"British Waterloo shako questions" Topic

Hi, I've just started some Waterloo British infantry and I'm getting confused on the hats.(new to napolionic and trying to catch up)
Some have feathers, some don't – I'm guessing officers, standard bearers etc get the feathers?
The warlord painting guide shows all black hats, no gold badges, but a lot of the pictures show gold badges. What's the deal should I paint badges on or not, or is it different for different companies ?
Finally should light infantry look different ? The warlord set gives you 4 guys with different shoulder pads I assume for the grenadiers, but should I do something special for light infantry? And do people single base light for skirmishing ?

Check out this website it will give you the info you need.

link

I am guessing that the figures include shakos with foul weather covers so no plumes, and some without.

Flank companies, Grenadiers and lights have wings at the shoulders.

That is a very good site, but maybe I don't understand it. So in that link you get 5 guys 2 with badges 3 not. Of the 2 with, ones a sergeant, but the other isn't. So how come 2 out of 5 get badges ?

Are the wings the same on grenadiers and light then ? Maybe warlord just don't supply enough (or I've counted wrong)

The guys with no badges and cords are wearing the issue black foul weather cover for their shakos. They would have removed the plumes and cords and then put the cover on. The others do not have covers on and therefore have their cords and plumes and the badge is visible. This could apply to all ranks. When you get a figure look at the shako. If there are no cords and plumes it means the cover is on and paint it all black. If cords and plumes are there paint them appropriate to rank and company.

All officers – gold cords.
Grenadier Companies – white plume and cords.
Battalion Companies – white over red plume, white cords
Light Companies green plume and green cords.

Wings are the same for grenadiers and lights.

Hope that helps.

Awesome answer, thank you very much.

Of course it then gets even more complicated.

Light Companies generally, not universally, had different, simpler, cap badges on the shako…as shown on the link.

Fusileers used the wings throughout.

As did Light Infantry regiments, where no such thing as a flank company and the shako was different.

Even more different for 71st HLI of course…except for their officers

As it was for 28th of Foot, a Line unit, with the rear cap badge.

and of course the Guards Foot Regts……….totally a law unto themselves.

Buff faced regiments not using whitened leather belts………AAAAAAAAARGH

Good luck trying to understand British uniforms (let alone KGL, Hanover etc) of the era!

Yeah it's a bit bonkers, but I figure one battalion at a time and really the little details are so obscure hardly anyone will know. And if I do meet someone how knows, and cares, I'll just run away. British red, french blue. Sorted. 😱

That's the spirit…….

If you are doing the Waterloo campaign, the weather was unpredictable, thus battalions would most likely have worn the Shako cover.

Ever seen a cover shown on a stovepipe (rather than Belgic shako of the 1815 period), for those units that did still wear them?

If you are new to Napoleonic and trying to catch up I would suggest getting hold of a copy of:
Swords Around A Throne by John R. Elting

Although it covers mainly the French, it is a fun read, contains lots of useful information about period and the different units in the army (and even some info on their enemies and foreign troops).

Interesting question deadhead. The Mont St Jean uniform website have Belgic plates with some figures wearing shako covers. The Stove pipe Shakos have no such covers.

link

link

My Googlefu has failed me in that I can't find any photographs to show examples. :)