may go up to a full 10/10!

15/18mm Austrian Cavalry Comparison Part 2

After I did the comparison post on Austrian cavalry it was pointed out that I'd missed some. Obviously I don't have every manufacturers figures to hand to compare them, but there are some that I did have that I forgot about including, so here is another comparison with other figures.

These are, from left to right in both pictures, an Austrian Hussar from Blue Moon, a Uhlan from Battle Honours, a Dragoon from Boki Miniatures on a Campaign Games Miniatures horse, a line infantry officer from Old Glory, and an AB general.

These are all roughly compatible, although the Old Glory figure and horse seem a lot smaller. For other Old Glory mounted figures I've remounted them on larger horses and they look fine, but this is a single piece casting, so maybe not the best representation.

The Battle Honours figure is a little small as well, but would possibly benefit again from going onto a larger mount.

Blue Moon's figure is by far the smallest of the separately cast riders, and although he's on a larger mount he still looks like a very small 15mm figure, especially when you consider that Blue Moon's foot figures are closer to 18mm than 15mm. The other issue with this range is that the horses are very thick through the body, so other figures can't sit on them comfortably.

So, the only range that I would like to have shown that is missing is the Fantassin/Warmodelling/Battle Models range.

Here's a link to the last comparison in case you missed it... LINK

Hopefully this is a help again.

15/18mm Austrian Cavalry Comparison

Whilst I've managed to build a large contingent of Austrian infantry and artillery for my Marengo campaign, and have a few French infantry and cavalry units ready, I had been neglecting my Austrian cavalry.

With a few new releases becoming available it was the right time to sort this out, and a few orders were placed.

All the suppliers I received figures from provided a great service and everything arrived safely and on time.

The first order to arrive was from Fighting 15s who as the supplier of AB miniatures here in the UK. I ordered some Revolutionary period Austrian infantry, and more importantly for this post, their Dragoon command set. There are two figures in this set, an officer and a bugler, and these are as good as you would expect from AB.

The next order was from Campaign Games Miniatures in Barcelona, and was of a set of 12 Austrian Chevauxlegers / Dragoons in charging poses that had just been released. I think I may have been one of the first to order these. You can see these already painted in an earlier post with a full review.

Last to arrive was an order of Revolutionary period Dragoons in bicornes from Sho Boki Miniatures in Estonia. Supplied without horses, these mounted figures are designed to compliment the AB range. And they certainly do that, and the command set that I'd ordered from AB fit really well. They're on the painting table at this very moment, and will be mounted on horses from Campaign Games Miniatures (these aren't quite as good as AB but the cost is a lot lower, and you can order individually posed horses). The detail on these is great and the faces paint really nicely - those are done already. The moustaches are great! I also received a couple of free figures from Sho Boki as I'd won the "guess the figure" competition on TMP.

One of the freebies was a Chevauxleger with a peaked casket hat, which is as nice as the dragoon figures, though the head, or maybe neck, looks a little strange. It's maybe too narrow. I'll paint this one up and see how it looks.

So here are the unpainted figures for you to compare.

These are, from left to right, AB officer, Boki dragoon, AB bugle, Boki Chevauxleger, then 2x CGM Chevauxleger/Dragoons. As you can see they all mix very well in size and could easily compliment each other in the same army.

AB are available here.... LINK
Boki Miniatures here.... LINK
CG Miniatures here.... LINK

Oltramarina Schiavoni - Venetian skirmishers in 15mm

While doing a bit of internet digging I discovered quite a lot of pictures of Venetian re-enactors in Napoleonic uniforms, so I've been researching the Venetian armies that fought (very briefly) against Napoleon.

Most of the imagery shows troops wearing Austrian style uniforms, mostly blue with white facings. But I also spotted some guys wearing red coats with dark blue facings and trousers. A bit more digging revealed these to be Oltramarina Schiavoni (or sometimes just referred to as Ultramarines).

Oltramarina translates roughly as "from over sea" and was the name given to Albanian and Balkan light troops that fought in the service of the Venetian, and other Italian, armies.

The re-enactors had really cool looking uniforms and I was inspired to try and recreate a unit of these. Here are some of the pictures I found...

 

There didn't seem to be very much in the way of easy to find contemporary illustrations, but I eventually tracked down this image.

 

I wished there were figures suitable for these, and while looking for something totally unrelated on eBay I spotted these listed as being Essex "Napoleonic Albanian Musketeers" on a Buy-it-now.

 

 

These looked close enough, so I placed the order, and two days later I had these drop through the letterbox. I painted and based two up this morning to see how they look, and they certainly work as the Oltramarina Schiavoni. The only issue is their size compared to other figures. I've also done some comparison images as well.

 

 

These are (from left to right) Blue Moon, Old Glory, Essex, and AB. As you can see, the Essex are tiny compared to Blue Moon and AB, but until someone does the correct figures I'm sure they are good enough.

Les Carabiniers Cassique - 15mm Revolutionary Period Range

A while back I posted my Vendee figures on TMP, and among the comments was a link to Stonewall miniatures, a company based in Cornwall, and their range of 15mm Republican and Royalist figures - Les Carabiniers Cassique. You can find their site here... LINK

Unfortunately there are no photos of this range and a google search failed to reveal any information.

So I placed a small order: LCC05 Republican Mounted Generals; LCC22 Grenadier Command in Bearskin; and LCC12 Royalist Volunteers.

The figures have arrived, so here's how they looked...

The figures come in zip-lock bags with plain coloured card labels which are hand written.

 
The figures themselves are traditionally scaled 15mm, rather than the larger 18mm scale miniatures. They seem reasonably well cast, with a little flash. The detail is there but not great, so I'm not sure how, or if, my limited painting skills will bring out the best in these.

The Royalist Volunteers come in mixed poses, and these are quite interesting poses. There's even a multi-part figure with separate weapon - I'm unsure how well this will go together. I think these will mix well enough with the Alan Touller range although they are styled differently.

Here is a comparison picture. There are (from left to right) LCC x3, Alan Touller x2 and Magister Militum's Revolutionary French x2...

The next set is the Republican Mounted Generals. I had hoped these would give me suitable figures for my Marengo project, and there may be one I can use. To be honest, I'm slightly confused to what's what in this pack. There's an obvious general wearing a bicorne, a figure with bicorne and standard, one wearing a bearskin and another with a shako. Any help identifying what these should be would be great.

Again these are cleanly cast, but one horse (top left) has a poorly cats leg that will require some green stuff. Another is quite a small horse, with short legs, but these are not the worst mounts I've seen.

These scale well with other brands. Here, these are (left to right) LCC, Alan Touller, and Warmodelling.

The last pack, Republican Grenadier command in bearskin, I had hoped may have been suitable for Consular Guard, but these are for much earlier Grenadiers. I expect these guys should be wearing white uniforms. Not sure if I like these as much as I like the Royalist volunteers, but they may paint up nicely.

All in, I think this is an interesting range, and if I ever get serious about collecting the earlier Revolutionary period I will probably get more of this range. If the quality had been a little better I may have been more tempted.

Consular Guard and Dragoons, and some comparisons.

I was having a look for specific figures for Napoleon's Consular Guard and for the French Dragoon regiments at Marengo, but there seem to be few 15/18mm figures to choose from. From what I can see the main differences in the uniforms from 1800 and the later styles are slight, with the main difference being the length of the coats.

As I had a set of Old Guard Grenadiers and a later French Dragoon regiment sitting doing nothing I've had a go at painting these for Marengo and hoping they work well enough until the correct miniatures become available - I know AB do Dragoons for this period but the cost for two 12 man and an 18 man regiment would be a little too much just now.

Consular Guard Grenadiers - Using Warmodelling Old Guard Grenadiers
For the list I am working to for Marengo I have to build a 40 figure Consular Guard Grenadier battalion. The figures I have are a mix of Warmodelling's Old Guard plus other line Grenadiers, some with green-stuff added plumes and cords. I would have preferred to get AB figures for this set, but the AB figures are standing ready whereas these figures are marching.

I've had a look at as many reference pictures as I can find and I think that apart from the shorter tails, the main difference between the Consular and Imperial uniforms is in the colour of the turnbacks, collar, and cords.

I've painted a base as a test and think they look fine.

French 9e Dragoon Regiment - Using Campaign Games Miniatures Dragoons
Again, as with the Consular Guard, the main difference I could see between the 1800 Dragoons and the later uniform is the length of the coat tails, so already having a set of Campaign Games Miniatures (CGM) Dragoons sitting unfinished I thought I could use these for the 9e Dragoons at Marengo. I've painted up a command base of three figures to see how they look, and the main change I made was to trim the eagle down to as close to the proper shape (it still needs filed down a bit as the metal is quite hard and getting it smoother without the proper tools didn't work - I need to straighten the standard as well)

 

COMPARISON PICTURES
I've been posting on this blog for over a year now and some of the most popular posts are the comparison pictures between different companies, so here are some more. I hope these are helpful...
 Cavalry Comparison - Blue Moon, Warmodelling, Campaign Games
The first picture is of three command bases, the first one from the left is Austrian Hussars from Blue Moon, next is Warmodelling Spanish Cavalry painted to represent French Heavy Cavalry, and the last is CMG's French Dragoons.
My opinion had been that the Blue Moon figures were my preferred figures, but after painting the Warmodelling figures and seeing them side by side I find the BM figures to be far too small. The CMG figures' poses are a little rigid, and a little lacking in animation, but they are solid looking figures.

Grenadier Comparison - Warmodelling, Old Glory, Blue Moon
This picture is a selection of French "grenadier" figures from various companies, and different periods, again just to show scale. The figure bases from left to right are French Old Guard (painted as Consular Guard) from Warmodelling, Old Glory's Polish Line Infantry Grenadiers in Czapka, Warmodelling Line Grenadiers, Warmodelling Line Grenadiers for 1806-15, and lastly a Blue Moon Line Grenadier company.

Gardanne and the 44e Demi-Brigade d'Infanterie de Ligne

Gen de Div. Gardanne
44e Demi-brigade

Gaspard-Amédée Gardanne had become governor of Alessandria in 1799, but in July of that year the city was besieged and Gardanne was forced to surrender, being taken as a prisoner of war. Before long he was exchanged for Austrian General Mack and released. Once back in Paris, Gardanne assisted Bonaparte with the coup d'état.

In early 1800 Gardanne was promoted to Général de Division.  He joined the Army of the Reserve in April 1800 and then took command of a new division in June. Leading his division, he fought at Montebello.

On the 13th of June 1800, Gardanne was in command of the advanced guard and had positioned himself to lead his troops in to Alessandria with just the creek separating the opposing forces. Neither side was aware of each others strength, and the terrain favoured the advancing Austrians, but Gardanne distinguished himself nonetheless.

Gardanne later received a sabre of honor for his conduct at Marengo and he went on to serve with the Army of Italy until the summer of 1801 when he returned to France.

Gardanne was in command of Saxon troops in Silesia in 1807 when he fell ill and died.

Gardanne's Brigade

44e Demi-brigade de bataille              3x 30 Figures.    Grade: Line 

101e Demi-brigade de bataille             2x 30 Figures.    Grade: Line
Skirmishers                                          12 Figures.         Grade: Line

 

44e Demi-brigade, 1st Battalion

Regimental History

1642: Created
1645: Named Regiment Mazarin-Italien
1651: Renamed Regiment Anjou-Etranger
1660: Renamed Regiment de Orleans
1791: 44e Regiment de Infanterie
1793: 44e demi-brigade de bataille (formed from the following):

2e bataillon 22e Regiment de Infanterie
2e bataillon Volontaires de la Correze
5e bataillon Volontaires de Rhone-et-Loire

1796: 44e demi-brigade d'Infanterie de ligne (formed from the following): 

92e demi-brigade de bataille (2e Bat 46e Regt d'Inf, 5e Bat Vol de la Haute-Saone and 2e Bat Vol d'Eure-et-Loir)
2e and Depot bataillons 44e Regiment de Infanterie

The 44e Demi-Brigade d'Infanterie de Ligne fought at Marengo with its battalions split between Gardanne's Brigade and Dampierre's Brigade according to the army list that I am working from (which appeared in issue 290 of Wargames Illustrated). According to this list there were three battalions with Gardanne and a further one battalion with Dampierre, although I was of the impression that the regiment would only have three battalions. To remedy this I think that for one of the battalions I will not include a flag, unless I find it the meantime that there were more than three battalions in a demi-brigade.

The Chef-de-Brigade for the 44e at Marengo was either Francois-Joseph Offenstein or Adrien-Joseph Sauder, but I've found conflicting sources for who was in command at that time.

This unit has been built using Blue Moon's 1805 French in Greatcoats and command figures from AB. The Blue Moon command figures have an Eagle Bearer rather than a standard flag so rather than convert the figures I used the AB range. They mix quite well as you can see.

 

 

For comparison purposes here is the Blue Moon battalion alongside the previous battalion I've completed, which uses Warmodelling Miniatures. The Blue Moon are noticeably smaller and in more regimental poses, bur they should look fine on the same tabletop.

 

 

While painting these I had a look for some inspirational images on the internet and found these pictures.

 

 

15/18mm Napoleonic Comparisons - Generals part 2

While painting some of the new Blue Moon Austrian Generals I thought I could do a bit more browsing on the internet for inspiration, and I found some very nice pictures.

These were my favourites, from (I think) the Mollo Collection. I particularly liked the aides, so on my first Blue Moon base I painted the figures as these.

General

General Adjutant

Aide

Staff Officer of the Quartermaster-General's Staff

I also found these two images, that although they were possibly earlier than 1800, they are quite good reference pictures.

 

 So, here are my painted Generals and General Majors....

The sets above are Blue Moon (left) and Old Glory (right).

 

These sets are  Warmodelling (left) and Old Glory (right).

And here are the Blue Moon (right) beside Warmodelling (left). Those two brands match quite well in my opinion.

After painting the new generals and seeing them side by side with other makes they fit in really well, even though the figures themselves had looked smaller. The biggest difference that I now see when comparing the various makes is that the Old Glory figures seem too large and bulky, especially those massive bicorne hats. I think I may dump those figures as I complete the Blue Moon ones.

I still haven't decided who this base will represent, but here are a few more pictures to let you see how nice these figures are. I also think I need some practise on painting horses. I don't think I'm getting them quite right.