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Re: The Prussians are Coming !

General Picont, Sire,

this diorama is really fantastic. The landscape and the arrangement of the buildings really contains all the information I could ever find about the old village centre of Plancenoit. I'm just amazed. :astonished:

What strikes me most is the positive, optical effect that results from the mixture of the figures of different manufacturers. As a result, marching columns made of 1:72 figures no longer look as monotonous and robotic as they did 4-5 years ago. I would call this "living uniformity"... as in reality... wondderful work.. :heart_eyes:

If a few more Prussians are needed for assistance, please send a message.
It's time to throw the French out there... :smiling_imp:

General Hiller von Gaertringen, Commander of 16. Prussian Brigade
Source: Wikipedia

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

I agree; the figures, painting, and pics are superb. I just enjoy poring over them to catch details. I also agree with the effect of mixing figures from various makers. One of the things I look at with new sets of figures is compatibility with other sets; it's one of the reasons I don't mind different companies producing the same subjects. Different interpretations of poses add life to a scene if they blend fairly well. If not, one can always put different companies' figures on different parts of the field.

Superb job all the way around.

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Amazing work this is what the Napoleonic war is all about fantastic modelling.:heart_eyes:

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Amazing work this is what the Napoleonic war is all about fantastic modelling.:heart_eyes:

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Wow!! Great and nice dio.

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Awesome work!!! Incredible attention to detail. This looks to be a real classic!

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Good evening, the story comes to life before our eyes! It's splendid!

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Many thanks all for your kind comments, they keep me motivated. We are lucky to live at a time when Strelets and others produce such fine figures- this project would have been much poorer for the lack of it 30 years ago. That said, every time I come up with a demon conversion, along comes a new set!

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Great job..

I'm curious to see how the diorama develops when more troops are installed.
Adolf Northen captured the final phase of the bitter street struggles in Plancenoit in his well-known painting:



Source: www.wikimedia.org

A Prussian officer writes in his memoir: "... I never forget these bloody combats between the rubble of the burning houses. From house to house, from room to room... only fighting with sword,bayonet or our hands... a burning inferno."

Unfortunately, there are things that cannot be shown in such a diorama.
In particular, the powder vapor and the smoke from the burning houses significantly obstructed the view at that time. The Prussian officers and soldiers had great orientation problems, because they did not know the place and could barely see 20 meters away. The officers therefore also had problems to describe the course of the fighting clearly after the battle. Because they saw only the 10 men closest to them and the nearby 3 houses.... keeping overview was the main problem on the Prussian side.

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Dear Gerd, many thanks for that: we have just bought a smoke machine and will experiment. In fact, the centre of the village was quite open. What will be interesting is the fighting along the southern edge of the village on the ridge - there, there will be a row of about 20 houses which will show exactly what you describe. We haven't built that part of the model yet, but it should look very effective.

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

And this is one of the buildings in the Duvalier farm, with the same shutters as in the Alfred North painting:

Fantastic

Genial!

Congrats for such an achievement as the best Plancenoit model I have ever seen and surely could not be beaten.

In a napoleonic diorama, the big picture effect is the most awesome of all periods,

The mixture of colours and tactical formations, the opoortunity to glance at a particular unit with its chief and staff included makes your imagination fly and enjoy the hobby.

For me, it’s great also your didactic approsch of the battle worth of supporting visually a documentary or a museum in the future.

This diorama exceeds the espectscularity of the Siborne’ s model at Waterloo.

Well, you see...I am amazed!!!

Aplauso!!!

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Great idea....; Build a painting !!!

Very creativ & innovative...

I'm really looking forward to the result..:astonished:

Yes, there were more houses in the southern part of Plancenoit (today: Rue de la Bachee)and the combats there are often forgotten.
The churchyard was not the only battleground in Plancenoit. He is always the focus of the history books and most of the men have also fallen there. But there were many other places...and many soldiers did not know after the battle where exactly they had been in the village.

General Picton >> By the way: Where do you come from ?

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Many thanks to both of you - you are very kind. I'm British since you ask, but very respectful of all the nations that fought at Waterloo.

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Hello

I am (positively) surprised that an Englishman deals so intensively with the Prussians and the battle in Plancenoit.

In the years 2005-2015 I participated in several reenactment events in Leipzig, Grossgoerschen, Monmirial, Ligny and Waterloo. And in conversations with many British reenactors, I found that a great part of them didn't even know that the Prussians had fought a similarly large battle (Ligny) against Napoleon a few days before Waterloo. And the events in Plancenoit were not known to many of them either. I was very surprised by that. :disappointed_relieved:

I therefore had the impression that the role of the Prussians is hardly mentioned in the official British account of napoleonic history.
Therefore, I am very amazed how intense and detailed you deal with Plancenoit ... and even building such a great Plancenoit-Diorama.
Actually not a "British theme"... Or am i wrong ? :thinking_face:

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Dear Gerd, many thanks and I'm so pleased that you have found a Briton able to take an interest in non-British things. Actually, I think you will find that the British have generally been a force for good in the world, but have been appreciative of the contribution of others.

Certainly, Waterloo was a multi-national effort but that is true for most 'British' wars which usually turn out to have been coalitions. In 1815, only 15 million people lived in Great Britain, less than half the population of France, so without Prussian, Netherlands, Nassau, Hanoverian and Brunswick contributions the victory could not have happened. To go further, I myself am a Scot - the Scots Greys, Scots Guards, Royal Scots, Black Watch, Gordon Highlanders, Cameron Highlanders and Highland Light Infantry certainly prove that the victory was not a purely English one. And the Duke of Wellington himself was born in Ireland although, as he was at pains to point out, 'being born in a stable doesn't make you a horse'.

I can't remember which WW2 American General said the United Kingdom would 'fight on until the last of her allies was dead' which was a bit unfair, but certainly Britain has never minded subsidising mercenary armies or paying her allies to do the fighting for her.

Undoubtedly some British commanders have had fractious relations with their allies, and Monty was a prime example. As Churchill said of him: 'in battle, unbeatable, in victory, unbearable'. But Monty could be magnanimous to the vanquished and gave General von Thoma dinner the night he was captured. Churchill never rated Monty's cooking and commented: 'Poor General von Thoma, defeated in battle and then made to have dinner with Monty'.

I think Wellington was a better coalition commander, who maintained exemplary relations with the Spanish and Portuguese and was pretty indulgent of the youthful Prince of Orange. Wellington admired Blucher, even if he found him somewhat eccentric. As Wellington wrote in his Waterloo despatch: "I should not do justice to my own feelings, or to Marshal Blücher and the Prussian army, if I did not attribute the successful result of this arduous day to the cordial and timely assistance I received from them".

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

"To go further, I myself am a Scot - the Scots Greys, Scots Guards, Royal Scots, Black Watch, Gordon Highlanders, Cameron Highlanders and Highland Light Infantry certainly prove that the victory was not a purely English one."

Hello,
this is perfectly correct and I understand your point of view.
I didn't want to provoke anyone.... or such... :speak_no_evil:

It only struck me that many people in England believe that the Battle of Waterloo took place only between Hougoumont and La Haye Saint. And this view can even be found among English reenactors, who have actually dealt more intensively with history. When you tell these people that there had been heavy fighting in Plancenoit and up to Fichermont, sometimes you even get told; "But this has nothing to do with the Battle of Waterloo." I've heard these words and other amazing things...
But I think we would probably get similar answers from people from Germany or France who are not familiar with the battle of Waterloo.
But since you're Scottish, you're probably looking at English history a little differently... and with a further perspective on these topics..

And you have no reason to downsize the Siborne diorama and liberate it from Prussian troops.... as one says it to a certain duke... :grimacing:

You do exactly the opposite and you re-build exactly this "Prussian part" of it.... and this surprised me so positively. :grinning:

Another great diorama: http://thrifles.blogspot.com/2015/11/celle-2015-picture-report-waterloo.html

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Thanks Gerd, there are some great German Waterloo dioramas but only Thomas Mischak shows Plancenoit!

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Yes,

the big diorama build by Thomas Mischak is really great... :+1:

For example his churchyard of Plancenoit:


Source: www.bennosfigures.com

But I think your diorama shows the arrangement of paths, fields and buildings even more accurately.

You are even closer to the historical situation.

And I'm amazed at how you've done this. :scream:

So let us hear the sound again: https://youtu.be/pRdUcIfYMqA :guardsman:

Re: The Prussians are Coming!

Thank you Gerd, I have enjoyed the support of the UK National Army Museum who have let me use a 3d scan of the Siborne model. Thomas Mischak is a very generous man and a supporter of my project.