Generals of the Netherlands 1815

As part of building up the forces needed to conduct the 100 Days campaign, I wanted to start building the force needed for the Army of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Having stockpiled a number of the various HaT sets required, I figure it would be a straight forward project that I could slowly work on.

The labelled command stands.

The required  V&B ToE for the campaign is given in the V&B Napoleon Returns supplement. An Excel spreadsheet with labels for all the require stands can be downloaded from Keith McNelly's Volley & Bayonet website here. The site is well worth exploring if you play Volley & Bayonet, as it has a number of useful resources. Keith also has a group on Facebook devoted to V&B that also has some useful material, but also a growing membership that seems quit open to sharing idea and information.

HRH The Prince of Orange from the Waterloo 1815 Napoleonic Mounted Line Officers set.

Dutch Divisional Commander from I Corps Anglo-Allied Army. The two figures on the left are from the Italeri French Imperial General Staff set, while the last one is an Eagle Games General mounted on an Esci horse from their 'Scots Greys' set.

 Unfortunately, this project was disrupted by my discovery that I would need significantly more Dutch Militia wearing stovepipe shakoes than I had planned on. My figure needs had been based on the information contained within 'Napoleon Returns' which doesn't quite match up to information contained in other later sources. Additional troops, spare heads, and other sundries have been ordered, but there have been some quite understandable logistical delays of late...

The Eagle games general was originally produced as a generic commander for use in Eagle Games' "Napoleon in Europe" game.

On the plus side, I had the figures I wanted to use for my Dutch Generals, and if I was prepared to do the block painting of the figures, Kat would give me a hand with the detailing work and the horses. This was an offer I happily took up.

II Corps Dutch Divisional Commanders

The astute observer will note that the label placement is a little lumpy on the stands. This is due to me basing the figures before applying the labels. Happily, I will be avoiding that mistake with the rest of the Netherlands army.

Dedicated Gun Markers for Volley and Bayonet

Before the recent lock down measures, Rhys and I played the Quatre Bras scenario from the V&B 2nd edition rule book. During that game we made use of Risk playing pieces to remind us which stands had dedicated guns.

After painting they received a gloss varnish.

 While the roster sheets provide that information, having a small cannon on the stand is a more obvious reminder.

In V&B terms this represents a French brigade. By adding the marker, I can visually show that it has dedicated guns.

I painted up eighteen guns as I felt that was a reasonable number. The paint job is very basic, but I think suitable for the purpose. 

The Risk pieces received a basic paint job and a brown wash.

Of course, once I had painted the markers I needed a way of storing them. Fortunately, I had an Altoids tin that I had painted previously, but not used, for another project.

Perfect fit, with room for more

The previous project had a Napoleonic French flavour.