"Crimean War Imperial Guard" Topic

Hi all,

As my Crimean War project moves slowly forward, I'm starting to think about the French involvement. My project is at 1:72 scale, and I've not been able to locate anyone that makes French Imperial Guard.

So, my question is, would these Strelets Imperial Guard Chasseurs in greatcoats be suitable:

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Thanks for your help
Ryan

I think they would be close enough, though technically I think the greatcoat should be a bit longer and often appears to have been worn with the front tails tied back (like the figure on the bottom right of the Strelets picture). The figures seem to be wearing an odd assortment of non-uniform boots but I imagine that this happened just as much in the Crimean War as in the Retreat from Moscow.

My opinion: the Strelets Imperial Guard Chasseurs in greatcoats (1812) would be unsuitable as French Imperial Guard for the Crimea (1854).

As I recall the French Imperial Guard deployed to the Crimea much later in the campaign. So why not start with French line infantry for your project?

EMHAR makes nice line infantry and zouaves, which would be more useful if gaming early battles like The Alma.

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Thanks for the responses.

I have about 4 boxes of the Strelets Line Infantry, 2 boxes of the Emhar Infantry (which I don't like that much!), and 3 boxes of the Strelets Zouaves/Light Infantry, which will work out to about 24 battalions of French.

I chose the greatcoated Guard Chasseurs so that the uniform would be covered up.

I'm sure they'll look the part once painted up