Recruiting a new French Line Infantry Division

I thought this might a good place to start my posts - I wanted to begin assembling the troops for my French 2nd Division of the Line.

So after rummaging around in the various storage bins, boxes, drawers etc I gathered the figures together to create this division and laid them out to show the makeup. With one exception all the figures are Hinton Hunt 20mm - The exception is the Sapper in the Grenadier battalion which is early Minifig 20mm. I purchased enough figures over the years to make several divisions like this - either Line or Light Troops with some variations of course.

This Division will be identical to my Ist Division and will consist of 4 Line regiments each of two battalions. The battalions will consist of 4 centre companies (I'm a Brit thus English version of center!) , and one Grenadier and one Voltigeur company. Since most of the time (in my games that is) the grenadiers are massed into separate battalions as are the Skirmishers - I make the flank companies from different figures.

There will be divisional artillery attached also which will consist of 3 8prs and one 5.5" Howitzer - all from Hinchliffe's 20mm Artillery pieces (I think I read somewhere that these products will be available again soon - I am trying to confirm that since i want a few more) . This Division is commanded by a French Mounted General FN 224. I'll name him now - It is written done in the master Army List - if I can ever locate it!!

As stated each of the 4 Regts in the division are comprised of 2 battalions - the 1st Btn carries the Eagle which distinguishes it from the 2nd Btn. Each center company is comprised of 3 figs - FN5 Fusilier Charging (although I like to think it is actually Advancing). The 1st company of the 1st Btn differs in that it comprises 1 FN6 Drummer Advancing, 1 FN4 Colour Bearer and one FN5 Fusilier. Each Battalion is commanded by an Officer Charging FN1. Incidentally I paint the pompom's of each of the four regiments in the respective colors of the battalion companies - i.e the first regiment is all Green pompoms and the second is blue and so on Orange, Violet - This is great for identifying the regiment and also, on mass, makes it look large a large battalion!

The 2 Grenadier battalions consists of 4 companies each of 3 figures - FN9 Grenadier Marching but the first company of the first battalion has 1 FN6 drummer and a Minifig Sapper with one FN9. Each battalion is commanded by an Officer Marching FN8.

The 2 Voltigeur battalions consist of 4 companies each of three figures - FN3 Grenadier Firing but the first company of the first battalion has 1 FN86 Bugler (with Colpack) and 2 FN3's.

Depending on the Tactical requirements the Division can be split into 2 brigades of 2 regiments each of 2 battalions with respective flank coy's. or even three brigades each of 4 battalions with one of those brigades comprising the flank coy's. In which cases I recruit some additional Mounted Generals to command each brigade. I can also attach other troops to the Division - e.g. a Swiss Legion regiment and/or some Hessians or other allies - again depending on the tactical situations.

The artillery battery comprise 4 figures per gun making 16 figs and they are made up from all the Line Artillery figures available. I sometimes state that there are 2 batteries represented by 2 guns each - or one battery represented by the four gun's available (It depends on how I feel!)

So there we have it the Division is recruited - the Regiments will receive there No's in the Army Listings and also there Eagles from Nappy! and then we move on to flash cleaning, undercoating and painting - a very slow and tedious process but well worth it when it is completed.

I'll discuss how I came up with this organization and my French army plan in a future post.