French Guard - Baccus 6mm figures organised for BBB rules

 My friend Mike and I have been gaming the BBB scenario book Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles, one common factor in all of these battles is Napoleon, the other is the French Guard, first called the Consular Guard, then the Imperial Guard.  

Over last winter/spring I took the time to create enough French Guard figures for most of the battles, in some cases making a summer and winter option.

The Old Guard started as two infantry regiments of Consular Guards (Grenadiers & Chasseurs) and two regiments of cavalry (Grenadiers & Chasseurs).  It went through a number of changes, mainly expansion, adding more infantry, dragoons, lancers, etc.  You probably already know this....  😊

The Infantry

Old Guard - summer

Here are the Old Guard in their summer uniform - the Grenadiers have red plumes and the Chassuers red over green plumes.  These three bases are enough for most of the scenarios in the book.  

As I wanted these troops to look their best, all Guard troops were painted with brass muzzles and firing mechanisms on their muskets (these are normally just steel, as per the gun barrels and the bayonets).

The Old Guard Chassuers have had plumes added to the side of the Bearskin (re-purposed bayonets)

Old Guard - Winter

In colder weather the Guard wore blue Greatcoats, a colour not used by most of the French army, so they stand out a little more....  Here the Middle Guard skirmishers are standing in for Old Guard Skirmishers in Greatcoats.

Middle Guard - Summer

The Middle Guard wore shakos, otherwise (and especially at this scale) they were identical to the Old Guard.  They had a number of different flag styles - I went for the gold "N" in a wreath on blue because it sets them apart from everyone else on the table.

Middle Guard - Winter

The Middle Guard also wore blue Greatcoats, so they are easy to tell from the rest of the army.  

Young Guard - Summer

I have only made Young Guard in Summer so far, here are the Young Guard Grenadiers.  I made the 1st & 2nd Tiralliers and the Flanquers Grenadiers, who wore Green Jackets as they were light infantry.  I could have made a skirmish base of these, but I decided to go with a base of formed infantry, partly because I only needed one skirmish base.

Tiralliers & Flanquer Grenadiers

I needed 6 bases of Young Guard, so the other three are 2 bases of Voltiguers and one of Flanquers, this time the Flanquers are based as Skirmishers. 

The Cavalry

Here's the Guard Cavalry made to date - you'll need 2 bases of Heavy Cavalry & two of Light.  

Guard Heavy Cavalry

The Heavies are the Horse Grenadiers - they get all the +1 bonuses - and the Empress Dragoons

The line Heavies were the Carabiniers - a similar uniform and using the same models

Guard Horse Grenadiers on the left, Line Carabiniers on the right

My other heavy unit is the Empress Dragoons, click on this link to see more.  Here's what the two Heavies look like together - suitably scary!

Guard Light Cavalry

The Light Cavalry are the Chassuers a Cheval (one of my favourite units), the Polish Lancers and the Dutch Lancers.  The Lancers are covered here in more detail.  Here are the Light Cavalry units together.

Here are the Chasseurs a Cheval of the Imperial Guard on their own.

Artillery

I really enjoyed painting these up.  As I wanted to show their using 12 pounders, I increased the crew figures to 5 per base.  

To move them around the battlefield I made this limber & gun.  As far as I can tell Guard Artillery transport uniforms were slightly different to those of the line artillery.

I also made a Horse Artillery battery (foreground) for the Waterloo game.

Guard General

As in my second Command & Control post  I have now made a General figure to lead these fine troops

Finally...

All figures are Baccus (though not necessarily as described on the tin).  I have enjoyed figuring out the conversions needed to get the look I wanted.  

Sources used were the Funken book, Pinterest & the Jemima Fawr website which has 8 detailed blogs on making the Guard in 15mm, I found this really inspirational.

What's next?  Horse Chasseurs & Grenadiers of the Guard with alternative flags, Polish Lancers (possibly with flag changes), Dutch Grenadier infantry, possibly more foot guns, possibly winter foot artillery in greatcoats, Young Guard Artillery, Guard Marines ......

Friedland 14 June 1807 - refight 2nd August 2024

A week after losing really badly at Eylau I once again donned the hat and cloak of Napoleon to fight the next battle in Mark Smith's "Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles" scenario book.  See here for more on these scenarios.  Mike hosted me in his wargames room in sunny Ilkley and battle commenced.  

Firstly, here is the map:

I was on the left of the table and Mike was to the right.  Here are the initial dispositions:

The French left

The French right.  The brave Russians have advanced as far as the bend in the river.  In the background is Friedland, with an impassible river on two sides and a Lake and a stretch of impassable river on the other.

Russian Turn 2 - French reinforcements head left

In the centre the Saxons & French assault Bagration's troops.  If Saxons are your thing, see my 1809 army here

By turn 3 things are hotting up.  In the centre the reinforcements shift left, whilst an infantry unit backed up by the Imperial Guard push towards Friedland.  

To the left Mortier has lined the ridge and the French cavalry are heading towards the extreme left hand river crossing objective.

Meanwhile, Ney is in the Sortlack Forest, wishing for some sort of road to get him out and adding a little impetus to getting the traffic jam sorted.  Overall the French are swinging left whilst pressurising the defenders of Friedland.

By turn 5 French plans are going well, if a little slow.  On the right Ney exits the Forest and moves to the centre.

In the centre the French cover Friedland and continue to shift their troops to the north of the Muhlen Floss.  The Russians defend the trees to the left and reinforce Friedland.

On the French left Mortier bombards the trees but bides his time.  His infantry, supported by K Cavalry, advance towards the extreme Russian right.

A little later....  French assaults go in to the middle of the Russian line.  Ney's infantry head for Friedland at top speed.

Mike shifts his Russians as the French assault on the centre pushes in his line.  French weight of numbers begin to tell as more fresh Frenchmen pile in.  Mortier provides flank cover at the right end of the wood.  On the extreme left the French and Russians standoff, neither side prepared to risk an assault.  In real life both side's skirmishers are probably trading food and drink...   

About turn 7 Ney's Corps infantry has moved into combat range of Friedland and driven off the Russian artillery defending the town.  One unit of Ney's cavalry has taken a big loop to go to Sortlack and claim that village for France.

On the left the extreme left is static, the French have broken the Russian line and are facing the Friedland defenders over the Muhlen Floss.

Here's another photo of the centre, before the assault.

Here's the French going in with the Russian defenders getting flanking fire across the Muhlen Floss.  The Russians get pushed out of Friedland and lose enough VPs for a French win.

The final French move in close up.  The Guard cavalry was made up of the Empress dragoons (who got a post here ) and the Dutch lancers (post here ).  Yes, I know they weren't there, but they are pretty and they need some time on the table.  It was nice to be able to field almost all of the French troops needed.

In conclusion:

Mike fought really well, made good use of cover and defended stoutly.  My dice rolling was better than Eylau and I won more firefights and hand to hands.  

The battle was in contention all the way through and delivered HQGE High Quality Gaming Experience - which is what we expect from BBB.  

Thanks to Mark Smith for an interesting and engaging day's fun!