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Post by Contrarius on Jul 6, 2018 1:25:57 GMT
So, bought a couple of packs of HaT Napoleonic British Light Infantry, and I'm having problems deciding which poses to use for different units and for skirmishers.
I'm using some of the figures as genuine LI, possibly two regiments, some as 28th North Gloucester Regt (which still wore the stovepipe shako in 1815), and some as skirmishers for both the above units.
Now, was thinking the fast advancing poses might be nice for LI. But am puzzled about which figs to use for skirmishers and for the other chaps.
Hoping to use these troops for Sharp Practice and General d'Armee rules, so will probably base the skirmishes individually, 6 per regiment.
Of course the question applies to more than just this case. For example, in general which is best pose for guard regiments? Should I be using kneeling figures at all, since these are not in the drill book? What are the best poses for skirmishers?
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Post by Graeme on Jul 6, 2018 8:29:20 GMT
www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=144The kneeling firing pose is absolutely fine for skirmishers or light infantry in skirmish mode. Part of the light infantry and skirmishing training was about using any available cover. Skirmishing light infantry or light companies opperated in pairs. one man fired while the other loaded or one man moved to a new position while the other gave covering fire. Based in pairs or based singly and used in pairs you could use either the kneeling or standing firing figures with either of the fast advancing figures (1st fig top row & 3rd fig bottom row in link) or with the guy reaching into his cartridge box (4th fig top row). Mix up the pairs to give variety. For the Gloucesters or light infantry in normal line infantry mode I'd probably stick to the standing firing, reaching into the cartridge box, standing nearly at attention(1st fig bottom row) and standing at the ready/advancing at the low port (2nd fig bottom row) figures. It's OK, I think, to have the firing and loading figures in the same line if you need to, British infantry often fired by companies rather than the whole line together. In general terms for line infantry, including guards, Most of the wargamers like battalions made entirely of marching figures. But if, like me, you like the action poses I think a front rank standing firing and a rear rank loading looks good for a defending line. Front rank advancing at the low point and rear rank, or ranks, marching looks good for an advancing line or column. The standing and kneeling poses with charged bayonets are good for squares defending against cavalry but, honestly, I'm happy to put these together in a line even if it's not strictly correct. These are just my personal guidelines though, the important thing is to do what looks good to you, this is meant to be fun. 
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Post by Contrarius on Jul 6, 2018 12:14:32 GMT
Thanks Graeme. Some interesting ideas there. 1. Skirmishers I've read about them operating in pairs. Unfortunately, the writers of Sharp Practice and General d'Armee have not taken this into account in their rules. The former uses single basing for casualy removal, the latter uses three-man bases. For SP - with single bases in sabots - this is of course no problem, as you can arrange the figures as you wish. I've always used figures of a single pose for an entire battalion (including skirmishers) but it might look better to have the skirmishers in a variety of poses to reflect their different manner of operating. 2. Light companies of Brit Inf regts I understand that all companies of Brit LI regiments were 'light' that is they wore shoulder wings and green plumes. centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/uniformes_uniteBR.php?uniformes=24&nation=1However, the Gloucesters were a line unit, so the eight centre coys had no wings. This kinda restricts which figures I can use for them to those where it is easy to remove said wings from the figures (mainly the standing-firing figures, and - at a snip - the kneeling-firing figs). centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/uniformes_uniteBR.php?uniformes=16&nation=1So, I'd have the front rank kneeling and firing, and the rear rank standing firing. Looks a bit like the redoubt from Zulu, but is it strictly correct for the Napoleonic period? Or did all men in both ranks stand when firing and reloading? |
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Post by Graeme on Jul 7, 2018 3:34:07 GMT
No, a kneeling front rank for British Napoleonic line infantry is not strictly correct, the rear rank fired over the shoulder of the front rank. Actually I really wanted to put the kneeling and standing figs in the old Revell British infantry together, and I did have scenes from Zulu in mind at the time. I decided against it but I'm still tempted.
The figures we buy are rarely perfect in every way so sometimes you might have to do what you can with the figures available. As I said I like firing figures in front with loading figures behind, I think perhaps that's not strictly correct either but it's good enough for me. You wouldn't be the first person or the last to have a kneeling front rank in your battalions. Some guys will tell you the front rank shouldn't be kneeling but they will understand that you're just working with the figures you've got. I would say though that you might find that shaving the wings off the other standing figures is easier than you think.
Ultimately these are YOUR figures and you do what YOU want with them. If you want total accuracy then you go looking for the perfect figures or convert the ones you have. If you're not too worried about total accuracy you make compromises. I think we all have different criterea for what compromises are acceptable, and that's fine. If someone else doesn't like the way you did your figures then they can do their figures differently.
My personal oppinion of firing lines with kneeling figures is, perhaps They're not strictly accurate but they look darn good so I'm happy to see pictures of them whenever they're posted. And the various manufacturers have given us a lot of Kneeling firing figures so some might end up in my firing lines. But for any future sets that are made, I'm not in desperate need of more Kneeling, firing figures.
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