Digging in

There are no sapper or miner figures available for the Allied forces. As far as I can tell the 1815 campaign employed civilians to conduct any entrenchment work on the Allied side,  not that much was done an any of the battles.

I found some suitable figures from the Pendraken range - some generic 19thC civilian working party FPX1. There are two sculpts in the 15 figure packet -  a pick axe and a shovel. The figures are working in plain clothes, not uniforms, making them suitable markers for any army.

I mounted them in threes on a standard infantry base, added some ballast and flock and a few bigger rocks. All done.

100th Post

Seems like yesterday that this project started. When I wrote in my very first post that playing Waterloo was one day a dream to play. Now some 20 months later, I have almost the complete OOBs for Quatre Bras (just a few Hanoverians to organise), as well as having various other units from Waterloo done. I estimate that I am about a bit over a third of the way. Much of the last six months has been on smaller projects and gap filling, rather than great numbers of rank and file.

Onwards!

Some statistics on the first 100

• First post 3rd February 2011
• 628 days, average 1 post every 6.28 days
• Posts - 100
• Comments - 115
• Followers - 86
• Page visits - 35075
• Most popular post - The Emperor's Beautiful Daughters
• Total figures done - 3698 + 117 Guns

So what is coming up? There is still so much to do. Part of the challenge in making this project work is not to get too overwhelmed. By concentrating on discrete blocks, particular Divisions or Brigades, the sense of completion provides the enthusiasm for the next part. In the next year I aim to -

• sort out the Hanoverian contingent
• begin the Imperial Guard infantry
• fill in the Gaps in the British line
• finish off the outstanding Cavalry and Artillery for both French and Allies
• finish off the Nassau contingent
• complete Lobau's Reserve VI Corps
• start researching the Prussians

While some parts depend on the right figures being available, others are just a matter of organisation and time. But I don't plan to work on it alone, some of the bulk painting will need to be outsourced, otherwise there is no way I'd make the 200th Anniversary.

I'd also like to dedicate some more time for playing some games. As most of my time comes in little parcels it is easier to focus on reducing the lead mountain, than getting games going. But there is a special satisfaction in playing with your creation.

So thank you, loyal readers, for your comments and clicks. Without this important feedback, not many blog posts would have been written. Currently the level of visits to the site is the highest it has ever been, which is a validation for the effort in writing contributions, and a motivation to keep writing.

What would you like to see? I am happy to take suggestions. Let me know in the comments and I will do my best to accommodate the requests.

Looking forward to the next 100 posts.

Ney, d'Erlon, Reille and Others

Filling in a few more gaps in the French leadership structure - now for the Corps commanders. The figures are from the Old Glory French Leaders pack - some good variety and conversion potential. Spare ADC's and escorts were using some left over Old Glory  Guard Chasseurs a Cheval and some Lancer command figures.

Ney arriving just in time to take on command. 

Marshal Ney joined the Army of the North after the invasion of Belgium had started. He was immediately given command of the left Wing and ordered to block the British and Allies while Napoleon dealt with the Prussians near the Ligny. He quickly joined Reille's Corps and proceeded to engage with the Allied forces just south of Quatre Bras. Incorrectly assuming the entire British and Allied contingent was ahead of him, Ney hesitated waiting for more reinforcements. By the time the attach begun, more British were rushing in to join the outnumbered and outclassed Dutch/Belgians. Ney managed to lose any advantage at the beginning of the day and end up with a draw by nightfall. The retreating Allies were not pursued in their withdrawal back. Not Ney's finest hour. The battle on the 18th of June proved that Ney was indeed having a very bad week.

d'Erlon wandering between two battles

Jean Baptiste Drouet, the Comte d'Erlon was the commander of the I Corps. Late on the scene, he spent  most os the 16th June wandering in the 8 miles between the two battles. Napoleon's orders to join him at Lingy were over-ridden by Ney's request for assistance at Quatre Bras. The end result was that neither received his much needed reinforcements at crucia moments. History may have been very different had he arrived to make a decisive blow at one of the Battles. At Waterloo he attacked the British left in a unsupported frontal assault, which ultimately failed.

Reille ready for action

Comte Honore Charles Reille commanded the II Corps. First to engage at Quatre Bras, his Corps did the majority of the fight in that battle, as well as engaging at Hougumont at Waterloo. Some heavy fighting done by these line troops.

The other Generals include some Cavalry Generals of the Guard - Comte Charles Etienne Guyot of the Heavy Cavalry and Comte Charles Lefebvte-Desnouettes for the Light Cavalry. Guyot was not at Quatre Bras, but in the Imperial Guard reserve at Ligny and not engaged. Both were to take a part in the Cavalry charges at Waterloo.

There are also some yet un-named Generals de Division. I will probably use them for Artillery commanders for the Grande Battery or other gaps in the command structure.

 Lefebvte-Desnouettes and Guyot ready to command the Imperial Guard Cavalry

Two yet un-named Generals de Division

A flamboyant cavalry General de Division

Old Maps - 1815 Campaign

George Hooper's excellent 1889 book "Waterloo - the Downfall of the first Napoleon" had five beautifully drawn maps in the end of the book. In online scanned copies of the book, these have been omitted or badly done. I could not find any decent copies of the maps online. I have scanned them in so others may see the elegant plates on different aspects of the campaign.

Click for larger versions of the maps. They are scanned in at 300dpi so they print out quite well, the detail is very clear. There are some blemishes on the original plates, but I think they add to the look. Hopefully they are some use to people.

General Map of 1815 campaign area

Ligny

Quatre Bras between 4pm and 5pm

Waterloo at 11am

Waterloo 5.30pm

War room upgrade

Before -  game table in middle and everything else around the outside

The time has come to get serious about the "War Room". I am fortunate to have a whole room to use, but it isn't being used to it's full potential. The current storage situation consists of piles of boxes and various containers around the sides of the room. Terrain is getting a bit dusty on the shelves. Dust is a bit of an issue, as my workshop in the same building and I don't always close the doors between the rooms.

Nothing seems to have a permanent home. While striving for order in my armies, it is a shame there is no order in their presentation. Some random pictures hang crooked on the walls.

Preparing for the new shelves

While I have a good map storage cabinet under the table, there is no order in what is in it and it seems under utilised. The random stuff around the edges of the room limits the space for the main table in the middle.

I think you get the idea.

So the plan to change it into a more inspiring place :

• Removal of junk, cleanup, sort out and maybe a sell unused stuff
• Get most of the stuff off the floor where it can get stepped on! And have a dust free floor.
• Wall decorations - some recently bought full size flags to cover the empty walls, re-hang pictures in some order, Grenadier a Cheval sword on the wall
• Storage - trip to IKEA to get a selection of Billy shelves with doors and extra glass shelves. There are two tall shelves in the middle with glass doors for display and three half shelves with solid doors to hide boxes and other stuff. The tops of the half shelves can be used in games for rules, troop removals etc.
• Sort and order the display and storage of armies, projects, terrain and books. Needs to be inspiring and dust proof
• Free up the painting station so there is more room for WIP
• Make sure there is enough space around the game table to move well. I use three 6' x 4' MDF boards as a base so can have up to 12' x 6' for games
• Make a map table for a campaign map to be separate from the game table

Ikea shipment ready for the allen key

After - dust free storage and order 

Flags, notice board, map table

Extra glass shelves for miniatures

Painting table

Lots of storage to hide the mess

Planning the 1815 Campaign - maps

Quatre Bras

I am working towards is doing the 1815 campaign in 10mm for the 200th anniversary. Obviously there is recreating the battles that took place, but there is also the option of a "what if" campaign to play with.

Looking for a suitable campaign map was a bit of a challenge. I decide to look for some old board games that covered the campaign. The bonus would be getting the unit counters to plot the movement. I was not interested in playing out the combat in the board game, just using it to track movement and to work out the OOB's of the battles that took place.

Wonderfully detailed map of  "L'Armee Du Nord"

I found two suitable board games, both by Clash of Arms Games, - "The Emperor Returns" (1986)  and "L'Armee Du Nord"(1993). They were both a bit difficult to get, but some patient watching on eBay and boardgamegeek.com paid off. I got both sets unpunched and BNIB!

Both move divisions around and cover the Belgian campaign. The artwork on the maps is the same, done by the talented Rick Barber,  but the scale differs. "The Emperor Returns" is 1 hex = 3200 metres using one 34" x 22" map. "L'Armee Du Nord" is 1 hex = 700 metres using three 34" x 22" maps. They are both fantastic maps.

I think the "L'Armee Du Nord" is the map I will use as the detail makes setting up a table of terrain a breeze.

Board template to translate to tabletop

To help translate the hexes to my game board I made up a clear plastic template the size my game boards would represent using 1 mm = 1 yard. This allows me to move the template over different parts of the map to see how this would translate into the terrain I have.

One option to consider in the future is mounting the boards on a metal backing and magnetise a set of counters. This would allow the campaign to be safely stored on the wall of the War Room saving some space.

Brigade in a chocolate box

Recovering from Easter's chocolate induced diabetic coma, I happened on this little idea - Lindt chocolate boxes for storing 10mm figures.

The low metal tins are a perfect hight for 10mm figures. The box is big enough to fit at least a brigade. The magnetic bases stick nicely to the metal box, not too strong, but enough to reduce movement inside. They stack well as a bonus, making it easy to organise the armies. Disadvantage is you can't see what is inside.

It may be considered psychological warfare if I turn up to a game with boxes of chocolates only to reveal my armies within.

Now all I have to do is eat 30 more boxes of these to fit all the figures in! Another long term project.

Magnetic bases stick to the metal tin

Heavy cavalry brigade with some artillery 

Flags for the war room

I was looking for some life sized Napoleonic flags to provide some suitable atmosphere to the war room . After asking the collective wisdom of theminiaturespage.com at this post  - I was put on to this German Flag site https://www.universalhandel24.de . Google translate was essential to work out which is which, since my German is not real good.

Having a look through the many options I opted for a French 1st Line Flag and two British Flags from the 1st Foot Guards - a King's Colour and a Regimental Colour.

The price seemed very reasonable 70 euros each for the larger British flags and 50 euros for the French flag. Postage was a flat 3 euro to Australia! This was cheap compared to the $1000's asked by the re-enactor groups for embroided flags. And for a wall decoration, I thought it was worth a go.

Nicely folded in the package

A few weeks later, after almost forgetting about them,  a small package arrived with the flags. Opening it up I saw them neatly wrapped up - WOW! They are life sized - so the French was 80cm square and the British 180 x 190cm. You can see how a standard in battle was important., even these replica's were stirring.

They are screen printed on a synthetic material with a nice clear resolution. The same material as other flags. The material has an open weave which make it slightly transparent. The colours a bright clear and uniform, The French had a gold fringe, and able to be mounted on a pole. The British had eyelets rather than a sleeve for the pole. The edging was all hemmed and well finished with nice straight stitching. The writing was edged in black, helping it to really stand out. There is a nice bulk to the material without being too heavy.

One small disadvantage on the screen print is that there is no reverse of the flag, which is not a big issue as I am covering the wall with them.

Overall I am very impressed and will definitely order some more. Once I start my Prussian 1815 army I can see a Prussian flag joining them (after I work out which flag is which).  I'll be renovating the war room over the next few weeks and hanging these on the wall.

Highly recommended.

Vive l'Empereur

A little picture of the enclosed flag

1st Foot Guards Regimental Colours

British 1st Foot Guards Kings Colours

Detail of the French printing

Review of Fernando Enterprises Painting Service

Moustaches on 10mm Cuirassiers

I met Sanarth the owner of Fernanado Enterprises at Cancon, displaying his company's work in a number of impressive displays. While he had no 10mm on display, he assured me that the wargamer standard would be more than enough for the results I was seeking. So I brought back some of my backlog to see what he could do with them.

I had detailed instructions with uniform guides from http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/ for each of the units. I think this is important to make it easier for the painters and less chance of disappointment.

I was really impressed with the communication during the process. They sent through pictures of a sample of each unit for approval before continuing to paint the rest. Overall it took just on 8 weeks to paint and freight them back. The return freight service was very quick and I tracked it online to see its progress.

The packaging was impressive. Each 10mm figure was wrapped in a strip of bubble wrap, then in an individual plastic bag, then grouped and labeled in a larger bag. There was no missing figures.

The units I had painted were from Bend Sinister's Redline range :

• 36 Household Cavalry
• 24 1st Dragoon Guards
• 24 6th Dragoons
• 4 x 30 KGL Battalions
• 24 Cuirassiers
• 24 Empress Dragoons
• 48 Carabiniers
• 32 Guard Lancers
• 3 x 36 French Line

212 Cavalry ready for flocking

The price was very reasonable - $1 USD per cavalry, and 50c USD per infantry. Sanarth also offers a service to order directly from the manufacturer. This would mean a unit of 24 painted cavalry would cost about $36USD sent to me.

The results were great, better than I could do. Nice clean edge lines, moustaches on the Cuirassiers (in 10mm!) clean bridles with silver buckles, socks on the horses. Really fine work for such small figures. To blend them into the rest of my collection I glued them on bases, did a quick magic wash, then flocked them.

I am very happy with the service from Sanarth and his friendly team, and will definitely be using them again. Their professional communication, fast turn around and great work is to be commended. Waterloo in 2015 looks very achievable from here.

The box was very well packed, nothing damaged

Each unit was in a separate bag and labeled

Each figure was it ints own bag, most were bubble wrapped

Before magic washing

See the detail on the saddle edging

Very clean work, especially on cuffs and collars

Roman Teddy Bear Chess Set

The Roman Civil Wars with Teddy Bears

Eureka has a line of fantastic Roman Teddy Bears - name "I Cuddlius". Sculpted by the talented Mike Broadbent, this line shows a very subtle sense of humour, from the rubber ducky and rocking chair standards, to the matchstick spears dripping with honey.

Having spotted these at CANCON, my daughter decided it would make a great present for my father's birthday - as a chess set. We quickly found enough different poses to have a Roman Civil War set - Pretorians vs Legionaries. With help from my son, the three of us painted, dipped, flocked and made our way to a very nice result. The board was made with some laser cut 40 x 40mm MDF Bases. These were spray painted red and blue, before being glued down and varnished.

Check out Eureka's other lines - Teddy Bear Zulu's, Cowboys, Pirates, Seven Years Wars all asking to be made into some very cool chess sets.  Also the Pax Limpopo, Frog wars and many other whimsical figures.

Pawns on the Red team

The Blue Pawns with their matchstick spears

The Red Queen riding a hobby horse and blowing her own trumpet

The Red King on his horse leading a charge

The Blue King

The Red Rook with rocking horse standard

The Blue Rook with rubber ducky standard and honey pot emblem

The Blue Knights

The Red Knight, with Bishop behind with the horn

Overview of the board