Up Guards, and at ‘em!

Those of you who read my last post will no doubt be keen to see some more photos of the latest unit to join the Allied order of battle. This is my generic unit of British Foot Guards that have been superbly painted for me by the talented Matt Golding. The figures used are actually line troops in shako from the 1812-15 range, with the exception of one Sergeant sporting a Guards bearskin.

The British Guards in line formation

Hinton Hunt produced a whole range of Foot Guard figures wearing bearskins and for a long time I thought this was a mistake as I’d only ever seen pictures of them in shakos at the time of Waterloo. However, I should have know better as Marcus Hinton was an expert on military uniforms and I’ve subsequently found out that the Guards did have bearskins during the Napoleonic Wars - although they were not worn on active service.

BN/81 Sergeant (charging)
BN/12 Drummer (playing)
BN/8 Officer (standing)

The drummer and officer above are actually from the American range by Der Kreigspieler but they are such good imitations of Hinton Hunt figures that I included them for variety. I didn’t have enough of any one figure type to do a full 24 figure unit in identical poses but I actually really like the finished effect of this mixed pose battalion.

BN/4 Private (firing)
BN/5 Private (charging)

BN/7 Private – with separate musket
BN/2 Sergeant (charging)
BN/5 Private (charging)

BN/3 Private (casual pose)
BN/9 Private (standing)

I really like the BN/3 figure in ‘casual’ pose and it’s the only one like it in the whole Hinton Hunt 20mm range as far as I know. Roy told me the other day that Marcus Hinton always produced his master from a basic dolly with arms out stretched and he would then bend the arms into position. Looking at this particular figure it’s very easy to see this.

General Picton takes refuge in the Guard’s square

The Guards in column – from the rear

The British infantry range also includes colour bearers with cast-on flags, one with the King’s Colour and one with the Regimental Colour (although I believe these were reversed for the Guards). Matt has done a lovely job with these.

BN/14 Ensign King’s Colour
BN/13 Ensign Regiment Colour
BN/1 Officer (charging)

So finally the Duke has a unit he can really trust on the battlefield and they’ve already demonstrated this in their first engagement at the Battle of The Ridge – they fired two quite devastating volleys and lost not a single man in the action. However, the battle was another defeat for Wellington and I’m sure he will be expecting even greater things from the Guards next time.