Ferdinand von Schillīs death May 31 1809

[traveller]

I am currently in, a VERY snowy, Stralsund, Germany, which is also the historic site of Ferdinand von Schillīs heroic defence against the French army and their allies in 1809. I would like to paint the scene of von Schills last moments, killed by Dutch infantry in French service as can be seen below. Grateful for any advice of suitable 28mm figures? Thanks!

[Gluteus Maximus]

Dutch 1809 figures might be a little obscure for most figure manufacturers 

Your best bet is to do a laborious search for 28mm Napoleonic manufacturers and then look through all their listings for anything suitable. At least Napoleonics is a very popular period, so hopefully there will be 1809 figures available somewhere. The side-mounted cockades and plumes will be the tricky part, as the rest of the uniform is quite standard.

Prussian cavalry should be easier to find - at least the 1813-15 period is, but again I'm not so sure about 1809.

[traveller]

Thanks Gluteus,

yes it is the 1809 aspect that is hard to find. Foundry does early Prussians but I struggle with the Dutch. Maybe I can take some nice Napoleonics such as Perry and convert them but I havenīt found any good uniform reference as a guide. The search continues...

[Onebigriver]

I would have a look here:

http://www.frontrank.com/2_lev2_Napoleonic.asp

[Gluteus Maximus]

I would have a look here:

http://www.frontrank.com/2_lev2_Napoleonic.asp

They appear to be the later 1815 uniform 

The advent of Perry and/or Victrix plastic figures could make conversion quite easy. The line infantry uniform is very similar to the French 1815 look, with only the junction between turnbacks and lapels being different. The shako details could be carefully shaved off the front and repositioned at the side, or replaced with greenstuff detailing. Not to hard or complicated. Aagin, the Grenadiers are very similar to French line Grenadiers, but  you'd need to get some earlier bearskinn heads and model a different  shape to the plate at the front. Considering you'd only need maybe 10 or 12 figures, not an unreasonable task.

I have the "Napoleonic Uniforms" books by J Elting, illustrated by Knotel. There is quite a decent section on the early Netherlands forces which should give you enough uniform detail to work with.

PM me on Friday and I'll try and scan some of the pics in and e-mail them.

I'll be going away in an hour or so, or I'd do it today 

[traveller]

Thanks Gluteus,

much appreciated!