4th Swiss Regiment

The Emperor of France has politely and diplomatically demanded equal time from the recruiting depot . . . and fortunately I have the troops!

To fight the British in the Peninsular you need some French. I still have not organized the Emperor's troops for Volley and Bayonet yet, but I envision an army consisting of at least 2 Infantry Corps with 2 to 3 Infantry Divisions and corps support (artillery and cavalry), 4 divisions of cavalry and elements of the Imperial Guard.

One of the great things about the gaming hobby that I enjoy is the research of the units and organization of the armies, but still getting to pick which units I want to deploy. The 4th Swiss Regiment did fight in the Peninsular and will now be a regular feature of the Emperor's forces on my tabletop.


I haven't had much time to paint the last few weeks, but I did get a chance to paint a "test" figure using Perry Miniatures' plastic French Infantry. The 4th Swiss will add a splash of red color to the French forces and highlight, though the Swiss were part of the regular French military establishment, that there were quite of few non-French forces fighting with the French.

I wanted the red coats of the Swiss to look differently than the red coats I had painted for the British forces. The way I paint the British jackets (all paints are from the GW range) is to prime the figure black, use Scab Red as the base color and then use Blood Red to build up the highlights. For the Swiss, I just went with Blood Red and this seems to me to give a slightly brighter color. Though not finished, I like the way the test figure looks and look forward to finishing it and the rest of the unit.


Here are the colors I'm using for the 4th Swiss:

Coat: Blood Red
Facings: Enchanted Blue
Belt Straps: Skull White
Shako Cover: Desert Yellow
Trousers/Coveralls: Codex Grey then Skull White
Musket: Scorched Brown for the wood; Chainmail for the metal
Water Gourd strap: Bestial Brown
Water Gourd: Snakebite Leather
Pom pom: Snot Green
Pack: Scorched Brown then Bestial Brown. Highlight with Snakebite Leather
Blanket roll: Adeptus Battlegrey
Cartridge box, Shako brim and boots: Chaos Black
Face and hands: Dwarf Flesh and then a Flesh wash. Highlight with Elf Flesh.
Buttons: Sunburst Yellow.


Straps can be tough to paint sometimes - getting around all the gear that a soldier carries. I love the way the Perry figures are designed. Paint the straps, then the pack and then glue that pack on the figure!




The packs with the swords are for the figures of the elite companies.

Here's the rest of the unit. I usually place 8 figures to an Infantry brigade - time to get them outfitted! The guy without arms will be a voltigeur for one of my French skirmish stands.