"Which is your favorite miniatures Napoleonic Army???" Topic

Austrian/Germans look nice

Hungarians are colourful

British are bright

…and elite

Then there are the French and Saxons…What can I say…It's too difficult to choose…I love them all!

Austrians. German units and exotic units in the same army.
Second: Ottomans, although choice in figures is sadly limited.

Slightly off-period, but I have a 1790s Anglo-allied army that I think looks great. 1799 Russians follow closely behind.

Mallen,
I don't suppose you have any photo's of your armies do you? I would love to see them as neither the 1790s Anglo-allies or 1799 Russians get collected very often, yet they are both fascinating to me.

Indeed, the same here; alway good to see early French revolution troops

1st choice: Bavarians (thought they'd get more votes).

Runner-up: Tie between 1806 Prussians and 1815 Brunswickers.

mmmmmmmm, Russina? especially 07 types

My old Bavarians that I sold on…shame!

I think probably Austrians – though I have only got a small number of them. I collect old 15mm 2nd gen Minifigs and the Austrians are very hard to come by. I assume this is because when the figures were produced back in the 80s the Austrians were less popular than they are now and so fewer people bought them.

Peninsular Brits/Portuguese.

Sadly, I really struggle to paint large numbers of minis all in the same colors, so being able to alternate between French and Rifles and French and Cacadores and French and Redcoats really should help keep me going.

1806 Prussians (and Saxons), and revolutionary war French are my favorites. (as are the Bavarians)

The Russians are always great, as are the Austrians. Late Prussians are also awesome withou a doubt.

Italians and Spanish, and Swedes .. and Danish troops. Did I mention the Brits as well ? They are ALL must-have armies.

I think it is fair to say that your favorite miniatures are usually the very latest ones that you might have been painting recently.

Currently working on Russians for 1813, and then starting on a Persian army for the 1804-1813 war against Russia.

The Persians offer brilliant artillery units, and a mix of line units including Euro trained regulars, and a host of other irregular types. Its a great army for throwing in all sorts of bizarre figures from Eastern Renaissaince through to 19th Century turks, and having them fit in.

The total lack of information on uniforms allows for a wide amount of interpretation as well.

Persian commanders :

Mix of uniforms and troop types :

Stylized view of a battle :

hi there

.>>>>>>>>>>>
Steve 64 said…

… and then starting on a Persian army for the 1804-1813 war against Russia.

The Persians offer brilliant artillery units, and a mix of line units including Euro trained regulars, and a host of other irregular types….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What scale will you do the Persians in? On my to do list is sculpting some up in 15/18mm. A US academic chap was nice enough to send me some superb background info.

Regards

David F Brown

I forgot the Yanks! Not my favorite, but they have some extremely cool looking uniforms. Some nice figures for them at Brigade games.. Some future temptation no doubt. Not so keen on the militia but the regulars have some very smart looking units.

Persians – 15/18mm.

The infantry are pretty straightforward :

The bulk of them are Euro trained regulars. I am using 19th Century Turkish figures for them – slightly baggy pants, and fez headwear which can easily take some green stuff to model the peculiar Persian conical hat.

The Royal Guard infantry – a range of Turks with turbans, scimitars and firearms.

The irregular infantry – a mix of colonial mahdists, and anything else I can find. Mostly musket armed, but also a few sword and buckler types are probably appropriate.

Lancashire Games have a cool range of 19th C Turks from their Russo Turkish War range. Nice figs – I guess they dont produce a lot of them, so the moulds are hardly worn at all, and produce some very crisp castings :)

The cavalry are a large collection of a bit of everything.

Revolution and Empire (Todd Fisher's extension of Empire), provides detailed ratings for a wide range of Persian troops and all the various cavalry units on offer.

Its an interesting side show to the main action during the Napoleonic era. As the French were advancing on Moscow itself in 1812, the Russians considered the Iranian front important enough to divert troops and resources from the Motherland to that theatre. That says a lot.

I believe that both the British and the French spent a few resources collaborating to help build up the Persian army as well …. collaborating to keep Russia in check perhaps ?

It could well be that you dont hear much about the Iranian situation during the Napoleonic Wars, as it raises a few difficult questions about realpolitik on the global stage, and who was playing off against who. That controversy alone makes the Persian front worth gaming IMHO.

MY Persians anyway, will have attached both French and British 'advisers', to help them keep the troops in line, along with some Al-Qaida types leading the irregulars and flying the black flag of the prophet. The mix of agendas on the side of the Persians should produce some good gaming moments.

Whenever you get the sculpts done for some Persians in the future, I will definitely get me some as well.

'War and Peace in Qajar Persia', ed Roxane Farmanfarmaian is not cheap but includes lotsa useful information (especially great detail on the Turk-Persian war 1821-23).

Your Persian army can include the tough-fighting Erivan regiment, something of a 'Russian foreign legion'. The Afghans were once defending a city including a strong point that was a tomb of an Islamic saint, the defenders were confident the position would not be attacked by Moslems, they were right, so the Persians sent in their Christian Russians.

The first unit I'll build will be the royal guard zamburak camel-gunners.

Wurttemberg.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

French, Brits second. Which is why I opt to game the Peninsula. The Confederation, Portuguese and Spanish I toss in for color and game variation and foe historical reasons. Buts its the French and Brits.

I'd second Steve64 and Evilgong. I've toyed with a Qajar Persian army in 15mm. I've used everything from SYW and Napoleonic period Cossacks and converted Cossack artillerymen and kneeling camels into Zamburakchi. I've even used crusader period Jewish cavalry as Kurds, since they share a very similar style of headgear. The Regular troops are converted Minifigs Nizan-i-Jedid with filed down headgear to make the tall lambsking caps and uniformed in Green, Red and Blue coats, reflecting the influence of Russian, British and French military 'schools'to help with modernisation. There are some excellent stylised paintings of Russians Vs Qajars in the Hermitage.

My second choice would have to be my Turco-Egyptian Albanians & Mamelukes.

Spanish, in my case, closely followed by Austrians.

Antonio: I am sure I am not alone in wanting to see what Spanish units you are doing. We can never get enough information about those units, and the many changes in uniforms. My hope is to do 15 battalions of British, 15 of Portuguese, and perhaps 12 of Spanish to oppose 36 battalions of French (including 5 of "Germans," and 3 of Poles).

Can you show – or describe – your Spanish units?

GdeP