Warlord Games Announce Black Powder Epic Battles: Waterloo
November 4, 2021 by brennon
Warlord Games has announced the next of their Epic Battle series releases. The Napoleonic era and Waterloo is the focus of the upcoming pre-orders with 13.5mm/15mm for both the French and the British ready to take to the field alongside loads of additional extras.
The Waterloo Campaign - British // Black Powder: Epic Battles
The Waterloo Campaign // Black Powder: Epic Battles
There are two massive sets that come with everything that you need to play as either the British and the French. Each of the Starter Sets comes with around 1000 figures each that break down into infantry, cavalry, artillery and more. You also get the rulebooks, scenery and flags (all-important) that you'll need to complete your force.
British Army Starter Set // Black Powder: Epic Battles
As you can see, there are loads and loads of figures in each of these sets. Both the British and the French are well catered for with these sets and offer up the famous regiments of the time too. This means that you can play out Waterloo or practically any of the major battles from the period.
The Waterloo Campaign French // Black Powder: Epic Battles
The American Civil War collection was impressive but it seems like Warlord has gone to the next level with these offerings. You certainly get the grandeur and sense of scale once you start placing all of these miniatures on the tabletop.
French Army Starter Set // Black Powder: Epic Battles
A big new painting challenge for the winter months? There are quite a few people (me included) who are intrigued by the Napoleonic era but haven't dived into it yet. Could this be the thing that tips folks over the edge?
Even MORE Napoleonic Miniatures
As if that wasn't enough, both the French and the British are catered for with loads of additional sets that can be used to add on to your already huge armies. There are quite a few of them so we're just going to power through them...
British Infantry Brigade // Black Powder: Epic Battles
British Light Cavalry Brigade // Black Powder: Epic Battles
British Heavy Cavalry Brigade // Black Powder: Epic Battles
Once you see these miniatures close up, you get a sense of the amount of detail they have managed to work into these sculpts. I think they look impressive and once you get in those key colours for each army they will really pop on the tabletop.
French Infantry Brigade // Black Powder: Epic Battles
French Light Cavalry Brigade // Black Powder: Epic Battles
French Heavy Cavalry Brigade // Black Powder: Epic Battles
So yes, there are all manner of options for those wanting to expand their British and French forces on the tabletop. The Starter Sets are impressive in their own right but these take things to the next level.
Napoleonic Terrain
You can't have a battlefield without some good terrain. So, the folks at Warlord Games have created some of that as well!
Lay Haye Sainte Scenery Pack // Black Powder: Epic Battles
Hougoumont Scenery Pack // Black Powder: Epic Battles
Rivers Scenery Pack // Black Powder: Epic Battles
Roads Scenery Pack // Black Powder: Epic Battles
So yes, again, everything that you could need to put together an epic scale battlefield for playing out the moments at Waterloo and beyond. Each of the terrain kits comes with MDF components that can be built into sections so you can easily put together battlefields and then take them apart which is neat.
Pre-Orders Live This Weekend
The Black Powder: Epic Battles collection for The Waterloo Campaign is going to be made available for pre-order tomorrow. As is the way with Warlord, you can pre-order for some bonus miniatures too.
Waterloo Battle Bundle // Black Powder: Epic Battles
The Waterloo Campaign // Black Powder: Epic Battles
The limited-edition miniatures are Ewart's Eagle and L'Enforceur's Hougoumont Assault. So, if you want to pick up some more Napoleonic goodness then you'll want to snap up the pre-orders when they fire up.
Are you going to be picking up this new Epic Battles collection?
"Are you going to be picking up this new Epic Battles collection?"
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
![Explore The Augusta Industrial Terrain Set By Warcradle [Updated]](https://images.beastsofwar.com/2021/08/demolishedmainnew-600-338.jpg)
The product displayed doesn’t start with “Star Wars: Legion” so I’ll pass on this… please try again with “Star Wars: Legion Epic Battles” 😉
Just start a GoFundMe page to start your Epic Legion dreams 😉
AS much as I would love to do that…. I don’t think The Mouse would let me 😉
Step 1. Raise money
Step 2. Come up with idea
Step 3. talk to Da Mouse to get licensing
Step 4. raise more money for licensing
Step 5-100: make stuff
Step 101: sell stuff
Step 102: profit
Ooh some nice Sharp looking figures.
Sharpe indeed
I passed up on the Epic American Civil war but I’m really tempted with these and the size. They look great both painted and plastic However as someone with a 6mm Brit napoleonic army currently on the go I’m thinking it’s best to stay with Baccus….I am very tempted but likely that’s the Shiny effect
Got to say I was approaching this cautiously, given our ability to overhype new releases, but the fact that there are many unit types in affordable plastic has piqued my interest.
My biggest criticism of the ACW release was that so much of it was overpriced metal/resin which diminished the longer-term value of the excellent plastic starter set. This addresses that and its good to see warlord have listened, every miniature in this release (minus the preorder exclusives) are in plastic and cover a range of unit types.
The main criticism seems to be from the old grognards, complaining that 13.5mm isn’t 10mm it 15mm and it will impact other companies/isnt compatible etc/we don’t need another scale. I think that’s a load of grumpy old rubbish, sure some people might buy this rather than 10mm metals, but the cost of those 10mm metals will be a lot higher, and if we didn’t need more scales then we never would have got past the old 15mm to 25 or 28. I’m not defending warlord making a product that’s currently exclusive to them, but its not like that part of the market has been innovating much, and you know what, there’s nothing stopping somebody making minis in the same scale, or 3D printing for example, also its a “battle in a box” its confined to the 100 days campaign not the whole Napoleonic wars.
Anyway, all round an excellent release, I see 6 distinct plastic sprues covering a range of Napoleonic units and more than enough for varied and enjoyable games of black powder and that’s before you get any future releases. Focusing on the 100 days is good, while a bit boring to some its also the most recognisable battle for many, and a great entry into this side of the hobby.
Terrain from sarissa looks good as always, not that keen on the mdf sticker roads though.
Will I be buying into this, well no. I’ve enough 28mm miniatures to be cracking on with. I will be picking up some free sprues from Wargames Illustrated to try out (Issue 408) and if I like them I’ll start small with a single box, if I still like them after that I’d consider a starter army, but that will depend on if the second wave contains Prussians in Plastic.
My recommendation would be, rather than buy in big, start with those WI sprues and see how you like them, then wait for the third-party stores that will offer discounts. Painting a few 1000’s redcoats with white lace might be more effort than you think 🙂
People get irritated with the goofy 13.5mm scale because it’s a cynical ploy to lock you into buying this specific line of models. It’s Warlord’s choice to do it, but also the consumers’ choice to say “No thanks.”
Like when FFG did Star Wars Imperial Assault, sold everyone a heap of miniatures, then brought out Star Wars Legion & inflated the scale ever so slightly so that the Imperial Assault stuff would look shrimpy, thus compelling buyers to essentially purchase the same models all over again in a slightly bigger scale instead of using what they already own.
10mm metals actually come in at the same price as the Warlord (13.5mm) ACW metals. Old Glory do 10mm shoulder to shoulder “strips” of five figures for £16 for 100 foot figures or 30 mounted, if this link works….
https://www.oldgloryuk.com/10mm-french/28/89/259/261
When it comes to the Warlord Cavalry it’s £25 for 50 mounted (and three guns and crew), so the 10mm metal cavalry from old glory work out to be similar in price (if you leave out the gun battery).
But the main advantage is you can buy EXACTLY what you want from companies like Old Glory, whereas Warlord you’re restricted to their selection in each box (so for the Warlord ones you get three different types of cavalry in each box). Not really an issue if you are playing dump the figures down on the table for a quick game, but harder if you are actually trying to do a refight of Waterloo (and are sticking to the OOBs).
I think the ACW Epic Range is better (as there is only “two” armies, and a lot less variety in troops types, ideal for an offering in plastics), but “how” Warlord has gone about this Napoleonic release could have been done a lot better (see my post about 25% of the British Line Infantry has to be Rifles due to the selection they places in the retail boxes). 🙁
Tempting, though to echo my fellow commenters’ concerns, I’d like this better in a “standard” scale (such as such things exist).
Anyway I’d not be buying any tiny Naps until I’ve painted that Travel Battle box from the Perrys.
I’m impressed with the amount of variety in the plastic, which was one of my main points of concern – would Warlord capture enough of the variations in unit types for Napoleonics compared to ACW? There’s obviously formations not represented here (Highlanders, Guard etc.), plus no Prussains, and other allied nations like the Dutch and Brunswickers, but this is a promising initial release. I like the design they’ve gone for, really capturing the shoulder-to-shoulder, mass ranks of formed infantry. If I was new to Napoleonic wargaming, I could see myself jumping in on this as a great entry point.
Pricewise these seem to be very good deals, BUT you will have to find others willing to jump into this scale with you. If your gaming group already uses a different scale I can imagine that it would maken more sense to use that instead.
This is wonderful, and a great starting point for any beginner in Napoleonics. Unfortunately, I have just finished painting my 1/72 French Napoleonic army this week- arrgh the cosmic injustice of it all!. I went with 1/72 because it was the cheapest option in plastic and scale, even though I really wanted to go 10mm or 15mm. I guess that is the irony of life. Next week I will post the army in the projects section.
Great timing Warlord, if only you came out with this first, before ACW, I would be onboard wholeheartedly – but to be honest, I am not going through painting another large scale French Napoleonic Army in a my lifetime!
Nonetheless, I am glad to see Napoleonic wargaming get some well deserved love and hopefully this will bring in a whole new generation. My gaming group is aging and we need new blood.
Go Warlord! Go Napoleonics!
This looks great.
It is not a time period I play, so I will skip this one.
If they did 15 mm plastic fantasy battles I would be buying it all.
You mean 13.5mm fantasy minis 😉.
One MAJOR issue (if you are going to collect a British Army) is you better like your 95th Rifles….
The “all in/mega deal” gives you FIVE 80 figure 95th Rifles (the British Army only had two in this period, the 95th and the 60th), and these weren’t at Waterloo in full strength. Plus Warlord has done them in close order with bayonets attached (when they fought in skirmish order).
But worst of all the 95th Rifles are in every box multiple times, even the basic £25 British Line infantry box has 3 Line Battalions and an 95th Rifles Battalion. So if you want to expand your British Line infantry then you have to live with 25% of your infantry being “Rifles”. I’m amazed no-one at Warlord actually twigged on this (unless they are treating it as a “tourney” style game where you can have as many Rifle Battalions as you want (as long as you have the points to pay for it)). It would have been much better to have Line Infantry Skirmishers (like with the French Box sets) instead of adding the 95th to everything (mind you probably someone in marketing thought “Sharpe” and thus adding Rifles might sell more boxes).
So be prepared for 25% of the British Army being Rifles on the tabletop, I doubt they will sell on eBay (as everyone will be dumping them once they have one or two painted up). Perhaps there’s room for using them as Prussian Reserve Infantry with a different paintjob, but then you’re still stuck if you are trying to build up your line infantry numbers for the game 🙁
Actually majority of the 95th fought as line infantry at waterloo (the third Battalion fought in square repelling cavalry) so riflemen in line is historically correct, plus you can model the kgl and hanoverian light Battalions
Well the 1st battalion of the 95th wasn’t actually on the field during the battle (they were in reserve), the 2nd Battalion was, but the 3rd only fielded 2 companies on the day. So it’s 1 and 1/5th battalions of the 95th on the table.
Sorry mate but you are wrong, 1/95 were part of the rearguard from quatre bras and 6 companies fought at waterloo (they were in Picton division) and 2 of those companies were instrumental in their support of le haye Sainte from the sandpit
One other thing, you did notice it says waterloo campaign on the box right?
Damn after completing my 10m collection in metal
Really pleased to see something new in Napoleonic wargaming. This isn’t for me as I can get a very large collection of 3mm for the £508 that they want for the full bundle deal. I’m a proper Grognard and don’t have any issue with them coming into the market with a proprietary scale. Good luck to them, I hope it does well and they make stacks of money. Anything that garners interest from gamers who don’t play Historicals is well worth it and I hope this pushes interest into new markets. It would be a shame if it turned into a flash in the pan and they bailed on supporting it after making their money from the initial surge of shiny interest.
Painting white crossbelts on 13.5mm figures. Fahsands of ’em! Bloomin’ Aida!
Looks impressive, but life’s too short I feel.