French Revolutionary Wargames 1789-1802: French Generals of the 1790s

Wargame Rules, Ratios, etc

RAISING MINIATURE ARMIES FOR THE LATE 18TH CENTURY

I am very keen to keep my wargame rules as simple as possible, yet capture the character of the 1790s. Morale dominates the games as the opposing sides are very different. Most of the French troops are 'levee' battalions, which I have chosen to base in column as their ability to change formation on a battlefield must have been limited, nor do I believe their volley fire had any great value. Of better quality, able to change formation, will be white-coated regular and blue-coated volunteer battalions, aided by a fair number of skirmishers. The British, Austrian, Dutch and German armies are often outnumbered, but they maintain the discipline and order of typical 18th century armed forces. Interestingly, French revolutionary cavalry have little in common with their later Napoleonic counterparts, the former are few in number, often poorly mounted, and no match for those in the service of the Allies. All figures are 28mm in scale, using a 1=25 ratio.

Showing posts with label French Generals of the 1790s. Show all posts

Saturday, 3 February 2018

French Mounted Corps of Guides c.1792

No army can safely march without some guides to assist the commanding officer. I decided to cast some of my own, and paint them up in the early war uniform of grey coats with green facings. Here are a few of them assessing the terrain. There is some controversy as to whether the Corps of Guides actually ever wore the grey regulation coat, or whether they always embraced the later green uniform, so I decided to have a few of these too. They aren't really battlefield units, so I will have to devise a kind of tactical value, or just plant them on the table as vignettes.
MGB

Thursday, 30 March 2017

French Generals 1792-1798

Have spent some time clearing my spares box of numerous odd figures which for various reasons were unlikely to be mustered into larger units. I also had some very fine castings of French general officers which I was sure would make excellent command bases. All told, thirty-nine 18th century figures are now user-friendly for the war-games table. I'm also pleased with a decision to clear some spare French infantry by forming a 'Depot Battalion', and to use these for sentries, guards for wagons etc, so negating the need to draw from my complete battalions.
MGB

Thursday, 30 July 2015

Bonaparte and Generals for the 1790s

Just received a package from CP Models of Leicester (tel. 0797 1185155). It comprised prominent commanders for the French Army of the 1790s. The castings portray from left to right, Kleber, DeCustine, Bonaparte, Kellerman, Desaix. They are quite a lot taller than Dixon/WF, but as they will be serving on separate command bases, this will cause no problems. I must say they are flash free and very fine. I paid by cheque and they arrived about a week later. Including postage at £3.50, these figures worked out at £10 for the set of five, but are well worth the investment. MGB