French cavalry commanders

Next up are the French (from the Empire or Napoleonic period). As you can imagine, this is my biggest army, featuring hundreds if not thousands of models, so I'm going to have to break it up in to lots of sections for presentation.


First we have my cavalry commanders.




Marshal Bessieres and an attendant ADC. The ADC is from the Italeri French commanders set, whereas the Marshal is actually a converted Russian General (also Italeri).

Murat in his flamboyant outfit. This is a conversion from the extremely useful Italeri French Hussars set. I have many of these sets, that have been used in various ways down the years. The tiger-skin saddle cover was built by hand.

Another view of Murat, with his Aide in the uniform of Neapolitan Hussars.

Eugene de Beauharnais, Napoleons step-son, with an officer of Italian cavalry behind him. Although not technically a cavalry commander, I like this model and often use it for other personalities. I converted it to look like a bit like a famous painting from the period by a French artist.

General Lasalle on the right, one of the most famous French cavalry commanders of the time.

Another view of Lasalle. The model was converted from another Italeri Hussar, using a Hat Mameluke for the baggy trouser-legs and a bicorne from another model. I think Strelets have made a Lasalle figure but I couldn'y obtain the set and thought it would be fun to make my own.

Heavy cavalry officers (from left to right, Zvezda Cuirassier, Esci Cuirassier with added Generals bicorne, Strelets Carabinier).

Dragoon officers; Zvezda, Strelets, Hat (converted). Although they don't match up well together, they look OK next to units of their own brand type.

Hussars! Always fun to paint due to the colourful uniforms. We have an Esci chap (actually a British hussar from the Crimean war period), then two Italeri guys.

Officers of the Imperial Guard cavalry; Empress Dragon (a Italeri French Dragoon with added cloak and plume), Hat Horse Grenadier, and Chasseur a Cheval de la Garde (yet another converted Italeri Hussar).

Line Chasseur and Lancer officers (with head swops)

Generic Corps cavalry commanders with ADCs (a Dutch lancer ADC on the left and a Westphalian Hussar on the right)

I hope you like these. I'll post another lot of French units next, probably makes sense to post the cavalry itself.

The Terror

I now present the gory spectacle of an execution during the French Revolution.

The guillotine and attendant figures are from the Ykreol French Revolution set, whereas most of the onlookers are Imex Pilgrims and Pioneers.

 The pickpockets are out and about, using the public spectacle as a distraction....

A zealot runs forward clutching the tricolor.....

This shouldn't be a place for children to be, but unfortunately it very often was. Many of the onlookers are decked in the red, white & blue of the new Republic.

The guillotine claims another victim. I have heard that the guillotine in Paris had to moved twice as the sheer amount of blood shed  threatened to contaminate the cities supply of drinking water on each occasion.

French naval gunners

Next up we have a motley collection of naval gunners from the French revolutionary period.

The models are a combination of Strelets French artillery in Egypt and Hat British Marines. There are no models available for French naval gunners for this period, so I had to get creative with the paintbrush and the modelling knife. There is a notable size difference between the two sets used, but its not too bad to my eyes.

I really like the striped trousers that were popular during the revolution. They take longer to paint than a flat colour but the end result is worth it.

I'm currently reading the excellent Glorious 1st of June by Sam Willis, which covers in detail the French navy during the turbulent years of the Terror. The French faced huge problems trying to compete with the British Navy, not least due to the dire shortage of trained gunners.

The cannons are also from the Hat British Marines and sailors set.

A tale of 35 armies - Brunswick

The Brunswick army is the next to be featured. This army famously fought at Waterloo and Quatre Bras in June 1815, but some units were also part of Wellingtons crack military machine in the Peninsula war.

Model count; 106


The whole force in column of march. One contemporary observer stated that due to all the black uniforms, the Brunswich army on the march resembled a giant moving hearse!

The army deploying into line of battle.

My Brunswickers were hard to photograph due to the large amount of black paint. I might have to revisit this army when I get a better camera.

Cavalry (combined Hussars & Lancers) with attendant horse artillery. The cavalry came from the huge Strelets "Into the valley of death" set, which is for the Crimean war but worth purchasing for the sheer number of conversion possibilities it presents. The distinctive hanging plumes have been added to the shakos.

Foot artillery. The officer on the left is from the Hat Brunswick Infantry set, the other two are lightly converted Hat Bavarian artillerymen.

Infantry only pic. Most are from the Hat Brunswick Leib Infantry (2 sets purchased), the battalion in grey uniforms on the right are from the Hat Brunswick Avant Garde.

A slightly different view of the infantry. These models were quick & easy to paint. Once the black undercoat has been applied there isn't much more to add really.

I hope you enjoyed the black brunswickers. Next up I'll make a change from the Waterloo campaign and feature something from the other end of period, perhaps my large French collection for the French Revolutionary wars.

7 units for the cost of 1 (sort of)

The great thing about Napoleonic figure collecting & war-gaming is that everybody does it in their own unique way. Some folks spend hours painting and basing a single detailed 1/32 scale model whereas others churn out 3mm models that can be used to create huge battalions with dozens of figures, with lots of options in between these scales. And there are a glut of Napoleonic rules out there catering for these many different approaches. My approach is based around the idea of minimum effort and cost for maximum coverage of the Napoleonic era; I am pretty much obsessed with the period from the outbreak of the French Revolution to the final collapse of Napoleons Empire in 1815, and I want to cover every army and every major campaign with my collection.
So I cheat! Some of my units can be used as passable doubles, and I've deliberately based my units to maximise their usage.

As an example, here is a unit of early Prussians that I would use for smaller tactical level games involving a limited number of battalions;

This is the same unit split into two battalions that I would use for a grand tactical big battle, i.e. suitable for the Et Sans Resultat! rule system.

And the same units posing as Piedmontese, suitable for Bonaparte's 1st Italian campaign. A quick flag change, and the ruse de guerre is carried out on an unsuspecting world!

And the same units acting as Spaniards. I have quite a few "proper" Spanish infantry units composed of the recent Hat and Emhar releases (both of which are lovely models), but by bringing in these guys I can bulk out my force if I need extra units for very large battles.

Expect to see a few more ruses as the tale of 35 armies continues. Of course, this approach has a number of drawbacks and will horrify the purists. Facing colours and command staff in particular will be inauthentic. But overall I like my system because it has saved me a huge amount of time and allowed me to cover the entire period passably well.

A tale of 35 armies - Hanover & Hanseatic States

The first "army" posted is one of the smallest, with just 3 battalions. To my knowledge the Hanoverian's did not fight independently in any large battles, so this unit number is about right for my purposes. If I need to bulk out my force (i.e. for the 100 days campaign) I can always put Hanover flags on some of my British battalions, as many Hanoverian battalions wore very similar uniforms, therefore justifying calling this rag-tag bunch an army.
The Kings German Legion cavalry will be covered as part of the British army.

From left to right, the Luneburg Light Infantry (can't remember who makes these models),  Infantry Btn (Italeri, with converted headgear), another Infantry Btn (using the ugly Italeri Prussians in greatcoats).

Model count; 46+


The Hanoverian's on the battlefield forming part of Picton's powerful division at Waterloo. Wellington and the heavy cavalry reserve can be seen in the bottom right.

A tale of 35 armies - Introduction

Plans are afoot to collect, build and paint no less than 35 wargame armies for the French Revolution & Napoleonic period (covering the dates 1789-1815), all in 1:72 plastic!!!!
In fact, the project has been started for some time now with multiple armies already completed and just waiting to be photographed.

A note for the purists - these armies are primarily intended for wargaming using the rules for Et Sans Resultat! (ESR), which is a grand tactical gaming system. Battalions are represented but the main focus is on maneuvering at divisional level, with the intention that large battles of the period such as Austerlitz and Jena can be re-fought. I therefore decided to make 16 figure battalions that are somewhat abstracted and typically portray only the most common uniform type in that battalion. So please don't expect to see large 40+ figure battalions with historical ratios of Grenadiers, Voltiguers etc, etc. The aim is to create units & armies that could be suitable for as wide a time period as possible, rather than a specific campaign.

I've used a large range of manufacturers to build my collection, from Airfix to Zvezda, with large numbers provided by Hat, Strelets and Italeri. A Call to Arms, Emhar, Esci, IMEX, Mars, Odemars, Orion, Redbox and Waterloo 1815 also provided many recruits.

The size of the 35 armies will range from the very small to the very large, depending on their historical significance and the number of campaigns that they were involved in.

The full list of armies will hopefully be as follows, with an asterisk denoting whether the army is more or less complete (as you may know a wargames army is never completely complete!);

1) France (revolution period)*
2) France (empire period)*
3) G Britain (revolution period)
4) G Britain (empire period)*
5) Austria (revolution period)*
6) Austria (empire period)
7) Prussia & Saxon allies (from Valmy to Jena)*
8) Prussia (1813-1815)*
9) Russia (1799-1815)
10) Spain
11) Portugal
12) Sweden (inc Finnish troops)*
13) Denmark
14) Saxony (empire period)
15) Poland
16) Kingdom of Italy*
17) Kingdom of Naples*
18) Bavaria
19) Wurttemberg*
20) Westphalia
21) Piedmont (1st Italian campaign)*
22) Brunswick*
23) Switzerland
24) Dutch-Belgians (1813-1815)*
25) Hanover (1813-1815)*
26) United States (war of 1812)
27) Native American forces (war of 1812)
28) Haitian revolutionaries
29) Ottoman Empire & Mamelukes
30) Maratha Empire
31) Hesse-Darmstadt
32) Berg*
33) Baden*
34) Tyrol (1809)
35) Vendean/Chouan rebels (revolution period)

As a little taster here are a few pictures from a Waterloo game. Pretty much every model has been re-based since this game.

The French army arrayed for battle (almost my entire French collection).

The Anglo-Allied army on the Mont-St-Jean ridge.

Hougoumont, with the British guard units almost surrounded by the advancing French.

After an extremely close and hard-fought battle, the Anglo-Allied army retreating from the field in good order, with the exhausted French attempting to organise a pursuit.