I thought I would use this page to explain how I will proceed to paint/buy my french army, which will of course be used as ennemy to my Austrians. Raising a new Napoleonic army is never easy; you need tons of reference material, a lot of miniatures, and a good plan to follow. I hesitated a lot between doing the same thing as my Austrian, or trying something different. After reading a lot about the army, and looking carefully at a lot of OOB's, I decided that this time I would (very loosely) follow an order of battle. I think it will be motivating for me to build one division at a time, as it will allow me to concentrate on one part at a time, and not get lost in the immensity that is a new army. Also, while I wanted to choose my Austrian regiments because of their facing colours, I have no such need for the french line regiments. However, I intend to make lots of modifications to the original OOB, so basically I will use it more as a way to maintain historical proportion than anything else. I will reiterate that I'm in this hobby (and period) for the look of it; I'm an eye candy addict more than anything else.

After looking at quite a few order of battles, I decided to use Davout 3e Corps d'Armée at Wagram; it is composed mainly of full strengh regiments, offers some great looking Hussars regiments, and is a generally well-known Corps (easier to find informations). My plan is ambitious, to say the least, and will probably take years to finish. Also, I intend most of my units to be in full dress, which goes well with the fact that French indeed fought the battle of Wagram in full dress, as required by an order sent during the first night of the battle.

OK, so here is the original OOB for Davout famous III Corps at Wagram :

- Division Morand : 13e Légers, 17e, 30e and 61e de Ligne.

- Division Friant : 15e Légers, 33e, 48e, 108e and 111e de Ligne.

- Division Gudin : 7e légers, 12e, 21e 25e, 85e de Ligne.

- Division Puthod : Fouth battalion of the Regiments of the above Division.

- Division Montbrun :

§ Brigade Pajol : 5e Hussars, 11e and 12e Chasseurs a Cheval

§ Brigade Jacquinot : 7e Hussars, 1er and 2e Chasseur a Cheval

I decided to change many things about this Corps while keeping the same balance of forces. After some tough decisions and interrogations, I've come up with the following, which will be the plan I intend to keep. You will notice some units did not even participate in the battle of Wagram; I am aware of that. I intend to  have some fun with the french, and that includes adding some colour with the use of allied regiments.

- Division Morand : 13e Légers, 17e, 30e and 61e de Ligne.

- Division Friant : 15e Légers, 33e, 48e, 108e and 111e de Ligne.

- Division Gudin : 7e légers, 53e, 21e, 25e de Ligne.

- Division Puthod : Tirailleurs Corses, 3e Régiments de Klèves-Berg, 1er and 2e Régiments de Nassau.

- Division Montbrun :

§ Brigade Pajol : 5e Hussars, 11e Chasseur a Cheval and Chevaux-Légers Lanciers de Berg

§ Brigade Jacquinot : 7e Hussars, 1er and 2e Chasseur a Cheval

Explaining the changes : The first two Divisions are exactly the same. I gave the Division Gudin the 53e de Ligne instead of the 12e because I want to paint one French line regiment in their white uniform (it is believed the 53e had received the white uniform) . I know all regiments had switched back to blue by 1809, but as a fan of uniforms, I just have to paint at least one of those! I also have one less Line unit (85e Ligne) to keep the plan manageable.

And then we get to my Division Puthod, which is nothing more than a reward to myself in between all those French line unit. Both the Nassau units are present because I just have to buy and paint some Perry miniatures at some point, and that they are very pretty. Of course, they'll be in their late uniforms, but I don't really care. The Tirailleur were actually at Wagram, albeit in another Corps. The Kleves-Berg are just too pretty, and actually were in Austria in 1809, even though not in this battle.

Finally, one last treat in the Brigade Pajol, as I changed a Chasseur a Cheval for some more Berg troops, again very, very pretty.

I will probably add later on some Cuirassiers, Dragons and guards. Of course, this is a first draft, and things will probably change as I go along.