British Napoleonics (read Waterloo) WHC (again).

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Big Navy, Small Army, Diplomacy and financial support… and many coalitions!

In the end it produced the ultimate Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars (why not the Old Monarchies Wars eludes me).

Thought I would give you some pics of a quite profesional Army that was nearly defeated at Waterloo… and rescued by the Prussians in the nick of time!… to do not mention the Allies (Dutch&Belgian, Brunswickers, Nassauers, Hannoverians, and KGL to just mention a few whom in general terms fought as hard as the Britons…).

Enjoy!

Scot Greys
Highlanders
British Cavalry
British Infantry

Napoleonic eye candy 28mm WHC (III)

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Well, as I usually say… you need all sorts… I am obliged to Mark Freeth for those nice pics of the WHC facilities and Napoleonic Armies (and wargames) they are very easy to find in Facebook.

The day I will stop maintaining the present webpage you will be drinking directly from the fountain if you follow some groups on Facebook.

Before retiring I will provide the names and addresses of those Groups to do not let you orphan of your daily dose of Toy Soldiers.

Enjoy!

Prussians…
Beautifully done…
View from the French side…
More Prussians…

Napoleonic eye candy 28mm WHC (I)

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There was a time where I thought I would equal that… LOL… that is megalomania for you!

Now, living more relaxed.

If I ever want to go BIG Napoleonic again… I guess I will book a wekkend at the Wargames Holiday Center, pay my bill and forget about the rest!

Enjoy!

PS: My actual obsession is the Crimean War 1854 in 6mm… maybe one day I will post about that too.

Heavy cavalry
French Infantry
Cavalry Melee…
Russians!

Napoleonic period has its charm (until you grow up from it!).

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I can understand you and all the rest, it was my obsession for thirty years!… that Corsican Emperor and his Regiments… MINIFIGS 25mm all the way (seee elsewhere in this Blog if you are really interested… Waterloo would do if you want to see the little soldiers I painted one by one painstakingly for years… (LOL)… and then sold away tired of that scale (too little to be 54mm… too big to wargame with… you need all sorts you know…).

At least I can remember the happy times when my brother and I tried (some time vainly and quite historically… to win at Waterloo) and one time succeeded in storming that bloody ridge! (knowing all the time that the Russians and the Austrians would not quit anyway…)… those were the days…

Well, in a way, those were some of my days… deeply involved in 6mm as readers of this webpage know already… but it is SOLO wargaming for me nowadays…

Enjoy!

Napoleonic Imperial Old Guard Grenadiers (I guess again from the WHC)
Napoleonic French Imperial Foot Artillery (ditto)… the pic is not from Waterloo at all…

To be fair… some still do!

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Two posts today because I won’t be able to post for a couple of days… getting tired of carrying my personal computer around just to give you your daily dose of lead!

Enjoy the pic below because this is a dying part of the hobby… whohas the time and money to indulge in those pieces of artwork to wargame with eludes me completely (well not completely… but a lot).

Lucky them!

Pic of an actual wargame with pieces of art (IMHO)… there are people there who still do it!

Quite old 54mm!

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First Empire… Napoleone Buonaparte the “corsican”

It is funny what History “makes” of some figures or “personages”… the collective of wargamers (me included) focus on the uniforms (gaudy) the generals leading from the front (that was a nice thing) and other colourful items of the period (same can be said of the XVIIIth Century of course!) and we tend to forget the horrors of those real wars… there are some positive aspects as civil populations were not involved to a point (try to go explain that to a German city who suported “billeted” French Napoleonic Garrisons or for that matter to a Spaniard who simply wanted the French OUT! and did his/her best to make war -even the nasty guerrilla war- to produce that result).

Be that as it may Napoleon was one of a kind, an exponent of meritocracy (and ambition) post Revolutionary (1789) he reformed laws and promoted a more just living in France (generally)… the ideas of the Revolution are now widely accepted in modern democracies… but of course were a shock for old monarchies in Europe (count aristocrats IN)… Europe made war to Napoleon as a consequence (even if he favoured moving and striking first!).

A fascinating human being with lights and shadows but a high IQ. It is, of course anachronic to “judge” Bonaparte by modern standards with hindsight and all that jazz… he marked a period of History for better and for worse.

Nice Miniature by the way… as seen in Facebook!

PS: Passed the 110.000 visitors bar today… a solid third of them from the USA!…quite puzzled by it.

NAPOLEONIC MINIFIGS (and Waterloo in 25mm)

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Napoleon and Staff.

200 years… and still present in our collective memory for what it was… a genius (with faults and virtues) and I personally think quite ahead of its time. Nobody seriously studies Napoleon without noticing that it was not exclusively Napoleon fighting offensive wars (mainly) but defending France against old monarchies coalitions because of the ideas (seen as dangerous) of the French Revolution (which has also controversy attached). Of course having a military background (after all he was an Artillery Officer) and following the European tradition that Clausewitz will formulate a posteriori he went to war frequently enough (understatement) as it was the custom in Europe, nowadays he is still remembered for his Civil Code (nearly 200 years of life) and abolishing feudal privileges. He also reinstated slavery in the Caribbean Sea (to his shame). He was not perfect but had a great brain and “je ne sais quoi”.

This post has really a lot of pics!

Napoleonic wargaming was my passion for almost thirty years, in 25mm because I was stupid enough to do not choose 15mm in the first place (minis in the late seventies had no such vast offer and traders… even if MINIFIGS did 15mm too!) so MINIFIGS 25mm (after all I was coming down from 54mm) I went I and no regrets, was quite happy with my collection who also extended to other periods and wars (I though it would be very difficult to paint such small figures in 15mm because of the lavish uniforms of the napoleonic wars!).

Was interested for many years (obsessed is a better description) with the battle of Waterloo, could the Emperor have won? In context and after years of reading about it, I arrived at the conclusion that it was a NO WIN – NO WIN situation, it would have been 1813 all over again… with Austrians and Russians and what not invading France which was exhausted… and that’s that.

Have some pics of my years indulging in that particular wargamers fetish.

Battling with my little brother… many years from now… yours truly on the left.
Waterloo set on my “wargames room” in fact part of my office!… weekend well employed.
Prussians arriving on the French right flank… 1815. The dark green area was a removable extension of the biggest table at my office.
French Grand battery close up.
Waterloo 1815 (Solo wargame).
Another view.
Waterloo lateral view.
Waterloo view from the French side.
The British Heavy Cavalry charge. Waterloo 1815.
British “heavy” (in fact medium) Cavalry close up.
Waterloo Allied Cavalry close up.
Wellington under his tree…
British and Hanoverian Infantry 1815.
French Heavy Cavalry of the Imperial Guard + Cuirassiers on their left.
French Light Cavalry of the Imperial Guard.
French Grand battery (background out of focus)
The fictional South Essex of Cornwell’s Sharpe (see right of pic).
Ditto.
Denmark Infantry. With a change of Command stand they become Swiss…
The Prussians arrival!
Austrian Grenadiers, Swedish Infantry and Russian Grenadiers.
Portuguese Line and Light Infantry (Caçadores).
The 9th Leger “L’Incomparable”
Napoleonic units: early Spanish 1808 , Duchy of Warsaw and Wurtemberg Infantry.
French Artillery.
Different Napoleonic units: Kingdom of Naples, Saxons and Bavarians.
Aspern-Essling 1809

After a deep crisis with 25mm wargaming I sold them all. After some years toying with Playmobil (75mm) conversions and quite classical 54mm toy soldier collecting I went back to wargaming but in 6mm this time! (see the other Posts). Cheers