Marines...

...that is marines, not Royal Marines. These are marines in1801 and the royal title was not granted until the following year. What this means is that the facings are white and not blue.

This will be one of two battalions that I will build for the British in Egypt project. Quite possibly there was only one battalion of marines on shore service in Egypt, but I am doing two, because I like them, and I can!

Next on the production line are the two battalions of Guards.

23rd (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot

This weekend saw the completion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the 23rd Regiment of Foot.

I have done these in round hats.

This completes the third of five units that will make up Moore's Brigade. The two remaining units, the 42nd foot and the Corsican Rangers, will be in the next order that will be placed in late April.

Next, just to get a bit of variety with the painting, will be a battalion of marines.

Generals and Émigrés

This week’s focus has been on completing the generals and adding the first of the émigré regiments for the British in Egypt.

 

Of the generals I have done three brigadiers in Doyle, Coote and Craddock.

Doyle

Craddock

 

Coote

The first of what will be four émigré regiments is De Watteville's Regiment founded by Louis de Watteville, the son of a Swiss mercenary who commanded a regiment in the service of the Netherlands. Louis served as a junior officer in his father's regiment against Revolutionary France and when the Dutch were defeated by the French he took up similar commission in a Swiss corps in the Austrian army in 1799. When Austria too was defeated, the various Swiss units were disbanded and de Watteville’s regiment was created by patching together parts of several Swiss regiments – Salis, Roverea, Courten and Bachmann –  and signed on in British service as mercenaries. 

On arrival in Egypt each of the contingent parts of the regiment still had their distinctive facings – Salis blue,  Roverea/Courten black,  Bachmann red - and I have represented them in this way, with Bachmann on the left of the line (right when viewed from the front) Salis on the right and Roverea/Courten in the centre. There is some evidence that later in the campaign they were issued with a new uniform matching that of the Roverea contingent. The regimental flags were taken from the Perry site – they were not issued with British colours until 1805.

 

The regiment continued service with the British throughout the Napoleonic Wars, chiefly around the Mediterranean. It served in the Peninsular Campaign from 1811 to 1813. Sent to Canada in 1813 to fight in the War of 1812 the regiment was retired at the end in 1815 and for their services the surviving soldiers were granted land in Canada. If I ever decide expand the War of 1812 force I think I will have to add de Watteville.

 

Louis de Watteville’s career reached its pinnacle in Canada. Promoted to major-general in 1813 and separated from the regiment, he commanded the district of Montreal for a while, before assuming command of the Right Division on the Niagara front after Raill was wounded and captured at Lundy’s Lane and participated in the Siege of Fort Erie. After the war he retired to Switzerland.

More British in Egypt

Two items were finished over the weekend. First was the second of the five gun sets that will be included in this army. This time the crew are loading the 6lb gun. In the set two figures wear the regulation cocked hat and two wear the fatigue cap.

Second is the first batch of generals. This set contains figures representing Generals Abercrombie, Hutchinson and Moore. I have done Abercrombie and Hutchinson as the senior command group and the Moore as a brigadier.

 Abercrombie (hand on hip) and Hutchinson (pointing)

John Moore

The 28th Regiment of Foot and the First of the British in Egypt Artillery

The 28^th  (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot is the second of the British in Egypt infantry to pass through the uniform store and the first in this collection in the stovepipe shako. As my good friend Lawrence reminded me the 28^th had a unique honour: at the Battle of Alexandria the French cavalry succeeded in breaking through the British lines, reformed behind the 28^th and began to charge while the 28^th was still heavily engaged to the front. Hurriedly the order was given for the rear rank to face about and fighting  back to back the regiment successfully defended itself. For this action the regiment was accorded the right to wearing the regimental number on both the front and the back of the shako.

 

The second piece off the painting table this weekend is the first of the artillery. Listed as "Foot Artillery firing 6 Pounder in Mother Shipton hats", this set has a unique gun. To prevent the wheels sinking into the desert sand the gunners tied staves from wooden barrels to the wheels.

A second gun set, this time in cocked hats, is assembled an ready for work.

British in Egypt Project Kicks Off

Yesterday saw the first unit completed for the British in Egypt project.

 

While I don’t plan to follow a specific order of battle for this project, I do nonetheless plan to create an approximate historical force insomuch as I intend to create a Guards Brigade, Moore’s Brigade as it stood at Abukir Bay, most of the Emigre units will form a command, plus another brigade of three battalions. The Guards and  Moore’s brigade will have a historical context, but the rest will just be a collection of battalions that take my fancy and grouped as I like.

 

The first unit out of the uniform store is the 58^th Rutlandshire Regiment. This unit was part of Moore’s Brigade and I chose to do it first for two reasons: first because the facings are black that it made for a useful exercise in figuring out how to paint the cuff lace; second because there is a New Zealand connection.

 

The New Zealand connection is that while on garrison duty in New South Wales in the 1840s, the regiment was deployed to New Zealand at the outbreak of the First New Zealand War in 1845 and remained in New Zealand until 1859. Since the 58^th will feature in a planned First New Zealand War game later in the year is seemed fitting to create this regiment.

 

For this regiment I chose the figures with the round hat, because I like the figures. I am pleased with the unit. The figures a full of  character, I am just a little uncertain of how the sergeant with the half pike will survive and the shaft of the half pike is very thin – I have put him in the middle of the stand with the hope that the flanking figures will protect him.

 

This army will be a mix of round hat and stovepipe shakos and the next unit be in the latter.

Of Cuirassiers and Dragoons

This week sees the completion of a number of 1812 French items.

The first are a pair of cuirassier regiments, the 8th and 10th. These two regiments round out the heavy cavalry component of the 2^nd Cuirassier Division from the Borodino order of battle.

 

The 8^th Regiment

The 10^th Regiment

 

There are two of such divisions, the 2^nd and the 4^th, that will be a part of my 1812 French army.

 

Since I have a bit of time today, I felt a parade was in order so here are all six regiments, two carabinier and four cuirassiers. The divisional horse artillery (two batteries each) and the lancer squadrons (one per division) are yet to be completed.

Also finished this week are the dismounted versions of the two dragoon regiments I have done. I had posted an image of the dismounted unit of the 7th Dragoons, without its officer. Here is the completed unit.

...and here is the completed 23rd regiment.

The completion of the cuirassiers and dismounted dragoons has seen a number surplus figures that are destined to be couriers or ADCs for the French 1812 generals that will be ordered in a few months time.

First two are cuirassiers. The trumpeter was blowing the trumpet to the side, which didn't seem right for a general's escort, so I cut the arm off and substituted a dragoon trumpeter's arm and added an epaulette made from green stuff. The trooper was a much simpler conversion. I simply cut the gauntles and sword of one if the cuirassier sword arms and glued on the gauntlet and carbine from one of the spare dismounted dragoon arms.

Second are two carabiniers. On the standard bearer I simply used a spare standard pole from a dragoon command sprue and added an epaulette. The trooper was a little more complex. For him I used a spare bare head from the infantry set then took a spare carabinier head and cut the helmet free before gluing in place on the pommel. For the arm I cut off the hand and sword from a standard cuirassier arm then glued on an open hand from one of the left over arms from the Victrix artillery set.

Finally there are two elite squadron dragoons. The only conversion work here was the addition of coat tails with some green stuff.

Since these fellows won't be given partners yet, they will be in storage for a while and before this project is ended there will be at least another eight such cavalry figures available. 

The French in 1812 will take a back seat for a while now, since two good sized parcels for the British in Egypt project arrived on Tuesday afternoon.