Commandered by capitaine Jean Louis Marie Tacon, Foy’s divisional artillery consisted of 6×6 pounders and two 5.5 inch howitzers. During the 100 days campaign it saw action at both Quatre-Bras and Waterloo. Firstly supporting the divisional attacks on the British centre at Quatre-Bras. Then two days later it was stationed to the front and right of Hougoumont where it could support Foy’s attack on the great orchard while also able to target the ridge beyond.
Models & Basing
All models pictured below are from the Perry miniatures 28mm French Napoleonic range. The four gun stands encompass the following foot artillery packs FN17x2 (gun firing), FN18 (gun loading), FN19 (gun priming), FN20 (hired help) and FN21 (extra crew).
When I originally started this project it was intended for, and based in accordance with Sam Mustafa’s Laslle rule set. These rules suggest a standard 50mm frontage for all individual stands, be it infantry, cavalry or guns. However, rules wise my preference has since shifted towards Drums and Shakos Large Battles as my primary 28mm rule system. Having already based a large proportion of the division’s infantry and a sizeable British force to boot I decided to stay with the 50mm frontage. Although DSLB’s basing system differs from Laslle’s, thus far it hasn’t created any major rule hiccups. The artillery pictured below is based on 50/100mm 3mm plywood, wanting a bit more room for extra figures, I increased the overall base depth from 50mm to 100mm.
Foot artillery Company
2 Captains
2 Lieutenants
1 Sergeant-major
4 Sergeants
4 Corporals
1 Furrier
2 Drummers
20 Gunners of 1st Class
48 Gunners of 2nd Class
Additionally each company had 4 metal workers,
4 ouvriers, 13 woodworkers and artificiers.
Train Company
1 Master sergeant
4 Sergeants
1 Fourrier
4 Corporals
24 Soldiers 1st Class
60 Soldiers 2nd Class
2 Shoeing Smiths
2 Harness Makers
2 Trumpeters
*Note all numbers/ranks shown here are approximate figures only as I have found these to vary depending on the source martial.
Uniforms
Pictured below is a basic uniform guide for foot artillery and train troops that were assigned to the 9th division in Reille’s II Army Corps. The epaulettes labeled A, B and C were worn respectively by artillery captains (gold lace), artillery lieutenants (gold lace with red) and train lieutenants (silver lace with red). The magnifying-glass symbols detail the badges on the coat turn-backs.
Limber teams
Always the last (if at all) to see the paint brush for any of my armies and as such I have only finished a single model thus far.
Alas for reasons that are now lost to me I have placed a gun on the base with the limber team (as pictured below). It looks great, but in hind sight it can’t sit on the table next to a unlimbered gun without looking a little silly. So I’m faced with a dilemma, either continually swap between limber teams and gun stands every time I move a battery in game or re-basing this stand to something more manageable. Another problem that has also become apparent is the share size of the base it’s self, at 180mm long its just too big for my available table space. If placed behind one of my current artillery stands the two models will occupy 280mm of ground which is just too much space to be practical. The only solution seems to be to base these in the same manner as my ACW artillery, with two horses and limber on a 50/100mm base.