Ragged napoleonics? Yes, Please

[Gribb]

Patched tunics, torn pants, questionable footwear, sunken shakos and plumes missing.
Is it just me who would like to see more ragged Napoleonic miniature sculpts?
While for example "campaign uniform" sets like the excellent French in greatcoats from warlord games can be altered with scalpel and green stuff its too time consuming in large numbers.

Would anyone else like to see more releases in both metal and plastic with a more ragged appearance?

Ragged Centre companies, marching 1808-14( Perry Miniatures):


Westphalian ragged infantry(Steve Barber Models) :

[bergschotten]

Yes, I think it is a good suggestion

[Warboss Nick]

For French the Perrys offer two sets of ragged infantry. Commbined with plastics in greatcoats you can easily set up considerable numbers.

For the Peninsular I also see great potential in their napoleonic spanish as well as their Carlist militia. Personally I think that even some AWI models can be added to the mix, but that may be stretching things a bit.

[von Lucky]

Eureka Miniatures are also in the habit of doing this, though at the moment I think only in their earlier (French Revolutionary and AWI wars) ranges.

[Lowtardog]

Outpost wargames produce some nice ragged campaign French a hidden gem

[Paul Richardson]

Warboss Nick: forgive me, I'm very new to Napoleonics, but which are the two Perry sets of ragged French infantry? I'm aware that they do a few sets of ragged British. Thanks.

[Arthur]

I believe these are the ones : Retreat from Moscow types from the Perry French Napoleonic range (codes FN 172 and 173) :

[Paul Richardson]

Many thanks, Michel.

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Not quite right for trudging through sunny Spain, though.

[Arthur]

They are a little overdressed for the Costa del Sol but if you overlook the distinctly eastern European items of clothing 'liberated' from the Russian peasantry, these grognards could probably trudge through icy Galicia in pursuit of Moore's British to prevent the accursed rosbifs from reaching Corunna.   

[Paul Richardson]

I've always thought that the retreat to Corunna would make a good game, and I'm a bit surprised that there are no bespoke figures for it - especially when it features in the Sharpe novels. But to answer the original question, I'm a big fan of ragged troops. I suspect that soldiers on active service frequently looked very little like what we are accustomed to see on wargames tables. 

[Warboss Nick]

Warboss Nick: forgive me, I'm very new to Napoleonics, but which are the two Perry sets of ragged French infantry? I'm aware that they do a few sets of ragged British. Thanks.

The russian campaign stragglers are nice. What I had in mind are the national guard conscripts, FN145 and FN146, that can be easily used in the Peninsular:

[Gribb]

@ Warboss Nick & Lowtardog: Those are some good suggestions.  Thank you. I've tried to keep plastics and metals in separate units due to somewhat difference in scale. That the plastics are somewhat slimmer. But that is not really the main issue.

The first is difference in the varying heftiness of the muskets and rifles, which are quite obvious IMO on plastic vs metal. I wish there was more of a standard on this than anything, which would make mixing plastics and metals easier. And different brands.

Secondly:
Those national conscripts would probably work even better for the purpose. But I am afraid I can't leave their uniform untattered. Wish the Perrys would give them a few patches and holes to work on.
While conversion is fun on characters or smaller units, it does get very time consuming for larger projects. I am in the middle of a box of warlord plastics giving their uniforms a beating. I would love to do a larger project with ragged nappys, but it will probably be limited to this unit until more are available ready tattered from the manufacturers out there.

@ Paul Richardson: Glad to hear. They were probably far from the dashing splendor we are used to. But lets hope ragged napoleonics are given more attention and releases in the future. There seems to be quite an interest for them.