Sunday 1 April 2018

Easter Egg

Every shiny new French infantry regiment deserves a shiny new marshal to command them, so as promised here is my new general.


His is, of course, Hinton Hunt FN 355: Marshal Davout in marshal's uniform raising his hat, on horse FNH 10. These particular examples are David Clayton castings.

Louis-Nicolas Davout, it is said, was Napoleon's ablest marshal, with an uncanny ability to turn up at exactly the right time to save the day. His most famous victory was Auerstaedt in 1805, where he took on and defeated a Prussian army of over twice his strength while the Emperor had the somewhat easier task of thrashing a smaller Prussian army at Jena. Nobody likes a clever clogs, however, especially one prone to denouncing the incompetence and corruption of his fellow marshals, so he wasn't a very popular chap.

Davout's star really began to wane after the Russian Campaign and all the finger-pointing that ensued, but in 1813 and 1814 he fought a very capable rear-guard action against hugely superior Coalition forces, including a model defence of Hamburg right through to Napoleon's abdication. It was undoubtedly because of his administrative ability that he was appointed Minister of War during the 100 Days. The Armée du Nord could not have been put together nearly so successfully by anyone else. His absence from the army when it marched, however, has been regretted by Bonapartists ever since Waterloo. Certainly, if it had been Davout, rather than Grouchy commanding the French right wing after Ligny, things may have turned out very differently.



When she caught sight of him, Wellington Woman wanted to know if he was a Portrait of the Artist as a French Marshal, which is an outrageous thing to say as my barnet isn't nearly as grey as that. I still get a few funny looks when I wear that hat in to work, though.

As for the shiny new regiment, I've been making progress but haven't quite got there yet. Below are two of my work-in-progress flankers. Both are from the Hinton Hunt French Infantry of the Line 1807-12 range. The chap on the left is the air-guitarist par excellence, an FN 254: Voltigeur, charging. The fellow on the right is an FN 234: Grenadier in Bearskin, charging.

The former is one of six which were very kindly given to me by Ian S. The latter, also one of six, is from a set of what I thought were Guard grenadiers, but was delighted to find were line grenadiers when I eventually got all the paint off. They've been waiting around for over three years while I set about finding sufficient figures to build a regiment around them.




Happy Easter!

WM

26 comments :

  1. Well done sir, I lift my hat!

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    1. Cheers, Phil. He was another would-be King of Poland, apparently. Gosh, we really do have a lot in common.....

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  2. OMG ! you did the lace piping on the collars , my shako is raised to you sir ! .

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    1. I've been doing it since the start, GSS. The secret is to paint the piping colour first and then bleed up to it with the collar colour. It's quite simple once you've got the knack.

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  3. One of my favourite HH personality figures and you've done him proud. His hair style is certainly one that many fans of HH can relate to! The flankers are coming along nicely and it's great to see your own version of the air guitarist.

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    1. I love the way the voltigeur is tip-toeing through the meadows, Ian. He was technically a bit of a challenge, though, and needed extensive recurving.

      Glad you like Davout. He was a beautiful casting.

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  4. I wondered how long we were going to have to wait for our Easter treat - the new battalion is going to look really flash when finished, plumes, cords, bearskins the lot! Are they going to have a band?
    I zoomed into Davout to admire the great (as ever) paint job and was impressed at the sculpting of his face a world apart from the rank and file. I see he's misplaced his glasses so perhaps a command penalty on the battlefield?
    I think WW might have been right about you projecting yourself into Davout's boots - he was only 45 in 1815 so I think the grey hair might be a bit harsh on him. All the paintings of him in battlefield uniform show his hair dark brown - he was victim of very premature male pattern baldness but I don't think his hair went grey 'til later in life although I don't think he lived very long.

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    1. Marcus Hinton's painting instructions were most insistent on the hair colour, and having seen a portrait of him in his shabby campaign dress in 1813-14 I was prepared to believe it. He died of tuberculosis in 1823 when he was only 53, poor chap.

      I also wondered about the missing specs. It may account for his fearlessness...

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    2. Should have gone to spec savers, which little jape may mean nothing to you. Could be your best yet. Personally, I think Grouchy is the victim of bonapartiste revanchism.

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    3. Specsavers are everywhere, Archduke. I'm not sure when they started in NZ, but they seem to have crushed the competition. This results in rather expensive specs....

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  5. Another superb figure. The colour on the horse is rather nice.

    Will your Davout be able to defeat Wallmoden without his glasses I wonder.

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    1. I think the mystery of why Pécheux's division was hung out to dry at the battle of the Göhrde has been solved, Mark: Davout couldn't find them!

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    2. Easy enough to tweak the rules so he has a command radius of 2 inches.

      Wasn't it General Erskine who was reputed to be able to see as far as his horse's ears?

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    3. Crikey, I had to ask Professor Google about that one, Foy, and he didn't seem to know either!

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  6. Splendid - very fine. The flankers are also superb.

    I'm a little nervous about the 1:1 marshals:battalions ratio. No wonder there was a baton in every knapsack. My recent Marston Moor game led to some thoughts along the lines that we had too many Leaders on the field, but our ratio was well short of unity. Apart from the alarming demand for marshals this creates, doesn't it also put a limit on the size of the army?

    Lots to think about here...

    Sorry - I digressed. As I say, I love your work.

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    1. I think Ian only created this rule as a glorious excuse for painting up all his magnificent HH personality figures, Foy. This is certainly the way I look at it. I wouldn't have done half my conversions otherwise.

      If the army gets too big they may slowly evolve into brigadiers. Mind you, there were 26 marshals, so there's a way to go yet....

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  7. Looking at your colorful (and skillfully) executed work keeps my chin up during these current dark days of no hobby activity for yours truly. Great stuff!

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. My output hasn't been all that flash this year, Stokes, and is set to get a lot worse before it gets better.

      Real life keeps getting in the way, doesn't it. This is, of course, a good thing!

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  8. He is a marvellous looking fellow!

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    1. He will be a shining egg-sample to his men, I hope, Matt. Still, he could always get a job on Star Trek if the Marshalling gig doesn't work out.

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  9. Fabulous, will look excellent leading the French to victory
    .

    Paul

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    1. I hope so, Paul. Victories have been a bit thin on the ground for the French lately.

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  10. I mighty fine version of the Iron Marshal. Actually, he doesn't look such a hard task master, all shiny and happily waving his hat!
    Beautifully done Matt.

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  11. Maybe not iron, but definitely hard boiled, Jim.

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  12. Beautifully done... I love all that Marshall’s bling

    Looking forward to seeing the shiny new battalion.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thank you, Aly. I've gone all out for smartness with this regiment as Davout demanded nothing less. As I said, not a popular chap...

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