1813-15 battles in 20mm and for AoE and V&F - (part 6) "La Garde meurt mais ne se rend pas!"

 

I always wanted to put this title! In fact it sums pretty well the life and death of these fantastic soldiers. The figures are all from the last batch of exchanged figures and were already painted. Even so I changed a number of details life the blue bedrolls, flags and golden details as these figures started their life as line grenadiers. 

The figures are Zvezda with two Kozak 3d printed. One of the drummers is Esci and one Officer is Hat from the 1805 range. 

A good thing about these figures is that you can use them without any relevant uniform change for most of the Napoleonic wars. 

Next: More British infantry. 

1813-15 battles in 20mm and for AoE and V&F - (part 5) Hanover time

Hanover gave a considerable contribution for Wellington´s army at Waterloo at around 17% of all Allied force. And, with the famous exception of Cumberland´s Hussars, all remained pretty steady in their positions, most in big rectangles, under French artillery fire, suffering many casualties. 

The majority of the infantry was  made of Landwehr battalions. Like their Prussian cousins and Russian Opolchenie, they had a soft hat that many discarded in favour of the British stovepipe. Even so I prefered to use the soft hat on them as they are more distinguishable both on the table and shelves. For that I squashed the Stovepipe of the Hat and Italeri figures after burning them with a lighter. I got used to this with the same figures but in 28mm and it was not difficult. If you use a blade to squash the soft hat its top becomes too flat so the finger is better. Just be careful and let the hot soft plastic become cooler for some 10 seconds. 

The battalions here are the Osnabruck and Verden, representing two Brigades of Hanoverians. 

This field battalion is Italeri and was easier to make as its made of British plain uniforms from the Peninsula period. The battalion is Bremen with its blue characteristic trousers. Some figures could still use the old green uniforms but I´m not a fan of that approach as it cuts the consistency of just a few figures representing hundreds of men. 

Next: The French Imperial Grenadiers

1813-15 battles in 20mm and for AoE and V&F - (part 4) First British arrive

 

These three brigades here are all repaints from the large group I exchanged with a fellow collector from Lisbon. From front to back you have the 2nd Foot Guards (Maitland´s brigade), the 2nd Coldstream Guards (Byng´s brigade) and the 14th Foot (Mitchell´s brigade). 

The 14th Foot is made of old and lovely Airfix figures that the previous owner managed to convert engineously to Peninsular British with Stovepipes. So the original Belgian shakos had to come back to the original but cords and the tall front had been erased so what I managed to make was some Belgian shakos covered in the waterproof material used at waterloo with the help of some paste. 

The Coldstream Guard are all the new Italeri with the Airfix mounted officer and Hat sapper. The main change here was to paint the trousers white but some small details like shoulder straps, eyes and such were also added. 

The Foot Guards are also Italeri with Hat sapper. The mounted officer is Waterloo1815. 

Next:Hanoverians for Waterloo in 20mm 

1813-15 battles in 20mm and for AoE and V&F - (part 3) Finials for the Tricolores

 

Most of the times I forget to place the finials and so I had to come back to them. The finials are made of string,wrapped beneath the Eagle and hardened with superglue. 

Next: British for Waterloo

1813-15 battles in 20mm and for AoE and V&F - (part 2) Four more French infantry brigades based in Airfix oldies but goldies

 

Another mix of brands, this time the usual coated Hat figures together with the old but charming Airfix most of them in yellow plastic! Frankly I get these old figures whenever I can and easily prefer them to newer and more accurate brands. The Hat figures are the only ones newly painted with all other retouched from the large collection I recently exchanged. The new details are cuffs, eyes, some missing white straps, red for the closed lapels, shading and some brass parts. The rest was already there and pretty nicely painted. The previous owner was using these post-1812 figures for the Peninsula and the flags were also taken out and replaced with the tricolores . 

As these figures were initially for the Peninsula the elite companies had large plumes added but I kept them as they look great even if they were discarded by the 1812 Bardin regulations. A funny detail I´ve never noticed on the old Airfix figures is that all figures have engraved epaulettes and large shoulders, which in fact is excellent as you can use them as fusiliers or as grenadiers or voltigeurs, the same happening to the British.  

So this was and easy group as the figures were already painted less a few additions. As usual I painted everything with the figures glued to the new bases and many of them are leaning and glued to each other for extra sturdiness. 

Next: whether more French or Hanoverians

1813-15 battles in 20mm and for AoE and V&F - (part 1) First two French infantry brigades

And so it begins. Better saying, re-starts but in a different scale. As building my Waterloo armies was becoming complicated (Brexit as main cause and also lack of material here in Portugal) I´m now making it in 20mm having exchanged my collection of a bit over 1100 painted and based 28mm figures by over 1600 painted and based 20mm figures. Also some 20 boxes of 28mm unpainted figures travelled from Coimbra to Lisbon, together with some 50/60 boxes of 20mm which made the other way round. 

These first two brigades were newly painted and represents Charlet and Bourgois brigades of D'Érlon corps. They are made of Italeri and coated Hat figures. The officer on horse is Waterloo 1815.

Not many conversions here as the only change was cutting out the plastic flags and replacing it by  paper ones. The coated Hat figures were glued with electric glue to the base so they could get as tall as the Italeri ones. 

The mix of Bardin and coated uniforms is quite nice as per the 28mm plastic Perry box. 

Next: more 1815 French infantry Airfix and Hat

The 1812 Russian army for AOE/ V&F rules in 20mm size.

Sorry but I did something stupid and if you want to see this video you have to paste it on the bar or see it on my YouTube channel:

https://youtu.be/NhOvhsYHMWc?si=z79kcseEVmnP13LF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhOvhsYHMWc

The British army at Waterloo for AOE / V&F rules in 28mm

 

1st French Carabiniers and 1st Westphalian Cuirassiers at Wagram and Borodino for AOE/V&F in 20mm

French Carabiniers are a must for a battle were Napoleon was present. Together with Cuirassiers they were the heaviest French cavalry in the battlefield. I also used Italeri Carabiniers for the Westphalian Cuirassiers as they were similarly equipped and that included the same type of crested helmet, different from the helmet of the French Cuirassiers. 

The only conversion on these two units was the Westphalian cornet which had a busby taken from the an Italeri French Hussar. Also a tuft of Milliput was added to the Westphalians on the left side of the helmet. Not mandatory as these were probably not used in action but it makes them stand in the middle of others. 

The flags were hand painted (and that shows). 

Next: A video on the Russian Napoleonic army

A wargamer´s trip to Arnhem - (part 3 and final) The Bridge and surroundings

While arriving to Arnhem from the Oosterbeek direction you face the imposing St Elisabeth Hospital, today a block of apartments. Here, two famous ambushes occured: the first, a British one that  surprised a group of Germans parading in front of the hospital, from the initial 70, only 2 survived; the second, a German one made by Kampfgruppe Spindler (from the 9th SS PD) that blocked the British paratroopers and denied the possibility of linking the 1st and 3rd battalion with Frost´s 2nd battalion at the bridge also causing a carnage among the paratroopers which faced fire from three sides, including the fire of ex-French AA 75mm guns from the other side of the Nederrijn. 

Several details will be added to my model of the Hospital, everything under the surveillance of Elisabeth of Hungary. 

This simple AI diagram shows the axis of attack of the main German units against the tight perimeter of Frost´s men. 

The bunkers at the entrance of both ends of the bridge are still the ones from the battle, and at least this one had a 20mm AA gun on top on a wooden structure. The bridge itself was rebuilt after the battle. 

The distance from the houses on the right to the bridge during the days of the battle was much smaller. These new ones were built some 15 meters from the original site from were Frost men fired upon Graebnar´s column. The original ones were reduced to rubble, together with all the 18 houses that housed the 2nd battalion due to the german tactic of clearing with tank, artillery and Pzfaust fire one by one all houses that could but turned into a  British strongpoint. 

 

This is nowadays the place were the HQ of the 2nd battalion stood, around 100 meters to the west of the bridge. All those buildings, and many more all over Arnhem, completely destroyed, were rebuilt into a typical simple and modern Dutch look. 

The Church of St Walburgis, already with both towers (one was rammed by a FW190 during the battle) is an imposing site. Looking at it closely will also help to add more detail into the model. 

More small openings will have to be painted together with more detail on the arches. 

This place some 400m nort of the bridge ramp is the probable site of the assembly point  of  Kampfgruppe  Hummel (with Tiger I tanks)and Kampfgruppe Knaust. The Tiger IIs of 506th Heavy Panzer Battalion must have been around this place too but they were mostly used in reducing the Oosterbeek perimeter as they arrived late for the actions around the bridge. 

On the large square of the Arnhem court there is this beautiful building called the Sabelspoort which I want to model. It started to rain when this picture was taken so I went to the Web to find something better. 

~

And here it is a much better view taken in fair weather. 

The one I really wanted was the Devil´s House but it looks a bit complicated to scratch built. These two pictures are also from the Web as mine were taken during heavy rain. 

If you want to pay a visit to the model buildings I´ve made in the past regarding Arnhem and Ooosterbeek here they are:

https://jpwargamingplace.blogspot.com/2012/07/rapid-fire-battle-of-arnhem-buildings.html

Some are suffering changes while others will have still to be built, like the Oude kerk or the Sabelspoort. 

Next: More Napoleonic cavalry