The Old Royal Army have a field day c.1792

Having risked an entire battalion with paint remover, I'm pleased to report that the 8th Regiment has now received their new uniforms, colours and weaponry. Thought it was time to muster the five Line battalions, one grenadier battalion, and some depot companies of another regiment. In all, 140 whitecoats mustered for the inspection. Also attending were the infantry of the Batave Legion, and colours were duly presented.
MGB

Re-organising the French Army

I had initially raised six 'blanc' battalions of twenty with another of detached grenadiers.  Unfortunately, this still left me with a fair number of spares in different poses, so I have implemented some drastic changes which I hope will also work better for game scenarios. As the white/green battalion still required some major restoration work, and it was somewhat surplus to my plans, I decided to risk a paint stripping. Although a bit of a chore, it has been quite successful, and the cleaned and primed figures have allowed me to form three new (6-figure) independent companies, a fourth coming from my spares box. Other adjustments include my white/red battalion being increased to 32, and the white/blue battalion to 24. My skirmishing blue-coated grenadiers (10 figs) have also been rebased and increased to 16, providing a second unit of elite troops. Those remaining in the spares box will enhance command bases etc. MGB 

FRENCH BATTALION FLAGS c.1792

I have always painted my own flags using sticky-back address labels, a system described by Stuart Asquith some thirty years ago. Modern wargamers are now spoilt with superbly printed renditions for sale, but I will stick with my familiar method. So here are my flags for six white-coated battalions, the soldiers in two of these battalions still needing some serious work before they can take the field. The flag designs are taken from the 1791 regulations, with 1792 tricolour patches placed over the fleur-de-lis (this actually happened). These designs still look very typical of the French army in the 18th century so I hope the collection will serve in several earlier conflicts, while still taking their place as centre battalions in 1794 demi-brigades. MGB

   

FRENCH WHITE-COAT BATTALIONS c.1792

Work has limited my spare time to paint up miniatures but I have just allowed myself a spell to re-vamp some of the white-coated figures restored to my collection. I'm pleased to report that three battalions are now pretty well ready for the wargames table, only awaiting to be issued their regimental colours. I've decided to paint up the 1792 pre-amalgam style flags despite the likelihood of them forming a centre battalion for Line demi-brigades. These figures can be utilised to provide French regulars for several earlier conflicts (for wargame purposes) so I will keep the white cross of Saint Denis with distinctive cantons which was so much a feature of French military flags in the 18th century.

Two more 'blanc' battalions still to complete, and my box of spares may well provide two more 'bleu' battalions. MGB

French Regulars, more white-coated infantry for the 1780-90s

In the early 1990s I raised a fairly large collection of Wargames Foundry figures for the French Revolution, only to then sell them on. Last week I made contact with my old friend, John Tuckey, who regularly wargamed with me during the 1980s. He had purchased these figures from me, but with his interests having returned to model railways, he kindly offered to let me buy them back at about the same price I sold them, 65p each. Well I couldn't allow this generosity to pass, it has been my intention to increase the new collection by raising more battalions in white uniforms. With the exception of an improved way I paint faces and hands, the figures only need rebasing. I'm very pleased with these additions, restored to my collection. Here's a photo of the figures awaiting orders to be formed into their respective battalions. I should add, I also picked up a unit of Garrison Miniatures dragoons, previously mine, and  I will write more about these on a future post. MGB