1813-15 battles in 20mm for AoE and V&F - (part 51) Brause´s infantry Brigade and the 2nd Cavalry brigade

 

The task continues with the building of the Prussian army for Waterloo. This post is about the conclusion of the II army of Von Pirch with the 7th Infantry Brigade of General Von Brause. The majority of the brigade arrived late to the battle, namely two of its infantry regiments and they are not here for that reason. In this post there are also the Hussars of the 2nd cavalry brigade and two Corps command stands. 

The figures are a mix of Hat and Airfix for the Landwehr; Hat guns and Zvezda Russian figures for the artillery; Hat for the Landwehr cavalry; Italeri for the Hussars and a mix of Hat and Zvezda for the Corps command stands. 

The Elbe Landwehr infantry are Airfix figures with the usual plastic broom bayonet to go along with the Hat Landwehr.

The arms of the Hat Dragoons had to be placed in a different position so they can use a lance and become the Elbe Landwehr cavalry. These two squadrons were supporting directly Brause´s brigade. 

Unfortunately these figures are some of Hat´s first with very small shakoes and not the most beautiful design. I think on these days Hat wanted just to complement what others were doing, namely the Prussian Revell infantry, and this before they became the biggest producers of 1/72nd scale figures ever. 

Horse artillery to the left and line artillery to the right. The figures are the beautiful Zvezda Russians with the shakoes and cords heavily trimmed. The guns are the much older Hat guns. 

The two small regiments of Hussars (3rd and 5th) of the 2nd cavalry brigade are all Italeri French with a bit of Greenstuff on the shako for it to look like the Prussian one. 

These two stands represent Von Pirch and Von Dannewitz Corps stands. The standing generals are Hat Opolchenie officers, with a ADC each converted from the Hat British command set and two horse holders from the Zvezda artillery. 

Next: more Prussians or the 1942 Dieppe pier

1813-15 battles in 20mm for AoE and V&F - (part 50) Kraft infantry Brigade

 

Kraft Brigade was made of the 9 IR, 26 IR and the 1 Elb Landwehr IR, plus a squadron of the 11 Hussars (made previously and not here) and a field artillery battery. The Brigade was already incomplete when it arrived at Plancenoit and depleted of around 2500 men lost at Ligny. It lost more 400 men on the 18th june. 

The figures are Hat and Airfix for the Landwehr. The line infantry is Revell, Waterloo1815 and a few Esci Russians turned into Prussians for variety. The artillery gun is Hat with Zvezda Russian crew. 

Again the Zvezda Russian artillery gives very nice Russians. 

The drummer in front is also Zvezda but suits the Prussian very well as the Prussian uniform was based on the Russian one. Future history in the XX century (and XXI) will be very different for these two countries...

The mix of the three brands gives lots of energy to the stands. The paintings of those days always shows the Prussians in vigorous actions against the French with bayonet charges and muskets used as clubs. Revell and Waterloo1815 captured those action very well. The figures with one leg in the air were always glued to another one for extra sturdiness. The Esci Russians had plastic bayonets glued. 

The same happened with the Airfix figures which had bayonets added. The rear rank has mostly Hat figures marching. 

The Waterloo1815 box has four very nice officers on horse which became Brigade commanders. The arms of two of them were bent with fire for different poses. 

Next: Brause Infantry Brigade

1813-15 battles in 20mm for AoE and V&F - (part 49) The 5th Westphalian Landwehr Regiment and some artillery

 

This Landwehr regiment concludes Tippelskirch brigade whose main line regiments were shown last week.

The figures are all Hat with a few old Airfix mixed in.The Airfix figures blend quite well and only the bayonet was added. 

Most of the Prussian Regiments didn´t carry flags and the 5th West.Ldr. most probably didn´t. Even so what is a Napoleonic unit without a flag? 

The artillery came from several sources: the limbers are Hat French Wurst system with some Evergreen parts for the triangular seats; the drivers got some Greenstuff in the shako for them to look Prussians; the gun is Russian Hat (the Prussian are the same) and the artillerymen are Zvezda Guard artillery with trimmed Kiwers.

Next: Kraft's brigade

1813-15 battles in 20mm for AoE and V&F - (part 48) Tippelskirch brigade

This brigade was made from 28mm hard plastic Hat miniatures turned into "20s", or kind of it. With the big Italeri figures in the middle, like the officer and drummer they play their part. The brigade included these  IR 2 and IR 25, this one from the famous FreiKorps.

The trick was to cut some 5mm from the legs, another 5mm from the musket and glue the bayonet back as these are hard plastic minis very easy to glue. The "en masse" look help to desguise the origin and the difference to an Italeri French unit is not that big.  Another thing that helps is the fact that these 28mm figures are far from the more widely seen and much bulkier Perry or Warlord being much slimmer and elegant. 

Another aspect that convinced me at having a go at this "downscaling" thing was that I built most of the French around Airfix French (big heads on these) and Italeri figures which in fact are branded 1/72 but are 24mm in height. So if ever they face in battle I hope these new Hat will face Italeri French (if they don´t it will be strange but what is done is done). 

I´ve seen worse... but don´t remember where. 

The IR25 was changed in order to have litewkas as uniform. The officer came from Hat Opolchenie box and goes pretty well with the bunch. 

The change can be made with Greenstuff but for this particular longer coats I found Superfine Milliput  better. 

Also added are these three batteries of Prussian artillery (two horse and one foot). 

The artillerymen are Hat Bavarian with their rolled blankets around the torso with new Esci and Italeri heads as the Hat Prussian artillerymen are some of their first dating from 1997 and a bit on the small side and too tall. But a funny thing that probably happened with these first boxes by Hat was that they tried to complement the existing ones from other brands and the Revell Prussian infantry must have had some influence on its design. 

Also from Hat came these old Prussian dragoons from 1996, again with small heads to go along with the Revell infantry. This is the 5th Dragoons regiment representing the 1st Cavalry Brigade. 

Next: more artillery and the 5th Westphalian Landwehr

1813-15 battles in 20mm for AoE and V&F - (part 47) Steinmetz brigade

 

The Prussians for Waterloo are an old love of mine. I´ve always enjoyed the simplicity of their uniforms and their performance in battle, even with Landwehr units making a good part of its force. My first atempt was decades ago while painting Airfix Landwehr and Esci Russians as Prussians. Then Revell brought real line infantry and a lot of boxes were amassed for the future, always afraid of Armaggeddon. Then cheap 28mm plastics from Warlord and Perry came up and many of 20s were given away to friends or the Revell ones became Russians, this time in opposite direction. Recently in my large exchange with TC I got many Prussian boxes that were increased in numbers thanks to Vinted. 

This first group is Steinmetz Brigade made of the IR12 (black reserve short coats) and the IR24 (grey coats). All figures but three are Revell. The flags are made up as most of Prussian units only got flags after Waterloo. 

The Prussian regular figures of almost all brands can give nice reserve infantry with short coats as the Prussian infantryman carried a lot of stuff on its back - bedroll, bread bag, ammo pouch and sabre - hiding the details of the back of the coat, something that maybe Revell thought about that and that may be a nice detail. So really no need for the Hat reserve infantry. 

Only the drummers, officers and flagbearers have the normal dark blue coat. In this stand the drummer is a converted Zvezda artillery Russian, the flagbearer is a Pavlov Italeri figure with new head and the officer is a Hat  artillery Bavarian also with new head. The first two got the bedroll in GreenStuff. 

These Italeri French Hussars became the 11th Prussian Hussar Regiment with GreenStuff added on top of the shako. 

Next: DaveM and Jeffers, two of my most dedicated followers will have round 3 of my failed atempt to convince them of the beauties of downscaling. 

1813-15 battles in 20mm for AoE and V&F - (part 12) The Young Guard at Waterloo

 

When I made my first two Brigades of Young Guard in 28mm I used the Perry plastics for most of them, that is, mixing some greatcoated infantry with Bardin uniforms. The greatcoated Young Guard - something that afflicted many French infantry units- is many times portrayed like this and even Hat called Young Guard to a box exclusively with greatcoats. Also the fantastic site Mont-Saint-Jean also shows the Young Guard, at least partially, in greatcoats.

  Now in 20mm the Esci  models were used. One reason for this was this fantastic plate taken from the H&C Soldiers and Uniforms of Napoleonic Wars by Hourtoulle, Girbal and Courcelle: 

Here Jack Girbal portrays all Young Guard, both Tirailleurs and Voltigeurs, in standard uniform as it is said on the subtitle that the greatcoats were probably wet from the previous night and that they were placed as normal strapped on top of the backpacks. This painting looks quite believable as I´ve been on those streets and also want to believe in this version. 

Another reason is the Esci "French Line Infantry" figures themselves. When I was a teenager I remember talking to two wargaming friends - the only ones I knew - and one of them saying "they are only good for Young Guard". I guess he was right as in fact the Esci French infantry is a big mess, with lapels pre-1812 and  Bardin on the tails. In fact this kind of "mistakes" convinced me that Esci was making enough figures so we could mix and match them as, for instance, you could get full pre-1812 uniforms from the Grenadier box and place shakos on them, or simply paint over the front of the infantry and get Bardin uniforms as the short tails were already there. 

This was what I did with these Young Guard figures. In fact the Esci detail is quite nice but not very deep - which I think was made on purpose so you can convert them more easily - and new detail can simply be painted over. 

So all figures got new front lapels, cuffs and even epaulettes for these two groups. Also only was strap was painted on the rank and file with NCO´s with two straps and sabretache. The final coat of varnish helps erase all molded original details that you don´t want. 

The only additions to many of these figures were the backpacks which were taken from Esci Grenadiers old Airfix figures. 

So all figures came from the Esci "Line infantry" and only the sappers are from the Grenadier box. The Young Guard didn´t have Eagles so I placed some hand painted company fanions on four of the stands. 

Next: the 95th rifles 

28mm Perry Miniatures Prussian Infantry- Steinmetz 1st Brigade

Here is the missing brigade for me to have all the Prussian infantry for Waterloo/Plancenoit.

12th Infantry regiment, with reserve black jackets. The flag carrier is a Hat Bavarian transformed. I glued a paper flag to the plastic. It is a little thick but passable. Officer and drummer also Hat Bavarians transformed.

24th Infantry Regiment, with reserve grey jackets.

The 26th Infantry regiment, not Steinmetz brigade but Kraft´s 6th Bgde, build and painted at the same time.

Detail of the command stand with a pioneer made of Hat body and a Perry head with  a beard in Greentuff. All other figures are also Hat bodies and Perry heads.

All flags in this post are conjectural and unofficial, as in theory none of this regiments sported any flag.

Hat-Perry hard plastic figures 28mm comparison

This post is to be read by people who like to buid armies and not for those who like to spread jealousy all over with their painting and modelling skills. If you are in the 2nd group, read no more.

 I´ve watched with a certain surprise, or not, in the last few years, the democratic birth of hard plastic 28mm historical figures: the scale of the "true" wargamers. Suddenly some "true" wargamers were painting and playing with inferior quality figures made of metal, when compared to the Perry Miniatures or Victrix plastic range for instance.

Well,  this "true" wargamers scale is constantly forgetting that besides Perry (the finest hard plastic without any shadow of a doubt), Victrix (the finest...also),Warlord (very,very good) and a few more I didn´t buy yet, there is another poor manufacturer who in the last few years produced hundreds of fantastic boxes of 20mm figures covering dozens of conflicts, and with an average excellent quality.

 More important to this short information of this truly yours, Hat also produce 28mm hard plastic figures (Napoleonic and early middle ages)! Yes, those you can cut and glue different heads and stuff, while the opposite is impossible in metal!! Some 20 boxes up to the moment!! Yes, it is true, they do, believe me!! Ok, their napoleonics aren´t as good as Perry´s. But hey, the Perry brothers are probably the best sculptors in the world so the competition is one sided. Also with surprise, in the main british two wargames magazines there isn´t a single word about Hat 28mm in the vast majority of their articles when they say something about hard plastic 28mm figures ("England will prevail", Churchill Dixit). Well everyone knows one of them is dependent and the other is independent, but both strongly and understandably ( I wish the same happened in Portugal...) defending their own cottage industries.

 Specially for those outside UK, Hat figures- U.S, but made in China- are easily available and  deserve a word, better, many photos. To my knowledge and humble opinion, Hat 28mm figures aren´t inferior to many metal manufacturers, and they are many times cheaper and easily available with French, Bavarian and Prussian infantry in different marching, in action, and command boxes, and with many more nations on the pipeline. Hat only loses when compared to manufacturers of the Perry Miniatures caliber.

Nevertheless, judge for yourself.

Perry Miniatures 28mm Prussian Infantry, left, Hat 28mm prussian infantry, right.

I mix Perry and Hat  figures in the same stand (see other posts) or even switch heads and I think Hat fits well with Perry.

Next photos are dedicated to Pedro Casimiro, the enlighter.

I know the photos aren´t good (I´m a great and humble modeller and painter but a lousy photographer) but in groups, small or big- as you can see in previous posts- Hat figures goes reasonably well with others. They are true 28mm figures and not 30mm as many tend to say.

Yes, I wish Hat produced them a bit larger, but they are cheap, realistic and very well researched figures, not to Calpe standards it is true, but figures you can paint easily and build armies with.

 And have fun, which is the most important aspect of our hobby.

1815 Landwehr prussians (from French Hat 28mm figures)

Just some notes on this previously published photos.

Some more prussians. This ones are made out of the Hat French light infantry boxes, both voltigeurs and carabineers. As they have the pre-Bardin uniform period i bought them for nothing, just because they were new ( i do the previous period in 20mm).

So with some Greenstuff to their litewka and blankets and burned heads/shakos(Perry) to produce the schirmütze, you can have original Landwehr figures. This ones are for the Pommeranian regiments.

The mounted officer is a metal Warlord figure.