A man did not simply join the Grenadiers à Pied of the Old Guard — he was selected. The requirements were a long record of service, usually a decade or several campaigns, a clean conduct sheet, and height: a grenadier was expected to stand around five foot ten, tall for an age when the average soldier was much shorter. The towering bearskin cap added the better part of a foot on top, so a rank of guardsmen loomed over enemy and onlooker alike — intimidation built into the uniform. These were Napoleon's grognards, the grumblers he indulged because they had earned the right, veterans of a dozen battlefields.

The figure stands at support in full dress — the musket held upright against the shoulder with bayonet fixed, the parade posture of a guardsman waiting on command. He wears the dress uniform rather than campaign kit: bearskin with red plume and brass plate, dark blue coat with red epaulettes, white cross-belts over a white waistcoat, and white breeches above black knee gaiters. He anchors a parade or honor-guard line. Form the front with a French Imperial Guard Sapper at the head, an Imperial Guard at Present Arms beside him, and a French Imperial Guard Company Officer to command the rank.

W. Britain model 36222. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.