"Fall in the 95th!"
This situation has now been rectified by the addition to my forces of these 18 vintage Hinton Hunt British riflemen painted for me by Matt G. The unit is composed of:
14 x BN/19 Rifleman, firing
1 x BN/15 Officer (blowing whistle and pointing)
1 x BN/16 Rifleman (kneeling firing)
1 x BN/17 Rifleman, running
1 x BN/20 Bugler (playing)
Harper, Sharpe and Hagman - perhaps?
When I started wargaming the Sharpe novels were yet to be written but I do remember that I borrowed a copy of “The Recollections of Rifleman Harris” from the local library and read it with great interest. I'm hoping that my own version of the 95th will live up to the exploits of both Harris and Sharpe when they finally get to take part in Vintage Waterloo.
19 comments:
Great looking classics!
Cheers Dean!
Excellent - these look really very good - businesslike - compliments also to Matt!
First Napoleonic book I ever read was CS Forester's "Death to the French" (aka "Rifleman Dodd" in the US), which introduced me to the idea of commando-style riflemen, and also to a number of attributes of the Peninsular War - atmospheric, engaging book - I must have been about 13. Something stuck, I think. I only got around to reading Forester's other Peninsular novel, "The Gun", a couple of years ago - I also enjoyed that, though I had seen the daft "Pride and the Passion" film years ago and been alienated by the French cavalry - each one with a flag and a hat out of a Xmas cracker - and by the re-scripting of Forester's story to replace one of the guerrilla leaders with Sophia Loren.
Mind you, some of my tabletop Guerrilleros could do with some help from Sophia from time to time.
Sorry - digressed there - doesn't Rifleman Dodd appear, or get a mention, in one of the Sharpe books?
A cracking unit, rifles will offer much needed firepower. How many British do have Now?
Paul
Classic stuff. Can't wait to see them in action. WM
Looking good. I have the 5/60th myself. It might be time to add the 95th.
Thanks for the comments chaps!
Tony - I vaguely remember that film about the gun, didn't realize it was Sophia Loren though!
Paul - I will have 4 British foot when Lee finishes the unit he is working on (one of these is the naval battalion but Roy has banned them from Vintage Waterloo!)
Very nice- I've been inspired to paint sergeant's stripes on mine.
Nice looking unit, always painted my rifles in a much lighter green, but I guess the 'almost black' look is more authentic. BTW I just made my first successful bid on ebay for a batch of 13 x HH French voltigeurs, paid £16.00, does that sound like the going rate these days? Wish I'd kept the ones I bought for 1s/3d all those years ago!
Just read previous comments, I was reading 'Death to the French' back around 1970 when my big sis had a French exchange student come to stay. Mum made me take it back to the library!
More memories of 'The Pride and the Passion', starred Gregory Peck and Frank Sinatra, who fought over Sophia Loren (who wouldn't?) , plus ALL the French infantry wore Grenadier bearskins! This movie has to be seen to be believed, leave your critical facilities at the door!
Hi Dave - rule of thumb for me used to be about £1 per figure, haven't bought any for a couple of years but £16 for 13 sounds fine to me!
Respect for Matt. I think the Rifles are particularly difficult to represent realistically. These chaps look scarily businesslike.
I agree, I think he's done a terrific job!
Dave - £1.30 per foot figure is about right. Smaller lots seem to cost more and cavalry go for up to £4 per man and horse.
Inflation between 1970 and 2013 was a factor of 14 so 1/3d is 88p/figure. I think this is an understatement as a 20p kit in the early 1970's now costs £6.00 so nearer 30 times more expensive-£1.88/figure!
Wonderful job by Matt, excellent!
Thanks for the advice re price guys, just wanted to make sure I wasn't overbidding and pushing up the price for everyone else! There are some painted units on ebay at the moment @ £120 - $140 for 22 figures which I won't be bidding on, the paint job is very basic and I'd have to strip them back and start from scratch, so not worth the premium price to me.
Said figures have now arrived, no catalogue number etched on the base and they have two plugs on the base from the mould. From other posts I have seen I think this means they are actually DK, how can I put it politely, variants?
Dave - two plug marks is a sign that they may actually be vintage HH. The DK figures I have generally have flat bases with no mould marks. Also, a lack of HH codes does not necessarily mean they are not HH! If you want to send me some photos would be glad to give my opinion (you can find my email address on my blog profile).
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