Kellerman's Heavy Cavalry Corps

Kellerman's III Reserve Cavalry Corp. 

General de Division Francois Kellerman commanded the III Reserve Calvary Corp during the 1815 campaign. He lead a brigade of Cuirassiers on a successful charge at Quatre Bras, capturing the Colours of the 69th Foot before making it to the crossroads. He narrowly escaped after his horse was shot from beneath him by hanging on the bits of of two trooper's horses. His Cavalry were involved in the massed charges against the Allied square at Waterloo.

He was called "the Younger" as his father had served as a General in the French Army.

The III Corp numbered some 3600 sabres - made up of the 11th Division containing the 2nd and 7th Dragoons  and the 8th and 11th Cuirassiers, and the 12th Division with the 1st and 2nd Carabiniers and 2nd and 3rd Cuirassiers along with supporting horse artillery.  The 11th Division was engaged at Quatre Bras, as the 12th had been delayed crossing the Sambre River.

Kellerman the younger

Most of the figures I had painted earlier, just needing to finish off the 3rd Cuirassiers and create some leaders. To make the leaders I used a Old Glory packet of Cuirassiers as a base. I cut of the square portmanteau at the back of the saddle and used some green stuff to model some coat tails. I also covered up the sheepskin shabraque at the front of the saddle and made cloth pistol covers out of green stuff. One had a comb replacing the horse hair on the helmet to become a Carabinier General. They were based individually on a 15 x 15mm for the General de Brigades, and with another rider on a 20 x 20mm for the General de Division. Standard bearers or trumpeters were used as the second figure.

Kellerman was from the French Leaders pack with two Cuirassier escorts. They came out pretty well.

The back square portmanteau was cut off

Green stuff was used for the tails, pistol covers and helmet comb

Remodelled Carabiner General leading his brigade

The whole Corps just fits into one of the storage draws

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

British cassions and limbers

Cassions supporting British RFA and RHA

Continuing the artillery upgrades, now it's the British turn to have some more ammunition. Six Old Glory British cassions and three scratch built limbers.

The cassions came with a six horse crew, which was too much for the base sizes that I use, so I made it a four horse crew and made an additional three limbers with the spare horses.

Quite a few more to make if each gun is to have a supporting limber or cassion.

Scratch built limbers

Dutch and Belgian Artillery and Limbers

Dutch Horse Battery

Perponcher's 2nd Netherlands Division had two batteries of artillery at Quatre Bras - a Dutch Horse battery and a Belgian Foot battery. Each had six 6 pounders and two howitzers.

The Belgian Foot battery was over run by French Lancers and suffered heavy losses. Only two guns made it to Waterloo from that battery. They were deployed on the extreme left flank at Waterloo and saw no further action.

The guns are British from Redline. The crew are Redline French Line Foot and Horse artillery. The limber crew and horses are from Old Glory French Cassion team spares.

There were some spare riders and horses from the French cassions with suitable uniforms for the limber crews. A different paint scheme and they were ready to go. I like their uniform - dark grey with black collars and cuffs and red piping and turnbacks.

The Belgian Foot Battery

I needed to scratch build the limbers out of some balsa wood, tongue depressors and toothpicks, using some spare artillery wheels I had. It was easier than I thought, not bad for a recycling effort.

Base materials for the limbers - a Redline one as a guide

Seats cut from balsa, floors from a tongue depressor

Glued up

Axels made from tooth picks and left over wheels

Ready for priming

Finished limbers

Supporting the battery

Belgian Foot Artillery waiting for the French to arrive

More Ammunition!

The French cassions have arrived with more ammunition, just in time.

They are nice castings from Old Glory. As usual the wagons are solid and well proportioned. They came with 6 horses and 3 riders each, which is a bit much for the bases, so I have only used four on each.

The cassions were undercoated green, the black metals parts painted then a magic wash. The horses were undercoated brown, some detail added, then magic washed too.

The spare riders will be used to make some Dutch Belgian limber drivers, with a different uniform painted.

More artillery

Cannons and Cassions

You can never have too many cannons apparently. I needed to beef up the number of batteries on my 1815 forces so I worked on a big batch - 44 guns, all from Redline. Cannons are very affordable in 10mm, and quick to paint. An undercoat (olive for French, grey for Allied), bronze the cannon, paint all the metal bits black the magic wash. Shame the Artillery men are slower, I'll need to paint 132 to man the guns.

Then there will be the limbers, I will need to make one for each gun! I started six French Cassions from Old Glory. They have six horse teams, but I can only fit four on the base, so I have some spare for other projects, Maybe soem scratch built wagons later.

For the Artillery first off the painting rank is the two batteries the French Guard Horse Artillery (for the heavy cavalry brigade). The some British RHA and KGL Foot batteries to fill in gaps in the Allied line up.

Next I will paint some Dutch and Belgian batteries for the Quatre Bras OOB and some French Line Horse Artillery for the Heavy Cavalry Divisions, and some Foot to fill out the Line.

Imperial Guard Horse Artillery for the Heavy Cavalry Brigade

British RFA joining the 2nd British Division

Damaged Artillery Markers

I had some spare Old Glory French Artillery that had been painted before. After stripping the paint off them using Simple Green, I took to them with some small cutters. Broken wheels and chassies gave a destroyed look, although I am not sure how you would destroy artillery on the battlefield. Maybe with other artillery?

The artillery was primed with olive green undercoat, barrels bronzed and fittings painted black. I then used the black magic wash on the guns and let some drip onto the ground for a more blackened look.

I based them on the same bases as the normal artillery, added some ballast and flock. 7 done in an hour. The glue is still drying in the picture so you may see some white blobs. These will disappear tomorrow.

Some more Allied leaders arrive

A bit like the rush around of mid June 1815, some more leaders have just arrived to join their waiting troops. Maybe they were at the Duchess' Ball.

On the British team we have Picton with his top hat and umbrella, ably supported by an aide trying to find out where they are on the map. Also the Majors General Kempt and Pack, completing their already painted Brigades.

On the Dutch/Belgian Nassau team, we have Major General Perponcher leader of the 2nd Netherland Division, along with another aide desperately looking at the map to find some French. And Prince Bernhard Saxe-Weimar (newly promoted after a horse kicked the previous commander) and Major General Byland.

Nice little figures from Old Glory. Needed a bit of greenstuff under the saddle so that they sat well on the horses.

Division leaders are two on a base and Brigade leaders are based singly 

Brunswick Corps 1815 Completed

I have finally finished the Brunswick Corps from 1815. I started full of enthusiasm at the beginning of the year and then got distracted with other side projects. After a mammoth effort over the last two days of painting the last 100 figures and basing them we're done.

The miniatures are all from Bend Sinister's Redline Range, except for the Ulhans and Leaders which are Old Glory conversions.

The OOB was taken from Quatre Bras with a few units beefed up a little. This I think represents the Brunswickers at their largest so could be useful for other battles. Its a nicely balanced Corps (actually more a Division) with a good mix of the three arms. Its a shame they were not that effective.

Now I need to ensure there are enough French to do battle with them.

I have divided them into three brigades - Light, Line and combined Cavalry and Artillery.

Light Brigade

Light Brigade
Avant Guard/ Jaegers Battalion 30 figures (600 men)
Lieb Battalion 36 figures (720 men)
1st Light Battalion 36 figures (720 men)
2nd Light Battalion 36 figures (720 men)
3rd Light Battalion 36 figures (720 men)

Line Brigade

Line Brigade
1st Line Battalion 36 figures (720 men)
2nd Line Battalion 36 figures (720 men)
3rd Line Battalion 36 figures (720 men)

Artillery / Cavalry Brigade

Cavalry / Artillery Brigade
Horse artillery 4 guns (8 guns)
Foot Artillery 4 guns (8 guns)
Ulhans 12 figures (240men)
Hussars 48 figures (960 men)


Total
Infantry 282 figures (5640 men)
Cavalry 60 figures (1200 men)
Artillery 8 guns (16 guns)


More pictures after the break