french infantry in greatcoats
The campaign dress was very different from the full-dress uniform fixed
by the regulations of the day. Habitually, the men wore a more
comfortable look covering expensive items such as coats, breeches,
shakos...., that were reserved for parade or inspection days and, in
some cases, for the day of the battle (such the Old Guard)
Greatcoats (redingotes, capotes) and covered shakos were very common
items, carried in rainy weather (such during the Leipzig Campaign) and
winter days by all armies of the napoleonic era. There many battle
narratives describing that look, as well as the frequent confusions
ensued when men of different armies wearing such dress, met in the
battlefield.
UNIFORMS AND MINIATURES
Whereas a covered shako only implies an easy painting conversion, the
greatcoat is a very different affaire. There are few 1/72 plastic sets
depicting French nfantry in greatcoat. In this moment, the possibilities
are:
HaT 8146 1805 French Line Infantry in Greatcoats
Strelets M023 French Infantry on the March (1)
HaT 8034 French Young Guard
The HaT 8146 option is ruled out because the men are wearing the old
bicorne, so Strelets and HaT 8034 are the only viable alternatives. I
don't like the Strelets figures (too small in my opinion!) and the HaT
Young Guard is not the better sculpting set of the world, so I was left
only with the option to try metal figures.
Newline
Designs, available by mail from Great Britain, was my option. I
bought a bargain-pack with 100 figures (actually 104!) of French Line
Infantry in Greatcoat (Reference FR19). The pack contains 12 Grenadiers
Advancing (FR23/2), 12 Grenadiers March/Attack (FR23/5), 12 Line Command
Advancing/Marching (FR23) and the rest are Fusiliers Advancing (FR23/1)
and Fusiliers (March/Attack). I'll paint one half of the grenadiers as
voltigeurs, i.e. with green facings.
I am very grateful to the members of the yahoo groups and also to Ximo
and Lannes (from
ALKAID
Forums) for their useful advice. Last, but not least, I wish to
thank Matt, the owner of
In The Grand Manner blog ant the inspirer of this painting job!
The pictures below are two Rousselot plates covering the 1812
uniform, as well as there pictures taken from
Napoleon-series site. These last, although depicting a previous
uniform, show very well the main differences between elite and centre
companies
Last, I have included a size comparison of the Newline figures vs.
several HäT figures (HäT 8042 Bavarian Line Infantry, HäT
8095 1808-1812 French Line Infantry and HäT 8042 Napoleonic French
Light Infantry) ans some AIRFIX Waterloo Line Infantry metal-clones.
Newline figures, being true 20 mm (measured from soil to eyes), are
somewhat smaller than HäT or AIRFIX. A small 'sabot' under the
Newline bases will eliminate this problem!
| UNIT | FIGURES | COLOR SCHEME | PICTURES |
| FRENCH INFANTRY IN GREATCOAT |
NEWLINE
DESIGNS BARGAIN PACK FR19 French Line Infantry in Greatcoat FR23 Line Command Advancing/ Marching FR23/1 Fusiliers Advancing FR23/2 Grenadiers Advancing FR23/4 Fusilier March/AttacK FR23/5 Grenadiers March/Attack |
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| The inspiring Matt's version |
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| Camparison vs HäT figures |
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| Comparison vs. AIRFIX (metal clones) |
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Links of interest:
Napoleon's Line Infantry. Philip Haythornthwaite-Bryan
Fosten. Osprey MAA 141 (1983)
Rousselot Plates in ImageShack