I remember being very excited about getting my mits on them, but was less than pleased when they arrived. As you can see below, Duke Siefried's idea of the YGV was to convert a Hinton Hunt FN 82: French Light Infantry Voltigeur, charging by sticking a YGV head onto it and then bending its legs in a really weird way.
Why the Irish? There are lots of reasons, but I think the clincher was this picture of the Legion's 2nd Battalion by the late Richard Tennant, sent to me several years ago by Richard himself:
These exquisite soldiers live in the States these days with my good friend David C. I don't think I could ever match them, but I thought it'd be a fun way to round off the close-order infantry of my Phase 2 French Army.
More to come over the next few weeks.
WM
Edit [30/10/2023]
Following David's comment below, herewith are all the French Guard infantry according to the Der Kriegspielers/Custom Cast Napoleoniques catalogue of 1976:
This is a screenshot from the catalogue which was very kindly published by Chuck Gibke here: Custom Cast Catalog (1976) (vintagewargamingfigures.info)
They are rather lovely Matthew…
ReplyDeleteA unit I would like to have in my own collection….
I shall of course watch what you do…And then copy it🤣
All the best. Aly
Cheers Aly. I'm relieved to have found a use for them after all these years.
DeleteThey works very well...looking forward to your flag artwork!
ReplyDeleteThat's always the high stakes bit, Matt, so I'm probably going to tackle that next.
DeleteSpiffing colour scheme. It works really well, especially on the grenadiers with those splashes of red for contrast. Looking forward to seeing this lot on their debut parade.
ReplyDeleteThe colours made them irresistable, Rob. The hanging musket slings had something to do with me choosing to tackle these figures too. They look very striking when you have a battalion of them all lined up.
DeleteMore great work Matthew and you're probably right to correct the swaying pose! Nice to paint some French infantry without blue uniforms too.
ReplyDeleteThat was definitely one of the incentives!
DeleteFabulous painting, as ever. But really, green is for proper German light infantry and that other army that one doesn't mention nowadays. Intrigued by the figure's origins. I initially thought it was an FN75 with a musket strap added. The wonky pose is reminiscent of BN93 after too many animated dancing sessions.....
ReplyDelete*Laughter*. All those things are very true, Archduke. I have a shed load of green battalions on my to do list but I'm trying to space them out a bit. The next one is still under consideration, but it will defiitely not be green.
DeleteAs usual, you take a dodgy figure and make it look fantastic! It's hard to imagine the success you had when viewing the unpainted original casting. Your description of the original has me curious now, as I thought I had a DK young guard in a different pose that I thought was one of the Duke's best. Now I am going to have to go hunt him down. I love the green you have gone with for the uniform - very striking. I might snip off the plume of the chasseur and just leave the pompom, but there seems to be enough uniform variation that you could leave it and enjoy the fancy dress! After all, it is all about a splashy uniform! Can't wait to see the battalion in the alltogether!
ReplyDeleteYou're far too kind, David. These are, as you say, extremely dodgy figures, but as they're something different and also vintage in a particularly roguish and piratical kind of way, I thought I'd give them a go nonetheless.
DeleteDK 17s were the figure I was remembering, Middle Guard Fusilier-Grenadier. They are very similar, but with a bit of a backward lean, as if receiving a charge, rather than moving forward.
ReplyDeleteSo I see. I've just added an image from the DK 1976 catalogue which shows this very clearly.
Delete