Chasseurs and Guides in the French Napoleonic Armies

 

A couple of nice little surprise were awaiting at home, the two latest works of the Historire & Collection Napoleonics books, dealing with the Chasseurs à Cheval and the Guides & Guards of the great headquarters. To start with, back in December I made a brief review of the Cuirassiers tome, and all I said about the latter are 100% applicable to these two new additions.

The Chasseurs à Cheval is the first of three-part series and covers the period of the Revulationary Wars to the eve of the First Empire. As usual this book is short in words (some interesting introduction pages and notes of the changes introduced with each different new regulation) and looooooong in colour plates, covering with outstanding detail the uniforms of every single unit of this corps, including the overseas regiments in the Americas and other French colonies. Detailed OOBs (from the official regulation, not the actual on the battle fields)  are also covered in the book.

The Guides & Guards is a very intresting tome, focused on the lesser well known and generally neglected byt the wargaming-related literature units that undertook the security functions of the great French commanders and their headquarters. The most popular and well knonw of these units are the Guides attached to the Imperial Hedquarters, but the books covers probably every possible unit, from Itally until the Cent Jours period, through Italy and the Peninsula. A real gift for any Napoleonic aficionado, it will not help putting on the table any large unit, but will for sure inspire adding that original model to enhance your command and HQ bases... and  see how your gaming mates go green of envy!!

I cannot recommend more these books, a 10 on 10 mark. Real added value for any Napoleonic era library and significant superior price-to-value that any tome of the Osprey range.