"Painting Napoleonic French" Topic

Hi guys,

After being a long time into WW2 wargaming I returned to my first love Napoleonics.I just purchased some 18mm AB french
for building a force based on 3rd Corps of Ney for 1812 Russian campaign

Unfortunatly there are a lot of Osprey Napoleonic Men-At-Arms series out of stock so I have not much reference and therefore hopefully somebody can help me out.

1/ What kind of blue colour should I use for the infantry (Coat d'arms paint)

2/ What colors do I have to use for French Hussars of 11th regiment. I know they wore a dark blue uniform with red collars and cuffs and yellow lace. But how should I paint the shako and the trumpetter uniform???

Thanks,
Chris

1 Dark blue. Your opinion of what is 'dark' blue will vary from every else's. It has always been thus.

2 Buglers wore the same uniform as troopers, with gold chevrons on their sleeves. Shakos are…black

This chap's wearing the uniform of the 13th picture

Thanks Connard,

After my post I saw a previous post on French uniform blue.
You are right I guess.

Regards,
Chris

French hussar buglers usually wore a reverse of colors, with some striking exceptions. The figure of the 13th (above) looks very much like the second hussars, and in their case, the dolman and pelisse would be pale blue (I see it usually colored "sky" blue, but a Rousselot plate schematic of the 12 regiments shows a distinct pale or pastel blue) and the breeches would be dark brown. I have never seen a trumpeter of the 13th Hussars, but I have seen a trooper with a scarlet shako! with that dark brown and sky blue uniform.

The stripes or chevrons Connard Sage refers to might have been on the dark green Imperial Livery uniform of the later years of the empire.

From a Hourtoulle plate,the 11th Hussars are ex-Hollondaise, formed by being pulled out of Spain as the 2nd Ducth Hussars, with the 26th Chasseurs a cheval, early in 1810, and titled the 11th by a decree of 18 August, 1810. Their trumpeters wore white dolman with (according to Hourtoulle) dark blue collar edged gold or yellow; and scarlet cuffs edged the same. (I wonder if that is a mistake, and the collar should be scarlet?) The pelisse is white with yellow cords (the 11th is the only "French" hussar regiment to have the lining, inside the pelisse in scarlet). I have seen fur gray in one case illustration, black in another, and it's not clear in this plate. The rolled belt around the waste (forget what it's called! – senior moment)is scarlet with 3 white sections, vertically down the center of which runs a narrow dark blue stripe. Dark blue breeches as for the troopers. I have seen the schabraque of dark blue pointed cloth as for the Guard, with a broad yellow edge. Frankly, in 18MM figures, you would probably be right to paint a figure with a sheepskin shabraque black, edged scarlet. The colpak is black with a scarlet bag edged yellow, and a black plume for center company trumpeters, scarlet for the elite company.

Troopers of the elite company wore a white colpak with scarlet plume and bag, edged yellow. Their pelisse fur was also white. Center company troopers work the shako with yellow cords, black top and bottom leather bands, brass diamond front plate, and black plume. But the pelisse fur for the center companies is also white!! I would wager center company trumpeters might have worn the same shako, but with white pelisse(with black fur) and dolman as for the Elite trumpeter.

Hourtoulle shows a trooper with a natural tan sheepskin schabraque edged scarlet, but behind him an elite trooper on a dark blue pointed cloth schabraque edged yellow. I think that schabraque would have been a hold-over from the Dutch origins of the regiment.

I use navy blue for my French, and for this regiment. Humbrol had an excellent navy blue for the French uniform
in general "back in the day."

I see a trumpeter with a black leather sabretache with the number 11 in gold. A trooper is shown with a black sabertache with the crowned eagle in a brass attachment. No comments about the variation. 11 for all would help identify the regiment on the game board.

A handsome regiment!

GdeP

Chris most of the Osprey OOP are part of (a five year ??) reprint cycle. In my store, I have new Ospreys from the early pre-#100 era. So do not loss hope to get some. Napoleonics were my first real interest back in the 1970s. You might look at the new Armies of Napoleonic Wars semi-compilation book. A little more expensive than normal titles but it does give you your money's worth in the amount of information.

Knotel Uniforms of the World is a must have for any painter though minute variations in color shades are often not commented on.

Do not ignore the unifrom color variations of the 1700s as well.

You can quite often get "out of print" Ospreys from Amazon, and at a better price than Osprey charges. They also send them straight away, whereas Osprey take an absolute age. I always get my Ospreys from Amazon if they have the one I want.

Yeah this past week I ordered a bunch of used and new Ospreys from Amazon and its associated book stores. I was paying 6 to 13 dollars per book, cant beat that. Of course when FOG Napoleonics comes out we will be flooded with Napoleonic books from Osprey.

11th Hussars, according to my sources, did not ride a sheepskin shabraque, but a cloth one as typically seen on officers' horses among the other hussar and chasseur regiments. This makes them tough to model.

The 11th, by the way, had a terrible reputation as a regiment. Run away! Run away!

If it helps, I use Deadly Nightshade as the base coat then highlight with dark blue. Looks good to me.

Chris,
Ignore Connards advice on French Hussar Trumpeters.
Some examples;
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Regards,

Hi guys,

All of you many thanks for your input.

Just before this post I received a notification from Osprey that there were some old titles in stock. I just ordered French Hussars, French Line Chasseurs, French Guard Cavalery and French light Infantry. I will give Amazon a try.

Little bit off topic. Does anyone have experience with Foundry paint. I saw that they have a large collection of Napoleonic paint.

Chris,
Ignore Connards advice on French Hussar Trumpeters.

Cheers, I'm ed if I'll post any more information on here, however correct or incorrect it may be.

Foundry French – I use the Deep blue '20' that came with the starter set prior to the authentic colours being released. The authentic '65' is a little darker.

Some of the other ranges may be a bit too samey. I've picked up some of them but not used them to any great degree. Hoping it will help me use different colours for the Bavarian/french/Prussians , rather than jsut dark blue with a bit of white/black etc.

To be authentic mix medium blue with black and get various shades. Hightlight with a slightly lighter shade. I have done this with Portugese line regiments I think you might like the effect than every unit and soldier is a "uniform" blue.

French hussar uniforms? You have stepped into a minefield now! I have the Jouineau books and each regiment shows so many varients! Mix in some Ospreys and Hourtoulle, add a dash of internet sources and you have a recipe for confusion and indecision!!

Just choose one that you like and paint it

hussarbob1746.webs.com

Hahaha didn"t know that there were minefields in 1812!!!!!!!

Well I will stick to the fine explanation in this topic of Garde de Paris and Osprey book French Hussars.

Chris

Dear Forum,

The French Cuirassiers Heavy Cavalry regimental musicians(buglers), were they ever wearing the steel cuirass? I recall reading that in 1812 or later, the French Cuirassier's buglers completely abandoned the cuirass and chose a rather ornate uniform(sans cuirass).
Is this accurate?

At Wagram,(July, 1809) had Napoleon already changed the uniforms of the French Heavy Cavalry regiments, known as Carabiniers(1st & 2nd Regiments) from their bearskins to the "Roman-helmeted" version of these same regiments?

Haven't acquired any French Heavy Cavalry Carabinier regiments as of yet, wishing to know which style uniforms these two regiments would be wearing, as of July, 1809.

How similiar, if at all, would the French Carabinier Heavy Cavalry regiments in bearskins be to the French Guard "Gendarme D' Elites" cavalry regiment? Could a similiarity of the uniforms of these two different mounted units, been the reasoning for Napoleon to have made such a dramatic uniform change for the mounted carabinier regiments?

Sincerely,
Wayne