Hameln Militia: Hanovarian Landwehr 1815

These little fella's represent my depiction of Major Julius von Strube's Hameln Hanoverian Landwehr battalion. It is one of two landwehr battalion under Vincke's brigade which took up a forward reserve position to the centre/left of the Allied line at Waterloo.

In my Papelotte scenario I have a series of possible events, one of which is the release of two Hanovarian landwehr battalions to reinforce the defence of the Papelotte sector.

It remains improbable that I will build any British infantry for the 100 Days campaign and so these Hanovarians are the closest thing I'll paint. The joy of the Papelotte sector is the use of Dutch elements supported by British cavalry. They are colourful, very 'allied' with few red coats in sight which is a change for me.

The Hameln Militia used to be regimented with the Hanovarian Calenburg regiment and so I have given them their standard in the absence of anything else to go on. As usual, their flag is scratch built.

Thanks to the shared research on the GeneralPicton blog and my reference to the Osprey MAA 206 ('The Hanovarian Army in the Napoleonic Wars') I've stuck with the stovepipe shako for rank and file (mostly) and Belgic Shakos for the Officers with a sprinkling of the field caps. There are differences in shako plates but it all adds to depicting supply issues for the reformed Hanovarian army.

The one distinction for the Hameln militia is their red greatcoats rolled at the top of their packs and that their sergeants wore red sashes, rather than orange. Otherwise they have the same facings, etc as my other Hanovarian landwehr battalion, the Giffhorn militia.

These models are all from Front Rank (Gripping Beast) and I have to say they are far better proportioned than their older, stockier models. I also suspect their Hanovarian range comes from two different sculptors - one nicer to paint than the other but overall highly recommended.