Revolutionary formations 1791-1807.

Robbie Rodiss popped up on here with a little bit of advice regarding flags on units of figures. Robbie like I'm sure many other wargamers cut a small bit of copper tube section and secured it into the hand of the standard bearer and was thereby able to swap various flags between units by sliding the flag staff into the tube to give a greater representation of battalions etc without having to paint up a full command base. Great idea and as my French revolutionary infantry could at a stretch represent units from 1791 to 1800 I thought I'd give it a go. Now I do realise that the coat tail of the infantry was a bit longer in the early part of the period and that they would have been less likely to have stripes on their trousers towards the 1800's but there is no way I was repainting whole units just for that kind of detail.
So with the flags painted up I thought it might be useful to post some pictures of the unit formations starting from 1791 through to 1800 with the correct flags slotted into the holders.

Below, the 2nd battalion Languedoc Rgt 1791 under the constitutional monarchy, I only have one battalion like this but will eventually purchase another as at this time two battalions made up a regiment. The tricorne hat still in use, this hat could still be seen for a couple of years after it was officially phased out but this can be said for most items of uniform, one of the joys of this period!

Below, the volunteer battalions raised during the 1791-93 period, the initial volunteers were pretty decent and performed well (if a little erratically) but when conscription was introduced many men either didn't turn up of deserted soon afterwards and therefore the quality was very poor. The figures below are ok for these troops but should really have more civilian clothing.

At the same time (1791-93) as the call for volunteers went out the regular infantry in their white uniforms and distinctive 'Tarleton' type head ware represented the backbone of the French army, still with two battalions to the regiment. It is a bit difficult to see the leading battalions flag as the figure has it over his shoulder.

Below the initial 1794 embrigadement demi (half) brigades formed by combining one regular white uniformed battalion with two of the 'volunteer' battalions, again this did not always take place and many 'volunteer battalions often did not get combined with others at all. Note that the regular (white) battalions flag had changed again.

Below, soon after the embrigadement came the Amalgame which mixed the companies from both volunteer and regular battalions together, this was particularly effective in reducing the risk of royalist counter revolution in the regular forces and stiffened the previously inexperienced volunteer units somewhat. As the regular white uniforms wore out (three years max) blue coats were issued.

Below, two light infantry battalions cir 1793-1800. Prior to this the green coat with crested helmet was in use and after 1800 the side plumed shako was introduced.

Below is a photograph of a 1796 demi brigade from the Italian theatre during Bonaparte's campaign both there and in Egypt in 1798.

Finally a battalion formed in column during 1804 with the newly introduced voltigures deployed in front. These figures will do to represent the units from 1804-07 though as I said earlier turn a blind eye to the prominence of stripes on trousers. Note I did not paint this flag, way to complicated!

So, a lot of flags painted but this does now allow a basic number of figures to reasonably accurately represent all of the combinations of troop organisations and uniforms from 1791 through to 1807.
I'm well on the way to finishing the light infantry in a similar vein, two bicorned blue trousered battalions done with one early green uniformed battalion still to paint up.
All of the above just dips it's toe into what is an extremely complex subject so for further reading I would not hesitate to recommend French Infantry Flags from 1786 to the end of the First Empire by Ludovic Letrun. Published by Histore & Collections. Here

Hope this was helpful,
Dave.