Well it was spooky because everything I wrote in my last post was completely true however, when I stripped the paint from the fusilier sergeant and looked at him more closely I realised he is actually a Guardsman figure BN/81 (a bit of a clue was the code number BN/81 stamped under his base – dooh!).This spoils my idea for the unit of Welsh fusiliers but every cloud has a silver lining so I will be mustering in the unit as a battalion of Guards instead. This also gives my narrative of the old sergeant hanging onto his hat more credence – he just brought his best parade one along!
I may make the battalion a generic Guard one as all the battalions had the same blue facings. Guard’s battalion were usually much bigger than the line ones and I know that some gamers give them more figures – 30 figures would equal 1,000 men in my own rules. I will however be sticking to the 24-figure norm so my Guards will be a bit under strength (as some of them were by the day of Waterloo).
The moral of this story is - always wear your glasses when trying to identify figures.
Ah, I thought the Guards only started wearing bear skins after Waterloo?
ReplyDeleteHi Conrad - yes, everything I've ever read suggests that the bearskin was only worn after Waterloo. However, Marcus Hinton sculpted his 1812-15 Foot Guards with them (as did Minifigs at the time). It's almost certainly inaccurate but then again Marcus Hinton had a great knowledge of uniforms so you never know! Anyway, having this odd figure in the ranks is no problem at all in my "retro" British army...
ReplyDeleteIan