Sunday 10 May 2015

Napoleonic Wars: Hanoverian Militia

Here is my first completed 'battalion' of Hanoverian Landwehr (militia). These are from Warlord games and are plastic models with metal command sections. They will be used as part of my British army force in my peninsular wars (as regular Hanoverians) but have been more specifically painted for Waterloo, for the Earlswood Wargames new Napoleonic project. I have based them on pennies, and am using magnetic movement trays. This on is a prototype, but it isn't strong enough to hold the metal figures in place, so I need to continue to experiment. These chaps were surprising easy to assemble and to paint, compared to Victrix plastics. They are very nice models and I highly recommend them. The flags are included in the box set. 

  Interestingly, the Hanoverians wear British army uniforms and carry the King's Standard because they are part of the British army. The King of England was also the Duke of Handover and when Hanover was seized by the French a good number of it's young men flocked to England to fight for the King in The British army. The Hanoverian Regiments always played second fiddle to the King's German Legion, who always seemed to cream of the best recruits and officers, leaving the Hanoverians with the remaining men, and a reputation for being somewhat unreliable. The Landwehr regiments were raised for Waterloo and equipped by the British. Many of their NCOs and Officers were supplied by the KGL and other British Regiments, but even so they were raw troops, and as such Wellington tended to keep them in reserve, and when they were used on the front line they fought along side the KGL to bolster their moral. 


In reality they Hanoverian Regiments wore shakos, and looked, to all intent and purposes like any other British Army regiment, except for the badge on their backpacks, but that would be boring, so I opted for caps to make them look more distinctive from the KGL and British Army Regulars. 


4 comments:

pulpcitizen said...

Very nice work. I dread to think how many minis you have painted this year compare to me. :)

Rob Bresnen said...

I think it is about 80 as a ball park figure. I plan on having at least another 25 more done by the end of the Lead Painters League

pancerni said...

Very nice work, I admire the crisp style. Having thought about this box set, may just pick some up to do a brigade for my own usage.

Phil said...

I like their uniform, and I like what you've done with these wonderful minis, congrats!