The empty battlefield

... when the French advanced in full panoply of battle on the morning of the 28th, they fount Vitebsk in its turn evacuated by the elusive foe.  

~ D. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon, p.778

Inspired by the imagery of a full army deployed in battle formations, facing nothing but an empty town, I laid out the French forces for such an action, Garden Wars style, and took some shots.

only little specs in the distance from town

An earlier comment on the blog about how small the formations looked when laid out at the Garden Wars scale also made me want to get a shot of the whole formation from the town perspective.

the view of town from the eagle atop the Guard flagpole

Also it gave me a chance to get some new shots of the finished Lancers.

Lancers Polonais in the sunshine

Finally, for now, the shot of a rather sour faced Bonaparte, twice left champing at the bit, while the Russians elude confrontation.

Napoleon Bonaparte and staff, looking at a missed opportunity