Retreat 1812 - French Cuirassiers

During the last weeks it was rather quite on my workbench but nevertheless I wasn't completely idle:

These six chaps are part of the 1er Régiment de Cuirassiers which accompanied Napoleon on his Russia campaign in 1812. They suffered heavily during the battle of Borodino and lost many horses during the retreat from Moscow. Nevertheless the remaining few of them gathered at the western bank of Berezina river after the crossing and participated in a desperate cavalry charge to dispers the Jäger units Admiral Tschitschagow sent to seal off the French bridge head. Employing the last ounces of their strength they enforced a corridor to allow further retreat for the remainders of the Grande Armée.

The miniatures are from the excellent plastic box by Perry miniatures. They are easy to assemble and a real joy to paint. Only the faces are slightly better at the metal miniatures.

For the beginning I put together five troopers and an officer leading them. Somehow a trumpeter and an eagle bearer seemed too much for such a small unit. Additionally they most likely didn't have an eagle during the battle at Berezina river since the emperor ordered to burn them earlier.

As usual I painted them with Vallejo Model Colors. I primed them with my airbrush gun and applied the base colours - especially on the horses. Then usual, old-fashioned brushwork followed.

 

Special feature are the bases which I created exchangable. Therefore I cut and sanded the horses directly beneath the hooves and attached some small neodymium magnets there. These stick very well on the metal bases I mounted the horses on. Unfortunately I forgot to take of photo of the exchangable bases and now the figures are in the works of a friend whom I lended them. Anyway I'll hand some in later.

Please excuse the bad quality of the pictures this time. Somehow I didn't recognise their blurriness before I saw them on the screen this very morning...