My daughter is fond of a series of hand-painted plastic figurines from a French company called Papo. They make a lot of very neat fantasy/fairy tale figures, in addition to some historical ones, like Romans, ancient Egyptians, Pirates, and, of course, Napoleonics.I was flipping through their 2009 catalog with her today and I came across this guy to the left. The catalog is bilingual in English and French. This figurine is called simply "Napoleon Soldier" in English, but his French name is "Le Grognard."
If I ever manage to find one in a store, I think I may have to buy him.
Make this your portrait/avatar.
ReplyDeleteThe term was used to describe soldiers in Napoleons armies particularly those soldiers in the Old Guard. The word translated means Grumbler. Appropriate non?
ReplyDeleteMake this your portrait/avatar.
ReplyDeleteIf I'd ever actually been a miniatures wargamer, you bet I would, but I'd feel like a poser doing it otherwise.
Appropriate non?
ReplyDeleteThe origins of the word is well known to me. The very first entry of this blog talked about the meaning and history of the term. It's more that I never expected to see a plastic figurine specifically called a grognard.
The fun is that in france, people spek about old-school (with the neglish word), but I never saw anyone speaking about grognards for rpgs :)
ReplyDeleteSaw this fig in a store about 2 hrs ago. Wild. In Frankenmuth, MI for a little weekend family vacation. My fave in their line in that toyshop here was the Alligator-man Fighter fig. Perfect for my Ganna World mutated alligator character. But $14 or so was a little steep. They do have some great figs, tho.
ReplyDeleteWow, I hate posting comments from my cell phone..ugh.
ReplyDeleteThat Alligator-man comment was mine, logged in on the wrong account identity.
Anyway, Ganna World? Well I guess ya'll got that typo...ha!
Anyway, awesome fig line. Just kinda pricey, IMO.
Papo is a great company! Schleich is also very similar. They make knights, romans, faeries, vikings, etc....
ReplyDeleteIf I'd ever actually been a miniatures wargamer, you bet I would, but I'd feel like a poser doing it otherwise.Yeah, but none of them ever fought alongside Napoleon, so I'd say you've got at least as much claim to it as they do.
ReplyDeleteI have figures from both lines and they're equally great. The downside is Papo isn't sold in the Twin Cities as much as it used to be. In fact, the two places I used to get them from have dropped them from inventory.
ReplyDeleteSchleigh is like a bad penny, it turns up at every Target and crafty toy store. Their figures are more detailed and have a better aesthetic, but the Papo figures are much more imaginative. Case in point: the Papo Dwarf makes a great Fire Giant! (That's a Reaper pre-painted plastic
next to him for scale.) I also have a nice cyclops and dragon. Safari Toys also makes great figures that are mini-like, including a nice hydra
I love using these in games because even if they get up to to $20, they're nicely painted (usually equal to or better than D&D minis) and great sculpts. You can't get a painted metal miniature for the same price. (Usually they cost is even more.)
Note: Lighting didn't turn out as I hoped so I uploaded full-sized pics so you can at least see details. Just warnin' ya.
@Atom: I love Schleich! Their Black Knight sits atop the desk where I do most of my gaming work. The missus and I also had the King, Queen, and some of the soldiers atop our castle wedding cake. I admit that the picture of this Papo figure immediately reminded me of the Schleich figures.
ReplyDeleteWell, as it turns out, we didn't make it out of Frankenmuth without contributing to Mr. Papo's wallet.
ReplyDeleteMy son awoke this morn and the first words out of his mouth were "Daddy, I was just dreaming about those figures and stuff at that toy store!". I said, "Hey, me too!"
So on our way outta town we hit the toy shop again and got him a Battering Ram for his 'modified' Crossbows & Catapults, and a Red Dragon breathing Fire for me...err for him and I. ;^]
Too much fun. And the dragon was pretty cheap, really. Not the 2-headed variety - just the normal one.
Fun!
Oh, BTW, I was mistaken on the Grognard fig sighting. It was a different soldier, but it was pretty close.