More 1815 Dutch Militia

I have now completed both D'Hauw's 1st/1st Netherland Brigade and De Eerens' 2nd/1st Netherland Brigade both of which form part of II Corps st Netherlands Division.

Both brigades side by side

In my last post regarding painting and basing Dutch Militia, I mentioned that the metal figures I was using purchased from eBay from a seller who had them listed as manufacturer unknown.

Rated as poorly trained with low morale they hopefully will have lucky dice

Fortunately a number of readers (Doug - from Doug's Soldiers blog, Archduke Piccolo -from Archduke Piccolo blog, and two anonymous commenters) were able to identify the figures as Warrior Miniatures 25mm Napoleonics, and part of their Spanish range (click here for more details).

The flag is pure conjecture

As these are smaller 25mm figures they do seem to work well with the rest of my Napoleonic collection which is primarily 1/72 plastic. They also seem to work with other figures....

Silver bayonet anyone?

1815 Dutch Militia

A key part of the Dutch forces required for the 100 Days campaign are the Dutch militia units. The figures are metal figures I purchased on Ebay. Neither I, or the seller, know the figure manufacturer.

Mystery figures

Unlike the Dutch  regulars, the militia wore a stovepipe shako, so seeing the above figures in blue jackets and white trousers (which according to the Volley and Bayonet campaign guide was the summer uniform the militia should have been wearing during the 100 Days), I figured were ideal for using as militia.

Ready for painting and basing

The figures included two flag bearers. According to most sources the militia didn't officially have flags, but there is speculation that unofficial flags were carried in the field due to their practical value in showing where the center of the unit was in battle. I figured I could paint a pattern similar to the flags shown at War Flags.

De Eerens' 2nd/1st Netherland Brigade

These metal figures are enough to populate two of the five militia stands I need for the Netherlands order of battle. The rest of the stands will use Hat figures from the Waterloo Netherlands Militia and Belgian Infantry set (PSR link here), and converted figures from the HAT Waterloo Dutch Infantry set (PSR link here), and the A Call To Arms Netherlands Infantry 1815 set (PSR link here).

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.