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Tuesday, 3 July 2012

French Allies - Hesse Darmstadt and Baden , Jena Auerstadt, 1806

Tour de France - Stage 2


Well, its only stage 2 of a very long race .. and already  Im wondering how on earth I am going to get out 1 French-related post per day ... for the next 3-4 weeks.

 Ah wel, lets see how we go.

Last night saw the Tour head through the fortress of Namur, and towards the French border as it heads out of Belgium.

Just over the Rhine are a couple of German states - Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt, who formed an alliance with France, and loyally provided some good regiments from Jena in 1806, to Spain, to all the way out to Leipzig in 1813.

Here we have a small battalion sized contingent of Hessians and Badeners to add to the French forces at Jena.





The Hessians - based on AB Prussians, all dressed and drilled in the Prussian style.







The Hessians brigaded together with a unit from Nassau .. which I dont have yet, but I do have here some Baden infantry.

Based on warrior miniatures Austrians, these guys joined the party for a tour of Spain, and continued to serve in the Grande Armee right up to the end.


A little shorter than the ABs ... so Im calling this one the Baden Freiwillingen Student Battalion.


1 Skirmisher base rounds out the unit.



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2 comments:

  1. James Fisher3 July 2012 at 19:36

    Steve, I am another wargamer who enjoys the TdF and who is taking advantage to combine the two; getting units ready for Borodino for me. I have a slight advantage of the telecast being 1 1/2 hours earlier here!
    It was interesting to have the route going so tantalising close to Waterloo last night. I hoped that they might have panned out to the battlefield...
    Nice looking figures so far. Hopefully you'll be able to keep up the production and quality. You'll be looking forward to the rest day as much as the riders!

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    Replies
    1. Unknown6 July 2012 at 17:42

      Totally agree - bike racing is a blast, in so many ways. It was some of the commentary on the historic towns and forts from the Tour that sparked my interest in the Napoleonic period again.

      Dont know if you ever get the chance to pop over for the Tour down Under ... there is nothing like being part of the battalions of spectators. Being a pretty small scale set of stage events, all of the teams ride back to town after each race along with the public throngs.

      Earlier this year, I got lucky coming back from the stage at Stirling, an shared the descent side by side with the Liquigas guys all the way down from Mt Lofty. Completely insane !!

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