Napoleon was a gunner before he was an emperor, and the artillery of his Guard was the weapon he trusted to win battles outright. He used it in mass. At Wagram in July 1809, when his attack stalled against the Austrian center, he gathered a grand battery of around a hundred guns — much of it Guard artillery — wheel to wheel, and pounded a hole in the enemy line for his infantry and cavalry to pour through. It was artillery used not to support an attack but to be the attack, a concentration of firepower no army had seen before. The Guard gunners here, the elite of the arm, were the men who served the Emperor's heaviest hammer.

The seven-figure set is a Guard battery in action — an officer and five gunners in the bearskins and dark blue of the Guard artillery, working the bronze field gun with rammer, bucket and handspike, an ammunition chest at hand. Mass it into a grand-battery diorama: range it beside the French Artillery of the Guard, anchor the line with the French Foot Artillery, and bring up the mobile French Horse Artillery on the flank.

Tradition of London model N2A. 54mm, white metal, hand-painted in gloss enamel. Seven-figure set — an officer and five gunners with a field gun and ammunition chest, 1810. Supplied in the Tradition Classic Red Box. Allow 2–3 weeks delivery.