Here's an update on my Plancenoit project. I've added two new sections of ground (to the east) and worked on Young Guard and Prussians. Hope you like them!
I've previously shown some of the 2nd Battalion 1st Voltigeurs of the Young Guard but now show the bulk of the battalion. As with all Guard battalions it is organised in four companies. The lead company is not yet complete and is shown in skirmish order up against the hedge. the other three companies are to the rear in column, just to the south of the prebendary on the slope up to the high road.
The battalion is shown with tall plumes which may or may not have been the case at Waterloo, but I like the dash of colour. The figures are 90% conversions from the new Strelets Bavarians which I like very much.
I think en masse they look very nice. Many people like all their figures in a mad dash of charging, firing and fighting. I think this is unhistorical and, especially in the circumstances of a diorama, should mostly be shown out of contact.
Hope you like them! Still quite a lot of work to cover up bases and complete the lead company. Also, the sections of the diorama will be pulled tighter together.
Many thanks all. It's an interesting question whether initiative was encouraged or not. I'd say the Napoleonic system was all about encouraging initiative through the use of the Corps system. Where it went went wrong is usually when the system wasn't used. Perhaps the most famous example is Marshal Grouchy's failure to show initiative and march to the sound of the guns.
Bothree69, your question is another interesting one. The plan was to make this last a lifetime and, with 100,000 figures to paint and a diorama the size of a tennis court, I saw no likelihood of finishing soon. However, now I have a team helping me, things have speeded up considerably. Maybe I will have to show some initiative and think of something else to do?!
The initiative I was referring to was that appertaining to the ordinary Napoleonic rank and file.
Light infantry especially and certainly the French officer Corps were expected to use brain power to get the job done.
It is my understanding that the master issued orders on what he wished to be done and then expected his Marshall’s to see to the details.
Certainly the Battle of Quatre Bras would have been lost before it started if Allied initiative has not been used and the Duke’s orders were followed.
The whole point of lines, squares and columns , cadenced marching etc was to keep men in order so that they may fight efficiently.
Whilst discipline might have eased a little since Frederick the Great, the fear of your own officers, flogging etc was probably the most significant barrier to using ‘ initiative ‘ ( ie. common sense) and getting away from the action as quickly as possible.