Waterloo Dutch Belgian 4th Light Dragoons

Two boxes of HAT 8032 provided the 12 figures I needed for this unit.  That number does nicely for Napoleon's Battles (12DBLC) and Shako.

I originally thought of doing the figures as hussars but when I saw how accurate a depiction of the 4th Light Dragoons they were it would have been sacrilege to to do anything other than that unit.  The 4th (Dutch) Light Dragoons were over 600 sabres at Waterloo and were heavily engaged against the French cavalry in the afternoon suffering all most 50% losses (courtesy of Mark Adkin's great book, The Waterloo Companion).

I agonised over getting the right shade of blue.  I seem to use VJ Prussian Blue for all my blues and it was getting a bit repetitive, never mind inaccurate.  So far with the Dutch Belgians I've had some success with highlights to the blue, but for the Light Dragoons I wanted something darker.  After testing half a dozens blues I settled on VJ Dark Prussian Blue (kind of obvious in retrospect) with a Prussian Blue highlight.  I was so happy with this I even painted the paints blue only to later check my sources and see that they should be grey.  All this excitement, as well of lack of suitable figures, meant I painted everyone as a trooper.

These first set of photos are before the application of varnish.  I was very happy how they were looking, horses and all, so I decided not to use the paint on matt varnish that was turning gloss That I had been using.  This time I would try a different varnish.

Possibly the head is a fraction too small, but the expression is suitably stern

And now for the varnish

Picture Varnish Matt from Westart which I got for under $10 at Jackson's Drawing Supplies. 

I even re-varnished one of the previously glossy casualty markers and was happy with the result.

It is not a flat matt, but it is definitely not glossy and certainly the look I wanted.

It doesn't really bother me, but this figure, as noted in the Plastic Soldier Review, does have a very long sword.  When I come to do the other Light Dragoon regiment I might have a go at trimming their swords to a less exaggerated length, but these guys can stay as they are.