Napoleon – My Toy Soldiers & Me

First Empire… Napoleone Buonaparte the “corsican”

It is funny what History “makes” of some figures or “personages”… the collective of wargamers (me included) focus on the uniforms (gaudy) the generals leading from the front (that was a nice thing) and other colourful items of the period (same can be said of the XVIIIth Century of course!) and we tend to forget the horrors of those real wars… there are some positive aspects as civil populations were not involved to a point (try to go explain that to a German city who suported “billeted” French Napoleonic Garrisons or for that matter to a Spaniard who simply wanted the French OUT! and did his/her best to make war -even the nasty guerrilla war- to produce that result).

Be that as it may Napoleon was one of a kind, an exponent of meritocracy (and ambition) post Revolutionary (1789) he reformed laws and promoted a more just living in France (generally)… the ideas of the Revolution are now widely accepted in modern democracies… but of course were a shock for old monarchies in Europe (count aristocrats IN)… Europe made war to Napoleon as a consequence (even if he favoured moving and striking first!).

A fascinating human being with lights and shadows but a high IQ. It is, of course anachronic to “judge” Bonaparte by modern standards with hindsight and all that jazz… he marked a period of History for better and for worse.

Nice Miniature by the way… as seen in Facebook!

PS: Passed the 110.000 visitors bar today… a solid third of them from the USA!…quite puzzled by it.

200 years… and still present in our collective memory for what it was… a genius (with faults and virtues) and I personally think quite ahead of its time. Nobody seriously studies Napoleon without noticing that it was not exclusively Napoleon fighting offensive wars (mainly) but defending France against old monarchies coalitions because of the ideas (seen as dangerous) of the French Revolution (which has also controversy attached). Of course having a military background (after all he was an Artillery Officer) and following the European tradition that Clausewitz will formulate a posteriori he went to war frequently enough (understatement) as it was the custom in Europe, nowadays he is still remembered for his Civil Code (nearly 200 years of life) and abolishing feudal privileges. He also reinstated slavery in the Caribbean Sea (to his shame). He was not perfect but had a great brain and “je ne sais quoi”.

This post has really a lot of pics!

Napoleonic wargaming was my passion for almost thirty years, in 25mm because I was stupid enough to do not choose 15mm in the first place (minis in the late seventies had no such vast offer and traders… even if MINIFIGS did 15mm too!) so MINIFIGS 25mm (after all I was coming down from 54mm) I went I and no regrets, was quite happy with my collection who also extended to other periods and wars (I though it would be very difficult to paint such small figures in 15mm because of the lavish uniforms of the napoleonic wars!).

Was interested for many years (obsessed is a better description) with the battle of Waterloo, could the Emperor have won? In context and after years of reading about it, I arrived at the conclusion that it was a NO WIN – NO WIN situation, it would have been 1813 all over again… with Austrians and Russians and what not invading France which was exhausted… and that’s that.

Have some pics of my years indulging in that particular wargamers fetish.

Battling with my little brother… many years from now… yours truly on the left.

Waterloo set on my “wargames room” in fact part of my office!… weekend well employed.

Prussians arriving on the French right flank… 1815. The dark green area was a removable extension of the biggest table at my office.

The British Heavy Cavalry charge. Waterloo 1815.

British “heavy” (in fact medium) Cavalry close up.

French Heavy Cavalry of the Imperial Guard + Cuirassiers on their left.

French Light Cavalry of the Imperial Guard.

French Grand battery (background out of focus)

The fictional South Essex of Cornwell’s Sharpe (see right of pic).

Denmark Infantry. With a change of Command stand they become Swiss…

Austrian Grenadiers, Swedish Infantry and Russian Grenadiers.

Portuguese Line and Light Infantry (Caçadores).

Napoleonic units: early Spanish 1808 , Duchy of Warsaw and Wurtemberg Infantry.

Different Napoleonic units: Kingdom of Naples, Saxons and Bavarians.

After a deep crisis with 25mm wargaming I sold them all. After some years toying with Playmobil (75mm) conversions and quite classical 54mm toy soldier collecting I went back to wargaming but in 6mm this time! (see the other Posts). Cheers

Category: Napoleon

Quite old 54mm!

NAPOLEONIC MINIFIGS (and Waterloo in 25mm)