Nichols, Alistair: - Alistair Nichols is a retired police officer. His interest in military history emerged after the realisation that he was not very good at painting models. He has studied in particular the history of the foreign units in the British Army during the era of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. His published works include histories of the Chasseurs Britanniques and the Watteville Regiment and his most recent is They Turned Out So Ill! The Independent Companies of Foreigners 1812-1814.