Waterloo in 20mm: March 2022

Saturday, 26 March 2022

Back in Action

After several months without posting, I would like to update readers on the next steps with the Waterloo project.

We showcased Plancenoit, La Belle Alliance, Hougoumont, La Belle Alliance and Papelotte at the National Army Museum, now we are going to show the ground between Hougoumont and La Haie Sainte where the Allied squares stood and where the French cavalry charged. Many of the squares were completed between 2015 and 2020 and can be seen in back editions of this blog.

Many of the French cavalry were done even earlier between 2013 and 2015. This was in the phase of the project when I was working alone.

Now I have 81 people helping out and production is quite a bit faster! Here are some images provided by the painters of their work, and some of other connected initiatives.

I'd to start with 3d printing. We are experimenting with downscaling 1/32 to 1/72. The smoother the figure, the easier the job but, so far, things like woolly shabraques have defeated the computer. We are working on painting in a grey undercoat to see if this helps.

This one has come out better:

No problems here:

The famous AB miniatures are a world beater in 18mm. The genius behind the brand has offered to create cavalry casualties for the diorama. Here they are up against a Zvezda horse. The horse furniture will be next.

Here are some AB originals:

We need a lot of horse casualties so Speira Miniatures are also helping out. Next step is some horse furniture.

Of course, there is nothing like some good old fashioned conversions. Andre has produced these:

Graham has been talking to the producer of these 18mm 3D printed figures. Their heads are actually in proportion for 20mm, so the maker has offered to extend the bodies to 20mm.

Some of you may remember Qualicast figures from the 1990s, which were an early 20mm revival brand. They made some lovely figures but ceased trading some time ago. The owner has generously donated much of his remaining Napoleonic stock to the project.

Graham is kindly taking on the painting of several hundred Empress Dragoon riders from this Qualicast lead mountain. But a slight problem, I need to find 200 Empress Dragoon horses, a virtual impossibility in this scale without finding a mystery stack of Hat Horse Grenadiers. I will either go to Kennington or get them done in 3D.

We have only done about one third of the wood at Hougoumont. Roger has been working on trees and here are some prototypes.

Corstiaan is coordinating the Dutch painting team. He has arranged for Kamar to produce all three regiments of Dutch and Belgian Carabiniers. They will look amazing.

So, to the actual units themselves. First of all, the 95th. All three battalions of the Rifle brigade were at Waterloo, but strangely only one battalion fought in their usual skirmishing role. These riflemen painted by the wonderful Andre will be in the sandpit. Down under, Allen Puttock has the other half of the battalion.

Now to the French cavalry. There were two French Line Dragoon regiments at Waterloo, the 2nd and 7th. These by Mark F, Mark T and Elliot:

Every cavalry regiment needs some farriers and an elite company.

These dragoons have been painted by different members of the team, but fit together well.

Liam was doing stellar work on Prussian cavalry but now he has switched his magic over to French Cuirassiers. These are nearly all Art Miniaturen.

In amongst these are some French staff, who are meant to be Ney and his ADCs but have been cleverly repurposed by Liam

Andre seems to be able to produce an extraordinary number of figures to a uniformly excellent standard. Here are 100 Carabiniers.

Mark produced the most wonderful static Prussian battery and Hussars for the Plancenoit section. Now he is working on a Prussian Horse Battery coming forward at the gallop. Here are some early shots:

And now for more from Andre, this time the Household Cavalry:

There were a lot of Nassauers at Waterloo and here is the next battalion by David S which will be in square.

Graham specialises in the mass production of artillery. It is very important to remember how congested the battlefield would have been with artillery caissons (two to each French gun). I ordered 200 sets of the wonderful Zvezda set at a discount as a special run. Glad I got in there.