Army Spotlight: Ken's Napoleonic British Army

Napoleonic British arrayed for battle.
“We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be detested in France”.

This month's army spotlight looks at Ken's 15mm Waterloo British. 

Regarding this army, Ken says, "My interest in Napoleonic gaming started, like a lot of old Grognards, in 1970 with the movie Waterloo.  I fell in love with the pageantry of large masses of school marching band members shooting at each other. It didn’t take long for me to buy a bunch of Airfix 1/72 scale minis, and with my cryptic “rules” taped to the walls of my garage my friends & I spent many hours re-fighting historical battles.

30+ years later I happened by a local hobby store called Game Vault and my love affair with historical minis was rekindled.  I tried a number of Napoleonic systems until I landed on Napoleon at War.  It’s a divisional level game, with a lot of flexibility in the list building mechanism.  I think the national doctrines/characteristics are reflected nicely in the rules: the Brits are very tough on defense, the French move fast & are all about sticking you with the bayonet, the Austrians are big but cumbersome, etc. I currently have 7 lists – French, Brits, Poles, Russians, Swedes, Austrians, and Prussians."

Ken built this army to match a list from Napoleon at War: The Hundred Days, duplicating British at Waterloo.  He's also used it to build a Peninsular list with Portuguese allies.

Asked about the scale, Ken says "Why 15mm? To me, the visual appeal of Napoleonic miniature gaming is in the movement & combat of large bodies of troops. I think 6mm is too small, 10mm works, but 15mm hits the sweet spot."

The list has also been used for Blackpowder games, but Napoleon at War, Ken says, "If anyone is interested in giving Napoleon at War a try, I would LOVE to host a demo game and can provide everything needed. The Napoleon at War Facebook page also has a ton of files for list building, rules clarifications, etc.

"Finally, on painting style, "Good enough to look good enough on the table! With Napoleonics it’s basically paint by numbers; get the major colors right and don’t sweat the details.  I think with any rank & file system with lots of figures the visual “wow” factor is in the numbers, not the details of any particular figure (at least in 15mm)."

3 Regiments of stalwart line infantry – “the scum of the earth”.

Two regiments of Highlanders, with a regiment of “Light Bobs” in front. 
Don’t let the skirts fool you – these guys TOUGH.
“Has Wellington nothing to offer me but these Amazons”?

A brigade of Allies:
2 regiments of Brunswickers, a Nassau regiment, and the Dutchies bringing up the rear.

An artillery battery under the watchful eye of “The Peer”.

Two regiments of Heavy Dragoons.
“Our officers of cavalry have acquired a habit of galloping at everything…
they never think of maneuvering before an enemy”.