Napoleonic Waterloo British Infantry Flank Companies, 28 mm Scale Model Plastic Figures

The British Army during the Napoleonic Wars experienced a time of rapid change. At the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, the army was a small, awkwardly administered force of barely 40,000 men. By the end of the period, the numbers had vastly increased. At its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. The British infantry was “the only military force not to suffer a major reverse at the hands of Napoleonic France.

There were eventually 104 regiments of the line. They were numbered and, from 1781, were given territorial designations, which roughly represented the area from which troops were drawn. This was not entirely rigid, and most regiments had a significant proportion of English, Irish, Scots and Welsh together, except for certain deliberately exclusive regiments. The majority of regiments contained two battalions, while some had only one. One special case, the 60th Foot, ultimately had seven battalions. Battalions were dispersed throughout the army; it was rare for two battalions of any regiment to serve in the same brigade.

A line infantry battalion was commanded by its regimental colonel or a lieutenant colonel, and was composed of ten companies, of which eight were “centre” companies, and two were “flank” companies: one a grenadier and one a specialist light company. Companies were commanded by captains, with lieutenants and ensigns (or subalterns) beneath him. Ideally, a battalion consisted of 1000 men (excluding NCOs, musicians and officers), but active service depleted the numbers. Generally, the 1st (or senior) battalion of a regiment would draw fit recruits from the 2nd battalion to maintain its strength. If also sent on active service, the 2nd battalion would consequently be weaker.

The light companies were manned by the best shots, the fittest and the fastest men of the regiment.  They would act as a regiment’s skirmish line, sent forward of the main body to harass the enemy with accurate musket fire. When the skirmish line deployed, the soldiers would fight in pairs using a fire and maneuver technique where one man would fire whilst the other moved.  Soldiers of the light company had high levels of fieldcraft and were skilled at using terrain to its best advantage.

The grenadier companies were selected from the biggest, strongest and bravest soldiers of a regiment.  They were the “shock troops” of a regiment, always used where the fighting was hardest and bloodiest.

This Victrix Limited set can be assembled and painted to represent a British “flank” company from the Waterloo campaign.