I decided that the only sensible way of building these Waterloo armies was to use the now widely available 1/72 plastic figures from various manufacturers, as this would allow me to build the armies reasonably quickly and cheaply. I sourced the figures from various model shops here in New Zealand, but mainly from eBay and Trademe online auction sites.

In building the armies I decided to standardize troop sizes. Because of this standardization some units will either be a little larger or smaller than would have historically appeared. But overall I think this works. Scales were generally taken from 'Napoleonic Wargaming' by Charles Grant. I know these rules are now quite old, but from just the 'Look' I feel they work quite well.

The approximate scale for figures is 1:20, and for distance is 25mm equals 10 yards.

INFANTRY

Each infantry battalion when in line has a frontage of approximately 360mm, made up of 6 bases each measuring 30mm x 60mm, giving a battalion strength of 48 figures. Having 6 bases per battalion allows line, column and square formations to be represented easily.

I have also allowed for each battalion light company, or if the battalion is a light battalion, to be detached when necessary and represented seperately in skirmish formation. Each figure having a base frontage size of 25mm.

Battalion organisation

French Line and Light battalions
4 battalion Companies
1 Light Company
1 Grenadier Company

French Imperial Guard battalions
4 Companies

British Line battalions
8 battalion Companies
1 Light Company
1 Grenadier Company

Kings German Legion Line battalions
4 battalion Companies
1 Light Company
1 Grenadier Company

Hanovarian Landwehr battalions
4 battalion Companies

Hanovarian Field battalions
4 Companies
5 skirmisher figures per battalion

Brunswick battalions
4 battalion companies

Nassau battalions
4 battalion companies
1 Grenadier Company
1 Flanquer Company

Dutch-Belgian battalions
4 Fusilier Companies
1 Grenadier Company
1 Light Company

Prussian Line and Landwehr battalions
4 Companies


CAVALRY

Each cavalry regiment is made up of 24 figures and can be divided into 1-4 individual squadrons. The cavalry of all three armies can be divided into two categories, light and heavy.

LIGHT CAVALRY

Each light cavalry figure has a base frontage of 30mm x 40mm. The cavalry types that are classed as light are as follows.

French
Hussars
Lancers
Châsseurs à Cheval

Anglo-Allied
Hussars
Uhlans
Light Dragoons

Prussian
Hussars
Uhlans
Dragoons
Landwehr

HEAVY CAVALRY

Each heavy cavalry figure has a base frontage of 25mm x 40mm. The cavalry types that are classed as heavy are as follows.

French
Cuirassiers
Carabineers
Dragoons
Grenadiers à Cheval
Gendarmes d'Elite

Anglo-Allied
Life Guards
Dragoons
Carabineers


ARTILLERY

Each artillery battery/troop Horse or Foot, for all nations is represented by 2 cannons. Each cannon has a crew of 4 figures. The Base size for each cannon is 75mm x 60mm.