Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Building the Gardes Francaises

 So, here's the thing.

I know I am building a French Army for the French and Indian War. Set in stone. No chance of deviating from that; I have finished building the three line regiments that were my goal, so it's done and dusted. I am actively looking at the British castings that I have and so far there are enough for most of the first unit and parts of a second**. So, it's going to happen.

But... I found my old Willie*** Arquebusiers de Grassin in a box a few weeks ago and counted them back and forth and I seem to have half a units' worth of them. Then a Drummer from the Gardes Francaises mysteriously appeared on my painting table and I was compelled to paint him in the Grand Livery Lace.

So much lace...
Which in a round about way brings me to my topic. If one was to have a middling diversion in the direction of building the Gardes (I am sure the exchequer could spring for a birthday present), how would I do it? The current establishment for my line regiments is in the nature of about 50 figures and each represents a battalion. The Gardes were a brigade-sized unit of six battalions. Now, I may be silly, but even I am not going to spring for 300 figures. So the question is "What to do?".

Currently I am mulling two solutions. The first is just to make a single battalion and leave it at that. And there is merit in that. In the case of bath-tubbing a battle like Fontenoy*, it seems quite reasonable to have a battalion stand in for a brigade on the wargame table.

The other thought that crosses my mind is that my battalions all break down into two Grand Divisions, so, why not simply add a third? The unit has a fair bit more heft, it won't break the bank and it'll look good on the table.

What would you do?

*Fontenoy? Well, I'll have a pile of French infantry and artillery already. Will it kill me to add some cavalry? And I will already also have a number of British infantry units including the 42nd Highlanders out of the FIW project. And, dash it all, I have castings for half the Arequebusiers de Grassin already.
**It will be rebasing time for my RSM British. There are enough already-painted castings to create a full regiment.
***And lets face it, the Willie French and British are based off Fontenoy, Culloden, Carillion and Quebec.


6 comments:

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

A dangerous road indeed, young man!

Kind Regards,

Stokes

Der Alte Fritz said...

I’d paint one battalion each of Les Gardes Francais et le Suisse

Bloggerator said...

I knew someone would mention the elephant in the room. And you'd add to that some of the "old Regiments" - Picardie, Champagne as well. Then you need one of the Wild Geese as well (if you are serious about Fontenoy) and, of course who could leave out the d'Eu Regiment?

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

On the other hand, a detachment of guards might have really helped Montcalm at Quebec.

Bloggerator said...

Perhaps, but they might have needed not to get caught in column as well as the other regiments there! :)

David Morfitt said...

Oh yes, you definitely need a large French army. :-) (I really want to see my Arquebusiers de Grassin flag in action - plus if you go for Gardes Suisses as well as Francaises, I can let you have flags for them too. It is all about lots of pretty flags, after all, isn't it? ;-))

Cheers,

David.