"Sächsische Garde du Corps, 1812" Topic

I have posted some images of my Saxon Heavies on my Blog:

link

You will find the Garde du corps and also new images of the von Zastrow's who have been featured before.

Full credit to the artist, Carl Robson, who painted all of these for me, and to Eureka who made these magnificent figures in their usual high quality metal.

They are wonderful. The shading/highlighting on faces, saddles etc is so well done. I notice you managed to free up the swords from the horses' heads in some cases, which does improve them. I slightly built-up the trooper's shoulders with Greenstuff as I thought them a bit "puny" for heavy cavalry. The casting of the ornaments on the shabraque is remarkable. Your artist has done great job on the lace.

Minor criticisms. Less convinced by the speckled horse hair crest. I've seen this done before and I'd tone it down. The dappled grey is superb. Only snag, their trumpeters did not ride greys, which I know is odd, but that is the case.

Great photography too!

Superb…!

The figures are some of the best on the market & a credit to Eureka Miniatures for identifying a gap in the market.

Great work by the painter, enjoy!!

deadhead

Always looking to improve and learn! What colour horse did the trumpeter ride?

Is this true for Garde du Corps only or other Saxon Heavies as well?

Can you point me to a good source for this important detail? Are the black leather reins correct this time? We tried to give the officers "Golden Bays"to ride. I think this is correct.

Thanks!

I see lead

Thanks for your comments. I agree, Eureka produces some superb figures, not many in 28mm Naps but these are my favourites.

I also like the beautiful if limited range of WAS Saxon infantry and cavalry. I have used the Saxon cavalry for SYW Reichsarmee units. Nothing else comes close in quality and the metal used is perfect for detail and strength.

I hope Nic can produce some Nap Saxon horse artillery and staff to fill out the brigade.

@mdavis41..

I couldn't agree more. The casting quality of Eureka is second to none & I like you, would love to see some more Saxon products to accompany these unique treasures..

for a series of good contemporary prints, like those of Sauerweid see

Napoleon-online.de

Here at the Sauerweid print the Garde du Corps trumpeter is on a dark brown.

Generally I would agree with Deadhead – but I have to check on this more deeply

Well this is no evidence I know, but all these images appear on a Google search. You'll see that the German flats show grey and black horses. Knotel shows Grey so I deliberately have not shown that.

But you know when you just know something? I have read it…I thought it was Uniforms of Retreat from Moscow but no….I'll keep looking.

as a rule of thumb – I would go for normal horse colour for German heavy cavalry trumpeter (Westphalians excluded) – German flats are not a source to be trusted without cross checking.

Right…………..so let's settle this for once, for, the next two centuries…never mind "normal", or "Westfalian/Westphalian", if I am a trumpeter of Saxon G du C is, my horse likely to be grey or black?.

I know the answer is I am lucky to have any horse but…I know, in the infinity of the cosmos, who cares? I am lucky if I have a horse!

Where did I read it in print that their trumpeters rode black horses?

It does not matter anyway. None of them were there at Waterloo, where it really mattered, so who cares? They missed the Napoleonic Wars then!

(With apologies to those, deluded, who feel Napoleonic Wars extended beyond Belgium in 1815)

Great references, thank you. The pictorial evidence is very compelling.

Although I think Peter Bunde produces some of the finest uniform plates available, he make no reference to the horses or their tack. I should have cross checked with these other references. I've become so used to the white/dapple/grey trumpeter in my other units, I'd missed this detail about he Saxon heavies.

I made the mistake with the von Zastrow's of using brown leather reins.

Oh well, someone else will be able the claim the rights to the definitive Saxon heavies. I just hope they use Eureka models!

If this really bothers you, please think again! First…this is incredible artistic work.

The Eureka figures casting must be seen to be believed. Those who play War Games may not care, but the rest will love the quality of the embroidery on the shabraques, the monograms.

Next. Remember, I have selected my references! I chose pictures and ignored Knotel (who shows greys) etc. I cannot find….but I so remember reading not so long ago…the words…trumpeters did not ride greys …but where ?

"Saxon Heavy Cavalry Horses all had a right front white sock"..in heavy cavalry. Prove I am wrong. From now on, those words make me a Google expert for ever more! Try it tomorrow, I am now an expert. We live in a crazy world.

I cannot find my primary source. My two (younger) twin sons will tell me that means nothing then….no reference. forget it, it did not happen. OK I know it did…but I cannot prove it

Does anyone have any recommendations for figures to se and uniform AND horse details for the Saxon Horse Artillery that were attached to Thielmann's Brigade at the Moscowa?

Advice. Post this as a new topic. Well worth it. It will be lost here as this topic is maybe "burnt out" now. Mind you, this pushes it back to the top! I love Saxon Garde du Corps, me………almost as much as Gendarmes d'Elite!

As no one else has replied can I suggest the Westfalia plates?

I know next to nothing about Saxons beyond the heavy cavalry but they sound right. Go to their website and you can expand this image. Was this THE Thielmann of Wavre then?

Was this THE Thielmann of Wavre then

Yep, same guy:

link

Pretty interesting fellow, with quite the jaunty pose for his portrait!

Does anyone have any recommendations for figures to se and uniform AND horse details for the Saxon Horse Artillery that were attached to Thielmann's Brigade at the Moscowa?

Westphalia makes these guys:

I think they're foot arty, but maybe with some minor conversion they might fit the bill. And if not, I suspect Westphalia will get around to horse arty soon enough.

smaller ammo pouch (a giberne) for mounted units, light cavalry sword and lose one crossbelt (the one over left shoulder).

As with the recent Polish HA from Murawski (beautiful figures but…..), not so easy to convert foot to horse artillery gunners in any army.

Sadly the above conversion would be really troublesome. Even though the basic style of the uniform is similar- as deadhead indicates- the equipment is totally different.

Maybe wait for Westphalia to bring out horse gunners.

If you want them soon, the best alternative is actually the simplest- French HA gunners in the post 1812 Bardin uniform. Several makers do these in several scales. Some have epaulettes, some plain shoulder straps- pick the latter if possible- though filing off epaulettes is still much easier than cutting away crossbelts, adding sabres etc.
Other than that, the uniform and equipment is very similar and the only real different is the shako plate- which is a pretty simple bit of knife work.

lovely painting

Maybe wait for Westphalia to bring out horse gunners.

I think their stated intention is to cover all the bases, Saxon-wise. So patience may be your best (if most annoying) friend in this instance.