Imperial Guards: Bluecoat and redcoat uniforms

[Basiliscus]

I would say it's up to the user what he/she wishes them to be! It's conveniant that blue and red could be based on French and British respectively, but Prussians and Austrians also frequently wore blue, so really there's plenty of scope for the user to manipulate!

As to what TLC intended them to be, who really knows, I doubt they were supposed to be accurate representations as this tends to be avoided by them in my opinion. Still, they make good army builders!

:-)

[Evil Willy]

I would say it's up to the user what he/she wishes them to be! It's conveniant that blue and red could be based on French and British respectively, but Prussians and Austrians also frequently wore blue, so really there's plenty of scope for the user to manipulate!

As to what TLC intended them to be, who really knows, I doubt they were supposed to be accurate representations as this tends to be avoided by them in my opinion. Still, they make good army builders!

:-)

Good way to put it...But I believe Lego had it as red and blue... Thats all

[KaiserChicken]

I consider Red to be British, mainly because of their flag - strikingly similar to the jack used by the British India Company:

On the other hand, the bluecoat flag reminds me of the French Naval Jack used before the French Revolution:

[Khorne]

I would say it's up to the user what he/she wishes them to be! It's conveniant that blue and red could be based on French and British respectively, but Prussians and Austrians also frequently wore blue, so really there's plenty of scope for the user to manipulate!

Actually, the Austrians had white uniforms. You're right about the Prussians, they did wear blue ones, but their uniforms were darker than the french ones.

[Mister Phes]

if you take a look at the flags. The blue flag has four fluerdelise which are symbols associated with france and french colonies.

The Scottish and British also used the Fleur de lis, and even the mighty Spanish used it...

[KaiserChicken]

The Spanish only started using the fleur-de-lys after the War of Spanish Succession, from the 18th century onwards. This happens because, with the death of Charles II and the disappearance of the Spanish Habsburgs, Louis XIV installed a member of his Bourbon dynasty (represented by the fleur-de-lys), his grandson Philippe as King of Spain.

The British only used the fleur-de-lys because they claimed the French throne. That symbol was undisputedly associated with France.

[Evil Willy]

The Quebec flag uses only the fleur de lis :D

[KaiserChicken]

Indeed, as a reference to its French roots. So does the flag of Nouvelle Orl

[Jipay]

"The fleur de Lis". I try to picture english people saying that, and it's hilarious :-P At least as funny as a french speaking english X-D It just has this "je ne sais quoi".

Anyway, as Willy spotted it, I guess it's just blue and red because it looked nice. As a kid I didn't even considered them as separate armies. To me, pirates were the baddies, and the blue and red guys were the good ones. But remember that we never had any lego background story here. And still, kids were able to play with the sets ! Amazing :-| !

[Scouty]

I consider them both on the same side. Blue as the navy, red as the soldiers. I say this because they have the same hats. Not sure if the French has those hat's as well??

[KaiserChicken]

Practically every European Army used those hats during the Napoleonic Period (last decade of the 18th century, first decades of the 19th century), from Portugal to Prussia.

French soldier of Napoleon's Imperial Army (blue uniform):

British soldier in the peninsular war:

[Scouty]

THanks for the update. Still, i'll consider them together.

[Bonaparte]

With some customisation you can make a nice french army with the bluecoats.

The standard imperial soldier is a perfect match for the napoleonic line infantry.

When you give him blue pants and yellow epaullets, you get french light infantry.

When you change the shako to a busby, then you get a old guard grenadier.

I took some picts of my french army to demonstrate:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...my/napoleon.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...ne-infantry.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...ht-infantry.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...y/artillery.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...l-army/band.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...uirassiers.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...le-and-flag.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...-grenadiers.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...y/full-army.jpg

This time with deeplinks! Thanks for the advice ;-)

[El Bucanero]

The folder is not public and those aren't deeplinks, try deeplinks :-)

[Scouty]

Wow, big army! I like especially the Golden Bird staff. Thanks for sharing your customed army.

[KaiserChicken]

That's great indeed. Excellent work!

[SkaForHire]

With some customisation you can make a nice french army with the bluecoats.

The standard imperial soldier is a perfect match for the napoleonic line infantry.

When you give him blue pants and yellow epaullets, you get french light infantry.

When you change the shako to a busby, then you get a old guard grenadier.

I took some picts of my french army to demonstrate:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...my/napoleon.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...ne-infantry.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...ht-infantry.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...y/artillery.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...l-army/band.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...uirassiers.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...le-and-flag.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...-grenadiers.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...y/full-army.jpg

This time with deeplinks! Thanks for the advice ;-)

i dont suppose you could post a copy of the sticker template you used to make the yellow uniforms? Those are great, though i can not think of an actual army that used yellow uniforms... still i would make a unit or two of those! they look good as your band... if you have the template i would be very interested in getting it. those look awesome. I love seeing huge armies.... wish i had one! (actually may WW army is pretty big! but don't have a imperial army nearly as splendid as yours!)

[El Bucanero]

Wow that's a huge army! I love that flag, how did you made it, do you have a template of it?? would be a nice addition to a french ship. That Napoleon looks good do you have a sticker on your computer?

[Bonaparte]

I have put the torso's of Napoleon and the Yellow Imperial Guard in my brickshelf:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...low_-_torso.jpg

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jeanmark...oleon-torso.jpg

The flags can be downloaded from this great site:

http://www.callnetuk.com/home/alanpendlebury/index.htm

[Scouty]

Thanks for the decals!

[scippio]

Im going to throw my lot in with red being the russians and the blue guys being from quebec canada ... which explains the flur de lis, and their hired on as mercenaries down in the caribbean.

... i have absolutly no historical evidence to back up my nonsence.

[samthelegoman1]

I think the Blue-coated men could be the Colonists and the red-coated men, the British, as in the American Revolution.

[CPT. Jr]

I would say both are brittish.

The blue coatts being the officers of the ship, and the redcoats being the marines. However the hats do not completely coincide with this theory, so lego probably made them to serve any military unit or nation.

[Captain Zuloo]

I would say both are brittish.

The blue coats being the officers of the ship, and the redcoats being the marines.

I agree - you are the first person to actually agree with me! I would ask for your hand, bt that would be just creepy! If you look into British naval history, blue wer navy, red were army. It's that simple! :pir-skull:

[QuartermasterRobert]

I'm mixed. The torso used for the bluecoat's leader is perfect for British navy, but the bluecoat soldier uniform itself isn't. On the flipside, the redcoat's leader is good for an infantry commander, maybe, and the redcoat body perfect for soldiers.