Meeting My Waterloo!

Will and I decided to give the Command & Colors Waterloo scenario a go, again using my in house rules.  I played Napoleon and the French and having read accounts of this battle on the C&C website I felt pretty confident of a french Victory.

For the game (appropriately) we used my Epic Waterloo figures and the 'village in a bag' buildings to represent the various objectives.  Before I begin, I should add that I was suffering from a really bad head cold and as the day wore on my enthusiasm waned, but what the heck, wasn't Napoleon ill back in 1815 and he er....lost!

Here is an overview of the battlefield, French on the right, Allies on the left:

Looking towards the Allies positions with La Haye Saint centre left:

And the left hand side of the battle with Hougoumont on the left.

The Allied ridge;

The battle kicked off with a brisk action around Hougoumont Farm, with French light troops attacking through the woods.  Eventually the British were overwhelmed and the French infantry took control of the buildings.  Attempts by the French to reinforce, however, were thwarted and the light infantry were left to hold the position.

Meanwhile, French infantry advanced towards and take La Haye Saint but suffer heavy casualties.

Supporting French cavalry is cleared away by a bold charge by the Union Brigade and French infantry casualties mount.

Over on the French left a concerted assault by the Allies destroys the French light and in the next turn the French hold on La Haye Saint crumbles.  The French are more or less back to their start positions having lost about half of their infantry.  An extensive exchange of fire by the opposing gun batteries cause further casualties but it is clear that the have lost the ability to continue the attack being just one loss from their exhaustion point.

Napoleon concedes and sneaks away to bed, hot lemon, and sympathy!

Overall the allied defence was strong, the French were over extended and maybe should have just concentrated on taking one objective rather than both.  I suppose one conciliation was that following a salvo from the Imperial Guard Foot Artillery it was observed that Wellington was unhorsed and seen being carried from the field! 

In any event it was a clear victory for the Allies.

Warlord Epic Waterloo French Army on Parade

 I have finally organised and based my Epic 15mm French army and I attach a few pictures to show the result.  I still have some more heavy cavalry and skirmishers, as well as some horse artillery to come back from the painter, but the army is just about complete. All of the figures were painted professionally apart from the Guard, which I did.

An overview:

The light cavalry, Chasseurs, Hussars and Lancers, as well as a battery of horse artillery.

The line infantry, foot artillery and skirmishers:

The heavy cavalry, currently consisting of just one regiment of Carabiniers and a horse artillery battery:

The Imperial Guard:

Guard foot artillery:

They will be in action soon.

Epic Battles Waterloo - Young Guard

 Today I finished off the third of my 15mm Guard battalions.  This time I have painted some of the line infantry in greatcoats as Young Guard - these are chasseurs.  Once agin a bit of paint has really brought out the character of these figures and I am pleased with the result:

Just some cavalry remaining to complete the French army.

Epic Waterloo French Line Artillery

Continuing the process of basing my Epic Waterloo French, last night I mounted three batteries of French Line Artillery on their bases.  The artillery figures are the most fiddly of the mouldings, made up of three parts, which when painted require a bit of filing to get them to fit together. Once assembled they have to be aligned with four holes on the bases.  With my fat fingers they often fell apart before I could secure them.

But, I got there in the end and lined up they look quite impressive.  I did not paint these figures:

Epic Waterloo - French Imperial Guard

 My Warlord Epic Waterloo 15mm French army is nearing completion.  While I was waiting for the bulk of the figures to come back from the painter I purchased an Imperial Guard set and began painting them.  They are lovely figures but are a real test for my eyes.  The figures appear to be 13.5mm, rather than 15mm  and consist of ranks of 10 figures, with 80 figures making a battalion.

Here are two battalions of Imperial Guard Grenadiers.  Fortunately they are in campaign dress which simplifies the painting, although you could really go to town on the detail with the right brush and decent eyesight!

The officer figures are also from the Epic range, but Napoleon is a 15mm Minifigs casting.  I bought him before Warlord brought out their senior commander sets.

I am now in the process of organising and basing the rest of the French.  Pictures to follow shortly.

Epic Battles Waterloo 15mm British Army

 Last night I finished off the last of the figures in the British Army starter set making up 15 battalions of infantry, seven of cavalry and five batteries of artillery.  In all over 1000 figures.  I must confess that I did not paint them all, sending a load off to a painting service. On completion they look good and fit in well with my 5" hex playing surface.

Here is an army overview:

The infantry:

I bought some French and painted them as Nassau allies. I will paint some Belgians and dutch too:

There is a heavy cavalry brigade of four regiments:

A light cavalry brigade of three regiments:

Each cavalry Brigade has a horse artillery battery in support:

As well as three batteries of foot artillery:

Finally a command group as there are plenty of spare mounted officer figures:

General Update

I recently finished painting these rather charming 30mm British Lancers from the Spencer Smith Classic range.  The lance arm is a separate casting, so it would be a simple task to create sword equipped cavalry, something that I might try.

Elsewhere, I have been very distracted by other projects.  I recently received a heap of plastic Samurai figures and I have been working through those. the infantry are from the MB board game 'Shogun' and the cavalry are by Zvezda:

However, I have been further distracted by the release of the Warlord Epic Battles Waterloo series, which has seen some major painting sessions underway.  Bob Black has bought the French and I the British. In each army there are 12 infantry, six cavalry and 5 batteries.  Not only an epic battle, but an epic painting project too!