d'Erlon's Corps - French 15mm Waterloo

Armée du Nord

15mm Napoleon Bonaparte Waterloo Campaign

 1er and 2e Bataillons, 54e Régiment de Ligne

This week we move onto my next army, following on from ACW, these are also mainly 15mm Warlord Epics. Though we will see some 3D printed resin in later posts, in the main I just varied painting styles for different units as required.

 d'Erlon's Corps - 11am 18th June 1815

I brought the French starter box set sometime in 2021 I think, and decided to paint just line regiments, I was focusing on the opening parts of the Battle of Waterloo around La Haye Sainte. But as I got into painting these, it quickly escalated into painting all for the 1st Corps for its massed attack at 11am. Above is my first Regiment 54th Line.

1er and 2e Bataillons, 55e Régiment de Ligne

This also further led to painting the whole of the Imperial Guard Corps because I wanted to paint some of the later Imperial Guard released models by Warlord Games, and was looking forward to some of the doody uniforms that come with them :) I also added smaller elements of I, IV Cavalry Corps too, as they supported the attack at 11am, luckily there was plenty of calvary in the starter box so that wasn’t a problem other than the painting.

Voltigeur compaines of 54th & 55th provide covering fire

I am not sure how I will break down all the posts to cover these over the next weeks but, above, the pictures are focused on the first painted Battalion and then Regiment, the 54th Line, quickly followed by the 55th. I will blow my own horn here a little, these actually won an award 1st place for a Regiment in a Warlord Games competition. To date it is my only reward for any of my painting, not that I enter many. I am really pleased with getting one.

54th & 55th advance in column

The design choice for my French is the most important part to note. I cut all the epic strips in half at the centre point and ordered bases half the standard size of the Warlord ones width wise, and very slightly deeper by 5mm, this let me squeeze on three ranks to every base, I really wanted to get the feel of the French Column with this army, especially for the main attack at 11am. I love the feel it gives the advance of massed ranks. I can also now arrange the correct formations, by company, too.

1er Bataillon, 105e Régiment de Ligne - on Parade

I used the Order of Battle (OOB) to calculate Regiment sizes, and worked out that companies would then fit on one half base at a 1:10 man ratio. This means each Battalion has around 4 or 5 bases with the command stand normally representing two companies in each Battalion, unless it is at full strength, then 6 bases are used instead. The Voltigeur company will stay as in skirmish formation, mainly because the figures are in those poses, as seen in the above pictures. 

2e and 3e Bataillons, 105e Régiment de Ligne

The picture above is of the third Regiment completed the 105th Light part of the 2nd Division more on that later. This Regiment has three Battalions, with the third arranged into a Battalion of Grenadiers for the assault on the farm house at La Haye Sainte. Here you will see a few limited edition, and 3D engineers added.

 Colonel Claude Charlet & Général de Brigade Baron Charles-Francois Bourgeois 

Each Regiment has two Battalions except where not listed in the OOB, or a third if it is present, and each Battalion has a command, with the first Battalion carrying the colours along with a mounted Officer, the 2nd with a plane white flag, if a 3rd they have a red flag. Brigade commanders above are based on 25mm round bases, the Voltigeur/Grenadier on them are just for show.

1st Corps, 1st Division

After a few months the first Brigade is formed up, two months after that the first division comprising of eight Battalions in four Regiments, two Brigades is completed. Each Division is also containing a Battery of three cannon. You can even notice above, with the cannon I have shortened one barrel in three to make a mortar, the painting it a gunmetal rather than bronze is personal preference to make the stand out at a distance. There are also two Brigade Commanders above, on round bases, with the larger round base being the Divisional commander. This time around I had learnt the best way to paint these was by the battalion at a time, with one mounted commander and or cannon as I went to make the division of time work better. Essentially this means paint a sprue at a time. This approach might not work for everyone but I think it’s best.

Général de Brigade Baron Joachim Jérôme Quiot du Passage 1st Division Commander

Following on from 1st Division over the next 18 months I worked my way through the whole 4 divisions of 1st Corps. There was some small moving and renaming of commanders as I, at first, got a few things wrong, so if you see the wrong commander in the wrong place it’s just my mistake. For this army I had switched from Games Workshop contract to Vallejo, and I have to say for 15mm these really are an excellent paint range. Over a white undercoat the contrast gives a nice shade in the recesses, yet also a brighter feel on the higher parts. The range isn’t that large and the colours are really easy to pick based upon the real life French uniform of the time. I used Osprey books and internet sources as reference material for this.

2nd Division, 1st Corps

Close up of the Swiss in Red

Corsicans in Brown

Croatians in Green

I formed 2nd Division of 1st Corps using Napoleon's Foreign troops, by just changing the painting schemes, in short, this is swapping blue jackets to another colour. I managed to create, one Swiss Regiment in Red (front left), one Corsican in Brown (back right), and one Croatian in Green (front left above).

3rd Division of 1st Corps

As things expanded I kept trying to vary it up with the uniforms to stop boredom setting in. Third division is a mix of all long coats for winter campaigning (front right), and Peninsular War summer campaign light blue uniforms - I used space wolf blue grey mixed with glaze medium (front left), everything else is identical.

4th Division of 1st Corps

 
I would like to finish this week by referring you back to the 2nd photo at the start. Which is the whole Corps ready to attack at 11am, 1st Division is to the extreme right preparing to attack the farmhouse. By using the Battery from each Division, I am also able to recreate the Grand Battery at the front. This was a massive undertaking close to 2000 models in all, if I reflect back upon the inspirational film 'Waterloo' and the sight of enmassed French ready to assault must of looked like below, I really think I have nailed it!!! 

Next week I we might take a closer look at the Imperial Guard Corps or the Cavalry Corps.

Film 'Waterloo' - Inspiration Picture