I must admit I had been putting off painting the Chasseurs a Cheval de la Garde, partly because the uniform looked quite fiddly and also because they are possibly the most iconic French cavalry regiment of the Napoleonic period and I was somewhat wary about mucking them up. As it turned out I did not find them any more difficult to do than an hussar regiment:
The figures are Foundry and were enjoyable paint with very little cleaning required, while the flag is from GMB:
The officer is a quite dynamic figure and looks to be based upon Theodore Gericault's iconic painting of Alexandre Dieudonne:
The only negative with Foundry figures after the last few regiments having been Perry Miniatures is that all the trooper figures are in the same pose and so lack variety. However, once you have worked out how to paint one Foundry figure it is easy to repeat the same approach across the rest of the regiment:
One can also mix things up a little by varying the horse colour, where this is appropriate:
Eighteen regiments now completed, with six to go:
Next up will be another Guard regiment in the form of the Gendarmes d'Elite.
Great work!
ReplyDeleteThanks Stryker, much appreciated.
DeleteThey look as spectacular as they should do Lawrence! I have a Hinchcliffe officer based on that same painting , but I think this Foundry version is nicer (Foundry figure is better than a Hinchcliffe - what a revelation!) I will be interested to see the next unit - I did a half unit (six figures) along with a half unit of Grenadiers a Cheval, using Front Rank Hussar figures years ago
ReplyDeleteCheers Keith. I still have a soft spot for my British Hinchliffe. Height-wise they compare favourably but a few of the sculpts are a little rough. The Foundry officer figure is in two parts at the waist and, forgetting that, I have already accidentally pulled him apart when trying to pick up the command stand.
DeleteGorgeous looking Guard cavalry unit,they look great and the repetition of the pose kind of works for this unit I think!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain. I think you're probably right and elite units should have an air of uniformity about them.
DeleteTerrific work! An iconic and most handsome uniform. You had nothing to fret over seeing the results here. Splendid.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Jonathan. Lace is much easier to do on more modern figures and far easier to pick out, rather than just being a faint suggestion as it was on many figures in the 80's.
DeleteStunning looking unit Lawrence. Painted with real craftsmenship.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard, it wasn't too bad once I had completed the first test figure.
DeleteGreat looking regiment Lawrence 👍
ReplyDeleteCheers Matt, I was pleased with the way they turned out.
DeleteGreat looking figures, again, Lawrence
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony. I'm hoping they will even get a game before the year is out.
DeleteSpectacular job on this most famous of units. I have exactly the same figures, just painted about 25 years ago. To my mind, most of the illustrations of Guard trumpeters have the facing color more of a dark crimson than the scarlet of the troopers, but that's of little matter.
ReplyDeleteThe Gendarmes d' Elite along with the mMmelukes are one of those rather small contingents of the Guard that sooner or later you have to have if you are in full collector mode!
Thanks Peter. I always try to look at contemporary paintings, but find that even then they can be confusing. I have Rousselot's prints and he does indeed show all ranks as well as the trumpeters in crimson, but he was painting 100 years after the event. Gericault was a contemporary, but painted Dieudonne in a very bright scarlet as you say, whereas Rousselot has the officers in crimson. Makes you wonder how much was for dramatic effect, whether examples had faded, or whether someone like Gericault was going off memory even though he was a contemporary.
DeleteI'm still wrestling with the Mamelukes, and have nearly placed a Gringo 40's order a couple of times. Twenty-four regiments of French cavalry seems like such a nice round number though.