Sunday, 15 February 2026

Mameluk Ali

So far this year I have painted a grand total of one Hinton Hunt figure which is something of a record I think. The figure is FN/307 Mameluk of the Guard on horse FNH/4. I only recently acquired this figure and have no intention of doing a full unit so I have painted him to represent Napoleon's faithful servant Mameluk Ali.

FN/307 Mameluk of the Guard
The horse is FNH/4 which is quite a rarity as it was made for the Mameluk figure only and features a high back to the saddle and some fancy horse furniture.

Ali was not actually a Mameluk at all but a French stableman Louis-Etienne Saint-Denis who Napoleon had promoted to valet and ordered to wear a Mameluk's dress. These days that would probably be considered cultural appropriation but in early nineteenth century France it was clearly perfectly acceptable.

Ali and his boss.

As I explained in my previous post, Hinton production has slowed due to my efforts to complete an old 15mm ACW project which (drum roll) I have now done. To celebrate, I forced Goya to don Confederate uniform once again for another Fire & Fury game.

A full battle report of the game has been posted over on my ACW blog (click here).

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