"Another new Perrys'; Ewart's Eagle!" Topic

How about this then? I can see this doing as well as Ney and his ADCs….a must have!

Nice to see without the oilskin cover, even if not 100% "right"?

I just know someone will say no musket for Ewart as a sergeant but……..

How about the teaser at the end? The promise of more 1815 dioramas. A lad with an axe attacking a gate? Closing the gates? Ney on foot with a broken sword or Cambronne forgetting his lines? Uxbridge getting legless…….maybe not…….

Yes, it's that tricky oilskin cover question again :) I've partly based the figure on the painting by the famous contemporary artist Denis Dighton of Sgt. Ewart taking the Eagle which shows him with an uncovered cap and no plume. Now this might have been a way of enhancing the main man in the painting, but the officer and another (which hard to tell if he's an NCO or not) in the background are uncovered. The officers and NCO's may have left them off for better recognition…we'll never know for sure? Heavy cavalry Sergeants do seem to have been issued with carbines during the 1815 campaign.

Wow, absolutely lovely! Can't wait for more!

Deadhead, there have been TMP threads about Scots Greys and oilskin covers before. I mentioned to the Perrys in an email that there is primary evidence for the Scots Greys at least wearing their plumes (and thus presumably not an oilskin into battle) – Corporal John Dickson (of Number 5 Troop) wrote " "I had lost the plume of my bearskin just as we went through the second infantry column; a shot had carried it away."

My suggestions for future dioramas are all for cavalry brigade commanders. The Perrys have made some beautiful infantry brigade commanders (Pack, Kempt Halkett) – though no ADCs or other staff – but there are NO cavalry commands.

1. Major General Vivien, in hussar uniform, with his right arm in a sling (from Croix d'Orade in 1814), accompanied by his "little German orderly" who Vivien states saved his life, one of his ADCs (all were in 7th Hussars uniform) and his other orderly – Troop Serjeant Major Thomas Jarvis of the 7th Hussars.
2. Major General Lord Somerset – commanded the Union Brigade, in the first charge he lost his hat and wore a Lifeguard's helmet for the rest of the day. His ADC was Lt Edward Somerset, in the uniform of the 18th Hussars.
3. Sir William Ponsonby and his ADCs/orderly officers (two of whom – Major Reynolds and Lt Archibald Hamilton – were Scots Greys).
4. Sir John Vandeleur – accompanied by his ADC and Major of Brigade, both of whom were from the Light Dragoons.
5. Sir Colquhoun Grant – wore hussar uniform (not his Maor General uniform) and accompanied by ADCs/Major of Brigade in Hussar uniforms.

I'd also like to see a selection of Wellington's ADCs, perhaps including Captain Lord Arthur Hill, said to be the fattest man in the British Army!

One final idea would be some British cavalry and infantry under fire. There are some beautiful sets of these for the French, Dutch, Barvarian, etc but (of course) NONE for the British! :)
I can imagine a great set of British heavy cavalry staggering back to their lines on foot e.g. one bareheaded, one Household cavalryman, one heavy dragoon, one Scots Grey, one lying under a horse, etc.
A similar set for light cavalry would also be very welcome – a mix of hussars and light dragoons. Nobody makes anything like this at present and I expect they'd be popular with wargamers as casualty markers as well as collectors like me.

Alan, thank you for another lovely set. Lord Hill, wonderful suggestions.

I offer another suggestion. More artillery casualties. When losing guns, the losses could be marked with casualties, or for collector dioramas. There is a very limited number available now.

Condotta – great idea, artillery casualties also much needed. Maybe combined with a couple of Royal Horse Artillery running for the sanctuary of a square!

Not to hijack the thread, but wasn't Anthony Barton going to do this for ABFigures?

I would really like to make and paint this.

"I just know someone will say no musket for Ewart as a sergeant but…….."

ok – aimed at me

and

"Heavy cavalry Sergeants do seem to have been issued with carbines during the 1815 campaign."

In case Alan is still reading this – as a sceptical – I would like to know the source.

I am not that specialist about the British Army and less so – about the Army of 1815 (see the great row about white versus grey overals of the Coldstream Guards) – I checked all my source I had, starting form

Men at Arms – Wellington's Heavy Cavalry, Warrior Series – British Cavalryman 1792 – 1815, Fosten : Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars – (8) the Union Brigade – and Mollo – Waterloo Uniforms 1. British Cavalry as well as the plates by Patrice Courcelle and article of Mike Chappel – British Cavalry Equipment 1800 – 1940, Heavy Cavalry 1800 – 15 Military Modelling December 1980 – I couldn't find any hint that cavalry sergeant did carry a carabine (Corporals maybe yes, as Fosten shows this on page 108)

For that reasons and being a chronic sceptic – a quote or disclosure that British sergeants of Heavy Cavalry would carry a carabine in 1815 would be highly appreciated.

About oilskin cover – yes or no, for the 18th of June, this is tricky and on a contemporary painting of 1815 in Mollo page 36 by James Howe very interesting featurs are shown, amongst else bearskin caps with oilskin cover plus feather, see the comments Fosten writes on page 104 Union Brigade about this.

Another question – the chevrons, did they have blue piping in between or just plain red?

von W, so glad for your input. You were not alone in my sights, but you were there.

Like you, I find references suggesting corporals might have, but Sgts did not carry carbines (beats me why any did).

The oilskin? As Lord Hill says, there have been previous threads, which I well recall, hence my comment "even if not 100% "right"?. You might still get your plume shot off, if in a separate cover, as some other units employed.

We can only rely on the sparse contemporary accounts for such details (I do not mean what was written decades later by the participants, not what artists produced even months after the event). If you can find a real saddle and valise, as in Edinburgh Castle, and can trust its provenance, that is a miracle.

If you read the Waterloo Archives, the impression is of soaked, muddy uniforms, blackened by smoke, covered with anything they
could find, with the dyes, then available, running and bleaching. Parade dress was valuable and to be preserved.

But what great figures Perrys have produced. and Armand is not even out of bed yet, to post this (Grin)

I think this is a great little diorama. Seems to me the source is historical paintings.I for one am not worried about the accuracy of the historical detail.

How interesting. Note that the last picture you show (brilliant but 21st Century) is an exact copy of Dighton's (the one above). But Alan is right, in the original, the background folk all wear oilskins, Ewart does not. In many years I have never noticed that before….and that is contemporary!

The use of carbines by sergeants is again tricky, but in the time I had (being quite busy with other things) I checked a few references. There's nice contemporary watercolour by A Sauerweid showing a Troop-sergeant-major of the 1st (Royal) Dragoons in 1812 with a carbine sling and swivel, admittedly without the carbine in place. Michael Barthorp's book British Cavalry Uniforms shows a sergeant of 1st Life Guards in 1815 with a carbine (page 79) and Fosten in The Thin Red Line shows a sergeant of the Scots Greys in 1815 with a carbine (page 61). I haven't had time to look further yet.

Alan, thank you for another cracking addition to your already Stella 1815 range and Lord Hill, fantastic suggestions.

May I add to the wish list, the great prize fighter Corporal John Shaw of the Lifeguards going down fighting surrounded by French infantry, killing one with his helmet after breaking his sword or Captain Kelly dismounting during the heat of combat to calmly cut the epaulettes from a dead cuirassier officer.

Of course there is also the capture of the eagle of the 105th by Corporal Stiles of the 1st Dragoons..

It will be fascinating to see what Alan creates over the next few months…

One minor request Alan. Could you make the pole for the eagle long enough to accommodate a GMB flag?

Fantastic stuff Alan, thank you again….

To be honest I wouldn't mind if Ewart was wearing a mitre, fez, or chef's hat – I'm just extremely happy that the Perrys will be making more British 1815 this year!

Well, let's not forget Ewart is the only "Briton" in this foursome and they did not say what their other dioramas might feature, they just dangled that "bait".

We all say we want anything different to the standard pose infantry advancing, loading or firing. Or do we? In the end wargamers must be what keeps the wolf from the door and companies solvent. Ney, plus his two ADCs, is some of the best work ever in 28mm, I think, but has anyone ever bought two sets of them? Austrian Grenadiers could be in their underpants, but will still sell in rank upon rank and file upon file to make up regiments.

I predict we will see well known images reproduced by Perrys. Top bet is gates of Hougoumont (from the inside), I'd vote for Blucher under his horse (but if not, I am planning a conversion), or Ponsonby handing over his locket? The meeting at La Belle Alliance (yeah, I know they did not etc……….). My dream would be Napoleon exiting his carriage at Genappe, with his white horse awaiting (the famous painting)…….too much to hope that is and quite difficult and expensive to do.

We'll have to wait……….

I began a 54mm dio of this scene back in the 1990s. I was working in the next desk from his descendent, Bert Ewart. What stopped me was that I had (erroneously) included a carbine on the Ewart figure. I even had the eagle cast in real gold, with "45" in raised lettering on the plinth.

But I'm not pulling it out for further work until I get a definitive answer on the carbine. If there is no carbine, I have to pretty much start over on the Ewart figure. On the other hand, I might do a better job on the painting this time.

Deadhead – ooh Ponsonby handing over his locket! Nice idea!
And you're right I'm probably being overly hopeful in seeing many more British! Trying to second-guess/persuade the Perrys is a fool's errand.

As regards the Perrys needing to keep "solvent", I think they've long since stopped worrying about what sells!
Napoleonic British light infantry skirmishing would surely be one of the biggest sellers possible in the whole period – the same uniform for both Peninsula and 1815, and representing some of the most ubiquitous units in the wars (52nd Oxfordshire, 43rd,etc). But they've never made a set of these, and instead are currently enlarging their range of British troops for a war that never existed in the 1850s!