The French dragoons and the British Infantry were kept on different bases, and the final shapes I chose for the bases has worked well. Even though these are two small dioramas, they capture the movement and feel of a real cavalry charge in Napoleonic times. I am very happy with how they have turned out and how well the two separate dioramas combine together to tell one story.

The corner of a British Infantry Square at Waterloo

The charging French Heavy Cavalry

French Heavy Cavalry charging a British Infantry Square at Waterloo

The infantry figures are small (25mm tall) and therefore the base will have to be thin so as not to overwhelm the figures. Normal sized bases would reduce the impact of the diorama.

So I have decided to mount the infantry figures onto thin card which, in turn, will be mounted onto stained and polished wood some 3 to 4 mm thick.

The picture below shows some scrap card with the infantry, officers, drummers and trumpeter on it so that we can get an idea of the final size of each side of the British Infantry Square.

Final layout of the British Infantry Square Diorama

After trial and error I have taken off the mounted figures as these detracted from the impact of the figures in the sides of the infantry square.  The square ‘hole’ could be filled with scenic grass, footprints and maybe another single foot figure, or, the final wooden base could be cut to the shape of the white card. This would make an unusual base.

Once glued to the thin base, the figures should look like this:

The corner point of the square

Now comes the easy part. Gluing down 40+ figures close together, putting wet plaster between the figures, painting it a muddy colour, add scenic dressing, and all without getting it on the figures!

French Heavy Cavalry figures

One of the troopers has been slightly modified. I have bent his head backwards and have also bent his sword arm. This is to simulate him being shot and you can see the result in the picture above (top right figure).  The trumpeter’s face has been painted to simulate a young boy or youth and I have to say that these plastic figures from Italari (6003) are of excellent quality.

And here are the 4 French Heavy Cavalry figures mounted on their horses and charging the British infantry square. The effect of the ’shot’ trooper can be seen better in the picture below. Note the horses legs have also been slightly bent to give movement to them. Perfectly upright horses do not give an impression of galloping.

French Heavy Cavalry

The problem I have is stopping myself from adding more (extraneous) figures. My original intention was to have a small number of mounted dragoons in the middle of the square, but to be honest, the middle of my corner of the square is full enough as it is.

So I have decided to stop with my current layout. The infantry square will have 2 part sides. Each side will have 1 front rank of infantry firing and 1 rear rank of infantry loading or preparing to fire. A Sergeant with his ‘halberd’ is keeping one side of the square in line. Each side will have its own officer, trumpeter or drummer. I will retain 1 senior officer on foot and 2 senior officers on horse.

Layout of the Infantry Square showing the last 3 figures to be painted.

The layout is roughly as shown here, with the three figures still to undercoat and paint in their final positions.  If you look at the left of the picture you can see the Sergeant using his halberd to keep the rear rank in line where one of the infantry has fallen to the ground, wounded.

The final shape of the base has not yet been decided. Although I favour the square shape shown here, I wanted to bring in some movement by means of having 3 or 4 French heavy Dragoons charging one face of the infantry square. To have the Dragoons very close to the square would not be so realistic. Putting the Dragoons some way away, charging one flank of the square, would lead to an unusual and off balanced shape. Nevertheless I think I will undercoat and paint up some French Heavy Dragoons and try them in different positions to see what works best.

The British Infantry Square seen by French Cavalry

The British Infantry Square as of 1st December 2008, half way there.

I had initially planned the layout of which figure was to go where, but I had not researched how a British Infantry Square was built on the battlefield. That lead me realise that the square was formed by companies, which meant that my original painting plan would be wrong. So I have totally changed tack, and will paint enough standing and kneeling infantry figures so that I can represent two different companies, one on each flank of the square.

The original layout plan

In a British Square in Napoleonic times the hollow centre contained the colours, officers, drummers, wounded infantry dragged in from the faces of the square, possibly some guns and/or cavalry. Obviously it is not possible to squeeze all that into a diorama of just one corner, but I hope to be able to create 3 ranks of standing and kneeling infantry on each of the two sides, backed up by a junior officer and Sergeant for each flank, and at least 1 senior mounted officer. Next to the junior officers I will place a drummer and have the colours right at the back of the diorama.

But lets get everything painted, decide on the size of the base, and take it from there.

Completed British Infantry figures for the square.

I now have infantry figures painted in different battalion colours such that two sides of the square can now be represented. One kneeling infantry figure has had his hat cut off and a bandage painted on in place. Which makes that area a bit more interesting. I am still struggling with the fact that the plastic 1/72 scale infantry figures are not as detailed as the 25mm or 54 mm lead figures that I am used to. The next stage is not only to paint another 20 figures to complete the scene, but to adapt some of those so that they do not all look alike.
But painting and altering and adapting kits is the fun of military modelling!

In order that not all the figures are exactly the same, I have altered one of the next batch to be undercoated. One kneeling soldier has had his hat cut off and replaced with a bandage made from “Miliput”. He and another 6 figures have been undercoated and are drying, awaiting painting.

The two senior officers are now complete, and the number of figures ready to be put into the British Square is slowly increasing!

I had already undercoated the next 10 infantry figures ready for painting. But the undercoat has lifted from 5 of them. The reason for this undercoat coming off in patches is not clear to me. All of those 10 figures were degreased at the same time as the horses and other figures on this page. The only thing the 10 infantry have in common is that I used a new white undercoat bought from a “Pound Shop” (a very cheap shop). Maybe this cheaper undercoat aerosol is not so flexible as the one I normally use. So I am now going to have to remove all the white undercoat and then respray with my nomal grey undercoat that I have been using for many years.

These are 1/72 plastic figures and I find the techniques for painting and preparing plastic model figures very different from working with metal military figures.  The plastic figures had a lot of mould lines and pieces of flash which needed removing. Sandpaper left a rough surface and I found the best tool to use was a razor sharp blade.

Also the quality was not nearly as good I find with cast metal model figures. For example the drum on the British Drummer in the rear of the picture below was not round. Its sides were straight making it more of a sausage shape than a drum shape.

But it was enjoyable working in a different figure modelling media, and I look forwards to the other 40+ still to do