"THE BATTLE OF QUATRE BRAS 16th June 1815 4.40 PM" Topic

The Battle of Quatre Bras 16th June 1815

Timeline 4.40PM

The Allied position in the Bois de Bossu has been reinforced by Elements of the Brunswick Corps.

Fighting is fierce but the line is holding.

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Contemporaneously, 3rd Regiment d'Infantrie de Ligne, Colonel Baron Hubert Vautrin is attempting to outflank this position but has been engaged by the Brunswick Avant Garde, Major Adolf von Rauschenplatt.

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The Herzog von Braunchweig-Luneberg has personally led his hussars in order to halt the French advance at Ferme La Bergerie.

A consequence of this is that the hussars are now under accurate French artillery fire.

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The French attack has stalled and the 42nd Regiment of Line, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Robert Macara, is moving forward to expand the Allied perimeter.

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The Allied position east of Ferme La Bergerie is under a concerted attack by the French 5th Infantry Division, Lieutenant-General Baron Gilbert-Desiree Bachelu.

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His Grace, The Duke of Wellington is supervising the defence and support in the form of the Brunswick Leib Battalion under Major Frederich von Prostler is being organised.

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However, 6th British Infantry Division, Colonel Carl Best, en potence to his Grace's left flank is also being assaulted by the French 2nd Regiment d'Infantrie Leger threatening the Allied rear.

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Brunswick ulhans, Major Carl Pott commanding, charge the supporting French cavalry to try and relieve the pressure.

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Marechal Ney, Duc d,Elchingen, Prince de la Moskowa has returned from the front line and receives an update of the action from Lieutenant-general Honare-Charles, Comte Reille.

French 2nd Infantry Brigade, Marechal-de-camp Baron Jean-Louis Soye, from Prince Jerome's French 6th Infantry Division is commencing its attack towards the crossroads.

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French 1st Corps, Lieutenant-general Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon is expected to arrive shortly.

Ney is advised that lieutenant-general Francois-Etienne-Kellerman, Comte Valmy is awaiting orders. Unfortunately, as per his earlier order, only the 2nd Brigade, Marechal-de-camp Baron Marie-Adrien Guiton from the 11th French cavalry Division is present.

Nevertheless, the order to advance is immediately despatched.

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The action is reaching its critical stage, the honour of France is at stake.

Vive L'empereur, Avant!

Oh wow. we have got used to a series of pics like these from you. The low angle, the smoke effect and the depth of focus you achieve, the sheer numbers of figures, the quality of the scenery make these look like "the real thing".

But a novelty here. That poor Brunswick Hussar hit by a cannonball, is that a bit of CGI and digital processing? Whatever I have never seen such an event so realistically portrayed.

Hello Mr D and thank you for your kind comments.

The poor hussar effect is cotton wool dyed with red car primer which was inserted into the carved out cavity before being teased out.

The chap behind has been hit by the bits.

I hope you like the cannonball ricochet with the Lieb Battalion.

That is simply brilliant I was sure this was clever Photoshop.

I had not seen the bouncing cannonball in the sixth one down.

I thought your interior views of burning building, or some street scenes, were unbeatable for special effects. That poor hussar wins the prize though.

Amazing! Some of the earlier photographs look like oil paintings.

Ahem. '42d Royal Highland Regiment….'

I suspect from your nom de plume you might know such. But then I thought such regt names were given as ;

"42nd (or the Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot"

Indeed, as you say, "Line" was never mentioned, just implied. Even Light Infantry Regts were specified as such in an addendum so it was still;

150th (or the Waterford) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry)

a very little known unit, but one I intend to recreate one day……

Apologies for my typing error.

‘ His Britannic Majesty's regiment of foot ‘ not line, is more correct.

I hope that Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Robert Macara and his Black Watch comrades will forgive me .

Best wishes,

Chris

The 42nd, and The Black Watch thereafter, valued their 'Royal Highland' sub-title highly. The initials 'RH" being favoured in the C19th as an identifier as much as '42 or 'BW.'

Ah, the old 150th. You fellows remember the positions. Now, here, these nuts were the French – guns, guns, guns. What? Ah, yes, the Russians. Quite so. The Russians- guns, guns, guns. On the right, our infantry – the thin red line, what? There was the commander-in-chief and here was I, at the head of the old Waterfords. The right was impossible, the left was blocked, behind us was the commander-in-chief. I realised the position in a flash. I said, "The 150th will move forward….."

Simply magnificent!

It is that hussar meets cannonball that I keep coming back to, however good everything else is.

That deserves a topic of its own. Do it again with a few pics of the stages in construction. Crosspost all over, applicable to just about every board and never seen it done better.

Gunshot wounds my sons did as kids with Warhammer space type figures. Drilled holes. Clear toothbrush bristles and globs painted red for a penetrating wound, which worked very well. But this is on a different level.

I should have added, these images are quite captivating. It takes me back to what we called 'scenes' in boyhood, but in a parallel universe.

It really is just a collapsing horse with its head partially chopped off and stuffed with dyed cotton wool but I do thank you for your enthusiasm.

An earlier submission has a Belgian militia officer losing his head, again using the same effect.

Happy modelling.

Chris

Thank you to everyone for their kind comments.

The complete series is available on TMP but for the full story so far this link may be of interest.

link

There is also a section on the techniques used.

Best wishes,

Chris

Very impressive and a treat to view.