"Double greatcoats" Topic

Am I the only one midly annoyed by all the manufacturers in my figs mix, doing French infantry wearing greatcoats, still having " a spare one" rolled over the backpack?

It could be a blanket.

I do not think the Perry's do that.

HaT don't do that in 1/72 either

As Glengarry5 says…….

Every British, KGL, footsoldier in the 1815 Campaign is shown with something grey rolled on his backpack…..a blanket. None of them had greatcoats. All had been returned to store as extra burden to carry and surely it would not rain much in early summer in the Low Countries. They only had their blankets for shelter when it did of course

the wargames foundry french in greatcoats do not have anything rolled on their backpacks. (Very good figures by the way)

I said French… They supposedly do have greatcoats. Napo even had them smuggled via Hamburg from Brit manufactures!
Could be occasional blankets, but all of them? Organized looting..the blankets regiment.
Because figs manufacturers forget details, misunderstand, assume all had a case like the Brits, or just stick on the usual backpact set on dollies.
Duh.
I am talking of 15-18mm.

I would cut the French blankets off from the figurines.

If soldiers had greatcoats, they would use these to wrap themselves in for sleeping. Carrying the extra weight of a blanket, together with the greatcoat, would have done more harm than good. And if it was not raining or cold, where would the soldiers have put their greatcoats if the space on top of the backpack was already occupied by the blanket ?

I would have to admit this never occurred to me. Why a blanket when you have a perfectly good coat? True!

Paint the greatcoat he's wearing greatcoat colour, and the one rolled on the backpack uniform coat colour. Then you have a bloke wearing his greatcoat over his shirt, a look still popular among students.

From Calpe's site: "The greatcoat became regulation wear on the 25th April 1806. It was a popular item of clothing and it soon became the practice to wear it over the sleeved shirt or waistcoat while on campaign; the more ample cut of the coat lending itself to greater freedom of movement. The greatcoat was not worn simply to ward off the cold; in 1813 it was worn principally to keep the new habit-veste from getting soiled. The dress jacket (or the 1812 habit) would be rolled up and placed in the backpack or stored in a bag and tied to the top of it."

Here's the full link--it's a nice article.
link

There's a painting of Bavarian infantry in 1807 (battle of Poplawi) wearing greatcoats and with the tunic clearly folded and stored under the flap of the backpack. I have a copy of this, but it was supplied to me by von Winterfeldt for research purposes and (apart from my own technical incompetence) I'm unsure as to whether I am allowed to reproduce it here.

@ deadhead – the account of Pvte Matthew Clay, 3rd Foot Guards, suggest that the blanket was stored inside the backpack (he remarks on being caught out by having to put a wet blanket back into his knapsack), not rolled up and stacked on top of the backpack. Greatcoats were not issued to soldiers until some years after the design of the backpack had been agreed, hence it had to be stowed outside as there was no room for it inside (quite apart from being easier to put it on when needed).

Same goes for figs with bayonets fixed on their firelocks, and one in the scabbard!

Like cavalry trumpeters with an empty scabbard…..because every one
else in the plastics box is waving a sword (Perrys the notable exception to that).

Deadhead> and then even with the Perries there is an issue, in that if you assemble both a trumpeter and a flag bearer, you only have a single non-empty scabbard on the sprue! (at least that is the case with the French hussars)