In late 1797 the young French Republic had a problem. After victories in Italy it had achieved security in a hostile Europe, but there remained one opponent – Great Britain – and with the seas dominated by the Royal Navy, there was no hope of invading that island. Instead, it was decided to invade Egypt, which would threaten British interests in the Mediterranean and potentially even her possessions in India. The invasion was launched in 1798 under France’s current hero, General Bonaparte, but ultimately achieved nothing and cost the lives of many Frenchmen, not least at the devastating Battle of Aboukir Bay, where a French fleet was destroyed. Napolean had little trouble defeating armies sent against him by the Ottomans and the Mamelukes, but after a disastrous expedition into Syria he abandoned the army to pursue his political interests at home, and in 1801 the remains of the French Army surrendered to the Ottoman/British forces, and was sent back to France. From the ruins of this tragedy there was one positive aspect however. With his army, Napoleon had brought over 150 administrators, scholars, artists, scientists and archaeologists, with the intention of understanding Egypt better and paving the way to potentially making it a French colony. These men were named the Institut d’Égypte, and did much to support the Army during its occupation. However, the best-known long-term consequence of this group was the documentation of much of Egypt’s ancient past, which sparked an interest in this throughout Europe and beyond, an interest that continues to this day.
Strelets have already made many sets for this campaign in Egypt, so this one just offers us extra command and ancillary figures for the French Army. The first figure in our top row is of a French infantryman about to take a drink from a water bag. He is dressed and equipped conventionally, which makes him most appropriate for the early part of the conflict, before uniforms began to change considerably. He is a great pose, and one that would of course have been very common in such a hot environment. Beside him are two more infantrymen carrying between them a large stone slab with an ancient inscription, and again they are in typical early uniform, including the long-tailed coatee and flattened tricorn. Both have sensibly added a sunscreen under their hats, discarded their knapsacks, and wear baggy campaign trousers. It is easy to imagine the French arriving at some ruined temple, and the soldiers discovering items such as this which would be of interest to the officers or accompanying scholars, so another really nice piece.
The next man in this row looks to be an Egyptian labourer. He wears nothing but breeches and a skull cap, and appears to be carrying a coffin on his back. Clearly when those interested in Egyptian history wanted work to be done, they would employ local labourers just as is still done today, so this figure makes perfect sense. In contrast to the enormous efforts made today to preserve any ancient artifacts, this basic handling of what might be a precious ancient coffin is understandable, although we do marvel at the apparent structural integrity of the coffin. Of course, it might not be ancient at all, but merely a new coffin for a fresh burial, which would also be very appropriate. The last foot figure also looks to be a native, wearing breeches and some form of loose shirt. He carries a bundle on his head, and represents the vast logistical array needed for any army to move through the desert, or simply to carry out any of the many background activities that would be required, such as unloading a ship.
The rest of the figures are mounted on camels, and again cover various subjects. The first two in our second row wear hussar-style uniforms and a stovepipe shako in what was then a new fashion yet to be widely adopted. The French expeditionary force included light cavalry of both hussars and chasseurs, both having this sort of uniform, and it appears that both may have adopted this type of shako late in the campaign. One wears a large cloak (Egyptian nights can be very cold), both have made a sunscreen for their head, and wear baggy trousers, so look perfect for this tough climate. The only problem is there are no horses in this set, only camels, but while the cavalry was never remounted on camels, horses were always in short supply, and it is easy to believe that some individuals may have been required to ride a camel for scouting or similar work. Another initial possibility is that either or both are for the short-lived Règiment des Dromedaires, and while they too wore a hussar-style uniform, and obviously rode camels, they did not wear shakos of this particular design, which excludes that identification.
Figure three in the second row also wears a hussar-style costume, along with a cap, and cradles a small barrel held by a strap across the torso. The long hair is also typical hussar, but we believe this is a cantinière, a woman who offered comforts to the soldiers on an unofficial basis. Next to her is a bearded man wearing traditional Arab garb of long robe and shemagh headscarf with agal, and with a pistol tucked into his sash. He could be a Frenchman ‘gone native’, but he could just as easily be a local assisting the French, especially as he is pointing, perhaps showing them the way. In fact he could be so many things for so many periods, so is by far the most versatile figure in this set, but a nice little addition.
The last row of figures begins with a couple of men in civilian dress. The first has a long coat with a high collar, breeches, waistcoat, riding boots and broad-brimmed hat. He wears gloves and holds a riding crop, so is some sort of European gentleman, or perhaps an off-duty officer. The second has similar civilian costume but wears a stovepipe hat to which he has added a sunscreen. He wears spectacles, holds a telescope and has a parasol slung on his back, so works well as one of the Institut d’Égypte, as does the first man. The third in this row is clearly a senior French officer, with full uniform, large cloak, hat and sunscreen. He holds a telescope to his eye, so could be sight-seeing or directing a battle. The last man has the high-collared coat of a senior officer along with a sash, which makes him look like a general. Of course, Napoleon himself is the obvious subject here, and while he does not have the plumes in his hat that were regulation, he is very believable as how the famous man would have actually looked day-to-day.
All the human poses are terrific. No one appears to be in action, but everyone is very realistic and nicely done. The sculpting is also very good, with all the detail where you need it such as on the braiding on the hussar dolmans, and excellent proportions all round. Faces are full of character, and hands are very well made, while all the cloth is draped very realistically. Flash is very low level and often entirely absent, so these are lovely figures to look at straight out of the box.
The camels are a different story. These are the same animals as those in several sets Strelets previously made for later periods (even World War I), but the simplicity of the saddles and cloths make these pretty timeless, so they work perfectly well for the late 18th century too. These do have rather more flash, however, particularly around the feet, which perhaps reflects the age of the mould, as earlier issues did not have this much. While the basic anatomy is okay, there are problems with the poses, and since we have discussed this before in the earlier sets, we will simply repeat those comments here. The first two camels photographed above are both walking, and both have their left front leg being raised off the ground, but in this part of the step their left rear leg should be forward, and the rear right far back, so here the back legs are the reverse of their correct positions. This is a basic error easily checked on any number of videos of camels walking, so particularly unimpressive. Camels three and four above have all four hooves on the ground, so are not moving at all, yet their legs are widely spaced (particularly the first animal), so are standing in a very unnatural and cumbersome way. The fifth animal is better, standing in a more natural way, although generally the legs on one side are closer together than the other, and the creature lying down is well done.
Two of the camel poses have holes at the rear of the saddle, into which separate bags with pegs have to be inserted. However we found these very difficult to place in position, and will need trimming and gluing. Also it is worth highlighting that none of the animals have any reins, but the other major issue is with attaching the riders to the animals. Each rider has pegs on his legs to fit in the holes on the camels, but we found this a very fiddley task (you have to force the legs far enough apart, which is tricky, particularly if you want to avoid bending the pegs, which makes them impossible to insert). Sometimes the fit is okay, sometimes it is quite poor, and the Napoleon figure with its single peg simply refuses to stay in the hole of any camel. Were we to assemble and paint these figures to a nice standard, we would probably remove the pegs, fill the holes and attach the rider to the camel some other way.
Strelets have made many ‘command plus’ sets like this in the past, and proved themselves masters of the craft, with many interesting and imaginative figures. This set is no different, with great creativity, useful subjects, and delivered with very high quality sculpting. Reusing old camel sculpts makes sense, despite the several poor poses, although the difficulties of attaching the men to the animals are much more apparent than simply placing a man on a horse. So most of the work here would be in putting the pieces together, but otherwise this is a great set with bags of interest, good accuracy, and plenty to delight the historical figure enthusiast.