"Uniform Differences pre-1812 and post-1812, British Army" Topic

I am this close to buying my first French Napoleonic Army from Baccus. I am not a Napoleonic Wars specialist or scholar and I have not painted a Napoleonic Army ever. With that, what are the major differences of the uniform periods? It seems from several sources as well as a quick glance of the various miniature product lists that the switch date is 1812. I am planning in the next several months and year to also buy either a British Army and either a Prussian or an Austrian Army.

What was with that date that all the major actors in the Napoleonic Era wanted to update their Army uniforms?

How different are the two really? Specifically with a British Army. I wanted to center it on the Battle of Salamanca during the Peninsular War. Would the uniform change be so much different that that couldn't represent the British forces at Waterloo? I know my miniatures, my rules and all that, but as a general question, was there much of an update or was it more of a superficial transition with a few major/semi-major changes?

British Army:
pre-1812 – cylindrical shakos
post-1812 – Belgic shako
But the Light, Highland and Rifles bns. were the same.

If you are basing your British troops on the Salamanca campaign you are safe to use the older uniforms. The 1812 versions took a long while to find their way to Spain, usually by way of replacements, or complete units coming in as reinforcements in 1813-14.
It's probably safe to say that the British were fully "1812" by Waterloo. As to whether you can use a Peninsular War force for Waterloo depends on how much a purist you wish to be and if different headgear worries you.
Perhaps best to avoid obvious Spanish-looking features like white or brown, or repeatedly patched, trousers.

Edit--just noticed you said "Baccus" so I assume you're planning on 6mm, so relatively minor changes are less significant.

Ok it is slightly more complicated than this.

By Waterloo 1 unit still had the stovepipe Shako as they traded for them from other units to keep them. This being the 28th Regiment.

The uniform change of 1812 regulations (to come into force 26th December 1812 to be precise) was a hat change for Infantry as well as no longer having drummers in reversed colours (although some colonels continued to do so out of their own pockets) and the fact the officers now had a short Infantry style jacket and Belgic style Shako instead of the Bicorne.

Cavalry changed quite a lot in these regs and you need to look them up unit by unit.

The biggest difference betwee the 1812 look and the 1815 look is that the 1812 troops had front plumes where the 1815s had side plumes.

In units that received stocks of the new hats it was convention to change over the Centre companies first, then the Grenadiers with the light troops being last. Not least because Light Company Officer had already moved over to shako and short coat themselves.

I don't bother. All my British Line Infantry (apart of course for 28th Foot) have Belgic (ie post 1812) shakos and I use the same ones for battles before or after 1812.

Rod

In 6mm the main difference for the Infantry is, as already mentioned, the shape of the hat. I would use figures with stovepipes as this was used for a much longer period and ignore the difference at Waterloo!

The Foot Artillery had the same hat thing.

The Horse Artillery stayed pretty much the same, so no worries there!

The Cavalry uniforms changed the most with the 1812 regulations. Apart from Hussars the uniforms were completely different at Salamanca and Waterloo.

I believe the switch to the new uniforms happened during 1813 in the Peninsula army. I have read a couple of diaries and memoirs of men who served there and they mention being pulled out of the line for a few days to go and get their new kit!

Did officers wear stovepipe shakos or was that just in the Light Infantry?

Just in the lights, and then not always. Officers had a great deal of latitude.

Much obliged to all the great answers.

Hello 2nd Kentucky!

I see you got a lot of great answers.

First let me welcome you to the wonderful world of Baccus and their Napoleonic's. Your about to embark on an amazing journey that will bring you many years of exciting and rewarding wargaming.

As Napoleon was gearing up for his war with Russia most countries seemed to have a look at their uniforms and decided to give them an update during 1811-1812 and after. In 6mm this is not too much of a concern unless your just going to focus on the Waterloo period. Most gamers don't as it's only a couple of battles. I have some 40,000 6mm figures and only recently decided to add some British in the Belgic shako for our big Waterloo battle in 2015. So yes the uniform changes were pretty superficial and mainly in 6mm is just a change of hats.

Baccus is presently redoing their French Napoleonic line with some of the new releases due later this year. So you might want to delay your purchase of them. The British, Austrian, Russians and Prussians are finished as are the minor powers.

I've been gaming Napoleonic's for some 40 years and using Baccus figures exclusively for 8 years. So if there is anything I can help you with you can contact me at glennrpearce@hotmail.com I presently live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Best regards,

Glenn Pearce

Hi 2nd Kentucky,

I know I probably sound like a salesman for C E Franklin, but if you a really interested I would recommend you buy a copy of "British Napoleonic Uniforms" it contains a huge amount of information on British uniforms from 1790's to 1815. Each regiment has it's own page of colour illustrated plates plus supporting text.

Note it covers all the British infantry and cavalry but not artillery.

Regards,

Ron.

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