Germany or Spain?

[fsn]

Gentlemen.

I am cleft on the horns of a dilemma, and am seeking good counsel. Unfortunately, I've only got you lot to ask, so just call me FSN the Unready.

I want to get into Napoleonics. I want British, I want French. I want to at a later date go into Austrian, Bavarian and Prussian. I usually base my armies on real OOBs. I want French cuirassiers, but not fussed about the Garde. 

So, do I start with the Peninsula 1812-1813 or Belgium 1815? If I go Peninsula, I get a fantastic British army to pick from, with Portugee and Spanyard to boot. The French though were a bit ... bitty. Definitely second front, if not second class ... and never a brigade of cuirassiers to be found.

If I go 1813, I can use the Leipzig campaign as a starting point, which gives me Austrians, Prussians and even Swedes. I can delight in cuirassiers and we're definitely in the division premiere. However, British  troops in the campaign were what? One battalion and a troop of rockets!

I want the primary face off to be Brits vs Frenchies, so I'm not really keen to confront a British Peninsula army going against a French Leipzig army. I could be tempted by a Waterloo British army, but couldn't reconcile myself to ignoring the Hanoverians et al, which is a route I'm also not keen on.

How may I square this circle bearing making the best of the relative paucity of Pendraken's offerings in this range? 

[Leon]

As far as the ranges go, we've got the Austrians and French virtually completed, with a few bits for the Austrians, and a load of the Guard types left for the French.  After that the Bavarians will be coming next, hopefully in the next couple of months.

Next up on the design schedule will be the British, a full range going all the way through to 1815, in time for Waterloo!

[fsn]

Aw! You guys!

I shall turn my attention to other eras until I can Pendraken everything.

Now, where's my bloody Centurion?

[Leon]

Now, where's my bloody Centurion?

He's still in the box here I'm afraid.  Too much other stuff to get released before we start on more master moulds.

[fsn]

Anticipation is a wonderful thing. 

Thank you for so much of it. 

[Hertsblue]

If your desire is the full gamut of French cavalry you would be better off concentrating on the central European theatre. There was only ever one understrength cuirassier regiment in the Peninsula and that was the 13th - which was entirely Polish. The Polish Legion of the Vistula's three lancer regiments, which became the 7th, 8th and 9th Chevaulègers de Ligne, served there for a while (use the Polish Lancers of the Guard figures and just snip off the tall plumes), but otherwise it was mainly dragoons, chasseurs and hussars.

The great advantage of the eastern front, of course, is that there was more variety - both in the types of soldiers available and the number of battles fought. Oh, and there are more Pendraken figures in existence too. 

[Druzhina]

In 1813 the French were not at their best (but better than 1814). The cavalry in particular had not recovered from the losses of 1812.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

[WeeWars]

There's no harm starting now with some Pendraken French line infantry 

[HPFlashman]

Waterloo in 1:1 figure ratio should keep you occupied for some time...

[Hertsblue]

Someone's already doing that:

http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,6620.0.html

[fsn]

It's a conundrum.

I may have to start with some Confederation of the Rhine forces, perhaps even Poles and Austrians. Then I'd have to go Leipzig-French and Prussian, and then perhaps look to a more imaginary British force.

Do the Moscow campaign ranges all wear greatcoats?