French Uniforms from "The Age of Napoleon"

I found a pdf file yesterday of a book called "The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire 1789-1815". Mostly it features civilian dress and costumes; everything from ladies ball gowns to workers shoes. There is also a chapter focusing on uniforms. I've not read this chapter yet but here are the images of early uniforms that were included...

 

 

IR23/IR47 Combined Grenadier Battalion

Here is the IR23/IR47 Combined Grenadier Battalion. I used Blue Moon's German Grenadiers to build this unit, my second grenadier battalion. These are really nice figures and match well with the German infantry though they seem taller - which they obviously should be. Maybe its just the height of their bearskins adding to effect, but they do look slightly bigger in scale.

Anyway, I didn't find this to be an issue and enjoyed painting these up. I decided that I needed to have some Austrians that looked like they had been in combat. They always look like they are straight off the parade ground. We really need a manufacturer to do some "campaigning" figures for this nation. There are plenty French or Peninsular British that look as if they've fought a few fights and walked many more miles.

So to try and make these a little less pristine I changed from pure white to a stone grey (and mixed in a little brown or sand on various figures). The effect was quite subtle and unfortunately seems to have been lost on the photographs - probably due to the flash. 

And here they are, a Combined Grenadier Battalion with grenadiers drawn from IR23 Toscana and IR47 Kinsky. The command base and one half of the battalion is wearing the red of IR23 as (I assume) they are the senior regiment, while the rest have the dark green of IR47.

Once I had done these I got out the rest of my completed battalions and set them out on the table. I was quite impressed by how it looked and I'm really motivated to get onto my Austrian cavalry.

Here is the two battalions of IR47 Kinsky with the combined grenadiers in the background.

Followed by three battalions of IR23 Toscana.

And finally the Hungarians, IR52 Anton, O'Donel's Freicorps, and a combined Hungarian grenadier battalion at the back.

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.

IR52/IR53 Combined Grenadier Battalion

For my Austrian army at Marengo, I require four battalions of Grenadiers. This first one, like all Grenadier Battalions was created from the Grenadier companies of the regiments present in the division. Therefore the facing colours could vary within the Grenadier Battalion dependent on which regiments the companies were drawn from.

The Austrian Hungarian Regiments present at Marengo were IR52 Anton and IR53 Jellacic. Both these Regiments had the same colour of facings, but with different coloured buttons, and as I'm painting 15mm scale figures, I'll not be attempting to paint buttons unless really necessary. So this Battalion has consistent facing colouring throughout the miniatures.

 

The figures are from Blue Moon, and as usual are very well cast, with tons of character. The detail on these is superb, from the back of the fur cap showing the proper bag-like material that other companies seem to miss, to the raised piping down the legs of the Hungarian breeches. They were a joy to paint - though I did feel I was going nowhere with the unit for a while, painting the white, the blue, then the yellow, then the pink, before even doing the packs and muskets! How many colours can one unit have?

These figure look great when finished, and when seen standing alongside my other Blue Moon battalions, Blue Moon are becoming my favourite figures. My only thought on the range is, where is the Hungarian Infantry in helmets? Why only shakos?

Here are the Blue Moon regiments all together and another picture that shows the great detailing on the breeches.

 

And as this isn't my first Hungarian Battalion I thought I'd post the Grenadiers alongside the first battalion I painted for this project, the 4th Banat Grenzers. That unit used figures from Warmodelling, and although I'm happy with it, I may get myself a Blue Moon Grenz battalion as well, just because I like their miniatures so much.