Will they leave Russia? - More 1812 Frenchmen...

Still Tactica rules my workbench and so here come a couple of Perrys' excellent 1812 Frenchmen and allies once again. This time I chose a couple of figures from their infantry and cavalry sets. Actually they were meant to be a group of heroes for the last bonus round in Curt's painting challenge but unfortunately I wasn't able to finish them on time.

Actually I tried to paint them slightly unusual. More precisely I wanted to represent as many soldiers as possible from my home area: The Grand Duchy of Cleve-Berg and the Kingdom of Westphalia.

These are my humble the results:

An officer from some kind of cavalry unit. Actually all of his clothing besides the coat is civilian. But this coat is the pattern usually worn by cavalrymen of the Grande Armée. On the table he'll represent an officer from the 1st Regiment of Dragoons from the Grand Duchy of Cleve-Berg.

An artillerymen from the French or allied foot artillery. Actually he is from the infantry set but the greatcoat is hidden enough to resemble the double-breasted version which was worn by the artillery as well. His shoulders are covered with a civilian blanked which I painted in a checked pattern so his epaulettes aren’t visible. Actually he might be from my home the Grand Duchy of Berg as well…

Another infantrymen with rather average equipment. He’s wearing an army greatcoat and a civilian jacket and cap. Once again this guy could be used as a soldier from every regiment of line infantry or any other unit. In Hamburg he'll serve as Fusilier Albert Bordelaise from the 72e Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne which was part of famous Ney's IIIrd Corps.

A soldier from Napoleon’s Légion Portuguese. Clearly recognizable from the very special hat. In addition he’s wearing an army greatcoat and a couple of civilian scarves. For playing reasons I christened him Frederico Gonzales.

A very nice figure of a hussar having lost parts of his kit and wearing a kind of blanket. I chose to paint him greenish since he should represent a soldier from the 1st Westphalian Hussars. Who ever will visit us at Tactica will see this guy in the roll of Segeant Florian vom Bocketal.

Just a grenadier from a line infantry regiment. He’s wearing a combination of mostly civilian clothing and an army greatcoat. Therefore special characteristics aren't recognizable and so I like the idea that he is from a unit from the Grand Duchy of Berg. Just as Grenadier Carl Lautermann from the 1. Bergisches Linieninfanterieregiment which served with Napoleon's Grande Armée in Russia and with in Hamburg.

Cavalryman from the 1st Carabiniers. This regiment served with four squadrons in the 4th Cavalry Division under General de Division Jean-Marie Defrance at Borodino. This guy here seems to wear a rather full kit under his greatcoat although he obtained some civilian clothing as well. Anyway he looks fierce wielding his two pistols and therefore I use to call him “Django” in a friendly way.

Most difficult part was of course his face behind the scarf. I didn't want to underline it too much but I got eager to paint the eyes. To me they turned out well...

As usual I employed Vallejo model colours. It was great joy to paint these figures since they are as excellently sculpted as the other miniatures I know from that range. Especially the hussar general (the heroe entry) and the hussar with the blanket have extraordinarily detailed faces. 

But when I varnished the minis great havoc came over me. Carelessly I used Army Painter Anti-Shine for the final layer and stuff partly dissolved the paint and caused it to wrinkle partly. Fortunately most defects are rather small but the Portuguese infantryman and the Frenchman with the purple cap are rather filthy. I was so angry yesterday because Anti-Shine caused me to repaint a dozen horses two years ago (reports here and here) so I should have known better than using it again. But in between I used it on some other miniatures and it worked well. Anyway that stuff will never touch my miniatures again!

 I hope you like the results nonetheless. Up to this point I couldn't bring myself to decolour them because some of them are just the best painting standard I'm able to produce…