Artillerie a Pied de la Garde Imperiale

Rolling off the painting table with a few weeks to spare before their appearance at Historicon is this battery of French Imperial Guard Foot Artillery. An earlier post covered the organization of the Guard Artillery, so we can skip right to the pictures!

These are 28mm Essex figures, once again purchased recently from Wargames, Inc, as part of their ongoing sale as they clear out their inventory of this line. Napoleon was thrifty, and so am, I! :-)

The front figure with a slung musket is painted as a drummer - solid red lapels, gold trim on the lapels, cuffs, and turnbacks. 

You can barely see it, but the gunner at the lower left has the chevron of an NCO on his sleeve. 

Napoleon nicknamed these 12lbers his "beautiful daughters". Overall, I think I prefer brunettes, but they are handsome!

Group photo with my 1st battery of Guard Foot Artillery, also Essex, painted approximately 10 years ago. 

The first battery has the white gaiters worn for full dress; red cords were also worn on the bearskins for such formal occasions! The new, second battery will make its debut at Montmirail in less than 3 weeks.

La batterie d'Austerlitz

A bit of a play on (French) words, as the term "batterie" can apply not only to an artillery battery, but also to a piece of music, usually intended for military maneuvers, typically played on drums, sometimes accompanied by fifes. This particular drum piece is a famous one from the Empire, and it is interesting to see all the tricks the drummers use to execute it - using far more than just the drumhead!