57e Regiment de Ligne

Another quick update this time. I've finally finished painting up and basing my French divisional sized force which i'm using for Napoleon at War and play testing the up-and-coming Napoleonic ruleset from Toofatlardies. Watch this space for some after action reports.

I've designed my French force around the 1809 campaign. It's division on General de Division Saint-Hilaire's division, which fought under Marechal Davout's III Corps and later under Marechal Lannes' II Corps at Essling, where both Saint-Hilaire and Lannes were killed.

I'm still working on a divisional command stand for the brave and talented Louis-Vincent-Joseph Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire, but in the meantime i've painted up some higher ranking commanders. All of the figures i've used so far are from the excellent AB figures, excepting the Marechal Joachim Murat figure from the very talented Boki.

Here is first of the Corps command bases, depicting Napoleon's skilled cavalry commander, the exceptionally flamboyant Marechal Joachim Murat. Although Murat did not play a part in the 1809 campaign, I really could not resist painting up this command base. Murat is painted up for the 1807 campaign and he is dressed as the Grand Duke of Berg. His aides-de-camp are uniformed in the opulent magenta and buff uniforms designed by Murat himself.

Murat, Grand Duke of Berg and Commander of the Cavalry Reserve

From the flamboyant to the workmanlike, this is the first battalion of the 57th Regiment of the Line, which gained the cognomen 'Le Terrible.'

Formed from the pre revolutionary Regiment Limousin, the 57e Ligne was one of the most renowned line regiments in the Napoleonic army. The Regiment was commanded in 1809 by Colonel Jean-Louis Charrière. Charrière was wounded several times at Essling, where his uniform was left in tatters due to the musket ball strikes. At Wagram, his horse was shot out from under him and he was carried from the field. He was made Commander of the Legion d'Honneur following this, and in 1812 he was promoted to General de Brigade.

First Battalion

First Battalion in line behind its skirmish screen of voltigeurs

First battalion in attack column

Chef de Battalion Gleise commanded the second battalion during the 1809 campaign, and he was wounded at Essling.

Second Battalion with voltigeurs deployed

Second battalion in attack column

For each regiment, I have based the first battalions with a mounted officer and eagle, so they stand out. Subsequent battalions have officers on foot. At the moment I have each regiment with two battalions, but will be adding a third to some of the units, including the 57e.

I've also included skirmish bases for each battalion, as per the Napoleon at War basing but also used in the Lardies Napoleonic set.


That's it for now. Next i'll be posting some images of the next battalion and the Brigade command stand.