French Generals - Marshal Murat, 28mm

Making an entrance, here is the flamboyant Marshal Joachim Murat - King of Naples, Grand Duke of Berg, Grand Admiral of the French Empire, Prince of France, and "First Horseman in Europe". Known for his bravery and dashing cavalry charges, as well as attention to his appearance and ostentatious uniforms.

He is accompanied by two Old Guard Kettle Drummers, in photo on the left from the Polish Lancers, and on the right from the Mamelukes. Though I imagine he is unable to hear the drums over his thoughts of how fabulous he is looking today...

The figures are all by Gringo 40's. The two Kettledrummers are over the top companions I thought would complement Murat's personality and make him stand out even more on the table. Here they are cleaned up and assembled ready for painting.

The uniform in the sculpt is clearly based on this painting of Murat by Antoine-Jean Gros in 1811.

Here is another painting of him in 1806 at Eylau, leading one of ever so many cavalry charges.

Murat had humble origins, starting to train as a priest as his family wished, before running off to join the 12th Chasseurs. He was forced to resign and work as a clerk temporarily due to an affair, before returning to become a bold and brave cavalry general and rising to the legendary heights of leadership and other titles mentioned at the start of this post. See here for a brief colourful history of Murat.

I have a biography of Murat on Kindle I have yet to read, but this miniature piece is one I have long planned so happy to have it finished. :)

French Generals and Staff - 28mm Perry

Last post of the year from me. French command, including Napoleon finally! 

I still need a few more French generals, plus the French allies, but this is a good start.

Napoleon and staff.

Ney and staff.

A couple more high level command.

More generals. Left figure on the central base is the free Colonel Marbot figure you get when you buy 3 boxes of Perry plastic Chasseurs.

And more generals, the two leftmost are heavy cavalry generals wearing cuirass armour. Left figure on the rightmost base is a Murawski Miniatures ADC.

Thanks for looking and happy new year all! :)

Marshal Ney - Perry 28mm

Well it's June 18th, and a rather momentous day in several ways as I also bought a house! Had to do the equivalent of sending in the Guard reserve to win it at the auction though. A close run thing indeed. And another of our Napoleonic fraternity is having his first child born today (provisional name "Arther Wellesley" of course).

To commemorate the day, here's Marshal Ney ready for the second Waterloo refight (happening this weekend). This is quite a characterful and popular set. Also much commented upon is the hair style which the Perry's have sculpted as bald on top with comb over. I searched for records on the state of his hair, and apparently it is quite likely that he was bald by this time. I also chose quite a ginger colour for his hair to make him stand out, though in reality it was probably more chestnut coloured. Going for the colour and emphasis as with all my figures for reasons I've remarked upon before, i.e. the effects of scale and light perception. 

I might rebase my generals on circular bases later as I quite like that look, but I only had rectangular and square ones available when I did these.

This Perry set is based on this painting by Demoulin of the Charge of Donops Cavalry Led by Marshal Ney at Waterloo. A brilliant translation of it into miniature.

However I switched the position of the ADC's around to better protect the sword of the one in red!

Report on the second Waterloo refight using General de Brigade will be up next week! As Ney I will no doubt be running around taking control of vast swathes of the French army and ordering poorly timed but impressive charges. Especially since our Napoleon is unfortunately (but appropriately) in ill health at present. Get well soon Ion! It will be a complete disaster if I'm let loose on the field I'm sure...

General Lobau - Perry 28mm

Defending against the arrival of the Prussians is where I'll be this Saturday and Sunday commanding VI Corp as General Lobau. I painted up the Perry General Lobau figure, together with a French Colonel I had lying around. Certainly looks confident enough on his white horse waving his hat around, but how will it all go on the field of glory?

Was somewhat undecided as to the colour of the hair, but went with a greying black. Here's a portrait of him in his younger days, 1792.

And much later on, but not certain of the date of this portrait. After the defeat at Waterloo he was exiled, returning to France in 1818. For services to the King of France he was eventually made a Marshal of France in 1831. He also served in the House of Representatives. 

An interval of warm weather today so happily I also managed to spray undercoat some more figures!