Hougoumont - battle within a battle

I haven't posted since November, and the reason is not hard to see: my Hougoumont is many times bigger than any of my previous projects and despite pouring in the troops, I'm still far from saturating the six sections that I've built so far.

So this post acts as an interim step as there still many thousands of French and some allies to place on the model, and I intend to extend the model eastwards to include all of the orchard.

My scheme for French battalions is six companies to a battalion, 60 men to a battalion.  There are 40 French companies on the model so far, so 2,400 French infantry - add in officers and other supernumeraries, we are heading towards 3,000 French and about 2,000 allies so far.

Major Busgen's Nassauers line the wall; they are nearly all Hat.

My Voltigeurs are mostly conversions

French infantry behind the hedge - mostly Esci and Italeri

The exploding shell is a WW2 conversion from the Pegasus D Day Rangers

It's no wonder the garden wall remained in Allied hands!

There is little evidence what happened to the three Hanoverian companies after they fell back from the wood to the garden.  Here are the survivors regrouping.

Coldstream Guards line the east wall of the garden.

Inside the star.  Then statue is by HYTTY.

The east doorway into the garden

Nassauers on the parapet

Voltigeur conversions

These woods can soak up thousands!

The garden wall where it meets the orchard.  The Brunswick Leib Battalion marched up here ate about 1800 to meet the Scots Guards.

French infantry battle through the orchard taking enfilade fire from the Coldstream

The hedge on the south side of the killing zone

Nassauers

In the wood

Looking south

This French battalion is incomplete and will consist of Art Miniaturen and Franznap and perhaps the new Strelets French infantry when they come out.

French infantry march up the north-south track - they are the old Airfix gunners

The Franznap cantiniere with a Hinton Hunt officer with his arms crossed.  

The Airfix infantry advance north.  Their Grenadier Company is Qualicast.

Inside the chateau - I've inserted a new well/dovecote.

Reserve platoon of Foot Guards.

A desperate fight

On advice I've removed the Coldstream Colour Party but the drummers now have a Drum Major

The hedge

View inside the wood

A cross has been added to the chapel steeple

I resolved the conundrum of the burning haystack by showing it as blackened cinders, as it would have been by 1800hrs

Inside the wood