Napoleonic army painting guides

[dreamwarder]

Hello folks,

I've been painting Peninsular war forces for some time now, but with the arrival of lovely Russian, Austrian and Prussian plastics in the last couple of years, I'm ready to branch out into other armies of the napoleonic era.

However, I need some help in finding good guides to the uniforms of said armies. I'm hoping that some folk out there might be able to help by pointing me in the direction of the best books/websites for researching other forces of the period.

In the hope that I might save some other poor soul some time, I offer what help I can for painting British/French/Portuguese/Spanish forces in the Peninsular.

By far the best best and most comprehensive guide I've found to the uniforms of the period was C.A Sapherson's "Peninsular Armies, 1808-1814", an excellent and highly descriptive little book which has been my mainstay for painting all the forces of that theatre. It also provides a lot of information as to troop organisation.

If I could find something similar for Russians, Prussians and/or Austrians I would be a very happy man indeed.

[DeadInTheHead]

I have a few links and book suggestions for uniforms, not all of these are in english, but with google translate and/or intelligence you'll manage

This is considered the best site for info on 1815 [Fr]: http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/
This has some scattered information on various armies and things (check the "Uniforms of the Napoleonic wars" section link near the bottom of the page) [En]: http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/

• This is what looks like a mirror to the same site, but some of the info is different: http://napolun.com/mirror/napoleonis...N_FOREVER.html

This is one of my favourites for French uniforms [De]: http://www.grosser-generalstab.de/lh/lh.html

For books, I find the plates inside the campaign books by F. G. Hourtoulle to be invaluable, they're originally in french but there are english editions available too: http://livres.histoireetcollections....onic-wars.html

I hope this helps

[IanR]

the uniform guides in the perry boxes of prussians are good, not started on russians yet.

[emperorpenguin]

I have this book and it covers pretty much every nation which fought in the Napoleonic Wars.
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-En.../dp/0754815714

It has a mix of colour plates and tables with facing and lace colours for most regiments

[DeadInTheHead]

the uniform guides in the perry boxes of prussians are good, not started on russians yet.

I've only used victrix so far, there are no guides on their boxes unfortunately (apart from the box art itself).

I have this book and it covers pretty much every nation which fought in the Napoleonic Wars.
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-En.../dp/0754815714

It has a mix of colour plates and tables with facing and lace colours for most regiments

I've always been put off that book by the reviews on Amazon, but if you recommend it I may have a look.

[emperorpenguin]

I've always been put off that book by the reviews on Amazon, but if you recommend it I may have a look.

What did the reviews say that put you off? It may be that we are looking for different things in a book

[bigshep]

Great Russian site, scroll down for infantry, cavalry, cossack and artillery specific information
http://napolun.com/mirror/napoleonis...ssian_army.htm

Best Russian book I have is a 1977 book by RJ rawkins, cracking uniform and organisational information for 1808-15, though mine is a much loved photocopy I am afraid

To be honest the whole Naplun site is a very good read with good oobs as well
http://napolun.com/mirror/napoleonis...com/index.html

Books for Prussians, you really need anything by Dr Stephen Summerfield
http://lboro.academia.edu/StephenSummerfield/Books
he also has some good books on the Russians as well.

The osprey books on the Prussians are all right, but the reserve regiments can be a tad confusing uniform wise
Calpe's website has some good info on Prussian uniforms as well as having beautiful 28mm minis
http://calpeminiatures.co.uk/
The 100days war series by Peter Hofshroer are very good
http://www.amazon.co.uk/1815-Waterlo...7713421&sr=1-4
though he does have a massive German bias, but then it counters years of British bias TBH.

Few other links to trawl through here, may throw up a gem or two!
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=384319

Can't help on Austrians as they are an army I have never owned, but painted a fair few over the years.

[IanR]

with all the Perry boxes, they include a pretty good guide to uniform colours & facings., definetly worth getting a box just for that alone. The cavalry boxes more so

[dreamwarder]

Thanks so much guys - there's plenty there to keep me busy!