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hi dakka i have recently been given a large collection of Napoleon era war gaming figurines and i have no idea how to sort them out, i would take pictures of them but there is literally thousands of them and i may kill the internet with the number of pictures.
so what i ask is can you post some pics or links of the different countries and armies.

regards Jordan

Try searching Napoleonic Uniforms in Google images... there is hundreds of different uniforms. No one nation had totally uniformal colours... Troops in French service wore blue, red, green, brown and white tunics for example. But if its red with grey trousers, its likely British.

If you want to know what they are, take pics and asking will be quicker than alot of random links...

And then you also have the issue of different head gear for different parts of the war.

This might give you an example of where to start, but it's by no means comprehensive:

http://www.hat.com/ColorsU.html

Another way to find out the identity is to look at the flags. Assuming the figures are not all jumbled up in a heap, they probably are sorted into regiments and squadrons so if you can identify one of them in a formation it usually confirms the whole lot.

Thats a very good idea... just photo the flags...

Napoleonic uniforms are complex and varied, when you start including all of the smaller states then becoming knowledgeable in them is almost a hobby in its own right. You only have to look at the number of Osprey books covering the armies of the period.

Start with a few Google searches. Things like the Shako and coat tails might be good starting points as they can be quite distinct between the major nations.