Finally finished the big push to get the other half of my Prussian army completed. It was 'over-the-holidays' project that, because of the flu, and well, the holidays, I could not complete. Actually I intended only to have enough to replay the Battle of Ligny, but as I was completing ALL the Landwehr (more anon) I went on and did the additional 4 elements of Bulow's Corps (which did not participate at Ligny) to do the whole lot.
In all I have done 160 Landwehr and then the 40 regulars of Bulow's, in addition to all the command figures for the army. The Landwehr are plastic Warlord which have a metal command of three with 9 sprues of 3 figures. For good or bad, the plastic figures have nothing to glue and are complete. Thus not much variation. Doing my usual "do-it-like-HenryFord" production technique and work in mass, I arranged the Landwehr in the three groups, each of about 45 in the same pose. Yes, a bit boring but much quicker. The more diverse command which included their pack of casualties which I bent to be more upright some of which became flag-bearers, I did as the final group.
The same pose Landwehr I completed mostly in the same color scheme but perhaps a third I did variation such as a different colored grey roll or canteen cover. Just enough to fool the eye to suggest greater variety for the poorly equipped militia.
Once all basically painted, I distributed the poses for each unit/element. That
done, I could then paint the individual unit distinctions as the
Landwehr had a different color of collar, cap band and sometimes the cuff
for each province. The seniority was indicated by the shoulder strap.
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| Bulow's Corps. One of the four corps of the Waterloo campaign. This was the last of the four which I have painted in the last six months or so. |
Bulow's corps of about 31,000 did not participate in the 100 Days Campaign's earlier battles and so went into Waterloo/laBelleAlliance relatively fresh. With the ratios I am employing,the two elements on the left - the 10th IR with the red flag and the 1st Neumark - make up Hake's Brigade (a Prussian Division), with Ryssel's, Losthin's, and Hiller's Brigades (l-r) the infantry portion of the corps. The 6th Hussars and 2nd Pom. Ldw cavalry make up Pz.Wilhelm's command and the artillery finish off the corps. The internal organization is available for campaign purposes should a player wish to detach troops but for the usual game, all 14 elements will be commanded by one player.
Some of the different units of Bulow's Corps:
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| 1st Neumark Landwehr |
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| 10th IR |
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| 4th Silesian Landwehr (the flag bearer having a slightly odd pose as I made him more upright than his being shot would suggest!) |
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| 3rd Silesian (a rather more gruesome element as I put together all the obvious casualty figures including a dying Old Glory mounted officer on a wounded horse and a metal figure which was broken at the ankle) |
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| The 18th IR (pretty in pink!) |
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| 1st Silesian ( the flag is from the Warlord box ) |
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| the 15th IR |
While the Perry's have a large and very nice selection of French Generals and Marshals, and a great Russian command pack, and the required British/Allies commanders, they have only produced one (!) pack of Prussian Generals!
The local game store had another of its big sales awhile back and I found on sale a pack of Old Glory Prussian officers and another of Generals. But I debated. OG horses are basically horrible. And the sculpts are, at times, questionable. However, I bit the bullet knowing I had some spare horses which I could use.
The results are:
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| Bulow's command stand. It seems he is ignoring the messenger with orders. He and Gneisenau (the Prussian Chief-of-Staff) did not like each other and this contributed to Bulow being late for the Battle of Ligny. |
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| Bluecher. I had to have some separation between him and the other figure on the base as this Perry figure is larger than the OG even on a Front Rank horse. I had a French flag which was ruined but which I kept for some strange reason (not strange - I keep everything!) and so could lay trampled in the dirt. Bluecher is content with that sight smoking on his famous pipe. "I will shoot any man with pity in his eye" |
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| Pirch The other two figures in the Perry pack. |
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| My Ziethen. Old Glory with Front Rank horses. Is he is wondering where to put the last of his reserves into the battle at Ligny? |
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| my Thielemann. Again, Old Glory with Front Rank horses. |
Whew. Finally finished the Prussians. It was not, as I feared, an endless sea of dark blue and black. While not flashy, which I like, they were good to paint.
Of course, now I have the Allied army to paint. Oh gawd, not more British red and lace to do......!
