Building a Peninsular War Napoleonic Force for Sharp Practice

I've been flopping about an idea for my next Sharp Practice participation game - you may remember last year when we did ACW - and I've looked at The American War of Independence, The Texas Revolution, and finally The Napoleonic Wars. I've chosen to do a game set in the Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars.

The first force I'm going to paint are my British models. I've had a bunch of Hanoverians for a while, but from everything I have researched, they pretty much only fought at Waterloo (they're wearing peaked caps). Instead I bought a couple boxes of Perry Miniatures Line Infantry. I talk about it on our latest episode of Combined Arms Podcast but I really liked the variance in poses of the Perry minis. I have probably 20 Warlord Games marching guys that will be used too from a sprue sale a while back.

Backing up a bit, I know little to nothing about the Napoleonic Wars. They are very confusing to me as someone who hasn't researched because there were so many coalitions and campaigns and locales. I've decided to start small and read what I can to get a better understanding. I would definitely recommend Black Powder's Albion Triumphant 1 sourcebook as a great way to get an introduction to what the Napoleonic Wars were all about and who fought.

You can see here almost my entire force I need to paint. I haven't included my 95th Rifles, of which I own some from Brigade, Offensive Miniatures, and Warlord. I didn't paint them because they're almost everywhere in terms of wargames boards so I wanted to do something different.

Instead, I chose to model my force as a patrol during the retreat to Corunna and afterwards. I've included two sections of light infantry skirmishers who represent parts of the 43rd Foot. I've included five groups of infantry from the 4th Foot, two groups marching with rifles at shoulder (Warlord Games) and three groups firing from Perry. I've also included a section of light dragoons from Perry.

The officers are really from all over - some from Brigade, some from Perry, some from Warlord. I have some from Calpe Miniatures on the way as well as some from Front Rank. Both companies minis looked great on their sites. With such a huge variety of minis available its cool to try out some from all the different companies and see what they're like.

The plastics went together well - the Warlord Games ones are really easy to put together, just a pack and a head and they're set. The Perry infantry are a little more to do, but you get better poses by adding arms etc. The dragoons were really easy to put together. I left them unglued on their horse so I can take them off to paint.

The light company guys are mostly from Brigade, who makes amazing light infantry. There are some Perry plastics in there too - I didn't realize that some of the arms in the kits were light infantry with the 'wings' as opposed to line infantry, and I made some by accident. They each have a sergeant to oversee the skirmish line.

I intend to use the PaintingWar British Infantry guide as they are invaluable. I do think I'll add on some Spanish regulars, probably two groups of eight, as an extra to the force later on. They'll provide a little contrast and perhaps some more story opportunities. Check back later to see what progress I've made!