I've been working on the 1st Battalion, 1st Chasseurs of the Old Guard. The Battalion is generally thought to have stayed out of the fight at Le Caillou where it had the somewhat inglorious task of guarding the Imperial baggage. But evidence suggests that about half the battalion was fed into the fight in Plancenoit plugging the gap left by the collapse of the Young Guard.

I am yet to fix that many of the Lutzow Freikorps on to the model, but even positioning 1/1st Chasseurs has its challenges - just where did massed Napoleonic infantry go in the close quarters environment of a village?


Some Prussians have been added - not from the black coated musketeer battalions, but from the conventionally clad fusiliers in skirmish order. That said, one company is in greatcoats. The fusiliers are exploiting either side of the road, leaving the main thoroughfare to the musketeer battalions.

These musketeers are coming in two forms. First, a battalion specially commissioned from Speira:



The second being conversions from Strelets:



Here are the 1/1 Chasseurs on the model:





















More on my Blog here:

http://generalpicton.blogspot.com

More fine pictures of this great and spectacular model. So many figures, so many figures to paint....and if it's the 1st Chasseurs, so much dark blue!

I don't think I've ever seen so many Speira figures all in one place before. What was the lead time involved in this? Presumably this is for figures not otherwise available in mainstream 1/72 sets?

As I said on your blog, simply stunning work!! Wonderful painting and I really like how they are organised around the village, using all the available cover.

That image of looking down the street with the caisson at the end, and now the massed Guard Chasseurs beyond, is still one of my favourite diorama images i have ever seen.

Yes thats a good amount of Speira figures there!! Their figures are amazing. The casualties and "hand to hand combat" figures take some beating.

Many thanks! The Speira are wonderful and the company is very responsive. However, as this is the Strelets forum it's only fair to say what great conversions the Strelets figures make, and when they are on the diorama they will nicely suited to being the out of contact battalion at the back of the Lutzow Freikorps as they move up the road towards the French.

Very fine pictures and great conversions as always, General! Superb work!
Regarding the 1/1 Chasseurs I'd be interested where you obtained the information about a part of the battalion fighting at Plancenoit. I just checked A.W. Field's "Waterloo - The French Perspective" who has some - though not many - eyewitnesss accounts for this battalion, including some from its commander, Major Duuring, but couldn't find anything that would suggest, the battalion was split up.

Hi Flambeau, my information comes from Adkin. He is of course a secondary source, but he's normally quite reliable.

Many thanks! I suppose you mean "The Waterloo Companion"? Looks interesting, but sells between 80 and 284 € at the moment, that's a lot of boxes with nice figures :slightly_smiling_face: I've quite a nice collection of books on Waterloo, though by no means complete, seems I missed this one. In case you haven't got Andrew Field's book, go and get it - it's well written, way cheaper and adds some quite interesting information.
And if I didn't say it before: A great diorama and a superb blog!

Thanks Flambeau, actually I know Andrew; he doesn't live far from me and has come down to advise on troop dispositions.

fabulous looking figures and som every dynamic poses, they really bring that wonderful streetscape to life.

Excellent work!

Amazing work wow.:heart_eyes: