Inspired by La Haie Sainte

 Inspired by the famous farmhouse in the Battle of Waterloo, and with a brick imprinting roller purchased by happenstance from the local hobby store, I set about to create my version of a Belgian farmhouse from pieces of foamcore, card, and sheets cut from those styrofoam meat trays from the supermarket - served both in black and white.  These give you a cheap means of thin walls of brick to work with although the 'gate tower' used a one thick piece insolation pink foam which makes a better/deeper impressed pattern (softer material undoubtedly).

For good or bad I tend not to use precise measurements and simply suggest "it's close enough"  (my wife states it is "The Tao of Doug"). Well, what's 1 or 2mm off, going to make a difference.... Obviously no real planning and certainly missteps in the design and execution.   I probably should fill in some of the corners and such but I tend to get too excited or impatient or dis-inspired to bother.  When the rest comes together I regret the negligence. The tao-ism it must be said.   However, it is the old-timey way and inexpensive, and it may be said in a sadistic way, fun part of the hobby. 

                                                                Early construction views:

  

Initial painting:

 

                                                                 Final result:                                                   

French dismounted dragoons (Perry plastics) advancing upon the farm defended by Brunswicker lights in the courtyard (converted Perry British Napoleonics) and Brunswicker Jagers in light grey (converted from Perry early ACW plastics). The farm will undoubtedly form the centerpiece for many of my Waterloo campaign games.

 

a Waterloo Square

I don’t usually start the new year with the traditional pledges to one-self regarding the hobby. These promises often (never?) come true and, like so often seen in military history, generals, as we wargamers, are often fighting/collecting the last war/our last impulse, only to be met with unexpected new weapons/toys to fight/paint.   Well, I have enough weapons/figures to keep me going without even thinking of what other wars/projects I might do!

So just trying to ‘clean-up’ those already in the to-do tray, including the many Napoleonic era Highlanders that friends have so kindly given me.  Decided to paint up two large formations of them, the 93rd and 42nd and mount them on 20mm rounds going them an individualistic look for a large square formation. Finally finished the second lot (the 42nd) on the first day of this year. This 97 miniature strength formation will form an interesting eye-candy ‘terrain’ piece for any large Napoleonic Waterloo all-cavalry affair our group might come up with after this Covid thing subsides.

Victrix plastic Highlanders.  To facilitate the easier painting of the kilts (ha!) I attached the arms with the interfering musket after doing the torso and the and painted them last.  

The Gordon's Square

Before the last convention - seems so long ago - I was given a bunch of Victrix Napoleonic era Highlanders so had gathered enough for a sizeable contingent.  As we were doing a Waterloo cavalry clash scenario I thought a square of infantry, or as it turned out a half-square, would be a good 'ground-filler' and obstruction for the swirling masses of cavalrymen.  I tacked these upon a chevron shaped board and had them in the battle.  However it seemed that most ignored them entirely, including myself apparently as I took no photos of them on the table! None. hmm. 

Fast forward to the recent days when I was playing around with the groups of miscellaneous "petal" bases a gaming buddy and entrepreneur had cut for me as samples ( as I am planning to order more in the near future!). 

3D-DZYN website for these bases and other good stuff.

I started arranging these and found that all the various 20mm rounds could be set up as a two-deep alignment and long enough to form part of a square formation, essential for facing a cavalry attack.  In this case, the rest of the square can be imagined off-table.

Of course the groups of bases can be placed in a line for those big-battalion games.

I would have liked more 'fill' in the square's centre (dead, wounded etc) but the piper keeping up the boy's spirits, plays his part.

French Cuirassier charge past

A couple of the lads show their contempt of the French efforts (old Westphalian Miniatures "rude Highlander" figures) 

If you look closely you can see the various groups of rounds.  I love the look as they do appear individual but can be moved as groups - good for aging wrists! See the link in the text for Ron's offerings. Added the dice frame on the Colours stand just in case it is needed in future games

Napoleonic Baggage.

“Napoleonic baggage” is what he brought to his marriage to Marie Louise….
…or perhaps the necessary wagons on which an army must exist.

Needing models for both the grand game and the newer smaller focus of all-cavalry actions, I based both horse and wagon onto thin bases, but then created the thick bases of the grand game for attaching them temporarily.
These are my Dutch-Belgians of the ‘Waterloo Campaign’.  The horses are Essex, the riders plastic conversions, and the wagon is of MDF wood from Warbases.

The double team looks better for the smaller scale game while a single team - below- is more representative in the larger scale game 

Waterloo Day!

It is June 18th and in tribute to the holiest of days for the Napoleonic fan [ ironically, as it the anniversary of the start of his final political defeat ] it is usual for the wargamer to show his Napoleon model or complete a re-game of the battle or some such.  However, I thought I would show some of the ‘unknowns” of the battle : the Dutch-Belgian Cavalry.

My Dutch-Belgian Waterloo contingent

Now any casual Napoleonic military historian knows of the heroic charges of the French horsemen led by Ney to confront the Allied infantry in square; or the charge of the Scots Greys immortalized by a dramatic painting by Lady Butler.

 But, but, but there were a whole lotta other cavalry at the battle - or at least that is what the orders of battle show us.  What about them?  Well, for starters, the winners get to write the history as the saying goes and the Duke of Wellington, being the winner - OK, then, on the winning side - made damned sure the British were the winners. Oh sure, the Prussians many have helped but calling the battle “La Belle Alliance”as suggested by Blucher? Certainly not,  when a nice English sounding town name of Waterloo was only a few miles away.  However fully a quarter of his army was German, and he did not even mentioned the numbers of Dutch and Belgian soldiers he offered to the gristmill of combat.  It is to those unsung which I offer photos of their cavalry units I made from plastic.  [ mainly 28mm Perry, but some on Fireforge medieval horses and details from various components ]

The 3rd (Dutch) Carabiniers 

The 3rd (Dutch) Carabineers were in Tripp’s Heavy Cavalry Brigade and while many illustrators have suggested they wore a rather impractical large bicorne headdress, Dutch historians suggest they might well have had the the elegant metallic helmet often shown with the more popular 2nd Regiment.

The 2nd (Belgian) Carabiniers 

Next up are the 4th (Dutch) Light Dragoons of Ghigny’s Brigade

4th (Dutch) Light Dragoons

held in reserve at the start of the battle along the Brussels road.  Now, what did they do in the battle?  The British writers do not tell us. However they do offer that the nobel Englishman Earl of Uxbridge,  the overall cavalry commander - and given that role only the day before! - ordered some Dutch-Belgian units to follow him in a charge which they did not.  Thus the label of cowards were attached to all D-Bs.  But if a man you did not recognize, speaking an incomprehensible language suddenly arrived demanding you commit your life, would you immediately agree?!
Anyway,  they are a handsome lot and pretty on the table.

Lastly we have the 5th (Belgian) Light Dragoons who are recorded in combat at Quartre-Bras earlier in the campaign against the very similarly attired French 6th Chasseurs also in green and yellow. Reforming from that combat - or retiring or retreating or routing - all depending upon the narration given, were unfortunately fired upon by friendlies due to the uniform resemblance.  But we know they fought as did probably all the other Dutch-Belgian units and they certainly will in my future Waterloo tabletop battles.

Hussar Rampant action post Waterloo-ish

Hussar Rampant fictional action somewhere in southern Belgium, post Waterloo?

The French needed to get the wagons pack and moving. They also needed the squadrons active to counter the Allies horse attacking them.  They could not do both at the same time.

French wagons quickly (too quickly for the Allies) packing up and moving.  Perry metal horses (team separated) with Warbases MDF wagons.

….However, both Allies players (myself and ChrisP) failed our first activations even though Chris had accurately predicted his starting position (closer to the bridge to the French’s rear but harder the roll to do so but of which he was successful)  Because of the wagons/non-activation problem for the French, I gave them quite the points advantage which they used the numbers and tough cuirassiers to counter each of our attacks.

My badly handled 4th Dutch-Belgian Light Dragoons showing the new 'blown' markers - hussar pelisse left on the ground

Jim's cuirassiers verses my British Light Dragoons (left) and my converted Dutch-Belgian 5th Light Dragoons (right).  The fight to cross or defend the bridge lasted the entire game.

Though much of the discussion of the rules could be clarified if I could remember them (!) or remember to look them up (!) I guess they survived.  But combat over the wooden bridge was controversial to such a point that I exclaimed, “Note to self - no more bridges in scenarios!!”

"Illegal" formations made by ChrisP due to my rather poor instructions about river crossings and requirements for combat .
This was corrected but poor ChrisP never did cross the river to assault the retreating wagons due to the attentions of JimF.  

SteveA came over to have the rules a go and give them a tough 'tug'.  His very young step-son was given the command of the two squadrons of French Chasseurs light horse.  While the kid's rolling for all of dad's combat was quite good, he failed ALL of his own activations so thus these horse remained inactive for the game.  The good thing for the French were that they were really not needed! In the background, the cuirassiers were doing yeomen service forcing off my D-B attacks.

You may note in the photos the use of a new version of our “blown” marker - a discarded hussar’s pelisse in light blue with some of the units during the game.  With the number of Perry plastic hussar boxes I have used in the past while, I have a lot of them left over which I decided to put to good use.  These can be used in conjunction with our normal ‘horse-head’ markers. Any marker would do, but these have a nice aesthetic look.

My Dutch-Belgian Carabinier heavy horse.  Perry plastics converted from dragoons and modified.  The two pelisse markers does suggest the front squadron is in trouble!

Humorous event from the game:  poor JimF was lamenting about the lances he manages to knock off his metal figures each game.  Well, surprisingly he did not knock off a single lance this affair - it was instead the eagle standard off the cuirassiers to much amusement of the other players.

...at least the broken piece was not a lance!  (Jim's French 13th Cuirassiers in 'Spanish brown' and the broken piece)

Cavalry for Waterloo

Once on roll, I continue to gather figures until…. well I was going to say “until it gets ridiculous”,…. but I often even go beyond that.

With plastics and all the conversion possibilities which I enjoy creating,  I have now have a sizeable force of Napoleonic cavalry to do battle with each other and to fill in when necessary for our bring-what-you-can games.

Newly created British 16th Light Dragoons.  Selected as they were the among the first of the Allies to come to the rescue of the British Union Brigade after their famous and foolish charge early in the Waterloo battle. 

All my units on 'parade' (except for the tardy Belgian Light Dragoons to be painted)

French Chasseurs (Perry plastics)

French cuirassiers

Dutch Light Dragoons made from various plastic bits (early British bodies, Russian shakos, French plumes and medieval horses....)

a single unit of French Hussars.  

Another view of the whole lot with the Allies to the left and French on the right.  All plastics.  I might blow out a back disc if I were to carry it all if metals!

D-B Heavies

Dutch-Belgian Napoleonic heavy horse...ironically in lightweight plastic....

While yes, Perry Miniatures do have the Dutch-Belgian Carabiniers in metal, I rather fancied doing them in plastic so upon spotting a Perry French Dragoon box on sale at the local store, I could not resist converting these into a couple of companies for the 1815 Hundred Days campaign.

While many sources suggest the helmet was only worn by the 2nd (Belgian) contingent, I went for full-on regulations mode and gave my 3rd (Dutch) Carabiniers spare French plastic versions modified with addition of the badge plate on the front and plume. The bicorne is the suggested head gear but these helmets could have been worn and are far more handsome!

The existing French valise version has the greatcoat folded on the top which was removed and the greatcoat was added using ‘green stuff’ around the shoulder on most, which was a common D-B trait apparently.  The Perrys, for production sake, attached the cartridge box to the valise, but a minor point to glue to the appropriate location on the torso.

The French Dragoon saddlecloth, sheepskin fur and basic uniform was close to identical to the Dutch-Belgian version so no changes required other than the colours of course. (perhaps the valise should be rounded instead of square but I consider that a minor issue).  Many of the sources do not indicate the fringed epaulettes on the Dutch as the Perrys put on theirs, so the existing shoulder straps are fine.

As the intended use is with a group of fellows doing primarily French and British for Waterloo, I am having fun creating the rarely thought of Dutch-Belgians to add a bit of different color to the affair.

addendum:  Found the following Knotel illustration (famous military uniform author) for the Dutch heavies, in this case the other Dutch regiment often also shown in the bicorne rather than the helmet I have opted.

Painting gone rampant

Coming off the painting table quickly from the last couple of days. First off, an elite company of French CaC with the fringed epaulettes. Perry plastics.

The Netherlander 4th (Dutch) Light Dragoons of the Waterloo Campaign were a bit more interesting build.

Within the Perry British Light Dragoon box of plastics one can build either the earlier 1800-1812 types or the later 1812-15 uniform. The troopers horse is the same for both (the officer’s saddlecloth comes with the end either pointed or rounded for earlier or later era) Thus, you get an early and late uniform together with different headdress for the changes during the years.

I noticed a great similarity between the 4th Netherlander LD of 1815 and the early British uniform tunic both showing ‘hussar’ lacing so began with the earlier torsos adding spare French hussar campaign trousers from which I removed the large side buttons leaving a wonderful leg seam. Painting hides much of the scraping to a large degree.  I used a brighter dark blue uniform color to add to the distinction from other British and French units and which I have seen in several illustrations.

The later British uniform added a sabretache and portrayed by the Perrys in addition, thus leaving the earlier era scabbard-only, which is perfect as the Dutch light dragoons did not use them.

The headdress is the 1809 Russian infantry shako with the nice long cords and on which I glued a plume removed from spare mirliton headdresses.

The big drawback from using the “second-set” of figures from the box is the lack of horses to mount them upon.  Yes, Perry does offer horses separately but I had a group of Fireforge medieval horses available on which I added green-stuff as front blanket roll to make them a bit more Nap.
I made an error of not allowing for a rear saddle valise/portmanteau under the sword slings (the belts holding the scabbard) so I did not add.  But I did make a few GS forage sacks for variety.

Why the medieval horses?  Well I had picked up them up, along with half-built riders at a Bring&Buy.  At the time I had little interest in another collection of medievals ( I bought them anyway…the hoarder within me, I guess…) but looking at pile of plastic for fantasy but nicely caparisoned horses  ( again, hoarded away....) I decided that, while not fitting perfectly, the riders could be ‘glued’ on with GS forming the saddle.
Thus those medieval riders lost their plain mounts for covered versions and I gained 12 additional Napoleonic horse and, with the add-ons provided, created another two units for what is essentially free.

And their missing saddlecloths? Well, the story is: the colonel seeing them dirtied and water soddened from the heavy June rains, had the men remove these expensive items.  My take anyway!

the 9th Cuirassiers

I am still just an aim and shoot cameraman with only one setting on the camera and no inkling how or to what setting to use; so I take the opportunity to take photos during club night as the camera seems to love the lighting.

This month's 'target' is my newly painted French cuirassiers mounted singly.  Each unit is six figures with two units forming either two wings of a full regiment or two squadrons of the regiment or perhaps only sections of a single squadron, depending upon how the viewing wargamer considers the scale of the game.

Of course ALL wargame units are of a ratio much smaller than the historical formation and if 100 miniatures strong it could represent a squadron or the regiment at a 1:5 ratio.   But that many would be totally unplayable on the table; so we must scale everything back. As the perception to the level of play varies from player to player, I tend to just say units to describe formations of play in the game.

Merely because of availability, my formations tend to be two units of 6 for each.  I try in most cases to add a commander for if should the rules and need arise.  I have another cuirassier formation being 're-equipped' for action (I 'stole back' a group of cuirassiers I painted for a buddy as part of a trade and now under a touch up.  Now will have to replace them with lots of other stuff I guess, as I got hot and heavy about doing more of the French armoured horsemen!

The first of the regiments done

The commander is an officer with bicorne hat attached and with a bit of GS for the Frenchman's plumage 

The rules will have group moves with players either having a separate figure or one 'internal' to the unit, if they don't want to have/paint another.  Both methods will work.