Monday 8 August 2016

2nd Battalion 95th Rifles


























Of the two Green Jacket regiments in the British Army (60th and 95th) only the 95th was at Waterloo, but elements of all three battalions of what would the next year be renamed The Rifle Brigade were present.  Six companies of the 1st/95th, six companies of the 2nd/95th and two companies of the 3rd/95th took part in the battle.  There were of course other Rifle units in the Allied Army, all Hanoverian, but today's post focuses on 2/95th.

Riflemen of the 60th and 95th:



Because the traditional role of rifles units was as skirmishers, most attention focuses on the 1st Battalion, which fought around the sandpit.  Surprisingly, the second battalion fought for much of the battle in square, which is how they are shown in this post.

2/95th under Amos Norcott and 3/95th under John Ross formed part of Adam's 3rd Brigade in Clinton's 2nd Division (Clinton was also Colonel of the 60th).

Amos Godsell Northcutt some years later:



The casualties sustained by the companies of the 95th Rifles at Waterloo were substantial:
 1st/95th: 21 killed, 138 wounded from a total of 549 (29%)
 2nd/95th: 34 killed, 193 wounded, 20 missing from a total of 585 (42%)
 3rd/95th: 4 killed, 40 wounded and 7 missing from a total of 188 (27%)

The figures are a mixture of the Revell set, Hinton Hunt, New Line and RSM, along with a great many conversions.




Three General Staff shelter in the square, their red coats stand out nicely against the green





I like this wounded Great War conversion.


Bugles Platoon





Colonel Northcott gives the orders:


More of the buglers


Converted Esci RHA officer with telescope:



The whole square:


It's nice to have completed one that isn't red!









5 comments:

  1. Hi James - Great stuff - these massive units always look terrific, but I suspect you may have done a deal with Satan (or Santa, for dyslexics) - I see S-Range and all sorts in there, and it all looks absolutely fine; if I tried to blend Newline and RSM figures in with Esci or S-Range, people would come around from miles away, to laugh and hurl abuse. I really don't understand how this works...

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  2. As ever, you touch neatly on the great dilemma: what is compatible and what isn't? Actually, there is only one S Range figure in this square - the officer in front of the bugles (and even he may not be S Range although I'm d****d if I can think what else he is, perhaps Alberken?).

    But there are plenty of Hinton Hunt, Esci, Revell and New Line together. I think you can get away with this en masse - the sheer numbers allow this when it wouldn't work in the smaller context of wargaming, so long as you arrange them in a way that means that they aren't immediately adjacent to one another.

    I also tend to size the squares and have tried to keep each square within a certain range. So you will notice that there is none of the bigger figures by Italieri, Les Higgins and Art Miniaturen etc present in this square, all of whom I am saving for my KGL battalion in La Haye Sainte and for 1/95th in the Sandpit.

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    1. Maybe I can only see one S-Ranger, after all - the advancing officer with the pelisse. The appropriate use of differing sizes is a great skill - in my own efforts, I can see when I have done it wrong, but am not good at estimating what will work. Anyway, this battalion is a remarkable job.

      The differing scale thing reminds me of a marvellous afternoon at the Bayerische Armeemuseum in Ingolstadt - the battle dioramas on the top floor are enormous, and employ false perspective - i.e. smaller scale figures and buildings at the back of the display. I can stare at these things for many hours - I think they were all flats, come to think of it. Obviously, I do have issues with differing interpretations of 20mm - especially in my ECW armies, which is the one area where i specifically set out not to allow such things - I can get away with murder of I keep the units separate - if and when I get to painting up my Napoleonic Spanish garrison artillery gunners (who are Kennington) they will be a bit smaller than their GBM, NapoleoN and Falcata colleagues in the field batteries, but it doesn't matter if they in separate units, in a different context. At least I think it will be OK (worried now...)

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  3. Awesome , just awesome!
    You are so right that having figures of different heft together looks plain odd. The other big problem area is items such as packs, shakos and muskets. One just cannt have it that all the chaps inba battalion with their muskets at one position have bigger shakos than all the lads in a slightly different position. All in one pise with one scale of kit is fine...its toy soldierly, and mixed with many positions is fine, but when its just two or three, positions they have to have kit of the same scale and shape

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  4. Many thanks to both of you. I do agree care needs to be taken with size of heads, muskets and knapsacks. I also think style matters. For instance, I love Les Higgins figures (little jewels) but they are quite stylised and only work in certain circumstances. I also don't like mixing up marching units too much - unless they are closely engaged with the enemy.

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