WoFun Dutch Infantry: The Heroes of French Allied Conversions

Confederation of the Rhine Battalion Number 3 (Frankfurt)

The kind folks at WoFun Games once again (!) sent me another free pack with my latest order. This time they sent me the Dutch Infantry; however, I already had two battalions for my Composite Dutch Infantry Regiment that was part of the German Division in Napoleon's Peninsular Army. Earlier I had decided not to add the Frankfurt Battalion to the German Division as it was a one battalion organization and there were no figures for the battalion available from WoFun. About two weeks ago it dawned on me - the Dutch wore white uniforms based on French uniforms and most of France's allies adopted French uniforms. Time to convert!

Frankfurt troops by Richard Knötel.

I'm organizing the German Division based on their organization at the Battle of Talavera. The Frankfurt Battalion, organized along French lines (4 Fusilier companies, 1 grenadier company and 1 voltiguer company) deployed to Spain wearing white uniforms with red facings. After a year of campaigning their uniforms were wearing out; fortunately for them they captured large quantities of blue cloth and suddenly, they were now dressed in blue.

Dutch Infantry.

I wanted the jackets to be a slightly lighter shade of blue than the French troops and Vallejo Dark Blue worked perfectly. For the red facings I used Vallejo flat red. Though their are some minor details in the uniform that is incorrect, at 18mm scale and at gaming distance it looks great.

Just stay in the lines and instant Frankfurt infantry (don't worry, the figures look better than the photo as I did not adjust the lighting correctly!).

Getting the flag correct was a challenge in research; there contradictory descriptions of their flag and no known illustrations. Based on the descriptions, Malcom O'Conner from the Facebook group Napoleonic 15mm Wargamer designed a beautiful representation of the flag.

Beautiful conjectural flag by Malcom O'Conner.

Dutch Command Group.

Ta Dah! Frankfurt Command Group.

Command Group mounted.

Fusilier Company.

Grenadiers to the front! (Whoops, forgot to paint the epaulettes red on the figure on the left)

One last look in Attack Column before the battle.

Now I have to figure out what unit the other Dutch unit will become - you get two units in 18mm.

Next: WoFun Games British and Allied Officers.