campaign dress, parade dress or both. URGENT

[AlyMorrison]

James ...
I have to admit to a slight double standard here...

I am going to venture into The French Revolution this year ( Eurika Miniatures ) and for this I will be following Jeffs lead... Regular troops ...well dressed.... The rest ... Tramps...

It somehow suits the period...

But as I said.... Imperial Napoleonics at its height ...Full,full dress

And the British in White overalls...

[wrgmr1]

It's a tough decision......ragged regulars on campaign or full dress in all their splendor.

I would do full dress, that is what Napoleonic's are all about: the color!

[gustav]

wellll......

I was a parade dress kinda guy until I got one unit (for some reason) in campaign, and now I like both.  However this was FR campaign with no greatcoats.
I too like Jeff's idea but to be honest a mix and match is not a problem to me.  Breaks up the uniformity of the serried ranks of parade dress.

[Keith]

Campaign for me - always.
Unless you are planning on painting them in bright glossy colours and going fully toy-soldier then why not follow the history? 

[georgec]

For what it is worth, there are accounts of at least the Old Guard changing back into some elements of full dress before an action, working on the principle that you should be properly dressed if you were going to get killed...

[Shapur]

I opt for campaign dress, but order also the troops who fought with the french in spain: german confed. or italian or westfalians (with "Mut und Disziplin" on their flags)
Some elite units could take full dress to break up the ranks.

[Plutarch64]

There was a time when I could never have contemplated purchasing, for example, the Scots Greys with bearskin covers and I am still more in the parade dress camp myself, but find I am liking the on-campaign look more and more as time goes on. I think this is probably the result of the ever-expanding choice we have with figures such as the excellent products from Calpe and Murawski miniatures, and I find it relieves the monotony a little when you can paint up a unit with a few variations.

[Baron von Nickedoften]

Depends how historically accurate you want to be.  What I'm about to write is fact-based, but ultimately the figures - and the overall "look" - are for you to decide. 

It is true that the French often donned parade paraphernalia before going into battle, but that tended to be occasions where Napoleon was there in person.  I doubt that troops in Spain burdened themselves with spare "Sunday best" just for the hell of it.  In both armies, the problems of transporting any kind of supplies across the vast distances in the heat of late Spring to early Autumn, with shortages of draught animals (plus, for the French and their allies, the guerilleros) made troops look very different from standard campaign dress, let alone the parade version. 

That said, the "mixed" look with some men wearing greatcoats and some ordinary coats etc, is a total and utter "wargamerism" with no basis in reality.  Each battalion CO would get all his men into the same order of dress (albeit certain individual items of clothing might vary on a few men); sometimes there would be orders from as high up as the brigade commander as to what everyone would, or would not, wear.  Subject to the above provisos, the CO and the senior NCOs of a battalion would make damn sure that the unit looked as uniform as it could possibly be.

There are numerous British accounts of the French wearing "greatcoats" in action; however, these were more like "dustcoats" and were made of unbleached linen, much lighter than the greatcoat, but still warm at night.  These were usually worn over the white, sleeved waistcoat, with the blue regimental coat put into storage.  You could use greatcoated figures to represent these without too much difficulty -  in fact, represeting this state of dress would make your Peninsula French army both quick to paint up, and quite distinctive from everyone else's (and you've still got the foreign units to add colour).

Btw, the standard colour for French line and light infantry greatcoats is dark beige (slightly browner than the Russian version) and not grey (which tended to be captured foreign items) or dark blue (which was for the Garde and the artillery).  Again, mixed colours (ass opposed to slightly different shades of the same colour) is a wargamerism - the battalions within a regiment would swap and mix 'n' match until they achieved uniformity.

[rumacara]

I agree with Baron Von Nickedoften.
I just would like to add the following:

In reality an army of that period who´s campaigning far from home has replacements coming from time to time.
The uniforms of the newcomers would be more new than the units who would be on campaign at some time so in reality a mix of both might work.
If you dont want to mix both on the same unit just paint a unit in parade dress and another in campaign and see the effect before you commit in more painting.

P.s - trousers would be used in greys, browns, whites and either earth or sand colors.
Usually the soldiers on both sides would keep the white trousers on the backpack to spare their use, and used bought or stolen items in campaign.

[Atheling]

Depends how historically accurate you want to be.  What I'm about to write is fact-based, but ultimately the figures - and the overall "look" - are for you to decide. 

It is true that the French often donned parade paraphernalia before going into battle, but that tended to be occasions where Napoleon was there in person.  I doubt that troops in Spain burdened themselves with spare "Sunday best" just for the hell of it.  In both armies, the problems of transporting any kind of supplies across the vast distances in the heat of late Spring to early Autumn, with shortages of draught animals (plus, for the French and their allies, the guerilleros) made troops look very different from standard campaign dress, let alone the parade version. 

That said, the "mixed" look with some men wearing greatcoats and some ordinary coats etc, is a total and utter "wargamerism" with no basis in reality.  Each battalion CO would get all his men into the same order of dress (albeit certain individual items of clothing might vary on a few men); sometimes there would be orders from as high up as the brigade commander as to what everyone would, or would not, wear.  Subject to the above provisos, the CO and the senior NCOs of a battalion would make damn sure that the unit looked as uniform as it could possibly be.

There are numerous British accounts of the French wearing "greatcoats" in action; however, these were more like "dustcoats" and were made of unbleached linen, much lighter than the greatcoat, but still warm at night.  These were usually worn over the white, sleeved waistcoat, with the blue regimental coat put into storage.  You could use greatcoated figures to represent these without too much difficulty -  in fact, represeting this state of dress would make your Peninsula French army both quick to paint up, and quite distinctive from everyone else's (and you've still got the foreign units to add colour).

Btw, the standard colour for French line and light infantry greatcoats is dark beige (slightly browner than the Russian version) and not grey (which tended to be captured foreign items) or dark blue (which was for the Garde and the artillery).  Again, mixed colours (ass opposed to slightly different shades of the same colour) is a wargamerism - the battalions within a regiment would swap and mix 'n' match until they achieved uniformity.

Makes sense to me. I think we need more ranges like the Eureka range that show's warts and all 

Back OT, I'd go for a good mix if at all possible with the range of your choice James. Even within regiments.

Darrell.

[Gunner Dunbar]

I like them in campaign dress, but some still having plumes and cords, like this.
http://gunnerswargamming.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/victrix-28mm-grenadiers-and-voltigeurs.html

[rumacara]

Yup, thats about it.
Lovelly miniatures.

[olicana]

Thanks guys, I went for a mix.