It took me 30 years, now meet my Waterloo!
THE Battle of Waterloo was over in a matter of hours – but for Michael Wrobel it has lasted more than 30 years.
It has also turned part of his house into a war zone. For he has recreated the battlefield in minute detail with up to 6,000 model soldiers.
The 14ft by 8ft diorama has taken much of his spare time since he gave up full-time work as a City investment manager five years ago, although he has been collecting the models for three decades. He has spent thousands on his pet project – accurately reconstructing the landscape cost £10,000 and the models around £2 each.
Mr Wrobel, 62, said his German-born wife Jutta ‘thinks it is bonkers’. He added: ‘She never understood why I was doing it in the first place.
‘She has got interested in it. But she still thinks it is a bit weird. Which of course it is. Great British eccentricity.’
Mrs Wrobel, 56, can appreciate her husband’s craftsmanship and is philosophical about the cost as it is far less than buying a sports car which she says was ‘the probable alternative’.
They also have a different view of the history of the battle on Sunday, June 18, 1815 when Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops were defeated by a British-led coalition under Wellington and Prussian reinforcements commanded by Blucher. ‘My wife says, “Waterloo – great German victory”. I say, “It was Wellington’s victory”,’ Mr Wrobel said.
He admits he still needs to put a few finishing touches to his labour of love, which dominates the loft extension at the couple’s home in Wadhurst, East Sussex. ‘It is 99.8 per cent finished,’ he insisted. Mr Wrobel became fascinated by the Battle of Waterloo while at school, particularly when he discovered that it took place on June 18 – his birthday.
‘I have always been interested in military history and strategy and tactics. I have been doing it since I was a teenager.
‘I have done a lot of research. A guy has been painting the figures for me for about 30 years. Over the years I have said, “Can you send me a battalion of this and a battalion of that”.’ When he became semiretired, he realised he had accumulated so many figurines that he could recreate the battle, which marked the end of the
Napoleonic Wars. So he decided to do just that.
‘My son Alexander moved out and I finally had a room to do it. I turned his bedroom into The War Room,’ he said.
‘He was very upset. He can’t come back - he would have to sleep under the table.
‘A lot of people have tried to do models of the Battle of Waterloo but mine is absolutely as close as you can get it.’
He has pored over photographs, maps and artist drawings, visiting the battlefield itself in his pursuit of perfection. The painstaking work of putting together the landscape was the most challenging task. ‘I carved all the contours myself out of dense Styrofoam. I tried a lot of different types of earth and have just found one that looks really good.
‘I’ve even got a couple of pigs, but that is probably unrealistic as they would have eaten them. I am trying to go for total accuracy. The thing I like is the challenge.’
Now he plans to play out key moments in the conflict but may face another battle of his own – his wife suggested they may downsize their house, meaning his diorama would have to go. Mr Wrobel remains defiant, however. ‘I am going to have to build myself a garden shed,’ he said.