Friday, 14 November 2025

Retreat From Moscow - Colonel Marbot's Sledges - 23rd/24th Chasseurs a Cheval.



Back in late March this year I posted my last entry in the Painting Challenge, here,
 which just so happened to be a very nice looking sledge driven by remnants 
of the 23rd/24th Chasseurs a Cheval.


Its taken an age but I've finally completed the unit and made and painted the other 3 sledges.


The delays firstly was the Perry's fault as one of the Sledges was out of stock for quite some time.


And then it was me, trying to find the time!


I must admit, I'm quite chuffed with the results.


"During the Retreat from Moscow, Colonel Marbot seeing that
his regiment, the 23rd Chasseurs a Cheval, was falling apart,
decided to dismount them, use their remaining horses to pull two-man peasant
sledges easily found in local villages. The 23rd formed up with the
24th Chasseurs a Cheval to create a sledge born brigade. At night
these formed squares which were frequently used by Marshal Ney and General
Maison for shelter. Each man was ordered to have two muskets to enable them to
resist attacks with ‘the liveliest musketry"

from Perry Miniatures website.


I asked Martin from Warbases to make me some special sized pill shaped bases, to match in with the pill bases me and Lee used for our cavalry bases.


Each sledge comes with 4 heads, so can swap them over and make each look a little different.


It was guess work putting them together, until I found this page on TMP


Which shows how they're supposed to be built. My first Sledge looks nothing like this, as I hadn't a clue how to put it together!


So there we go an 8 man team of 4 Sledges to hold off those damn Cossacks!!!

47 comments:

  1. These ARE very cool Ray! Our friend Mark also has these sleigh borne troops in his 1812 collection.

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    1. Glad you like them, Keith. They should look great on the battlefield!

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  2. Phenomenal work Ray! Very evocative pieces and definitely something out of the ordinary!

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    1. Absolutely, you don't see this kinda thing too often.

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  3. Those are very cool looking, Ray!

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  4. Well done! Now those are beasts of burden. Look at the stocks on those horses!

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  5. Outstanding looking unit, Ray.

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    1. Cheers Rich, I've been looking forward to finish these for some time.

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  6. Replies
    1. Thanks Michal, I'm sure you'll be painting some soon as well?

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  7. Well worth the wait Ray, superb work and they look great as a unit.

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  8. Outstanding results, Ray! I would be very pleased too!

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  9. Nice Ray I think this might be the biggest skirmish game ever ?

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  10. A nice unique unit, very nice Ray.

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  11. Now that’s something you don’t see every day. Well done!

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  12. I can easily understand why you are pleased with these. They should be fun on the wargame table too. There may be competition to command them.
    Stephen

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    1. They should look fab on the field of battle, that's for sure!

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  13. Almost a Christmasy look and feel

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    Replies
    1. Yeh, although they won't be giving out any pressies!

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  14. Great work on these Ray. I have a few tucked away somewhere and I hope they come out as nicely.

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    1. I'm sure they will Lawrence with your painting skills.

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  15. Latter day light chariot unit. Looks good but will it work against a whole horde of Cossacks?

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    Replies
    1. Probably not, but they can go down looking pretty cool!

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  16. Your Retreat project is awesome, Ray! These sleds are a marvelous addition.

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  17. Marvellous additions to the project Ray!

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  18. Those look great, my friend! Nothing cooler than would-be French Santas riding their sledge into battle...! These will be quite the eye-catching unit on the tabletop. Great work, Ray!!

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    Replies
    1. I hope they do, Can't wait to get them on the tabletop!!

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  19. Very effective indeed, Ray. But this project does look so very cold! Brrrr. ;-)

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    Replies
    1. Its funny, but everyone's saying the same thing.

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