"Warlord 28mm plastic Hanoverian" Topic

I've just picked up a few boxes and have to say I'm a it confused. The figs are identical to the British infantry sets but with different heads (flat caps). Each sprue consists of 4 centre company men, and 1 flank company man.

But all the sources I can find say that there were no flank companies in Hanoverian battalions, the booklet which accompanies the box even cofirms this "Both Field and Landwehr battalions had four companies with neither type of battalion having flank companies of grenadiers or light troops."

Furthermore the box promises "you can create most of the battalions fielded by the Hanoverians" but according to Cent Jours centjours.mont-saint-jean.com only the Lauenberg battalion contained men in the uniform in the Warlord box – that's 1 battalion out of 23 Hanoverian battalions present in 1815. The rest are either Landwehr wearing only centre company uniforms (so why does the box contain flank company men?) or line and light infantry who either wore similar uniforms to the Landwehr (again, no flank) or an entirely different uniform (without lace, more similar to the Rifles' uniform).

Seems a bit of a con!

Picky, picky. Look at all the money Warlord saved by taking the shortcut. Almost as good as there French line infantry sprue, with one elite figure and three fusiliers.

It is why I love this forum. There are folk here who really know their stuff…..

Hands up if you knew that Hanoverians did not have flank companies…my hands are staying down!

(Begs the question then…von Summat needs some lads to go on ahead and check out that treeline. Or deal with those "Voltigeurs", or whatever daft name they use.

What did he do? "you, you unt you" or "hands up anyone who wants to have a go, mes enfants")

My hand is up. But I also know that Hanoverian Landwehr had schutzen--I think about 40 per battalion, but I'd have to check. That's certainly one use I'd put such figures to.
I might also do a little swapping around. There's a painting of the Osnabruck Landwehr in a with flank company wings and a stovepipe shako, and the Kielmansegge Field Jaeger Corps wore that flat cap, though I can't vouch for the cut of the coat.
I think the Kingdom of Hanover put together an army in a couple of years out of available parts--like a lot of us.

This is what I've gleaned from the amazing Centjours site
Bremen – British flank coy uniforms
Calenberg – British centre coy uniforms
Grubenhagen – Rifles, officers with single breasted long tails
Lauenberg – yes – these would work for the Warlord box, Belgic with winged flank coy
Luneberg – Rifles
Osnabruck – Rifles
Verden – British centre coy uniforms

Jagers – Rifles but single breasted

Landwehr – all centre coy

So, the content of the Warlord box are only correct for the Lauenberg battalion.

As I said, it seems like a lazy/cheeky move – to pass off your British sprues as Hanoverian, even though that's historically incorrect. By the time I've discarded the redundant flank coy figs (which, command aside, leaves £16.00 GBP plastic privates), it's £1.00 GBP a fig so I'd be better off buying the beautiful (and accurate) Perry Hanoverians.

Beware of the Hanoverians on the Centjours site.

Siborne and a few other sources give red standard uniforms with Belgic shako for the Line Field Bns.
Bremen was an ex-Light unit and seems to have worn wings for all. Also they had black facings.
Osnabruck (Duke of York's) should also be in red with blue facings.
Verden wore red with green facings as shown, but I've never come across any reference for a Light company formed from a KGL cadre.
The two Light Bns. Luneburg and Grubenhagen were in green (old KGL Lt. uniforms)with cylindrical shako.
The Landwehr were all in red with cylindrical shako with cords.
There were supply problems for the Landewhr so there were some variations in their dress. Many did not have packs and had blanket rolls instead.
As others mention each company had a few men trained as skirmishers and these were collected in an ad-hoc Light company. They may have been provided with wings.

ALSO – there is very little evidence to support the Hanoverians being in caps – maybe the odd Officer but NOT the troops. Some of the 1813-era Bns. had worn caps but they had been re-uniformed by the time of Waterloo.

Thanks Camcleod – I think what you've written doesnt change my main point, the Hanoverians were either wearing Rifle-style uniforms or centre company uniforms. 20% of the Warlord boxes are flank company men with winged epaulettes.

I agree about the caps too, I don't know when/where this became the norm – 20 years ago all sources showed them in stovepipe shakos.

Warlord do have some previous with this.
Polish Vistula Legion??

Guess it depends on how picky you are with the details.
I suspect for my gaming group they would nt mind so long as you can tell the Hanoverians apart from the Brits, French or Prussians then would be ok.

Hi insomniac
I don't know about the Vistula set – what's the story there?

I assumed caps were modern shorthand for Hanoverians. Mine are in shakos…

I don't know about the Vistula set – what's the story there?

Warlord used the same French infantry sprue for the Vistula box, and then provided a bunch of metal heads to substitute for the heads on the sprue.

then provided a bunch of metal heads to substitute for the heads on the sprue.

I bet trying to glue those on are fun. I once tried to stick the (metal) Victrix light infantry heads onto their plastic figs. Aside from the heads being hilariously too small, I could never find a glue that worked.

I could never find a glue that worked

I think the recommendation there would be any of the popular super glues.
Warlord could have helped the modeler by providing a 'peg' at the bottom of the metal head and headgear that could then be inserted into a hole drilled by the modeler into the plastic figure. This would have helped to ensure a better attachment between the two dissimilar materials.

I've found the best way to glue metal heads onto plastic bodies is by putting the super blue on the plastic, then dipping the metal head and water and sticking it on. It grips pretty quick.

Ligniere
Warlord could have helped.. by providing a 'peg' at the bottom of the metal head.. that could then be inserted into a hole drilled by the modeler.. This would.. ensure a better attachment between the two dissimilar materials.

I agree and to take it one step farther. 'Why not a 'socket-peg' system not only for the head piece but Esecially for the arm-shoulder connection points? Today the SOP seems to be to make this connection point 'flat' on both pieces. I have found that far too often they tend to slip while holding them in place as the glue sets.
IMHO a socket-peg would allow not only a quicker solution for building, but still allow you to turn or place the added part in the desired position.

More to the Hanoverian question,; Im not a student of this period, less specific units. But I do wonder. Other than for the unique uniform style of this unit, if only one Bn was known to have worn the cap, why add it?
Personaly, IF I began a Nap period army I would add them if no other reason than that, as it also lends itself to great "imagi-nation" armies.