Vintage Waterloo - prequel

Roy got together with his friend Matthew on the 18th for a test game of Vintage Waterloo. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend but Matthew took a few photos of proceedings and I’m posting them here to whet your appetite ready for the big day.

French infantry and artillery lined up in front of the ridge (Hougoumont on the left)

The Brunswickers were apparently beaten out of the woods but the French failed to take the Chateau

Great model of Hougoumont Roy has made!

Impressive looking attack by the French - surely it would succeed with a few more turns played?

Now that's what I call a Grand Battery (La Haye Sainte on the left)

The Guard in reserve near La Belle Alliance.

Love the rifles in the sandpit - can't wait until my own boys of the 95th can join them!

In total Roy had around 50 units on his 12 foot table and this was without the 20 or so I will be providing when we finally get together - can't wait!

95th Rifles

Just as every wargamer worth his salt in the 1970’s had to have a battalion of Old Guard and a regiment of Scots Greys, so too he had to have a battalion of the 95th Rifles. I must confess that back in the day I didn’t have any of these units at all.

 "Fall in the 95th!"

This situation has now been rectified by the addition to my forces of these 18 vintage Hinton Hunt British riflemen painted for me by Matt G. The unit is composed of:

14 x BN/19 Rifleman, firing
1 x BN/15 Officer (blowing whistle and pointing)
1 x BN/16 Rifleman (kneeling firing)
1 x BN/17 Rifleman, running
1 x BN/20 Bugler (playing)

 Harper, Sharpe and Hagman - perhaps?

When I started wargaming the Sharpe novels were yet to be written but I do remember that I borrowed a copy of “The Recollections of Rifleman Harris” from the local library and read it with great interest. I'm hoping that my own version of the 95th will live up to the exploits of both Harris and Sharpe when they finally get to take part in Vintage Waterloo.

Memory lapse

Last weekend I was clearing out some things in my parent’s house and in a box in the bottom of a cupboard I found a 54mm Hinton Hunt Caledonian warrior. The figure (as you can see) was painted quite well with shading and a nice chamfered flocked wooden base. I remember that I bought this figure from the Hinton Hunt shop in Camden Passage in 1973 (for more on that click here).

What I can’t remember at all was painting it! It’s odd because for it to still be in my parent’s house it must have been painted before I left home at the age of nineteen. With it was a made up Airfix kit of a Waterloo Coldstream guardsman that I do remember painting (and darn fiddly it was) but done without shading.

This is weird because the shading technique used on the Caledonian is much closer to stuff I painted later on and what dim recollection I do have of trying to paint that figure was that I made a right pigs ear of it.

Anyway, there you have it – the only 54mm Hinton Hunt figure in my collection!

11th Light Dragoons

The 11th Light Dragoons saw action during the Peninsular war at Cuidad Rodrigo and Salamanca. Upon returning to Britain in 1813 they exchanged their Tarelton helmets for the newly issued Shako. At Waterloo the 11th formed part of Vandeleur’s brigade on the left of the Allied line and took part in the advance during the closing phase of the battle.

This troop of 6 figures is comprised of one-piece casting BN/50 Light Dragoon (mounted) charging, wearing bell top shako and French style blue coat with coloured facings. The figure is amongst the earliest in the Hinton Hunt British range but not one of the best in my opinion. Marcus went on to produce a further two Light Dragoon figures in the two-piece range, one in Tarleton and the other in Shako.

I will be combining the Light Dragoons with my Brunswick Hussars to form a single 12 figure Allied light cavalry regiment for Vintage Waterloo.

6 x Hinton Hunt BN/50 British Light Dragoons with BN/252 Uxbridge – all painted by Matt G.

Henry Padget

Born in 1768, Padget commanded a regiment of volunteers in Flanders in 1794 and went on to lead a cavalry brigade in Holland in 1799. He became colonel of the 7th Light Dragoons and was appointed commander of the cavalry under Moore in the peninsular at the end of 1808. He conducted a skilful rearguard action during the retreat on Corunna (during which he captured the French commander Lefebvre-desnouettes).

Padget never returned to the peninsular to fight under Wellesley and this may have been partly due to the fact that he eloped with Wellesley’s sister. Bruce Quarrie in his book Napoleons Campaigns in Miniature says “In a wargames campaign I strongly recommend the British player bend the rules slightly and appoint him (Uxbridge) cavalry commander under Wellesley in Spain”. I’m not sure if Sir Stapleton-Cotton would have agreed with this suggestion.

During the 100 days campaign Padget, now Earl of Uxbridge, commanded the entire Anglo- Allied cavalry contingent and was second in command to Wellington. His magnificent rearguard action following Quatre Bras was perhaps the high point of his career. He famously lost a leg to a stray cannon ball during the closing phase of the battle of Waterloo. Padget lived on to become Marquis of Anglesy and a Field Marshal, he died in 1854.

Hinton Hunt BN/252 Lieut-Gen. The Earl of Uxbridge in hussar uniform and shako – painted by Matt G.

Carabinier Trumpeter

One of the very first batches of figures I acquired at the start of this project were some vintage French Carabiniers. The figures were a mixture of the one-piece casting FN/106 and the two-piece version FN/311 (horse FNH/5). One of the castings had been converted by the previous owner into a trumpet player. This had been quite neatly done by removing the carbine and cartridge box and adding a wire trumpet.

Having decided with Roy that we would change the establishment of cavalry regiments to 12 figures (rather than 18) I decided to add to my existing squadron of 6 Carabiniers to bring them up to regimental strength. It was then that I remembered
the trumpeter languishing in the box of spares.

Eight years ago I would have frowned upon the idea of mutilating an original Hinton Hunt figure but I’ve since mellowed and even dabbled in the dark art of conversion myself. I’ve had great fun restoring (bits of the trumpet fell off in the bleach) and painting this figure and finally got some use out of my copy of Osprey’s Napoleon’s Carabiniers.

I’m tempted now to have a go at converting a figure to an eagle bearer having been inspired by Roy’s Cuirassier conversions currently on Lee’s painting table.

Horse Grenadiers – done!

I’m finally back in the saddle and so are my Imperial Guard Horse Grenadiers. Quite how Vintage Waterloo can be achieved if I carry on producing figures at this snail’s pace I don’t know. I just hope that Roy is having better luck.

I did enjoy painting these, the black horses in particular, but it’s frustrating when you have to stop and start because of lack of time. The uniforms are understated considering this is a Guard unit but then the Guard infantry uniforms are as well. I have sufficient DK one-piece castings to eventually make up a full 12-figure unit but for the time being they will be brigaded with my Guard Polish Lancers.

Just for the record the figures are all vintage Hinton Hunt ones. The rider is FN/300 Horse Grenadier Guard mounted on horse FNH/2.