182 : Kneeling Voltigeur

When I bought a pack of Magister Militum’s French voltigeurs (FR103), the figures were described to me as dressed as they actually fought in the field rather than in regulation dress. From the pack, I selected a kneeling skirmisher to paint as a trial figure. As it turned out, the voltigeurs appeared to be dressed according to regulations, after all. But regulations – disappointingly for my project – of 1812. I was very keen on using the figures – and the pack contained a number of figure-poses that were unfortunately absent from my 10mm army – but there were really too many substantial differences in the uniform to make them suitable for 1809.

The position of the bayonet scabbard and the lack of a sabre and fringed epaulettes really made the figures more suitable as fusiliers for 1809. However if I wanted to use the miniatures, I would have to turn a blind eye to the later style knee-length gaiters and also hope the figure-poses concealed the differences in the jacket design. As I’d painted the kneeling figure, I wanted to use it and contemplated snipping off the distinctive later-style short plume and adding a more appropriate pom-pom.