Monday, 6 March 2023

The Gendarmes de elite of the Imperial Guard and a Penisular wargame Napoleonic 29

 The Gendarmes de elite of the Imperial Guard nicknamed the Immortals by their comrades in the Guard on account of them not being deployed in the front line in the earlier campaigns, although later Napoleon made sure at least some of them saw combat in his later actions, I wondered if there was an element of dislike towards these military policemen by the soldiers of the Guard, I remember my brother describing military policemen as squaddies who liked beating up squaddies! 

This unit is made up of the six spare figures of grenadiers a cheval that I got as the unit came from Colonel Bill's as an eighteen figure unit, looking around for something to do with those spare figures I figured they'd pass as Gendarmes de elite in spite of the aigiletes being on the wrong side.I  converted a trumpeter with a plastic Perry trumpet and at some point I'll expand the unit to twelve figures but for the moment six is all I have.








 I've got the flag ready for when I get a figure to hold it!

In addition I had a game with my nephew and his Penisular war British, a historical scenario with his British having to advance across rough ground and uphill, with the outnumbered French having to hold the top of the hill with time limitations on the game and bonuses for fighting at the top of the hill.































The game started badly for me and kept going, Des never throws good dice and forgot his own , I lent him my spare white ones, he has never thrown such good dice, seven sixes out of seven at one go, when he needed sixes he got them and the last picture is fairly typical of my dice throwing, the last throw for my unit, anything except a 2 and a 1! It was still great fun and I imagine we will be revisiting this theatre of war further down the line.

In the meantime? More Napoleonics, on horses!

All the best

 Iain 


32 comments:

  1. Excellent use of the spare miniatures Iain, they really look the part. The game looks excellent as I've come to expect from what you've shown in the past, and at least you had fun, even though you lost.

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    1. Thanks Dave,recycle and reuse and all that and the game was great whatever the outcome!
      Best Iain

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  2. Fine guardsmen, Iain! Too bad about the dice letting you down. I suffered from a similar malady in Sunday’s game with Matt.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan, somedays you just can't win!
      Best Iain

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  3. Great looking troops and game Iain. I assuming Black Powder? 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew, sorry ,yes I should have said Blackpowder but unusually not a One Hour Wargame scenario!
      Best Iain

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  4. Very nice conversion on these Iain, and I would never have noticed the aiguillettes if you hadn't mentioned them. Great job. I think the moral of the story from the game with you nephew is never lend your dice to anyone else.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence, at least they have aiguilettes, even if they are on the wrong side!
      Best Iain

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  5. Lovely unit and great looking game sir!

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  6. Excellent gendarmes and a lovely looking Peninsular War game!

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  7. I find the Gendarmes enjoyable, but the pics of the game are absolutely thrilling!

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    1. Thanks Suber, I'm glad I was begining to worry it was getting a bit repetative withall these Napoleonic games?!
      Best Iain

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  8. Nice 'coppers' Iain, I can just see one of them with a speed gun ready to to give tickets to charging cavalry for exceeding the charging speed limit. On the serious side, another unit that we don't see featured enough. Thank you - oh and the wargame looks fun too :)

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    1. Thanks, I can't see them going too fast on their big heavy horses, but who knows,glad you liked the game!
      Best Iain

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  9. Nice job on the gendarmes and trumpeter conversion. Good to see the figures out on the table. Was it napoleon who said give me a lucky dice :-)

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    1. Thanks Norm, give me a lucky general, I think, I definately wasn't that in this game!
      Best Iain

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  10. I did exactly the same thing about twenty years ago Iain - I have six Front Rank Horse Grenadiers deputized into the Gendarmes, and I added the aiglette with cotton thread! The game looks good and as Larence mentioned, the moral of the tale is, neither a borrower nor a lender (of dice) be!

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    1. You see , great minds, don't fancy the cotton thread, sounds fiddly!
      Best Iain

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  11. Great looking unit, just like the Grenadiers of last time, but they really do need the extra six men and their standard.

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    1. You're right of course Joe, which is why I bought the flag! I can convert a commander and a flag bearer but I need four rank and file, I'll see what Colonel Bill has next time I'm at a show I think?
      Best Iain

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  12. A lovely new unit Iain.
    A cracking looking game…you’ve clearly being rolling my old dice 😂

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly, I did think of you as my die repeatidly failed me!
      Best Iain

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  13. Lovely Immortals, Iain! Great looking Peninsula gaming too,

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    1. Thanks Dean, nice to hear from you!
      Best Iain

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  14. Considering, like the Mamelukes of the Guard, the small size of the actual unit, 6 figures is probably about right. That's how many Gendarmes I have myself .

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    1. You are as always no doubt correct but I think I'm going to raise them up to a full size unit at some point!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  15. As with the Big Heels/Gods below, those Immortals look grand! Figure to man scale is always variable, so the extra six and a flag for sure!
    Top looking game. Lovely figures and I really like the terrain mat.
    You should have been defending that hill in line though Iain!
    Kind regards, James

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    1. You are of course correct in all areas, the scenario gave me special benefits to remain in march attack but I think you're right on balance!
      Best Iain

      Delete
  16. Very nice Gendarmes Iain. You make those bearskin caps look good! I hope you learned the lesson, don't ever lend dice to your nephew, haha.

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  17. Am also a big fan of your Gendarmes. Once again Iain, nicely done.

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