Le Caillou

 The farm of Le Caillou where Napoleon spent the night before the battle is too far south to be on the main model but it is a sufficiently iconic building to be included in our diorama as a stand alone scene.

I have posted previously my research of the main dwelling and its adjacent buildings and began constructing the scenery over the weekend.  The main diorama shows the action at 1800hrs but the fact that Le Caillou is separate allows us to show a different time of day.  This section will depict Napoleon leaving Le Caillou after breakfast to inspect the deploying troops.

The project is a combination of my father's buildings and Liam's excellent figure work.  I am in charge if the scenery.

Here are a few pictures:

Before building the scenery I experimented with positioning.  I think my father's brick work is especially effective.

You can see the gentle contours of the ground in this area

The road is not yet coloured.

The interior of the farm, showing the rear buildings.  

The tents are by Liam and are an extraordinary achievement.  The evidence suggests that the Emperor stayed in the farm itself, one can imagine the Imperial household preparing the famous council of war breakfast at which the Emperor dismissed Wellington as a sepoy general.

Some clever conversions by Liam showing engineers grappling with guy ropes

The garden as it is today - pretty much the same as 1815.

This picture gives an excellent understanding of the overall farm complex but creates some problems: the image of the rear building replicates the look of the front building and must be a mistake

How the front building looked shortly after the battle with its roof burnt off.

The garden wall is the same as in 1815

There is a lot more to come - I need to complete the scenery and Liam is working on the Imperial field kitchen plus other ancillary staff.

Seeing Red

 I've been working on the largest cavalry regiment at Waterloo, the 2nd Lancers of the Imperial Guard.

The figures aren't finished yet and there is quite a lot to do, but you get the general idea.  

the figures are by Zvezda, Esci, Strelets, S Range, Les Higgins, Art Minaituren, NewLine and contain  many conversions.

My thanks to all those who helped deliver this monumental task

Defence of Smohain

 The Eastern end of the Allied line was held by Prince Bernhard's Brigade.  Papelotte and La Haye was held by green coated Nassauers of the 2nd Nassau Regiment (albeit with one battalion detached to Hougoumont).  To their left was the 28th Orange Nassau regiment in blue coats.

Here are some images showing Prince Bernhard's defensive line, with troops strung out quite thinly along the line in skirmish order, each company holding back a platoon in reserve.