 Valiant
Miniatures
HOBBY KIT
9739
OFFICER, MAMELUKS OF THE CONSULAR & IMPERIAL
GUARD 1802-08
(RETAIL US$31.49)
Few of Napoleon's cavalrymen
were as colorful or ferocious as the Mameluks, and
none were so lavishly or expensively clothed. In
the beginning, the unit, which varied in size
between a squadron and a company, was composed
almost entirely of bonafide Egyptian Mameluks, but
as the Napoleonic Wars took their toll the ranks
were increasingly filled with Europeans. The
original Mameluks spoke little French and were
aggressively independent; they were not so much a
disciplined military organization as an eccentric
and fearless band of individuals, bound together
only by their loyalty to "him". The uniform
regulations for the unit were loose to say the
least, and the extravagance of an officer's costume
was limited only by his imagination and
pocketbook.
This kit represents a Mameluk
Officer of this early period, when they were still
Mameluks in every sense of the word. These were the
men whose flashing scimitars routed the vaunted
Russian Chevalier Guards at Austerlitz, an action
which earned them their eagle and made them the
smallest unit ever to be so honored.
These are unpainted
and unassembled metal hobby kits.
Unless otherwise noted, these kits are in the
International 54mm
Collectors Scale. Standing figurines are approx.
2-1/2" - 3" tall.
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