It had been quite a while but it was time to return
once more to my Essling Grand Plan (see Post 145).
The 24th Chasseurs à Cheval (see Posts 149-153) were
based and ready to take their place on my
completed terrain tiles. To finish off Bruyère’s light
cavalry brigade, I needed to paint 12 chasseurs of
the 13th – 12 as a result of moving numbers around,
as I mentioned in Post 149. Their facing colour was
orange – nice and easy and I used Foundry’s Orange
3B. (It was something of a relief not to have to search
around for a paint colour to match a facing colour!)
Rousellot illustrated a trooper of the 13th, dated as of
1809. This rear view was replicated by Angus
McBride in Osprey’s Napoleon’s Line Chasseurs.
The 13th Chasseurs à Cheval were commanded by
Colonel Jean-Baptiste Demengeot who actually
retired very soon after the Danube campaign, in
August 1809. My Demengeot ended up with blonde
hair and moustache – for no real reason. He was the
figure with my added putty epaulettes whose head I
had modified (see Post 65).
To the frustration of staff officers, not all French
troops wore regulation dress. Some detachments of
chasseurs were reviewed in 1809 and out of 11
regiments only two – the 13th being one of them –
were recorded as wearing the correct uniform. Pat
on the dos, 13th. Unlike my other chasseurs, I gave
the 13th white waistcoats.
13th Chasseurs à Cheval
POST 162
162
