Hi to all on PF ,

Linjo have in my opinion proved to be a company that are aiming to be at the top of our miniature world , producing releases that are both interesting and a challenge to paint , this one is no exception namely de Grouchy .



As always let have a little bit of information about the man himself :


EMMANUEL GROUCHY (1766-1847)



A Marshal of France he was born in Paris on the 23rd of October 1766.

He entered the French artillery in 1779, transferred to the cavalry in 1782, and to the Gardes du corps in 1786. In spite of his aristocratic birth and his connexions with the court, he was a convinced supporter of the principles of the Revolution,as a result he had to leave the Guards.

At the time of the outbreak of war in 1792 he became colonel of a cavalry regiment, and soon afterwards, as a marechal de camp, he was sent to serve on the south-eastern frontier. In 1793 he distinguished himself in La Vendee, and was promoted general of division.

Grouchy was shortly afterwards deprived of his rank as being of noble birth, but in 1795 he was again placed on the active list. He served on the staff of the Army of Ireland (1796-1797), and took a conspicuous part in the Irish expedition.

In 1798 he administered the civil and military government of Piedmont at the time of the abdication of the king of Sardinia, and in 1799 he distinguished himself greatly as a divisional commander in the campaign against the Austrians and Russians. In covering the retreat of the French after the defeat of Novi, Grouchy received fourteen wounds and was taken prisoner. On his release he returned to France.
Despite speaking out against against the coup of the 18th of Brumaire he was used again by the First Consul, and distinguished himself again at Hohenlinden. It was not long before he accepted the new regime in France, and from 1801 onwards he was employed by Napoleon in military and political positions of importance. He served in Austria in 1805, in Prussia in 1806, Poland in 1807, Spain in 1808, and commanded the cavalry of the Army of Italy in 1809 in the Viceroy Eugene’s advance to Vienna.

In 1812 he was made commander of one of the four cavalry corps of the Grand Army, and during the retreat from Moscow Napoleon appointed him to command the escort squadron, which was composed entirely of picked men.
His cavalry service throughout his career caused Napoleon to decide not to give Grouchy an army corps in 1813 , and Grouchy retired to France.

In 1814 he took part in the defensive campaign in France, and he was severely wounded at Craonne. At the Restoration he was deprived of the post of colonel-general of chasseurs a cheval and retired. He joined Napoleon on his return from Elba, and was made marshal and peer of France.

In the campaign of Waterloo he commanded the reserve cavalry of the army, and after Ligny he was appointed to command the right wing to pursue the Prussians.

The controversy about Grouchy’s conduct on the days of Waterloo is well documented:

On the 17th Grouchy was unable to close with the Prussians.

On the 18th, though urged to march towards the sound of the guns of Waterloo, he permitted himself, from whatever reason, to be held up by a Prussian rearguard while together the Prussians and English defeated Napoleon.

On the 19th Grouchy won a victory over the Prussians at Wavre, but it was then too late. So far as resistance was possible after the great disaster, Grouchy made it. He gathered together waht was left of of Napoleon’s army and returned to Paris, positioning his forces between the enemy and the capital, he then resigned his command into the hands of Marshal Davout.

The rest of his life was spent in defending himself. An attempt to have him condemned to death by a court-martial failed, but he was exiled and lived in America till pardoned in 1821.

On his return to France he was reinstated as general, but not as marshal nor as peer of France.

For many years thereafter he was equally an object of many comments in the court , as a member of their own caste who had followed the Revolution and Napoleon, and to his comrades of the Grand Army as the supposed betrayer of Napoleon.

In 1830 Louis Philippe gave him back the marshal’s baton and restored him to the Chamber of Peers.

He died at St-Etienne on the 29th of May 1847.

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Looking now at the box and its contents:


What do we get for our hard earned cash :


Subject title: Emmanuel de Grouchy Marshal of the 100 days in France

Scale: 200mm

Parts: 5

Material : Resin

Sculpted by : Chunmei Zhou

Reference: LJ20022

The model comes in the usual distinctive and very strong black cardboard box , with the parts being secured between 2 thick pieces of foam , on the front we have a colour picture of a completed bust , looking very atmospheric with the background colour.

Consisting of 5 parts all being cast in a light cream resin , these being the torso , the head , the hat , the sash end together with a small pedestal base (the same as in other products that Linjo have released) .

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Lets begin now looking at the largest of the pieces...The Torso

Our subject was Colonel General of the Chasseurs and as such has been sculpted wearing this uniform with a cape .

The body movement has him turning , right arm held back with the head facing to the left of the body at an angle . Helping to portray the image of movement is the sculpting of the cape and sash bow/end .

His uniform as befitting his rank is littered with fine lace work , the sculpting is finely done , along the seams of the arm , under this , the collar is covered in it together with the edge of the uniform front lapels , his waistcoat also has lace work on it.

He has the Legion d'honneur on his chest , a good piece of sculpting , the heavy bullioned epaulette is well defined with nice details on the top


Note : the colour picture shows the uniform worn by Lannes as Col General of the Swiss regiments in French Service

There is a casting plug to remove from the base of the arm ..easily done using a saw and sanding blocks , there is another in a rather unfortunate position on the sash , this would have been better positioned where the bow fits , it can be removed but you will need to be extremely careful or rework will be needed .

The arm has a flat spot under the arm , though not too obvious it would be better if the arm was fuller and complete all the way round.

The cape he wears is blowing in the wind , all helping to portray movement , the collar of this is good as well sculpted upturned , sculpting of the folds and undercutting is well done and must have been a challenge to the caster .

The underside of the model is super smooth with a positioning hole for the pedastal base.

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On now to the head/ face :

Sculpting a personality especially someone as well known as de Grouchy is always very difficult , but looking at my references Linjo have done a good job with the likeness , the chin cleft and the high cheekbones look fine , the eyes have good definition especially on the lower eyelids .

Sculpting of the ears looks good with nice work being done on the hair and sideboards .

Prep will be needed to remove a casting plug at the bag of the head , a small amount of rework might be needed , both top and bottom of the head have locating lugs to fit into matching area's in the neck and bicorn ...a small amount of filler was needed .

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Now lets look at the Bicorn :

This is a accurate depiction with good detailing on the decoration itself , all around the edging , inside the bicorn as well ...strong definition of the detailing will help the painter to reproduce the lace ...a piece asking for NMM ..well from me anyway !!!!

The rosette and retaining lace are nicely done and looks like its actually fitted to the bicorn

Prep is needed however , with a small casting plug to carefully remove at one of the edges and a casting line to sort out on the underside of the bicorn .

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The final pieces now , the sash bow and the base.

The sash bow is depicted as a heavy silk piece , voluptrious and moving in sync with the rest of the torso nice detailing in the folds etc (I have seen other sashes with additional details on it ..see picture of Lannes ) , a small casting remnant needs sanding off the end of the tassels . fit is good with no filler needed (I actually use Mr Surface primer which also acts as a gap filler if needed) .

On now to the supplied base ..this is as in previous releases , a simple pesdastal form , fitting into the underside of the bust , it is adequeste but I would have liked for a more substantial base to be used now with Linjo releases ..perhaps "a la Carl Reid" or like Michael Minitures use , giving the opportunity to put de Grouchy's arms on it ....my opinion as bases are a personal choice , some might choose to put the supplied one into the spares box and use a brass rod perhaps .

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Final thoughts :

This is a great subject , sculpting is good throughout but there is prep needed to be done , the bases provided needs IMO to be re evaluated for future releases .

The fine details included especailly on the lacework is excellent and will provide hours of modelling fun using either metallics or NMM as yours truely will .

The deep folds and movement of the cape will also give the opportunity of shadowing and highlighting to produce the effect you want .

When painted the piece will be a striking one , the green of the Chasseurs uniform , the red waiscoat and with all the embroidery epitomises the Napoleonic period ..dashing and impressive.

As always Linjo products are available in the UK or direct from their website at www.linjomodels.com

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