Can anyone help me.
Before becoming ill I started a project of recreating the Battle of Waterloo in 2mm (each infantry figure is 2mm from base to head). I got for my birthday a large quantity of these from my partner (lovely lady she is) but the problem is I have a lot of information on the the British Army and a hell of a lot more for the French Army, but I am struggling mainly on the infantry and cavalry uniforms and colours of the cannon for the Dutch-Belgian Army, I know they fought for Napoleon only a year before so will more than likely be in French uniform with some possible British variation and I am aware they were still using French supplied cannon, limbers etc. Does anyone know of any place I can get information for these plus am I right in saying that infantry were orgainised using French 6 Companies 3 ranks deep and with one Grenadier Company and one Voltigeur Company, and Cavalry were 2 troops per squadron.
Once I feel a little better I will commandeer the kitchen table and take a picture of the various armies etc and I built one board on an A1 size piece of card of the North west corner of the Battlefield, it is only a practice board and is missing a lot of its buildings but it was only intended to see if the idea would work. I made a few mistakes but on the new boards I was able to remedy them. I will also post a picture of this for all those interested.
I started creating the ten boards I need to build the battlefield but unfortunately illness overtook me so these came to a stop at only 3. I used the Matrix Battleground Waterloo Game to help create the hexes. Each board is A1 in size and my hexes are 4cm which mean I can fit 20 hexes across with 25 hexes down perfectly within the board. I use a template of hexes printed out and joined together as I only have an A4 printer Each board is 2mm thick so I use this as a basis of my contours, so the minimum height of a section will be 4mm and the maximum height is 18mm. Once all the various contours are cut using a dremel they are glued in place with wood glue and left to dry. once dry they are very strong and quite light. I then mark out all of the roads and rivers and add any sunken lanes which I then cut out using a sharp knife and the dremel. Once done I cover the whole thing with Mod-Roc (basically gauze bandage impregnated with plaster) this dries within 24 hours and gives extra strength and a smooth finish the hexagonal hexes. Now it is time for the messy part and the time to get told off by my very annoyed other half, by applying the flock. I used a dark green gloss but I found this would not be suitable when using wheat, wheat stubble and earth coloured flocks so I will be switching to a gloss light brown. I use gloss paint as my flock adhesive as I find it adheres better and after 24 hours of drying the excess is removed a better coating is gained. Now is the time to paint the roads and rivers and add the hedges and trees which in my eyes is the best part as the board starts to resemble the battlefield. Once done I give the whole board trees and all a good helping of a firm hold hairspray, dont use the wife's as she will hit the roof next time she does her hair. I bought a cheap can for 89p which did the trick nicely.
The buildings can be bought for a very modest price but I decided to build my own from balsa strip 3.2mm square strip 915mm long and 3.2mm x 6.5mm strip 915mm long for the building and triagular shaped balsa strip for the roofs. Cut with a dremel or sharp knife and once the roof is added and they are painted a light grey or white they make a very pleasing addition.
All in all the practice board was a success and the whole project from start to finish including soldiers will cost a sum of £400 with £140 for the building of the boards and adding the scenic details such as trees hedges and houses. For all those interested I will take some photos as I build the boards but for now I need a bit more rest but I hope to start again just after Christmas. Take care all and I am back now but I wont be gaming till after christmas if everything goes ok with my health.
Its good to be back
