Plastic Soldier Review - HaT Waterloo Netherlands Militia and Belgian I... http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?
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HaT Set 8096
Waterloo Netherlands Militia and Belgian Infantry
1 of 6 6/7/20, 8:40 AM Plastic Soldier Review - HaT Waterloo Netherlands Militia and Belgian I... http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=601
All figures are supplied unpainted (Numbers of each pose in brackets)
2 of 6 6/7/20, 8:40 AM Plastic Soldier Review - HaT Waterloo Netherlands Militia and Belgian I... http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=601
Stats
Date Released 2004
Contents 48 figures
Poses 8 poses
Material Plastic (Medium Consistency)
Colours Grey
Average Height 24 mm (= 1.73 m)
Review
Since 1795 the Netherlands had been dominated by France, and many aspects of her army reflected this, including the uniform. In 1815 the North and South Netherlands were reunited, and her armies took the field with the Allies for the Waterloo campaign. However their contribution to the defeat of Napoleon has only been acknowledged relatively recently.
The Netherlands militia in this set (top row) are all wearing the correct uniform for Waterloo, though to what extent this was universal will probably never be known. They have the British 'stovepipe' shako with the sunburst plate, single breasted coats and trousers over short gaiters. Though four poses will never be seen as enough, they include marching, firing and advancing, so wargamers will find all the most important elements covered. The poses themselves are fine and look quite natural.
The South Netherlands or Belgian infantry have quite a similar uniform except for the 'Belgic' shako as adopted by the British infantry in 1812. Again the uniform and equipment is correctly sculpted on these figures, which are from centre companies rather than flank as they do not have the shoulder rolls of the latter. The poses are similar to those of the
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militia, so the same comments apply, and again they have been pretty well done.
Sculpting on all these figures is good with clear detail and realistic folds in the clothing. In a few places there has been some loss of detail due to undercuts - for example the advancing Belgian has no mouth! However the standard is generally quite acceptable. There is some flash on these figures, though not a great deal.
These figures were originally intended as two 'minisets', but were released combined into this one set, hence the small number of poses for each unit. The result is that there are very few figures for each type, with no officers, musicians etc. (although officers and others can be obtained from the regular Dutch infantry set). This will be less than satisfactory for diorama builders in particular, but at least two more elements of the complex tapestry of participants at Waterloo have now been made in 1/72 scale plastic, and made pretty well too.
4 of 6 6/7/20, 8:40 AM Plastic Soldier Review - HaT Waterloo Netherlands Militia and Belgian I... http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=601
Further Reading
Books
"1815 The Armies at Waterloo" - Seeley, Service & Company - Ugo Pericoli - 9780854220724 "Dutch-Belgian Troops of the Napoleonic Wars" - Osprey (Men-at-Arms Series No.98) - Otto von Pivka - 9780850453478
"Napoleonic Uniforms Vol.4" - Emperor's Press - John R Elting - 9781883476205
"Soldiers and Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars" - Histoire & Collections -
François-Guy Hourtoulle - 9782913903555
"The Napoleonic Wars Part 2" - Casterman (Arms and Uniforms) - Liliane and Fred Funcken - 9780706314076
"The Waterloo Companion" - Aurum - Mark Adkin - 9781854107640
"Uniforms of Waterloo" - Blandford - Philip Haythornthwaite - 9781854093943
"Waterloo 1815 (1)" - Osprey (Campaign Series No.276) - John Franklin -
9781472803634
"Wellington's Belgian Allies 1815" - Osprey (Men-at-Arms Series No.355) -
Ronald Pawly - 9781841761589 "Wellington's Dutch Allies 1815" - Osprey (Men-at-Arms Series No.371) - Ronald Pawly - 9781841763934
Magazines
"Tradition (English Language)" - No.46
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