The Legatus' Napoleonic Wargames Armies: The Peninsula, Quatre Bras and Waterloo: Perry Plastics

Tuesday, 20 January 2009

Perry Plastics

Proper model soldiers, these!

I popped into Orc's Nest today (it's only 400 yards from my office!) to look for a few more Copplestone Ngoni and saw that they had the Perry French Plastic in, so I just had to buy a box. They are absolutely gorgeous; far superior to their rather disappointing ACW figures. Now I can see that I will be basing up French during Strictly Come Dancing tomorrow!

This however, gives me a problem. The figures come with pre cut bases that contemplate 6 Figures on a 40mm base (which I beleive is the norm for General de Brigade). I absolutely prefer to mount my figures on individual bases and make movement trays for them. Especially as I am interested in skirmish gaming for Napoleonics using the Sharp Practice Rules. The rules I used to use for Napoleonics in my Airfix days were the very old school Charles Grant ones which first appeared in Military Modelling in the seventies. These contemplate individual figures (in battalions of 48!) and I suspect that this is what I will go for.

I have always wanted to do portions of Quatre Bras as a wargame and did a lot of research as to the units involved and the numbers of figures you would need (hundreds and hundreds). General Brigade works out at 1/20 but I was thinking about 1/33 which would give French infantry battalions of about 12-14 figures, far too small for the Grant rules. If I combined battalions so that I had four units in, say Bachelu's Division that would give units of about 30: about right.

The great thing about this box is you get 42 figures for £15.00 plus loads of alternative heads and other bits (compared with Warlord's rather stingy 20 Roman Veterans for £17.00).

Now, realistically I have painted exactly five Perry Napoleonics in three years but could this just get me painting them on the production line? I gather that many of the French units for The Hundred Days only had a uniform greatcoat and this would make painting them a lot quicker (about half the figures in the box are so equipped). Can't wait to get home and put the soundtrack to Waterloo on!

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Napoleonic Wargaming

Like many wargamers I began wargaming with Airfix's plastic HO/OO figures. I certainly had some at Junior school so must have acquired them not long after they came out in 1969. I remember the French and British infantry coming out in 1972. By the time the two artillery sets appeared my friends, Bean-Kid, Cess-Pitt and Brookbank and I were able to recreate Waterloo in cream coloured glory on the 7' by 6'6" board I laid on my parents dining table (much to the chagrin of my mother who insisted on personally laying the blankets on the mahogany table and moving her treasured early nineteenth century Trafalgar chairs out of the room).

I bought a few of Peter Gilder's Hinchliffe French, some carabiniers and some Imperial Guardsmen and I looked down at Lugs Willerton's Miniature Figurines figures as they seemed a bit short!

My father encouraged me in my Napoleonic interest and he took me to see the film Waterloo on its release. I still have the book by Ugo Pericoli of the uniform designs from the film and the original film programme (from the days when you could buy an illustrated programme at the cinema for the film you were seeing). He also took me around the Musée de l'Armée in Paris and bought me some 54mm painted plastic figures and a set of transfers of Chasseurs of the Guard with which I carefully decorated my wastepaper bin at home!

About 13 years ago I started to paint some Napoleonic plastics properly but got frustrated at the bendyness of them. When I began to paint 28mm figures shortly afterwards I realised that of all periods Napoleonics require huge numbers of figures for a wargame and, anyway I didn't like the proportions of the main two ranges Foundry and Front Rank. So I concentrated on Ancients and Dark Ages for several years.

Then, of course, came the Perry figures and they were right for Quatre Bras, the battle I had always been most interested in. Again I didn't get anything other than a few Dutch Jaegers because the Perry twins were quoted as saying that they would never do British. Something which has completely changed of course.

I recently decided to abandon any large scale plans but maybe it's time to look at large skirmishes instead.