Book Review: Soldiers and Uniforms of the Napleonic Wars by François Guy Hourtoulle

I originally did this review for Amazon but thought I might put it here with some others I have done. I hope it is useful. I may put one or two examples of the plates up as well when I get back from working away in the bush. 


This is a wonderful book with over 100 color plates. I counted and this does not include the blow-ups of many parts of these that are presented separately. The quality of the plates varies as three different artists were involved in the project, but even the worst are quite good. There is a definite bias to the uniforms of the French and its allied nations (see the list below). Accompanying nearly every plate is a page describing the scene and its circumstances or perhaps general information about a battle, campaign and uniforms. The one thing I would have liked when I was thinking of buying this book was a better idea of what was in it. So below I have summarized the sections and plates. The plates are of French troops unless otherwise stated and where there is more than on plate it is recorded (#). Some Plates have no accompanying information (eg chapter title pages) and so I have not described these.

Before the Empire: Lasalle at Vicenza; Lasalle and 22nd Chasseur and 15th Dragoon vs Osman Bey's Mamelukes; 10th Hussars.

1805: 19th Dragoon at Elchingen; 18th Dragoon at Elchingen; General Pajol and 6th Hussar at Ulm; The Great Charge at Austerlitz.

1806: 7th Hussars and 5th Hussars vs the Queen's Dragoons (Prussia); General Colbert, 10th Chasseurs and 3rd Hussars at Jena; Marechal Davout and line infantry at Auerstaedt; Lassale, 5th and 7th Hussars.

1807: Gendarmes d'ordonnance; Murat and D'Hautpool's Cuirassiers at Eylau; Murat and the 13th Chasseurs at Eylau; Baron Lepic and the Grenadiers a Cheval at Eylau; Murat, aide de camps and Espagne's Cuirassiers at Heilsberg; Napoleon and staff reviewing Lasalle's cavalry at Elbing.

1808: Isemburg Regiment; The Emperor's household; The Emperor's Berlin.

The Peninsula, 1808-14: Lasalle and the Polish Chevau-Legers; Lasalle, Gendarme d'Elite and Dragoons at Medina de Rio Seco; Garde de Paris(2); 10th Chasseurs vs the Infante Regiment (Spanish); 10th Chasseurs; 2nd Hussars(2); 13th Cuirassiers; Gendarmerie de Espagne(2); Neuchatel Battalion; Foot Artillery; Young Guard; Isemberg Regiment; Vistula Legion(2); Chasseurs de Montagne.

1809: The Bavarian Troops; General Coehorn, Corsican Tirailleurs and the 14th Chasseurs at Ebersberg; Jordi's Regiment (Austrian line, 'German') vs French light (24th?) at Aspern; General Espagne and the 4th Cuirassiers; Pontooners; The Baden Infantry 1809, 3rd Baden Regiment vs Austrian Line 'Hungarian' (2); 1st Chasseurs a Cheval(2); Fusiliers of the Guard(2); Artillerie a Pied of the Guard.

In Garrison 1810-13: Berg Chevau Legers(2); Nansouty's Cuirassiers(2); 11th Hussars; King Murat and Neapolitan line regiment and Neapolitan Grenadiers of the Guard(3); 30th Chasseurs.

1812: General Chouard's Carabiniers, 4th Lancers and Chevau-Legers; General Montbrun and the 9th Hussars; King Jerome, Grenadier Guard and Kings Lifeguard (Westphalian); Westphalian Hussars; 7th Regiment (Westphalian); 2nd, 5th and 6th Regiments (Westphalian); General Pajol, 2nd Chasseurs and 9th Polish Lancers; Saxon Chevau-Legers(2); General Gudin and sappers at Valutina; Russian Guard vs 12th Line; Portuguese Legion(2); 1st Voltigeurs of the Guard(2) and Novgorod Cuirassiers (Russian, 1); Saxon Brigade (Lifeguards, Von Zastrow Cuirassiers(2)); Dragoons of the Imperial Guard; 2nd Regiment of Grenadiers; Croats in the Grand Armee(2); Hessian Chevau-Legers; Baden Hussars(2); Lithuanian Tartars.

1813: Naval Artillery; Jerome Napoleon Hussars; 13th Hussars; Field Hospitals and Medical Care; The Krakus (Polish).

1814: Guards of Honour(2).

1815: Allied Forces 16 June 1815 (Brunswickers, British 92nd(2)); Wellington's staff at Waterloo; English Horse Artillery; Red Lancers(2); Young Guard.

Rules, bases and ordering

So I have been slightly baffled by trying to work out how I can base my models so I can play Black Powder, Lasalle and Napoleon at War rule systems. I looked at the rules themselves and then looked at some message boards.

Napoleon at War

Looks fun, has standard basing and unit numbers.

Lasalle

Has instead a more flexible system regarding ratio but instead has standard numbers of bases for each unit.

"There are three basic types of units: Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery. Infantry and cavalry units may be depicted in one of two sizes: Small or Large. Large units have six bases each, and Small units have four. Artillery units have a varying number of bases, between three and five, as described in their army lists."

So theoretically you can have as many or as few per base as you wish.

Black Powder

I have the rules but I have not read through the tome properly so I am relying on the wisdom of others:

"Base sizes don't matter at all - just play with what you already have. The whole premise of BP was to be able to play with our respective collections whether they were based for different systems or not.

On the size of units thats flexible too - you pick the size of a 'standard' unit and then tiny, small and large units are decided based on a ratio of the standard Sounds a bit mathematical but it really isn't! So, again it's very flexible and aims to allow players to just play games with their armies rather than having to rebase or to have to standardise their armies compared to their mates." (Paul @ Warlord Games) 

Campaign Game Miniatures

Just to complicate matters just that little bit more Dermot Quigley at Campaign Game Miniatures is also working on a new rules set. I can't wait to learn more and I asked him about the rules as I would like my new armies to be compatible. Link to Campaign Game Miniatures.

Thoughts

So from my perspective I am thinking of rebasing my models to NaW bases. I am also thinking of bringing my regiments upto Lasalle size battalions. Having said that NaW has the skirmishers separately, you can do the same with Lasalle. But the different ratios means that having each of these look 'right' regarding the number of voltigeur and grenadier companies might be a bit hard. Hmmm, tough life!

Does anyone have any thoughts on basing for different rule systems? I have been reading blogs and message boards but any thoughts are welcome! 

Irresistible Force Miniature Games & Hobbies

I have been researching different Napoleonic wargame rule sets for my next project. I have been looking at Napoleon at War, their models, blogs and chat pages. It seems interesting. That led me to look at Hovel buildings (I need to have some scenery to kick it up a notch!). Looking at distributors for Australia I came up with Essex miniatures (wasn't impressed with their website) and Irresistible Force Miniature Games & Hobbies (very impressed, huge range!). Then I noticed they were in Brisbane, only about 120km from home on the Sunshine Coast. Three of the kids were keen so we jumped in the car to go check it out. Boy was I happy I went there!

There was some drama on the highway (came to a dead stop 10km from the joint). But we took a back road and bam, we were there! 

View Larger Map

Gavin Clarke runs the shop (@IrresistibleF) and he was fantastic. He answered all my questions, had everything I wanted, and assured me that although they can't carry everything in the store as there are simply too many lines these days, they have a quick turnaround even when they have to order in from overseas. I will be putting him to the test very soon! Some pics of the shop:

I was very impressed that Gavin took the time to answer my questions, helped find what I was interested in, gave useful advice and was generally very approachable. He even took the time to answer my questions about what games and systems were most popular. He was also very knowledgeable about Napoleon at War and had obviously spent the time to learn about the line and had played a couple of games using the rules. All in all I was very happy I made the effort to go down. Always nice to put a face to an email and website!

So here is what I got:

• The Napoleon at War rules.
• A French 100 days line brigade.
• Army Painter dip.
• Vallejo wash pot.
• Mininatur grass tufts
• Gale Force Nine basing kit
• Hovel large bridge (15mm)
• Citadel gaming grass (I actually got this from Games Workshop down the road but just wanted to chuck it in cause I love it!)

I was keen to have a look at the Napoleon at War models and read the rules. So I will keep you posted :)

I have been looking at the AP dip because I was interested in how well it would work for me. But I forgot to get a can of matt topcoat! First thing on my order. I saw Glenn Lamprecht painting some Victrix for Vallejo using their pot of wash and wanted to try it out as well. So I will post some pick of my next painting project.

Old Photos

Here are some old photos I thought I would chuck up on the blog. Tell me what you think. All advice/criticism welcome!

A Dutch battalion

Tongue depressors as model holders. Haven't used them for ages. Thinking of using plastic bottle tops. Got plenty, saw it on someone's blog and thought that looks good.

 An old paint station. Designed to fit perfectly over an old couch that was very comfy.

 I used to undercoat in white. Now I use black. Not sure what I like best. I use Citadel spray paints for this.

 My paint box. Now far too small for my paints and thinking of getting a multi story tool box. I arrange them by shades.

 Some Prussians, ready to paint. They are still not finished. A project of my son's. I am going to finish them off and expand them for Lasalle and Blackpowder battles.

 Some of my fave books. I certainly feel very lucky to be able to have such a handy collection.

New Direction

Well, not so much a new direction as a new purpose. I have decided to make a new army for wargaming. Now, I already have a bunch of British, Spanish, Portuguese, French and then some Prussians, Saxons, Bavarians. I bought a new group of Austrians the other day, four battalions of foot, regiment of cavalry, general. But they have mysteriously disappeared! Very annoying. I suspect the box they came in was thgrown out by accident by one of the kids (or it might just reappear!).

Anyway, so I was looking around and noticed the LaSalle packs at Eureka Miniatures (AB) and at Warmodelling. That got me looking around and then I remembered I had already looked at the Lasalle Honour website of Sam Mustafa. So I grabbed a copy of the PDF for aus$16. I like it. Then I remembered I had a copy of Blackpowder. So I got it out as well. I was also looking over the latest copy of Miniature Wargames and they had a good article based upon a reader survey of the most popular rule systems for the different eras. Black Powder won out for Napoleonics. So looking over the two rules systems it seems as though you could make an army that would work for both. So I have to look at this more closely and see if I am right.

On an aside I recently subscribed to Miniature Wargames on my iPad newstand. I think it is aus$5.49 a month. Pretty good, about half the price of the hardcopy and it can be hard to get (I travel a lot, never remember, blah blah blah). They have free a free trial edition over there too. Any thoughts on other useful magazines?

Here is my painting tray, one of three I made to make it move around the models I am working on. I just got some of the the new Citadel paints and some of their brushes. Two new textured paints, a bright green I like and a wash.

 These are the some Polish Lancers and Italian guard. Not too close so you can't see my shame!

 Seeing all the interesting results from using Army Painter and watching a video from Vallejo and Victrix on their washes I have been thinking of giving them a go. I have found a Army Painter distributor in Australia (bit pricey!), War and Peace Games, so fingers crossed on that front. My local stockist of Vallejo, don't have the 200ml pots of wash, but I have a small one. I emailed Vallejo about who imports them but no luck on a reply yet (they have responded on another question several years ago, so I think they wil