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| Waiting for Russians! |
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| Marching through the Russian forests |
The 3rd Swiss are complete and ready to take the field.
Now, I could say lots of seemingly plausible things about how collecting vintage figures makes it next to impossible to reconstruct historic orders of battle, and that armies consisting of an eclectic mix of styles, nationalities and periods are more or less inevitable in a project such as this. However, nobody forced me to paint my DK Swiss as actual Swiss, and I certainly didn't have my arms twisted to paint French chasseurs and Dutch Grenadiers as Swiss either. So let's be honest: it was the spectacle I was after!
Having said that, Napoleon's Swiss regiments provided much more than just bling battalions. Although they had a somewhat mixed record in Spain, including the surrender of a couple of battalions to the Spanish at Baylen in 1808, in Russia they fought like tigers. On several occasions single Swiss regiments more than held their own against entire Russian divisions.
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| Enemy in sight! |
As my French have now reached close-order parity with the Prussians, the logical choice for the next unit would be a French skirmisher battalion. However, I still don't have any cavalry. Completing Ian's cavalry has given me a bit more confidence in this area so perhaps the next post should be devoted to thundering hooves and flashing sabres. I'm very tempted to try some hussars, but this may be a little too ambitious!
WM
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| Form Square! |
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| The 3rd Swiss will advance! |
Ooh, I like these! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks Chuck. It's not entirely clear how the Prussians are going to respond to this lot, but there are a few options,
ReplyDeleteThose are stunning Matt, quite amazing paint job!
ReplyDeleteLee
Cheers, Lee. The white undercoat certainly helps. Anything that isn't black come out very brightly.
DeleteExcellent Regiment !!!! , Tony
ReplyDeleteAs I've got a few more Swiss I'm contemplating having a go the Neuchatal Battalion at some point in the future, but I need to work out how to paint their yellow coats first. I tried to do some yellow-coated British drummers a couple of years ago but they were a disaster!
DeleteWhat an excellent unit, well done, should look great with your other FRENCH UNITS.
ReplyDeletePaul
Thank you Paul. I've a forty year old copy of Charles Grant's book on the Napoleonic War Game and won't rest until I can replicate his illustrations of massed French attack columns!
DeleteVery nice figures, well done
DeleteThank you, Pierre. There is no doubt that it is a very fetching colour scheme!
DeleteWhat is your next unit for the paintbrush?
ReplyDeletePaul
I haven't decided yet! However, something other than infantry is long overdue.
DeleteA very nice job, no doubt! Well done on the 3rd Swiss!
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil. It was a bit of a gamble as some of the figures did not look very promising unpainted.
DeleteI've been told that aircraft modellers undercoat with silver for yellow. I've not tried it.
ReplyDeleteIntriguing! I shall look into it.
Deletelovely brush work and unit - marvelous!
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil. There's very little actual relief on these old DKs, so painting them was surprisingly simple! The only totally invented details, even so, are the patches on the back of bearskins. The Dutch Grenadiers didn't seem to have these and so the DKs don't have them either. I thought the Swiss ought to have them, however.
DeleteFantastic work Matt and an excellent use of French figures!
ReplyDeleteCheers Ian. It was your gorgeous Swiss battalion, of course, that gave me the idea!
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