Perry Napoleonic French Infantry Greens Fo the Egyptian Campaign

[Arthur]

Alan Perry is now starting work on the French troops for the Egyptian campaign. The figures below are all wearing the so-called "Kléber" uniform first issued in late 1799 :

[Calimero]

Hope they'll do Flank Coy. in "Kleber Ordenance" too.

Somehow, Brigade Games never did the advancing figures for the Flank Coy. to go with the rest of the unit...

[Arthur]

I'd be very surprised if Alan didn't do matching packs of grenadiers/carabiniers. I'll drop him a line later this week to ask him if he would also consider doing variants on these without a moustache and with pointed cuffs to depict light infantry chasseurs (who most likely retained their swords and green epaulettes, but were clean-shaven unlike the carabiniers).   

Re the Brigade Games range, Paul Hicks did sculpt a pack of advancing grenadiers/carabiniers in Kléber ordinance uniforms : it's code BG-NF012. Except for the one with a turban, the figures are wearing bicornes rather than casquettes à pouf, which may explain why you didn't notice them.   

http://brigadegames.3dcartstores.com/French-Line-Grenadiers-Advancing-Kleber-Campaign-Uniform-Bicornes-Egypt-Campaign-All-4-variants_p_2807.html

 

[Calimero]

...Re the Brigade Games range, Paul Hicks did sculpt a pack of advancing grenadiers/carabiniers in Kléber ordinance uniforms : it's code BG-NF012. Except for the one with a turban, the figures are wearing bicornes rather than casquettes à pouf, which may explain why you didn't notice them.   

http://brigadegames.3dcartstores.com/French-Line-Grenadiers-Advancing-Kleber-Campaign-Uniform-Bicornes-Egypt-Campaign-All-4-variants_p_2807.html

Thanks Arthur, I did notice them… It’s just that it seems odd , at least to me, that a unit would wear casquettes while the light infantry company wear bicornes… It might be "historically accurate" but I still find it odd

[Arthur]

Men of the Armée d'Orient's elite companies were notoriously proud of their privileged status and clung to any distinguishing feature that would set them apart from the rest of the rank and file. Which is why they retained their red epaulettes and their swords no matter what, and there is some period evidence that in at least some regiments, they might have worn their old bicornes instead of the new casquette à pouf.

The so-called Chasseriau document certainly seems to point in that direction, although it does not prove by any means that all grenadiers necessarily wore hats :



How representative of the army as a whole the drawing is is anyone's guess, and I know that the Chasseriau painting has sometimes been challenged because of its rather obscure origin and history. Still, given the dearth of contemporary pictorial sources documenting the appearance of the Armée d'Orient after November 1798, there is a good probability that it is substantially correct in its depiction of French soldiers in Egypt circa 1800-1801.     

[Arthur]

More Armée d'Orient greens. Looks like Alan loves his grenadiers in bicornes too. Well, at least I won't have to petition him for proper light infantry chasseurs.

[the commissar]

Love those advancing grenadiers!

I know these are WIP figures but it looks to me as thought none of the French figures have any cuff details sculpted on presumably so they can all be used as light or line.

[Arthur]

I'd noticed that too : hard to tell whether that is intentional on Alan's part or if the figures aren't finished yet.

Historically, French light demi-brigades had pointed cuffs whereas line units had round ones (except the 88th which apparently had pointed cuffs just like the light infantry's : the 88th demi-brigade's 'Kléber' uniforms depicted in the Chassériau print above are a bit of an oddity in any case).

[janner]

Any news on what's going on with the Danes, Arthur?

[Arthur]

You probably know as much as I do about it : according to his posts on the Perry FB page, Alan had postponed the release of the range as he is/was awaiting additional uniform info. They're still somewhere in the queue but no release date has been disclosed so far. So I have no idea when they're coming out, but they will eventually.   

[italwars]

Men of the Armée d'Orient's elite companies were notoriously proud of their privileged status and clung to any distinguishing feature that would set them apart from the rest of the rank and file.      

Well i hope that Perry brothers, who among other qualities seem to also have a lateral thinking approach in their choose of product to offer,  will consider that when (anf if) they will do also Light/Chasseurs infantry in  European uniform for this period..i imagine they could have been present also in Egypt.....as.it's years that i try to obtain that sort of figure (that i will not use for Egypt but instead in  Vendée and with Cisalpine troops) very iconic for French Rev/Early Napoleonic period..i know that both Eureka and Trent made it..but my castings are on the small/medium  side like OG, Foundry, Mirliton

[Arthur]

I'm not privy to Alan's plans but I somehow doubt he will add these to the range rapidly - if at all - as his early French are all wearing post-1799 'Kléber' ordinance uniforms to match his 1801 Brits.

The regulation habit-veste quickly proved unsuitable for the Egyptian climate (too hot during the day and providing insufficient protection against the cold at night, especially to the lower abdomen) and was worn for a period of four to six months only before being replaced by the new cotton uniform in October/December 1798.

I don't think Eureka do French light infantry in mirlitons (unless they're some of these figures that are listed on neither Eureka websites - US and Oz - for some reason) : still, you might want to drop Nic Robson a line as Eureka figures are comparable in size and heft to Perry. Trent Miniatures has exactly what you're looking for but they'll be beefier sculpts as you say :