The 13th Légère Line Up

The 13e Légère march out.

It's a cold winter's night here in Wellington, but  I'm warmed by the fact that the 13th Légère are finally ready to take the field.

Joining the DK 8 chasseur companies featured in my last post are six DK 8E: French Line Infantry Elites 1812, Charging, painted as carabiniers; and two  DK 8E and four DK 11E painted as volitgeurs.

That I was able to find only eight DK 8E suggests that the typical ratio of elite to centre company figures in DK French line infantry sets was 8 to 16, organised into six, 4-figure companies. If this is so, mustering the 6-figure elite companies needed for my organisation is likely to become a problem.

Although there are more French infantry in the painting queue, these are going to have to wait a bit as it's high time I did some cavalry. Anyone would think I've been avoiding them...

March Past for the Emperor

The truth is that this is almost certainly what I've been doing. When I was a teenager I hated painting cavalry units as they seemed to take three times as long as the infantry, and I really wasn't very good at them.

The 13th looking spiffy in their all-blue uniforms!

As the best way round this aversion would be to start with something simple, expect to see some Prussian cavalry in the next post!

WM

Manoeuvring in style!.

A classic vintage line up.

Using Up My Légère Time!

DK 13: French Line Infantry 1812 Command

DK 8s painted as Light Infantry chasseurs

One of these days I'm going to have to do more than just one of each type of unit before moving on to the next, but it hasn't arrived yet! So, true to form, I've decided to have a go at a battalion of French light infantry.

Commanded by three of Chuck's excellent DK 13 figures are nine DK 8: French Line Infantry 1812, Charging, painted as light infantry chasseurs. As the light infantry after 1812 had a more or less identical cut to their uniforms as the line, all that was required to turn them into light infantry was a different colour scheme.

I was bit worried that the results might look a little monochromatic, but I think the contrast of blue coats and trousers against red collars, with a further flash of scarlet on the cuffs, just manages to avoid this. Although blue pointed cuffs with white piping were more common for the light infantry after 1812, some battalions seem to have retained the older, pre-1812 style of cuff, so I decided this was allowable!

Once again, the DK 8s turned out to be beautiful castings once the old paint had been stripped away, and I was very taken with their fine, aggressive fighting stance! Although the lettering on their flag proclaims them to be the 45me de Ligne,  in my order of battle they are to be the crack 13me Légère. It was the 13th that finally captured the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte from the King's German Legion at Waterloo, and thus for a moment seemed to turn the tide of the battle.

Next up should be the 13th's carabinier and voltigeur companies, using a mixture of DK 8Es and a few more DK 11Es to make up the numbers.

Have a great weekend everyone,

WM