5th Belgian Light Dragoons

I painted these 5th Belgian Light Dragoons before realising I had mistakenly put them all in officers' shakos.  Never mind, I will change this when I can get round to it.

The figures are all conversions of various origins.

Wrong hat or not, I rather like them.

Prussian Artillery

It's hard to get good plastic Prussian artillery and I haven't yet got round to painting the Hat set despite it being one of their oldest.  So I have converted the Zvezda Russian set and given them Prussian heads.  I have one AM team, which is nicely dramatic with the lead right horse going down.  I also have a few Hinton Hunt.

Men in Grey Coats

I have assembled my Napoleons.  I obviously have no need for more than one, but have nevertheless ended up with quite a number.  A little similar to an Elvis convention.  I need to decide which one gets to go on the diorama.  I can't remember where all the figures came from, but the Napoleon in the Chasseur's Undress is a converted Preiser railwayman in a bicorn.  The others are, I think, Qualicast, Kennington, Italieri, Strelets, S Range and Legio.

Horse Grenadiers

The Horse Grenadiers were another of the big regiments at Waterloo.  Mine are a mix of the Hat set, converted Italieri, Strelets Carabiniers, Strelets Crimean Scots Greys, converted 7YW Austrians, Kennington, AM and S Range.

The officer is Hinton Hunt

French Staff

Here are some of the staff I have collected over the years.   These ones are a mixture of Art Miniaturen and S Range.

Here is General Milhaud with some ADCs

These are Franznap, Qualicast, AM and W1815

I like this Zvezda ADC mounting his horse

General Kellerman and his staff.

One table is Zvezda, the other Qualicast.

Here is Ney and his staff

General Reille and his staff.

Marshal Soult

D'Erlon

Lobau

Drouot

Dismounted staff

French Bands

The extravagant uniforms and military bands of the early to middle Empire had no doubt ceased to exist post-1812.  But it is not unreasonable to suppose bands were reconstituted under the Bourbons.

Here are my bands as they might have existed in 1815.  There is an S Range band in metal, quite chunky but workable.  

The HYTTY band is a one off by that company; the figures a bit flat, but I like them despite their imperfections. 

 I wish I could get more of the Strelets figures, but these are out of production.  

This band in light blue facings are converted largely from Italieri French infantry in bicorns

The Airfix Guards band has been decapitated and replaced with bicorns.  

Finally, I have converted three figures to make kettle drummers for the Polish Lancers, Horse Grenadiers and Mamelukes - I would love to make a mounted band but this will take a little longer and I doubt these would have been at Waterloo. Anyway, my kettle drummers definitely come under the definition of extravagant!

Line Artillery

Here are my French Line Artillery, along with various parts of the logistic train, including bridges, supply wagons and ambulances.  Not all of this is complete (the guns need a bit more work), but you get the picture.

What is interesting is to note just how much space artillery took up on the battlefield, once limbers and caissons are taken into account.  Some have six horses, others only four, which by all accounts was the case in 1815.

The figures are converted Hat with Airfix heads, Hinton Hunt and Alberken, Art Miniaturen, Zvezda and the old Airfix figures, which stand the test of time even if the guns and limbers don't.

I have cheated a bit by including my Guard Train but not the Guard Artillery, which I will keep for another day.

Hat Light ambulances

Hat with Airfix heads

Zvezda

Art Miniaturen

Atelier

Airfix wagons with Hat teams

Airfix gunners

Zvezda

Art Miniaturen

Hat Bridging Train

Hat medics - an uncomfortable ride!

The drummer is Scruby

Hinton Hunt

Zvezda

The Hat set again, with Airfix heads