Waterloo 200 year Commemorative Mega Battle @ Helsinki

Hey folks!

I've been quite busy the last few months preparing for our Waterloo megabattle, and here are the pics to prove it!

The 200 year commemorative Battle of Waterloo was fought in our club in Helsinki on the last weekend of July. Compared to our first real Waterloo game in 2013 this was far more massive as we managed to include the Prussians in almost their whole entirety to contest Plancenoit and drive the French Generals to suppress the flank.

Wellington places his troops on the sunken road..

..while Napoleon prepares to assault him with all he's got!

Prussians enter the fray and advance towards Plancenoit

A Prussian infantry brigade holds the right flank

Overview of Bulows IV Corps attacking Plancenoit

The French send a cavalry brigade to stall Prussian movements

With the Landwher moving onwards sluggishly, the Line regiments show how its done!

Since my last update I've managed to create half of Bulow's IV Corps. This includes all 4 regiments of Silesian Landwher (12 battalions) as well as the 1st and 2nd Silesian Line Regiments (6 battalions). Furthermore two cannon batteries and two regiments of Silesian Landwher cavalry were added to round off the forces for Plancenoit! Unfortunately I had to substitute the other half of the corps with stand in troops from my earlier Von Ziethens I Corps, but amends will be made for our next mega battle for sure ;)

1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Silesian Landwher Regiments

1st and 2nd Silesian Line Regiments, two cannon batteries and

 1st and 2nd Silesian Landwher cavalry

Thats it for now! We'll be refocusing on the 1812 Russian campaign till next spring after which we'll probably have a go at our first Leipzig 1813.

Stay tuned!

Battle of Waterloo 200 Years Anniverary Visit

I recently visited Belgium for the 200 year anniversary of the Battle of  Belle Alliance, or Waterloo to all you non Prussian oriented people out there ;) The trip was fantastic, with over a week at hand we managed to visit the battlefields of Waterloo, Quatre Bras, and Ligny. Furthermore we ventured out to see Bastogne and met a King Tiger tank in La Gleize as well as popped by to the fort of Rocroi and Bouillon. Many thanks to my friends who joined me in this inspirational trip!

Here are some pics from the trip!

A panorama of the cavalry assault on the British lines.

A panoramic view from Butte de Lion.

Unit formations on the day itself, 200 years ago.

A British infantry team on patrol

OOB of the Prussian I Corps under Von Ziethen - truly handy display for wargamers!

The same again for Bulow's IV Corps

A commemorative monument for the 1300+  Prussians who lost their lives attacking Napoleons right flank in Plancenoit.

A similar momunemt in Plancenoit dedicated to the Young Guard who (for a short period of time) "bravely" defended Plancenoit ;)

In honor of the British allied troops in the battle of Quatre Bras

French Old Guard in the fantastic new Waterloo museum!

British light infantry.

Above all else, a cavalry man must look fabulous. The helmet is truly astounding!

A reneactor popped by to have a 3D model made of him. Truly striking uniform!

Even the horse was enjoying his time in the battlefield.

La Haye Saint, still standing!

Panoramic view of the renactment show 19.6.2015 - Over 80 000 visitors and 6000 renactors!

Prussian high command making the finishing touches to the battle ahead.

The last look on the battlefield itself, the Prussians are commiting their forces to help out Wellington.

Prussian I. Army Corps - Belgium June 1815

Von Ziethens I. Army Corps, Belgium June 1815

It has truly been a while since I have published any of my projects in these pages. I've managed to finally finish off the main body of my 1815 Prussian I. Corps under the stout leadership of von Ziethen. Below you can see the OOB for the Waterloo campaign as well as pics of the various regiments and battalions of the army corps. I have yet to acquire and paint 3. and 4. Infantry brigades as well as the Corps Artillery reserves, but I'm pretty happy with this sizeable force as it is.

Please not that whereas most brgades of other European forces consist of 4-6 battalions, Prussian brigades exceed this and should be considered Divisions in all regards. The Prussian "Brigade" consisted of 9 infantry battalions, of which 3 were line, 3 reservists of the parent line regiment and 3 were landwher battalions. On top of this, the "brigade" was supported by various skrimish companies, a foot artillery battery and usually an attached cavalry regiment. This pushes the Prussian "brigade" to a hefty 11+ units each.

The idea behind such large formations was purely tactical. The Prussians wished to have balanced "combined arms" forces, which would be implemented on the brigade level instead of the usual division level. Furthermore, due to the restrictive implementation of the French ruling on Prussian armed forces, the "brigades" had to be trained so as to make the numbers appear small. This meant that while on paper a brigade would only consist of 3 line battalions at all times, the Prussians would train reservists under the tutelage of the parent regiment, thus effectively duplicating numbers! On top of this hastily armed and trained landwher woud futher bolster the numbers, making each brigade on paper three times larger in real life! Cunning Prussians indeed.

I have taken some liberties with recreation of the OOB. Namely, I have replaced the Uhlan regiment with the 1st Dragoons in the 1st Cavalry Brigade and added the 1st Life Hussars into the 1st Infantry Brigade, shifting the 4th Hussars into the 2nd Brigade (sources vary on their operations in this army corps). However I feel this is justified as Army Corps commanders have the liberty of assigning their assets as they see fit. Enjoy!

I. Corps group shot

I. Army Corps - General Lieutenant von Ziethen

1. Infantry Brigade - General Major von Steinmetz

12th Infantry Regiment "Brandenbourg Line" (3 battalions)
24th Infantry Regiment "Brandenbourg Reservists" (3 battalions)
1st Westfalian Landwher Infantry Regiment (3 battalions)
1st Silesian Schutzen (2 companies)
1st "Life" Hussars (3 squadrons)
Foot Artillery Battery

2. Infantry Brigade - General Major von Pirch II

6th Infantry Regiment "West Prussian" (3 battalions)
28th Infantry Regiment "Berg" (3 baattalions)
2nd Westfalian Landwher Infantry Regiment (3 battalions)
4th "Silesian" Hussars (3 squadrons)
Foot Artillery Battery

Reserve Cavalry Corps - General Lieutenant von Roeder

1. Brigade - General Major von Treskow II

1st Dragoon Regiment (4 squadrons)
2nd Dragoon Regiment (4 squadrons)
5th Dragoon Regiment (4 squadrons)

2. Brigade - Colonel Lutzow II
6th Uhlan Regiment (3 squadrons)
1st Kumark Landwher Regiment (3 squadrons)
1st Westfalian Landwher Regiment (3 squadrons)

Army and Army Corps Commanders

Field Marhsal Blucher and his trusty Chief of Staff von Gneisenau (left) General Major von Ziethen and his ADC in Kurassier white uniform and green markings indicating his ADC status (right)

1. Infantry Brigade

12th Infantry Regiment "Brandenbourg Line"

24th infantry Regiment "Brandenbourg Reservists"

1st Westfalian Landwher Regiment

1st "Life" Hussars (according to some sources 3 squadrons were attached to 1st Brigade)

1st Silesian Schutzen Battalion (-) these companies are split into both infantry brigades.

Foot artillery batteries (9 pdr) of 1. and 2. infantry brigades.

2. Infantry Brigade

6th Infantry Regiment "West Prussian" (1st and 2nd Btn in picture only)

28th Infantry Regiment "Berg" (these troops still wear their old white French uniforms due to shortage of clothing!)

2nd Westfalian Landwher Regiment

4th Silesian Hussars (some sources suggest this was either with 1. Inf  or 1. Cav brigade, I have taken the liberty of attaching it to 2. Inf Brigade)

1.Cavalry Brigade

1st, 2nd and 5th Dragoons charging under GM Treskow (Again, this brigade should not have the 1st Dragoons, rather the 3rd Uhlans)

2. Cavalry Brigade

6th Uhlan, 1st Kumark and 1st Westfalian Landwher led by Colonel Lutzow!

This has been a blast to paint! Although the Prussians are not as flashy as many of the other napoleonic forces, I have enjoyed painting Prussian Blue and have the upmost respect for the sheer pragmatism which the Prussians were forced to implement in their uniform distribution and material purchasing. Vorwarts!

Waterloo Megabattle!

A few weeks back we managed to put together a massive game of the battle of Waterloo using the Black Powder rules. The amount of miniatures in this game was enourmous, and the feel of entire army corps moving about the battlefield fantastic! The Prussian I Corps under my command was to make a (hopefully) decisive attack on the right flank of the french main force, until then I was given charge of the Dutch on the left flank. The game was my first, and I was impressed by the easygoing nature of the rules and how well we managed to go on with the game despite having a ridiculous amount of units on the table - I'm definately looking forward to expanding my Prussian collection, and perhaps even go back to paint them a tad bit better this time!