French Headgear in 1807 - Shakos v Bicornes
gents A question: During the Eylau/ Friedland campaign, can you get away with a mix of shako and bicorne units? The H&C book on Eylau shows some shako wearing uniforms. IIRC, there was a lull after Eylau - did some units get refiited then or earlier? JB

A mixture would be correct. The bicornes did not totally disappear until 1809 and shakos were being worn by some units at Eylau. Colin

Would a lot of units be in white at that time? And would you paint figures in white just to cover this period?

Very few units actually wore the white uniforms during the Eylau and Friedland campaigns. Most of my French figures for this period are in greatcoats, as indeed are most of my French figures overall, which helps with such issues:).

Whatever the case, I'm sure no one would be so pedantic as to complain about incorrectly uniformed soldiers. A player in our group has uses bicorned French for games set in 1814. My theory is that my 1809 troops would have been wearing out their uniforms from previous years so that my horse artillery are still wearing hussar style uniforms.

I suspect that you are correct about 1809, or indeed any other year. My 1813 French are in both pre-Bardin and Bardin uniforms (sometimes within the same unit). As to pedantry, these are wargamers that we are discussing;).