"Old Glory 15mm female hussar?" Topic

I saw a mention somewhere that Old Glory make a 15mm female hussar to go with their Massena figure. Is this right? I've been looking for a female figure riding a horse or riding in a carriage to represent a character in my SYW Ruritanian army.

They do, but the figure is standing. It comes in the marshals pack.

Thanks Son of Moog.

Does anyone have a picture of this figure by any chance?

I thought it came in the marshals pack with Napoleon at the campfire with his aides? It's been awhile and I have it in a stack of 15mm fig boxes, so I may have to go dig it out now!

While we are on the subject of Old Glory Napoleonic 15s, who stocks them in the UK? I've tried Googling it and I've only found US sites.

Timecast link

Thanks chef.

Final couple of questions on the subject. Is the female hussar in the French Marshals 3 set? And how do Old Glory figures look next to Minifigs?

She's in the set with the "Camp" scene; she's standing, provocatively, wearing the (open) pelisse as a jacket, and with the shako set at a precarious angle – evidently "big hair" was in fashion at this particular bivouac – but she's not been entrusted with sabre, sabretache or any straps, as far as I remember. There's also a vivandiere sitting, rather uncomfortably, on the knee of a grinning General or Marshal. In general, Old Glory and Minifigs don't mix very well (in my view), though they're generally closer in size than AB or Battle Honours are to either.

Thanks Robert,

I'll probably give this one a miss then. Most of my figures are old Minifigs so they are a bit smaller than the current range and it sounds like they wouldn't be a good match.

Does anyone know if the package with Massena still has him in a carriage?

Don't know about "still", but what struck me as crazy about this particular vignette is the fact that, although there is a rider on one of the (identical) galloping horses, there isn't anyone actually driving the coach! And wasn't Massena – who is represented with his arm in a sling – attended by his physician at Wagram?

Hmmm… don't recall Massena having his arm in a sling. Strange that it would not have a driver. I've been unable to find any pictures of this set and Old Glory seems to not care if people can view their products prior too purchase. I would suspect for $30, it must come with a carriage though.

@ SJDonovan

I've been looking for a female figure riding a horse or riding in a carriage to represent a character in my SYW Ruritanian army.

A SYW Ruritanian army?
Please could you tell us more?
I know of more than 120 people who would be deeply interested!
link
link

PS: Wargaming Ruritania mentioned here:
TMP link

Hi Abdul,

My SYW Ruritanian army is a work in progress rather than a full-fledged 'imagi-nation'. My regular opponent and I are slowly (extremely slowly) putting together forces for two nations, one vaguely French and one vaguely Prussian.

Funnily enough I find painting the figures takes me far longer than with historical miniatures. I can never decide on the details for the uniforms and keep changing my mind about coat and facing colours. I suspect that this may prove to be one of the many projects I start that never quite reaches the table …

Hi,
The female "hussar" is in NMG4, French Marshalls #2. She fits in with the figures from the Fantassin French Staff Pack perfectly (I bought both packs yesterday at Salute) – as described above she is wearing a hussar uniform with shako perched on her head at a jaunty angle but she doesn't have a sabre. She's quite slim and is well proportioned (just like MiniFigs – ie no weirdly large head or anything) – if she were 1:1 scale I'd suggest she had a nice butt (and this is getting too weird for me at this point) and that Massena had good taste.

Malcolm

Thanks Malcolm,

Sounds like a nice figure. I may contact Old Glory and see if I can buy one separately since I don't really want to pay £23.00 GBP for the whole pack of generals.

Stephen

Buying one figure from OG – ROFLOL

I tried to get them to correct an error in their Empress Dragoons pack (elite company!) and to replace broken swords, and they refused/or send whole pack back (at my cost). End of relationship with OG.

YMMV

What was the error? (My French Garde figures are all Minifigs, except a small group of Gren a Cheval in surtout) Would the Empress' Dragoons actually have HAD an elite company? Maybe add a tiny axe and apron and call them Sappers.

I had said Marshals pack,but I don't recall a carriage model.

Bob

there is no carriage model in this pack, ther eis a seated napoleon, a table, and as I recall an seated officer with a female on his lap. I have the figure in question on a command stand of mine, and it is well done. I really wish someone would do an equivalent in 28mm.

Stephen,
Upon reflection, I can't think of any circumstances where I will be painting a female hussar in the near future. If you would like the figure email me at malcymalc at a o l dot com and you can have it, on condition you send me a pic of the painted figure or stand that I can post on my blog.

JBickley – is the other seated figure Napoleon? I thought it was a pretty poor attempt at the Vershegin pose from his Borodino painting if it was supposed to be Napoleon.

Malcolm

That's an extremely generous offer Malcolm and I shall take you up on it. However, I don't think that Massena would approve of his mistress being passed around for free so I shall look through my figure collection and see if I can find something to offer you in exchange for the fair lady.

All the best

Stephen

Yes, the seated figure of Napoleon (feet on drum) is surely influenced by the Borodino painting, but he looks like the village idiot after one flagon of cider too many. He literally appears to be giggling whilst struggling to rise. It is, however, possible to separate one leg from the drum, cut a notch behind the kneee and bend it into a closer approximation to the Russian painting (you may have to pare away a bit of the base, too). With regard to the figure's face, I worked on it for some time with a sharp scalpel to make N seem a bit more grave, but I suppose there are some people who would prefer him to look a bit glaikit.

By the way, the carriage is from a different set of Marshals from the one with these seated figures; there are three bags in total, each with a group of Marshals, some other generals and aides, and a distinct little diorama feature. These are: the camp-scene, with seated Napoleon, some dismounted Chasseurs, that female figure and a couple of riderless horses; Massena in his carriage (no driver…) accompanied by four Mameluks; the "Trophies" scene, presumably after Austerlitz since there are several sulky-looking Austrian prisoners, together with a number of French soldiers (both Foot and Horse) waving various flags to the mounted Napoleon. As far as I remember, there's a Cuirassier carrying two flags, and several vaiants upon the "headgear stuck on the end of a musket" kind of figure.

Robert Le Diable – thanks for the additional info as to what's in what bag. I thought perhaps the "village idiot after one cider too many" might be some regular Joe Blow who was simply drinking with his friend, the figure of an officer with a vivandiere sitting on his lap in the same bag.

I don't suppose you know whether there are some dismounted officers with telescopes in any the other two bags?

Does anyone have pictures of the vignettes painted up?

No, regrettably, I'm sure the seated figure is meant to be Boney (from Corsican hat to top-boots, via the greatcoat and the sash under his waistcoat, it's the man himself). The womanising officer (who's clearly of senior rank, too) might be intended for Berthier, far from Mme Visconti. With regard to dismounted officers with telescopes, as far as I know there's only the one, and he's in the same bag with these two seated figures (and isn't there also a seated Cuirassier, helemt and all?) The officer with telescope is in a rather "active" pose – looks as if he might be trying to keep his balance on a ship in rough seas – and I think I cut the base in half, took some little notches from the figure's legs in various places, in order to manipulate the figure into a rather more staid pose. I don't know where he is now (packed up in one of many little boxes). There was a set of pictures from the "Marshals" sets in either Miniature Wargames or Wargames Illustrated about ten/fifteen years ago. Maybe someone with the technology could post a Web-Cam picture here?

Does anyone have one of the female hussar figures lying around unloved? Please drop me an email – I'd love to give her a good home.

Could not help but notice comment above, especially as Massena's carriage at Wagram was one scratch built project I had always intended

"what struck me as crazy about this particular vignette is the fact that, although there is a rider on one of the (identical) galloping horses, there isn't anyone actually driving the coach!"

This is actually correct. The usual thing was driven by one or two postillions. Even Boney's famous carriage. It might have had a seat in front, sure, for his mameluke to sit on. But the poor devil had no control whatsoever of the horses.

If one postilion he sat on the left wheel horse (nearest the carriage). If two, then the second was sat just in front and, with six horses, oddly the front pair were unencumbered with a rider!

Gringos 40 do a nice female hussar in 28mm, but in the later cylindric shako

As a matter of interest, are we talking about the "Old-Glory-15s-formerly-known-as-Battle-Honors," or the "Old-Glory-15s-Blue -Moon-actually-18mm" here?

While I love the idea of mounting a figure of Massena as an army commander with his lady friend, I would prefer that she not be a scale 7 feet tall. I mean, from the miniature gaming point of view, at least.

The idea of an 18mm Massena mounting his lady friend, (I think that was what was said), is quite appealing as a project.

She was from the Old Glory US range (was that formerly known as Battle Honours?), not the Blue Moon stuff sold by Old Glory UK…

As my chaps are all AB (18mm), a slightly tall 15mm lady would be no bother. :)

Eh bien, you guys have convinced me not only that I need Massena and his lady friend, but that I need to replicate the Vereshchagin painting of Napoleon with his feet on the drum and his marshals and guardsman in attendance.

Fortunately, Empire V/R&E are both tactfully quiet on how army commanders should be mounted, leaving me sufficient leeway to do my thing. It looks like the two OG15 sets that you've mentioned will suffice, assuming the proportions of mounted and unmounted figures in the camp scene suffice.

I venture no guess on matters of proportion or size, offering only the thought that as Ney's aide had to shout through the door prior to Busaco, those matters are all best left to the imagination.