This was one of several products made to mark the 200th anniversary of this famous battle. Italeri had already made a Waterloo set which we have detailed here, but wisely thought that for such an occasion something of much higher quality was called for, and so that is what they delivered. The title says it is 'two', which has a clever double-meaning as not only is it the second Waterloo set they have made, but also marks the two centuries since the event. By giving it the subtitle mentioning the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, they also gave themselves an excuse to include a really worthwhile accessory - the farmhouse itself.
To begin with, lets look at the figures that you get in the box. They are:
By the time this set was put together Italeri had produced several Napoleonic sets which improved on those from Esci, so were mostly able to use their own production. Given the choice of the action around La Haye Sainte, their sets are very appropriate here, with the Brits being used for Kings German Legion troops, and it is a bit of a pity that they only added a couple of sprues of each. However, while not perfect, all three sets are highly rated by us, so it is great to see them here. The Esci French Imperial Guard Artillery was also pretty good if with some small issues, particularly the minimal number of poses, and not the most relevant to the battle for the farmhouse.
The other element in this box is of course the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte. The following marketing image of this model makes it look fantastic:
The first thing to say is it is not complete - other kits to complete the structure would appear later, so it is more of a backdrop to the battle between the figures. Nonetheless it is a great model, and clearly a big step forward on the admittedly very old Airfix model. Of course it was not painted, so this image is a little misleading. In fact this was the first set where Italeri made use of laser-cut MDF buildings, so what you get is a series of sheets of thin wood with parts cut and ready to be put together, such as that shown below.
Although it takes some skill and patience to put together, the result is very satisfying, and if nicely painted then a terrific scene can be made with these figures and building, as shown below.
As usual, this is a well-made presentation, and quite apart from the skill of the modeller who produced it, the customer would need to provide their own trees and landscape to reproduce this. Nonetheless it is great for whetting the appetite of the potential buyer. Even the box is a step forward for Italeri, being a very classy design that really suggests the quality inside. Although it only focuses on one fairly small part of the whole battle, this is still a lovely product, and marked the point where Italeri really got into their stride with such things.