The Monster has escaped!

Napoleon has escaped from Elba with his Old Guard and is marching on Paris. Marshal Ney has been sent to stop him with the 5th regiment of the line.

"On to Grenoble my grumblers!"

"Men of the 5th do not let them pass!"

"Soldiers of the 5th do you recognise me? If you want to kill your emperor here I am!"

"FIRE!"
"What do you think Pierre?"
"Oh, what the heck..."

"Vive l'empereur, Vive l'France, Vive Napoleon!"

"Did you really say you'd bring me back to Paris in an iron cage?"
"What me? No, that was definitely Murat!"

The 5th regiment is complete.

The figures used are:

2 x FN/1 Officer (charging)

1 x FN/4 Colour bearer (charging)

19 x FN/5 Fusilier (charging)

1 x FN/6 Drummer (charging)

1 FN/8 Officer (marching)

Next up will be something not quite so French.

More French Fusiliers

The extra day in February means that I have squeezed in the completion of yet another French line infantry regiment in the astonishing (for me) time period of one month. These lads will represent the 5th Regiment who of course were famously sent to stop Napoleon in his tracks after his escape from Elba.

This brings to a halt my expansion programme for the French line infantry the idea being that for larger games I will no longer have to rope in unlikely allies to fight alongside them to make up the numbers.

I'm giving myself a pat on the back for progress so far this year - 50 Hinton Hunt figures painted and ZERO new figures acquired!

Artillery Review Part 2

Here are the French guns as promised together with the remainder of the Allied artillery.

The Guard are in the front row (of course) with the Line Foot batteries behind them.

The Emperor's daughters.

There are 8 guns, 2 limbers and 32 gunners.

The Austro-Russo-Prussian gun-line.

Who doesn't like gunners in bicornes?

There are 8 guns, 3 limbers and 32 gunners.

I have to confess that I'm quite surprised at just how many gun batteries there are in total so I think I can say with some confidence that the artillery for this project is complete.

British Artillery Review

I'd been thinking I should probably hold an artillery review and then David twisted my arm by commenting that he'd like to see the whole artillery park. First up then is the Anglo-Allied gun line.

Ramsay & Mercer put the RHA through their paces.

These two batteries have been painted 15 years apart which is nearly the same length of time that the Napoleonic Wars lasted!

The full gun-line, British to the front and Allies behind. The Dutch have a French gun whilst the Brunswickers have been equipped with British guns on this occasion.

A pretty impressive force to hold those French columns at bay. It strikes me though that I am missing a limber for the Brunswick Horse Artillery and possibly (just possibly) I could do with another Foot Battery to bring the count up to an even eight guns.

Artillery Reinforcements Complete

The guns and limbers are finished and all ready for action. This brings the total of French guns up to eight which is surely enough even for Napoleon. The Duke increases his artillery park to a respectable four pieces.

A bit of an unusual sight but today the British and French artillery are parading together.

Ramsay's Battery. It's hard for me to believe but I painted Mercer's Battery back in 2009!

The figures used are:

1 x BN.24 Gunner (ramming home)

1 x BN.23 Gunner (positioned for manning gun)

1 x BN.24a Gunner (holding hand spike)

1 x BN.25 Officer (holding spy-glass and pointing)

1 x A.2 Field Gun - with modified wheels

This is the fourth French Foot Battery for the collection. The officer had lost his shako plume so I have reconstructed it.

The figures used are:

1 x FN/32 Gunner (holding cannon ball)

1 x FN/34 Gunner (positioned for manning gun)

1 x FN/30 Officer (pointing)

1 x FN/33 Gunner (ramming home)

1 x A/3 Field Gun - with modified wheels

This addition means that both sides can field the right number of limbers for their Horse Batteries.

The figures used are:

1 x BN.28 R.H.A. Driver (positioned for riding on gun horse H/1)

1 x H/1 Nearside draught horse

1 x H/2 Offside draught horse

1 x AL.2 Gun Limber (British)

1 x A.2 British Field Gun

1 x FN/36 Driver, Line Artillery Drivers Corps (positioned for riding H/3)

1 x H/3 French Gun Horse (near side horse)

1 x H/4 French Gun Horse (off side horse)

1 x French Limber by Newline Designs

1 x A/3 French Field Gun

All the figures used are vintage Hinton Hunt castings (with the exception of the Newline Designs French limber).

Next up, you guessed it - more French line infantry.

Guard Cavalry Review - 2

It's just under a year ago (click here) that I confidently announced that the French Guard Cavalry was now 'complete'. However, to be fair, I did add that this was subject to me ever finding enough Guard Chasseur-a-Cheval figures to make up a unit. Anyway, here they are again!

The full Guard Cavalry Division, Light Brigade to the front, Heavy Brigade in rear - 60 figures in total.

The Lancers - combined Red Lancers and Poles.

Chasseur-a-Cheval.

The yummy Eclaireurs!

The Empress' Dragoons.

The Horse Grenadiers.

This time they really are complete...

Artillery Reinforcements

When I set up the Waterloo game last summer I realised that I was a bit short on artillery for both sides so with the painting desk clear I decided it was time to do something about it.

Currently in progress is another RHA gun crew together with a French Line Foot Artillery crew. The RHA crew will of course be for Ramsay's battery to keep Mercer company. There is also a RHA limber and a French limber and two each of British and French field guns.

The guns are all Hinton Hunt ones that have been fitted with Hinchcliffe wheels by the previous owners, a common practice back in the day. The British limber is Hinton Hunt but the French one is a modern model by Newline Designs.

My limbers if you remember have 2-horse teams and I only field them for horse artillery batteries. A lot of this stuff I've had hanging around for years and part of it was from a joint purchase with Goya a while back so it will be good to get them into action.