Napoleonic French Carabiniers

The Carabiniers a Cheval formed 2 regiments of Napoleons heavy cavalry. Whilst regarded as an elite formation, their combat record was mixed. At Friedland in 1807 the 1st Carabiners were defeated by the Russian Life Guard Cossacks, and in 1809 at Wagram they suffered at the hands of Austrian Cuirassiers. They performed well at Borodino but suffered terrible losses along with he rest of the Grande Armee during the retreat from Moscow. With their ranks filled by young recruits the Carabiniers were a shadow of their former selves by 1813 and at Leipzig they were routed by Hungarian Hussars. The brigade of Carabiniers fought at Waterloo and took part in Ney's massed cavalry attacks against Wellington's infantry squares, suffering heavy casualties.

Despite their uneven record their appearance was very striking, and since a big part of the appeal of Napoleonic wargaming (I think) is being able to play with some very pretty toys, I was determined to include the Carabiniers when I found them in the big pile of unpainted plastic at the back of the cupboard. 

These figures are from Italeri, and are very nicely sculpted indeed, though this is not shown to its best advantage due to my inferior skills with a paintbrush. Hopefully their performance on the tabletop will exceed what they achieved on the battlefield!

 

Napoleonic Prussian Line Infantry

My initial efforts in painting up some Napoleonic armies were mainly the French (obvs) and the Austrians (clever Dave realised that plain white uniforms would be quick to paint). I have also painted a few British, but the Prussians were for many months entirely absent from my burgeoning forces. When I decided to change this I painted what I had, which were some venerable Airfix Landwehr filled out with a rogues gallery of other figures that looked vaguely suitable after a swift paintjob conversion. The assembled force was of poor quality conscripts and some second-rate infantry who would not stand up to a determined French attack for long, so I purchased some reinforcements in the shape of the excellent HaT Prussian Jagers, some HaT 1805 Russian Infantry, whose ENORMOUS plumes make them reasonable Garde Zu Fuss substitutes, as well as some HaT Prussian Infantry In Action and Prussian Command sets. These are really well sculpted figures, and the multi-part ones with separate arms fit together really nicely in a way that the HaT Napoleonic French Command set just doesn't.

The first unit of the line infantry completed is below, painted with white collars and cuffs as the 2nd (1st Pomeranian) Infantry. 

 Painting these was a faff. I have discovered I have a deep dislike for painting figures with rolled greatcoats across their chests, so God help me when I finally do a Russian army.