The French Light Infantry — the Régiments d'Infanterie Légère — were the cousin formations to the regular line infantry of the Empire, distinguished by their training as skirmishers and aimed-fire marksmen rather than disciplined volley-line musketeers. Roughly thirty légère regiments existed at the height of the Empire, organized identically to the line regiments at battalion level but trained differently from the moment a recruit reached the depot. They carried the same Charleville Modèle 1777 musket as the line — no special rifle, as the British had with the Baker — but were drilled to fight in open order ahead of the line, picking off enemy officers and disordering enemy formations before the main attack went in. Their dress reflected the difference: the shako trim, plume, and cords were red rather than the line's white; the epaulettes and shoulder wings were red; the trousers carried red side-stripes. The voltigeur companies — the specifically light-infantry company within each light battalion — were further selected for size (under five-feet-one, to make them quick and agile) and were the army's most reliable skirmishers.

This King & Country figure shows a French light infantryman kneeling in the moment of priming his musket — the lock of the Charleville held in the right hand, the left hand reaching to close the frizzen over the pan after a few grains of fine priming powder have been poured in from the cartridge. The kneeling position keeps him low against cover; the next action will be to raise the musket to the shoulder and take an aimed shot. He wears the légère regulation order: dark blue coat with red collar and cuffs and red turnbacks; white waistcoat; white trousers gaitered at the ankle; black short gaiters; tall black shako with red plume, red cords, and a brass plate. The 1812-pattern sac (pack) with rolled greatcoat is across his back. The figure positions naturally against the European Walls and Gates using cover to take his shot, with the European Farmhouse as the strongpoint he is moving up to attack — Hougoumont, La Haie Sainte, or any of the dozens of fortified Belgian and Spanish farms that featured in Napoleonic battles. He fights in the larger army under General Jean-Baptiste Bessières commanding the Imperial Guard cavalry on his flank.

Model: NA536 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set