It's Fun & Games Until The Netherlands Get Involved

Oh, but the Napoleonic virus is in my veins as I feared. And so I must stoically accept my fate like a doomed albino prince.

Now, I am going to take a somewhat altered position on my previous statement about avoiding Waterloo like the plague, so sit back, grab the popcorn and watch me weasel my way out a sticky situation like a politician caught with their trousers down in a Soho basement.

 I have been opposed to Waterloo per se, as it's been 'done to death' like a Bangkok lady of negotiable affection in the tourist season.

But, I accept that it does have some interesting orders of battle to allow the use of armies other than  British, French or Prussian.

I have developed an interest in the Allied contingents involved and to this end my new project will hopefully be to represent the 1st and 2nd Netherlands Divisions, the Brunswick Contingent and 3 Netherlands Cavalry Brigades present at Quatres Bras and/or Waterloo. I'm not scaling units to the OOBs, but the constituent units do make a useful template for building a nice collection.

It should look something like this:

CAVALRY
 
Carabiniers
 
The Dutch Carabiniers are 20 figure units 
 1st Dutch Carabiniers
3rd Dutch Carabiniers
 The Belgian Carabiniers are 20 figures 
 2nd Belgian Carbiniers 
 
Hussars
 
6th Dutch Hussars 32 figures
8th Belgian Hussars 24 figures
 
Light Dragoons
 
The Dutch Light Dragoons are 32 figures
4th Dutch Light Dragoons
The Belgian Light Dragoons are 24 figures 
 5th Belgian Light Dragoons
 
Brunswick Uhlans
6 figures using 
 
Brunswick Hussars
24 figures using 
 
INFANTRY
 
Brunswick Light Infantry
 
3 x 32 figure units 
 1st Light Infantry
2nd Light Infantry
3rd Light Infantry
 
Brunswick Line Infantry
 
3 x 32 figure units 
 1st Line Infantry
2nd Line Infantry
3rd Line Infantry
 
Brunswick Leib Regiment
1 x 36 figures
Leib-Battalion
 
Brunswick Avant Garde
12 Light Infantry
18 Jager 
 
2nd Nassau-Usingen Regiment
 
3 x 36 figure battalions
1/2nd Nassau-Usingen Regiment
2/2nd Nassau-Usingen Regiment
3/2nd Nassau-Usingen Regiment
 
Orange-Nassau Regiment
 
2 x 36 figure battalions
1/Orange-Nassau Regiment
2/Orange-Nassau Regiment
 
Nassau Jager Company

1x6 figures
Nassau Jager
 
Belgian Line Regiments

3 x 36 figure units 

1st Belgian Line 

4th Belgian Line

7th Belgian Line
 
Dutch Line Regiment
 
1 x 36 Dutch line regiment,
16th Dutch Line
 
Dutch Jager Regiment
 
1 x 36 figure Dutch Line/Jager regiment
27th Line (Jager) Regiment
 
Dutch Chasseur Regiment
1 x 36 figure Dutch Line/Chasseur regiment
18th Dutch Chasseurs
 
Dutch Militia Regiments
 
10 x 32 figure Militia battalions
1st Dutch Militia
2nd Dutch Militia
5th Dutch Militia
6th Dutch Militia
7th Dutch Militia
8th Dutch Militia
9th Dutch Militia
14th Dutch Militia
15th Dutch Militia
18th Dutch Militia
 
Then of course there will be the artillery  and limbers.
 
I think that this will be a fun force to play with, being varied both in colour and quality. I may add the 3rd Netherlands Division at a later date, just for the sake of completion.
 
I'll be basing for In The Grand Manner, but intend to play the Valour & Fortitude rules. I'm sure that the two terrain modules I purchased last week from the esteemed Jerry Miller will be getting some serious use.
 


 
These are large modules, custom built from Hovel components and the pics here don't do them justice, with their warm, mellow hues and great detail.
 
Kayte also managed to get the basing done on the first of the vintage ECW units, and I think it's goin to look really nice when all are like this, giving an obviously much used and much loved colection a whole new lease of life.
 




 

I'm currently trying to put together a chronology of the 4 years I ran and owned Dungeons & Starships, and as soon as I do, I'll begin to tell that hair raising tale, unless I see fit to actually add it to my second book. It was the best and worst of times, but I'm truly glad that was able to experience it. Making a living playing and selling games was an 80s youth's dreams come true and being able to do so under the guiding hand of one of the UK's founding fathers of the gaming retail world was priceless. OK, it nearly finished me off but the non-PC stories would be worthy of a podcast or other chat show.

Well, if you will excuse me, I want to get a couple of fantasy characters painted and then relax in a hot bath with a reassuringly expensive uniform book.

TTFN

 

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