Tuesday 2 December 2014

Planning the 13th Cavalry Division

My present project is ambitious. It sounded nice at the time to focus on a Waterloo 200th anniversary project. It made sense to illustrate the grand and brave (though pointless) charge of the French Cavalry following marshal Ney to its death. Well, almost all the French cavalry charged the British and allied squares, and I'm not goint to do it all, so the 13th Cavalry Division was picked.

Divided into two brigades, it consists of four cuirassiers regiments - all with a different distinctive colour. So all cuirassiers it is, but with some variery. Perry Miniatures provide several different models, perfect for variety!

As in most wargame rules, the scale of 1:20 is respected (1 miniature to represent 20 men). The 11th Division is actually of a modest size.

The following diagram shows the grand plan. Three horses to a (75mm by 60mm) base, two Brigade command stands, one Division command stand. 67 miniatures in total. The distinctive colours of the regiments is highlight on the diagram.


For the uniforms, I have two sources. The famous Rousselot plates and the Mont Saint Jean website.

For the miniatures, I chose Perry. Perry metals. Not plastics. I feer the plastics are fragile (blades, muskets). Plus from my experience of plastics there is a lot of time to be spent on assembly: removing flash and filling in gaps.

And I started with the largest unit. The 1st Cuirassier. These guys will be in the charging pose. See their uniforms on the link below:


Perry command stands surely come with an officer. But not any officer: he has got a single epaulette. He could be a squadron commander. Yet this is a "problem" as I want a colonel to command my regiment. Then I shall add one using putty. Problem solved.


1 comment:

  1. Nice plan, will you have them all in charging poses, galloping or some at ease?
    Regards, Peter.

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