Waterloo in 28mm - My journey log

[Helge]

Time to wrap up 5th Division! Here we have I/92nd as the last kilted regiment, completing Pack's 9th brigade.



The division also includes 5th Hannover Brigade under Colonel von Vincke. These four Landwehr units were positioned on the extreme left wing with nothing to do beyond waiting for the Prussians. So i will skip the brigade. i did complete Col. von Vincke who also appears as von Wencke and von Wincke in various documents.



Finally, we have the divisional artillery composed of a 9pdr battery of 3rd Btn. RFA led by Captain Rogers



and a 6pdr battery from Hannover under Kapitän Wilhelm Braun.



I found some references showing the Hannover artillery with light blue carriages so I went that way. On the other hand, the British artillery were in greys but seem often depicted in light blue as well, so who knows! I am also using Avant Post resin models for the Hannover guns to distinguish them a bit more from the Victrix plastic guns of RFA.

This completes 5th Division. All four full British divisions are in the field now. There are still 6 British battalions to do to cover the truncated 4th and 6th Division which only had a short brigade of 3 British battalions each (plus some Landwehr). I will move those to the back of the line to start the cavalry phase. Horses, here I come!

[CapnJim]

Your work continues to impress there, fella.  Well done, lad!

[MaleGriffin]

Absolutely gorgeous! Well dobe! Inspirational!

[DivisMal]

I’ll join the applause. Go for it!

[Helge]

Thank you all for the kind words. To launch the arrival of the cavalry, here we have Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbrige serving as overall commander of the mounted force. His one-armed brother General Edward Paget (Front Rank) is with him though in reality he was absent at Waterloo. But since he had an illustrious career in the Peninsula War, I thought I would include him as part of the family history . The ADC is Major de Lacey of the Scots Greys from the Perry kit.




Not much else because all my long-awaited parcels from the UK just arrived in a burst! The boxes have supplies the missing battalions of Brunswick and Nassau infantry from Eagle and Rapier Miniatures. The Perry's only have one set of poses per Brunswick/Nassau regiment so the second and third battalions had to come from elsewhere. This also puts me in the position to comment on the three manufacturers and their compatibility.

Perry: Best in class as usual with crisp detail and very little clean-up needed. The Brunswick models are a bit small compared to the rest of their British/Allied range. Not quite 25mm but closer to that than to the 28mm scale that their later sculpts use. But they mix well with other Perry models.

Eagle: Similar in size to Perry (but likewise smaller than newer Perry models). They feel slimmer than Perrys but that might just be their poses. Clean models with very little flash. The sculpting is a bit more muted and "soft" compared to Perry but I think the two would mix fairly well.

Rapier: A bit smaller than the other two and definitely 25mm. I don't think they will mix with modern Perry and even the smaller Perry Brunswickers tower over them. Their shakos are quite small as well - more like caps - which is noticeably different. The models need a lot of clean-up with some sections requiring drilling/dremel use to get off (e.g. solid pewter in enclosed areas such as bent elbows in firing position). The sculpts are good but the casting makes some of the models very soft with washed out details that is present in other models of the same sculpt. About 10% of the models had missing parts that didn't cast properly (e.g. pompoms, gun barrels, bayonets). Some of this can be fixed with green stuff but I would recommend ordering a few extra packs if you rely on exact model count to form your units (a mistake I made, so I just ordered a few extra packs to compensate for miscasts).

Overall, this gives me 7 serviceable Brunswick battalions and 6 large Nassau-Usingen battalions with unique posture for each. So much more to paint...

[Helge]

The first batch of horses are done and the new Nassau/Brunswick troops are prepped on sticks. Nothing worth photographing yet but I should have a cavalry regiment or two ready on the weekend.

Meanwhile, I thought this might be of interest. I couldn't resist and started a bit of prep work on the *next* army now that I am about halfway through the allied force. Below is the flag sheet for the Prussian army of the lower rhine. Or at least the units that arrived on the field at Waterloo.



On the right we have all four brigades of von Zieten's IV Korps. Each with a line regiment and two Landwehr regiments. To the left are the 1st Brigade of I Korps and 5th/6th brigades of II Korps. These all have two line regiments and one Landwehr regiment. With all regiments having three battalions, and subtracting a few detached units, this represents 60 infantry battalions on the field. In reality, only three of IV Korps brigades engaged the enemy but the I and II Korps brigades have all the interesting uniforms so they had to be added. Flags are of course mandatory no matter the historical reality.

This will need a pot or two of Prussian blue. But first the allied army...

[Harry Faversham]

Helge, no such thing as a daft question  but this'll come close...
Wot about the Frenchies, you'll kind of need some of them kicking about at Waterloo?

    

[Helge]

Harry, there will definitely be some French as well . At present, i have a few filing boxes full of French which will be formed into:
- full Imperial Guard (3 infantry divisions plus assorted cavalry)
- full I Corps (4 infantry divisions, 1 light cavalry division)
- Jerome's 6th division from II Corps
- 2 additional light cavalry divisions
- full III Heavy Cavalry Corps (2 heavy cavalry divisions)

Comes to just under 2,000 models. Not quite the full order of battle, but enough to fill a (few) table(s). I am missing 2 infantry divisions from II Corps, the entire reduced VI Corps (2 infantry divisions, 2 light cavalry divisions), and the entire IV Heavy Cavalry Corps (2 heavy cavalry divisions). The French formations are quite repetitive so skipping a few divisions will keep me sane...

[CapnJim]

Harry, there will definitely be some French as well . At present, i have a few filing boxes full of French which will be formed into:
- full Imperial Guard (3 infantry divisions plus assorted cavalry)
- full I Corps (4 infantry divisions, 1 light cavalry division)
- Jerome's 6th division from II Corps
- 2 additional light cavalry divisions
- full III Heavy Cavalry Corps (2 heavy cavalry divisions)

Comes to just under 2,000 models. Not quite the full order of battle, but enough to fill a (few) table(s). I am missing 2 infantry divisions from II Corps, the entire reduced VI Corps (2 infantry divisions, 2 light cavalry divisions), and the entire IV Heavy Cavalry Corps (2 heavy cavalry divisions). The French formations are quite repetitive so skipping a few divisions will keep me sane...

Holy crap!  Dat's a lot of figures...you may consider my mind boggled...

[DivisMal]

I wonder what you‘ll do, Helge, once you’re finished. In your speed, I guess around Easter. 
Borodino? Leipzig? Lower the scale to have one model represent a single soldier?

[Helge]

DivisMal - i suspect that it will take just a tiny bit longer . I am currently at 1,128 models painted out of just under 6,000 for the planned OOB of the three armies. Given that I have a tendency of "adding a bit more" once a project is under way, i am guessing that the full effort will come in around 6,500 models. So plenty left to do .


Counted in the above is my first small cavalry unit! Here we have a single squadron of Staff Corps of Cavalry. I used this as a prototype for the four main horse colour schemes for the light cavalry. I will have a full regiment to post tomorrow once the basing glue is dried.

[DivisMal]

A tiny bit longer, sure, and en passant you cranked out another unit.

Your speed is just amazing!

[Helge]

And here is the first real regiment all dry and eager to charge. Major General Sir Vandeleur commands 4th Cavalry Brigade. The model is a special one from Perry that you get for ordering 3+ boxes of light dragoons. i started with 4th brigade somewhat at random and will do one of the heavy cavalry brigades afterwards.



The first regiment of the brigade is 11th Light Dragoons. It's just the regular Perry kit with GMB flags for the first and second squadrons. Two bases form a squadron, so most of the British cavalry come with 6 bases in two lines.

[Helge]

And here we have 12th Light Dragoon (Prince of Wales'). Not much difference to 11th though if you really look closely, this one has yellow facings rather than buff for the 11th...

[Bloggard]

 continuing productivity and quality of paint-work is just amazing.