Chasseurs a Pied of the Old Guard

 My diorama of Waterloo currently consists of Hougoumont, the Smohain area, Plancenoit and the central 'spine' of the battle, running from Rossomme past Maison La Coste, through La Belle Alliance, past La Haye Sainte, the Crossroads and on to Mont St Jean.

This spine is very long and follows the Brussels chaussee. Half of the sections run alongside the road in open country and don't have very many figures attached.

This weekend I attached a battalion of the Chasseurs a Pied to one of these sections.  Because it was raining I had to complete this inside so I couldn't put the section next to other completed parts of the model, but to help orientate you, the section would be just West of Maison La Coste (see picture below which already shows two other battalions).

Maison La Coste and the two existing battalions

And now for the new figures, which are a mix of Zvezda, Hinton Hunt, Les Higgins, Garrison, RSM, Airfix, Italeri, New Line, Kennington, Hat, Art Miniaturen, Strelets and various conversions.

Attaching this number of figures inevitably takes time and I need now to conduct some snagging - notably to hide any visible bases.

Tete de Colonne

The band is scratch built, largely from Hat Saxons.

The rare Linear A Guradsman with casualty

No More Room at the Inn

 Courtesy of Liam, Le Caillou has been filling up with an extraordinary range of figures showing the Imperial Headquarters and household.  Many of the vehicles are not commercially available as models so Liam has scratch built them.  The figures are a mixture of Franznap, Hagen, Art Miniaturen, conversions and some 3D prints.  There are still some stands to hide but it's coming together.

First, the garden:

Cooks, chefs and bakers

Napoleon's Field Bakery - scratch built from the original below. It was captured at Waterloo and is now in the Royal Logistic Corps museum

Secondly, the courtyard:

Thirdly, the North end:

 Fourthly, the Road:

And finally, the South end:

Assault on Frischermont

 Because it was demolished in the 1960s and because the fight did not involve British troops, the events around the Chateau of Frischermont are not at all well known.

The overall details are however clear: Prince Bernhard had only enough troops to defend Papelotte, La Haye and Smohain so Frischermont fell easily and early to General Durutte.

It was later in the afternoon as General Ziethen's corps arrived that the Chateau became the scene of fighting.  The battle however had none of the intensity or longevity of Hougoumont and quite quickly the French withdrew leaving the farm complex to the Prussians.

The images show the period just before the French withdrawal.  If they had stayed and fought, the building was a natural strongpoint and would have been hard for the Prussians to capture.

There are about 1,000 Prussians shown with another 1,000 to come.  About 400 French are defending the chateau.

The ravine at the base of the Great Tower

Lone Prussian casualty withdraws East.

The figures are mostly Strelets with Revell, Hat and some Art Miniaturen

The tower, which collapsed in the 1830s.

The Prussians are mostly conversions

Looking south

The corner of the walled garden

Ziethen and his staff.  Mostly Art Miniaturen.

Each company is about 100 strong

This scene needs some more French

French sally from West gate

The Prussian with his arms up is by Linear A - a rare figure

Overview

Prussians emerge from the trees

A lot of stands to be hidden and snagging to be resolved.