Great show and a nice surprise appearance by the mighty @oriskany. Thanks for the shout-out and plug.

@warzan Elba was the Island Napoleon escaped from, Corsica was the Island that Napoleon was born on so a very close guess. Napoleon then get’s sent to Saint Helena. In my Opinion if Napoleon won Waterloo he loses very quickly thereafter. He massacred the French Army in Russia and had burned through most of the French Conscripts. Everyone had mobilised against him (against him, not France, him personally) and had some pretty strong Veteran Forces to throw against him.

Those are not British Paratroopers or Commando’s, they’re Polish Paratroopers although they did fight in the British Army, wore British Uniform’s and carried British Guns. The Beret’s are different, grey instead of Red and slightly larger. They are incredibly well painted. I’m a huge fan of multi purpose minis and these are great for doing it. Build a lot of guys with helmets and sprinkle in a few Beret’s. Red for British and Grey for Polish that way you have two different forces for the effort of one.

For the Starter Set.

Those guys on the Bottom are indeed Brits. Post 1812 Brits due to their Grey Pants and Shako’s. The Hanoverian’s are the Brits in the Soft Caps, the British King had been Hanoverian since 1745, and fought for the British for close to 15 years during the Napoleonic Wars as a part of the Famous King’s German Legion.

The Artillery are the Royal Artillery in the post 1812 Uniform. It’s a British 6 Pounder Gun (and yes it is a gun) and would be organised into a Battery with Five 6 Pounders and a Howitzer. I could talk for hours about Napoleonic Artillery so I’ll stop here.

The British officer is also in the post 1812 Uniform although for Officer’s Uniform is a loose word. It doesn’t look like the Regiment’s come with any Command Figures although they are available separately.

The French are Generic French and super easy to build, With a head swap they could be Guard or Polish so they’re slightly workable. Technically they’re in Late War Uniform’s but you could use them from 1805 onwards as far as I’m concerned.

The Cavalry are the Chasseurs a Cheval (Hunters on Horse), Light Cavalry. Napoleon’s Green Uniform is actually in homage to the Chasseurs a Cheval and the Guards version of the CaC were his personal escort after a nasty incident with some Austrian Cavalry.

All the infantry in the set are 3 pieces. Head, Backpack and Body. I built 200+ French infantry in a weekend so don’t be too daunted by them like you would a Victrix or Perry Kit. The Hanoverian’s are just British with different heads so counting the spares if you wanted to build them as Brits instead pick up about 10 Spare “Belgic Shako” (Plume on the side or covered NOT Plume in the center those are Stovepipe Shako’s) Heads and you’re good to go.

Rodelero’s are indeed real, they were trained to get into Pike Block’s and cause mayhem. You put them in your Pike Block’s then if you get stuck in melee you unleash them. That is the extent of my knowledge of the Pike and Shotte Period 🙂

I’ve not played a lot of Black Powder (my game of choice is Napoleon at War) but I will be picking it up as inspiration and to have a beautiful book on the shelf.

Apologies for taking up so much of your screen, if you want a brief rundown of the French and how to build them for war-gaming take a look at my Project, there’s also a bit of Period Gossip about a contender for the biggest bridge Burner of all time and some Napoleon at War rules descriptions as well.

https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/elessar2590s-grande-armee-project/