These are the first two figures of a small unit of jägers I am painting for my 1808 collection. These are primarily meant to represent the jägers of the Nyland and Björneborg regiments. Perry make a set of Nyland jägers with shakos, but as far as I know, only the Savolax jägers had shakos. All other (Finnish) jägers had hats. The Swedish Värmland jägers had hats that look similar to the Swedish grenadier hats, and Perry do those as well (they did not take part in the war in Finland). So I exchanged the heads of the Nyland jägers for heads with the standard hat.
The jägers are distinguished from the regular line infantry by wearing black belts and a green pompom. Many illustrations show jägers of this time period with yellow pompoms. The regimental jägers were selected from of the regiments only when on campaign, and so the belts were blackened by the troops themselves, in the field. Presumably, the pompom color was also changed on campaign. In other words, it is quite possible that these color changes werent always implemented in practice…
The uniform also works for Swedish regiments who wore the 1807 uniform. At least the Kronoberg regiment wore this uniform when they took part in the landings in Finland in the summer of 1808, if I remember correctly. As you can see in the background, I am working on several different units at the same time. But at least I am getting some painting done…
Pancratist 